Joe doesn’t give a damn about the PFF tribe’s dumbarse grades.
But trained orangutans there do a nice job compiling stats. Joe will give them that. And the tribe dug up interesting numbers on Bucs quarterback Jalon Daniels.
The one number that jumped out to Joe is the average depth of Daniels’ targets against Dallas. It was but five yards. Joe doesn’t know if that’s the scared-of-the-chains, throw-to-running-backs-in-the-backfield offense from Zac Robinson or, perhaps, Robinson doesn’t yet trust the undrafted rookie with throwing much downfield.
Could be both.
What helped Daniels and the Bucs at Dallas was 70 percent of Daniels’ passing yards came on YAC plays (yards after catch). That also tells Joe that dudes are blocking downfield.
Also, only 32 percent of Daniels’ targets were past the sticks. Joe does not like that at all.
Again, Joe gets Daniels is green as grass and Robinson may have dumbed down the offense considerably to allow Daniels to make some easy throws and completions to keep his confidence up.
Todd Bowles sort admitted as such after the game on the Buccaneers Radio Network.
“Zac did a good job getting [Daniels] some confidence throws early, getting him off to a good start,” Bowles said of his playcaller. “[Daniels] settled in nicely. He followed the game plan. He wasn’t as nervous. And with the wristband on the sheet, we had more on the same page. He was getting to the line of scrimmage fast and he was able to process everything quicker and he played a very good ball game.”
Jalon Daniels played calm, efficient football to help Tampa Bay get its first win of the season.
19/25, 189 PASS YDS, 1 TD, 0 INT, 23 RUSH YDS vs Cowboys
Daniels protected the football and did exactly what Tampa Bay needed on Thursday night. pic.twitter.com/iOPNNZXV6n
— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) October 9, 2026