Bucs' offense a mirage so far

The Bucs' offense was supposed to be the least of the team's worries.

The Bucs (0-4) signed running back Derrick Ward and quarterback Byron Leftwich, and traded for tight end Kellen Winslow during the offseason. They re-signed receivers Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton and tight end Jerramy Stevens, and they regained running back Cadillac Williams after his recovery from a second knee surgery.

After four games, Tampa Bay's offensive dream team has been more of a hallucination, and the unit hopes to change that against Philadelphia (2-1) on Sunday.

There are many reasons for the offensive power outage.

Leftwich was benched after three games and is the third-string quarterback. Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski was fired 10 days before the season started, and quarterbacks coach Greg Olson was promoted to the position. The Bucs also have been plagued by injuries to key offensive starters.

As a result, the offense ranks 27th in the NFL with an average of 279.5 yards. The Bucs average 13.5 points, 28th in the league. Members of the offense concede they have played below their own expectations.

"The chemistry on this team (is the problem)," Williams said. "Our offense, we're not playing as one. Until everybody gets on one page, until everybody buys into doing their job, that's when you are going to see things explode.

"Right now, we still have something missing here and there, not to point any fingers. Until everybody gets on one page, we're going to continue to struggle."

Bucs center Jeff Faine might be the core of Tampa Bay's offensive problems.

Faine played the majority of Tampa Bay's first game against Dallas before injuring his triceps. With Faine in the game, Williams rushed 13 times for 97 yards and one touchdown, while Ward had 12 carries for 62 yards and one touchdown.

After Faine went down, Tampa Bay re-signed Sean Mahan, who was released after playing the majority of the preseason with the team. Since Faine's departure, Tampa Bay has struggled to effectively run or throw the ball.

"If you look at that (Dallas) game, we had our starting center in there," guard Davin Joseph said. "Not an excuse, but we need to be able to mesh better. We need to be able to work better. We need to have communication.

"When you take the brains out of anything, Jeff being the brain of our offensive line, it's going to take us a while to get used to the new brain. We need to be able to mesh together and work with (Mahan) and be able to complement each other a lot better than we have been."

The Bucs also have been waiting for running back Earnest Graham to complement Ward and Williams.

Graham rushed for nearly 1,000 yards two years ago, but he has only 25 yards on eight carries this season. He has been slowed the past two weeks by a hamstring injury, but Graham said his lack of productivity has been situational.

"The way we run the ball right now, there aren't always opportunities," Graham said. "I might get in the game and there might be a good look and there might not. I might not come back (until) two series later. It's just the way it's been going."

This week, Olson indicated Williams will be considered more of a full-time back, a departure from the three-back rotation the team used at the beginning of the season.

Second-year quarterback Josh Johnson was not productive last week in his first career start, completing 13 of 22 passes for 106 yards. Tampa Bay believes the offense still can shine with Johnson, but it will take more accountability to end the current hallucination.

"It's just a matter of jelling and guys making the plays," receiver Antonio Bryant said. "We've got to find ourselves in a situation where we just have to learn how to be accountable. Everybody has to be accountable. That's the bottom line.

"You can always demand more accountability. You can always demand more. This is the NFL, so you can always demand for guys to go out there and perform a lot better and come up with big-time plays and make plays people aren't used to seeing."

Reporter Anwar Richardson can be reached at