It can be easy to overthink football.
Allow Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter to stop you.
"I've said many, many times that we believe — besides turnovers — explosive plays are the next biggest factor in winning and losing."
It's that simple: Make more big plays than the other team.
Tampa Bay didn't do that last season. The defense allowed more explosive plays than every team except the 49ers. The offense, which was expected to take a step forward, saw a 20 percent drop in such plays.
You could point to any number of reasons why the 9-7 Bucs missed the playoffs.