Evaluating Kyle Trask’s More Memorable Throws

Quarterback battles are fun, aren’t they? And the Bucs have had one of the more fun quarterback battles in football between Kyle Trask and Baker Mayfield. Head coach Todd Bowles eventually named Mayfield the starter on Tuesday ahead of the team’s third and final preseason game, and it’s been Mayfield’s job to lose since he arrived in March as the more experienced quarterback.

That didn’t stop Trask from putting up his best performance as a professional against the Jets, so let’s focus on him for a minute. Trask was 20-of-28 for 218 yards and a touchdown. In today’s pass-happy NFL that may seem fairly pedestrian, but the performance on the field tells a story the stats can’t quite recite. Trask was poised in the pocket, made good decisions on the whole, pushed the ball down the field and overcame early adversity in the form of questionable offensive line play and receiver drops.

On the day Trask was under pressure on 40.6% of his 32 drop backs. Last year only two quarterbacks were under pressure more than that for the season (Daniel Jones – 42.4% and Justin Fields – 45.7%). He had three of his passes dropped, including two on third down that would have kept drives alive. So, considering the circumstances, Trask’s line and his 78.4 Pro Focus Football grade are both huge successes.

He was 3-of-4 for 95 yards and a touchdown on throws of 20+ air yards, showing he was willing to push the ball down the field. Some of those throws showed up as big plays, both on the scoreboard and in the eyes of those watching.

Kyle Trask to Trey Palmer Passing TD (1/2) pic.twitter.com/K4UhnazcpV

— NFL TD Videos (@NFLTDVideos2023) August 20, 2023

I wanted to take a look at some of Trask’s bigger throws on the game to evaluate the decision-making process as well as the throws themselves to see how he was able to put together such a strong performance.

Kyle Trask’s Touchdown Pass To Trey Palmer

Let’s start with the previous clip. But we will take a look at it from the all-22 sideline angle.

This play led off the two-minute drill in the first half. The Bucs come out in an empty formation with three options lined up to Trask’s left and Trey Palmer lined up to his right with running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn. Off the snap Deven Thompkins runs a deep crossing route that takes the attention of both safeties.

By the time the field-side safety tries to recover and get deep Palmer and his long-speed have overtaken him. Trask sees the miscommunication between the safeties and knows he will have Palmer effectively one-on-one with inside leverage on his corner. Trask delivers an elevated pass that allows Palmer to get to over the hands of the corner who tries to undercut the pass. Touchdown.

Kyle Trask Hits Ryan Miller On Third Down

Early in the fourth quarter the Bucs were up just 10-6. On the first play of the drive the team lost third-string quarterback John Wolford when his head snapped back onto the turf hard while he was being sacked. Trask re-entered the game and after a few plays was facing 3rd and 12 from the Bucs 34.

He again makes a big throw from an empty set hitting Ryan Miller on a 15-yard hard out route. By having Kaylon Geiger (working from the slot on the far side of the field) run his go-route at a slight angle towards the boundary safety he is able to hold that safety to the middle of the field creating a one-on-one matchup for Miller on the out. Trask times his release perfectly to put the ball right on the sideline for Miller to make the grab.

Kyle Trask Hits Kade Warner For Big Gain

Two plays after converting the long third-down with Miller, Trask and the Bucs offense take advantage of good down and distance on a second-and-four from the Jets 45. He runs a half-boot off of play-action and looks for Kade Warner working downfield on a corner route. Warner puts the Jets safety in a bit of a blender as he starts his route with an inside lean before breaking late on a corner route.

The play calls for Warner to be the first option and Trask knows from the pre-snap look he has a better than not chance that Warner will be open with leverage. But the blindside corner blitz the Jets bring forces Trask to have to throw while falling backwards causes the throw to be short. Warner is able to adjust, and the play-design gives plenty of room for a short-throw error. Warner corrals the pass for 19 yards.

The Bucs would go on to make a field goal to increase their lead to 13-6.

The Rakim Jarrett Catch

This one is making the rounds on social media as either an amazing throw or a boneheaded one, depending on who you talk to.

Kyle Trask threading the needle 🪡 @ktrask9 | @buccaneers

📱: Stream #TBvsNYJ on #NFLPlus https://t.co/L9mPiySmuK pic.twitter.com/HheAtHZZiG

— NFL (@NFL) August 20, 2023

Trask’s throw was as tight window as you can get between two defenders. But where did the second defender come from? Let’s check the all-22.

This is a two-route combo on max protect. Working off of play-action Jarrett is running an out-and-up underneath Miller’s post route. The Jets counter with man coverage off of a slot blitz. Safety Marquis Waters picks up Jarrett from the slot. As Jarrett pushes up-field, he gets a step on Waters giving Trask the window he needs. But Jets cornerback Jimmy Moreland kept his eyes in the backfield while covering Miller. He sees Trask wind up, flips his hips and comes back down to make the Jarrett catch tough.

One point. If Miller sharpens his in-cut it would have pulled Moreland farther to the inside and potentially could have prevented him from being able to come back on Jarrett. But Trask made the right decision and a good throw. But it was a little late, which also contributed to Moreland’s ability to get into the play.

Kyle Trask Hits Taye Barber For 26 Yards

Later during that same drive Trask and the Bucs offense dialed up one more big play. On first-and-10 from the Jets 46 Trask hits another play-action pass to Taye Barber.

The Jets are running Cover 3 Sky with the boundary safety (No. 39) coming down to play the flat. Wide receiver Cephus Johnson runs the go route to pull the boundary corner deep. This allows Barber to find a big hole on the near side deep above the flat safety and the linebackers who had to stay home on the play-action. The ball placement helped Barber stay out of the pursuit path of the two nearest defenders.

Whether the quarterback competition in Tampa Bay was over before Saturday’s game or not, Kyle Trask played like it wasn’t. He took care of the ball, pushed the downfield shots when he had the opportunity and effectively ran the Bucs offense. He gave song to his proponents. And created an alternative timeline where some might ask “what if…?”