How much credit does OC Todd Monken deserve for the Buccaneers’ Fitzmagical start?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are off to the best offensive start to any year in the franchise’s 43-season history with 75 points through the first two weeks.

The only other time the Buccaneers even topped 60 points through two games was in 2000, when they scored 62.

Stealing the spotlight during Tampa Bay’s stellar start to 2018 has been Ryan Fitzpatrick, a journeyman quarterback who has started games for seven different NFL franchises during his 14-year career.

Fitzpatrick entered the year as the fill-in for Jameis Winston, who received a three-game suspension in the offseason for touching an Uber driver inappropriately. But Fitzpatrick may not be quick to give the job back next week after opening the season with four touchdowns against the Saints, and following it with another four against the Eagles — a pair of top NFC contenders.

But there’s a man pulling the strings behind the curtain who may deserve some credit for Fitzpatrick’s impressive start: new Buccaneers offensive coordinator and play caller Todd Monken.

Who is Todd Monken?

After bouncing around as a wide receivers coach for Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma State, LSU, and then the Jacksonville Jaguars, Monken’s first gig as an offensive coordinator came in 2011 at one of his previous stops, Oklahoma State.

The team was ridiculously successful in his first season, riding the combination of Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon to a 10-0 start to the year and a No. 2 spot in the AP Poll — the highest ever for the school. After another good year offensively, Monken got his first head coaching job with Southern Miss.

After two years of terrible offense that saw Southern Miss near the bottom of the country in points per game, the team finally broke out to average 39.9 points in 2015 — 13th best in the FBS.

Monken then left the job to become the new offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay in 2016. When he arrived, he promised fun, explosive times were ahead for the Buccaneers.

“I like having fun,” Monken said at his introductory presser, via the Tampa Tribune. “I don’t know why it has to feel like such drudgery all the time.

“Who needs more 5-yard plays? How can we be explosive? That’s what the game is about, man. People like big plays. I like big plays.”

But it wasn’t until this preseason that Monken started calling the plays for the Buccaneers offense. And according to at least one report, that was only supposed to be temporary.

In Dirk Koetter’s first two seasons as the Buccaneers’ head coach, the team finished No. 18 in scoring both times. In two games with Monken calling the shots, the Buccaneers are averaging 37.5 points per game — behind only the 39.3 averaged by the Chiefs offense.

Why are the Buccaneers suddenly an offensive juggernaut?

It’s impossible to know what the Buccaneers offense would’ve looked like in the first two weeks if Koetter was still the one calling plays, but it may not have that much to do with it.

Monken likes big plays, but so does Koetter. It’s the main reason why he brought in the offensive coordinator in the first place. Koetter isn’t even sure all the players have noticed a difference in 2018.

According to Monken, the team’s success so far in 2018 is just a case of talented players executing the opportunities when they present themselves on the field.

“That’s the first part, putting together a really good plan,” Monken said. “We’ve got really good players, and I thought they executed the plan about as well as they could. I thought our receivers did a really good job with their route running. We had excellent protection. (Fitzpatrick) was very accurate, really good with his decision making. He got us into some really good plays.”

The Buccaneers have been added skill position players for years and now the team has a treasure trove of talent to work with on the field.

There’s wide receivers Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, and Chris Godwin, each capable of torching a team deep. Second-year tight end O.J. Howard is also a matchup nightmare who can make a big play like the 75-yard touchdown he scored against the Eagles in Week 2.

The Tampa Bay offensive line has given up just two sacks, and have been helped by the fact that running back Peyton Barber has been excellent in pass protection.

The Buccaneers are so loaded on offense that second-round pick Ronald Jones was a healthy scratch in the first two weeks, not because he can’t contribute offensively, but because he’s not quite good enough on special teams.

With all that talent, there have been plays to be made and Fitzpatrick is making them.

In the first two games of the year, Fitzpatrick attempted eight passes 20 or more yards downfield and completed six of them for 282 yards and four touchdowns. The Buccaneers aren’t throwing deep more often — Jameis Winston averaged 4.77 pass attempts of 20 or more yards per game in 2017 — they’re just connecting better than ever.

In particular, Fitzpatrick’s connection with Jackson has been exceptional. He’s a perfect five for five when targeting Jackson deep. A year ago, Jackson caught just five of the 26 passes thrown his way on deep passes.

But is that play calling or was it just two good weeks? The numbers suggest the latter.

The FitzMagic is likely to wear off

Tampa Bay has enough offensive talent that the Buccaneers should be able to keep scoring all season. But completing 75 percent of your deep passes? Nobody does that for long.

Alex Smith and Drew Brees were the only two full-time starters who even topped 50 percent last season, and not by much.

Fitzpatrick appeared in six games in 2017 and he completed just six of his 19 deep passes. He was 19 of 51 during his last season with the Jets in 2016, and 21 of 87 the year before that.

The strong receiving corps of the Buccaneers could be a buoy that continues to rack up explosive plays for Fitzpatrick. Or the day will come when the averages correct themselves and he’s back to a normal 30-40 percent passer downfield.

If the latter happens, the Buccaneers could be in trouble because the defense hasn’t looked great. It allowed 887 total yards in the first two weeks — second-most in the NFL. According to Jay Glazer, Fitzpatrick will be the starter for the Buccaneers unless his play becomes “drastically bad.”

If the offense slows down, the Buccaneers will have to ask themselves if it’s Winston’s turn to jump back in the saddle. And that may also mean Koetter takes back the reins.

But for now, Tampa Bay is toasting defenses with Fitzpatrick and Monken leading the way, and the Buccaneers are content to ride the hot hands.