After the Buccaneers' first-ever undefeated preseason, the regular season began with a long losing streak. The Buccaneers missed Williams' strong arm and scrambling ability and were forced to remake their offense as a short passing attack, with running back James Wilder Sr. as the primary target. Opponents were able to shut down that short attack, and the Buccaneers were successful at neither running the ball nor completing deep passes. The team's record was somewhat deceptive: they lost numerous close games but failed to execute at key times. According to McKay, "I think the other teams looking at us respect us. I don't think anyone is volunteering to play us". Opposing coach Bud Grant pointed out that they were "losing games they should've won". The Buccaneers took their opponents into overtime several times during a season that included a record number of overtime games league-wide. Nine of their losses were by a touchdown or less, and six by a field goal or less. Several games were lost due to problems in the kicking game, which led to McKay's famous pronouncement that (kicker Bill) "Capece is kaput". This season ended the Buccaneers' streak of having made the playoffs during three of the last four seasons, and began an NFL-record streak of fourteen consecutive losing seasons, thirteen of which saw the team lose at least ten games.