Stephen Holder, of the St. Pete Times, explores the problems with the Bucs offensive line play in a story today.

Joe’s not even going to quote the story, which comes to no conclusion, but feel free to read it. First, Joe wants you to consider some things about the Bucs offensive line before you right the unit off:

1) Remember late in the preseason cerebral center Jeff Faine said it would take half a season for the offensive line to get its new zone blocking scheme down. Then Davin Joseph followed up in an exclusive conversation with Joe where he explained the line was a ways away from hitting its stride.

2) It’s important to remember the O-line was just fine against Dallas. We’re talking then about two sub-par games out of three, in Buffalo and against Dallass at home. And what’s the common thread in those games?  Oh, yeah, Byron Leftwich threw two early interceptions that led to scores and the Bucs dug themselves massive holes in both games because the defense is non-existent.

3) Leftwich holds the ball too long. Surely that didn’t help the Bucs O-line look as good on film. Leftwich was brought in to Tampa to be successful downfield off play-action. Getting down early in the last two games negated the limited positives in Leftwich’s game, yet against Buffalo they still pass-blocked well enough to mount a serious comeback. You could also make the case that only allowing two sacks of Leftwich in 50 passing attempts against Buffalo wasn’t too shabby.

4) Before the season, would any sane Bucs fan have said Tampa Bay would win the battles at the line of scrimmage against the Giants without Jeff Faine and Arron Sears?  Please.

5) Individually, Donald Penn is playing extremely well, Zuttah has made the transition to guard, and Jeremy Trueblood seems to have cut back on his bonehead issues and is pass protecting well. Davin Joseph has yet to look like a Pro Bowler, and the Bucs are coming up short at center, understandably, with Faine out. As for Joseph, he’s a great talent, but maybe he is struggling with the playbook and all the new plays being installed since Jeff Jagodzinski was ousted. Joseph did say it took him an entire year to learn Chucky’s system.  

Also, Joe has written many times that maybe it was, in fact, a bad idea for this young, highly-touted offensive line to be pushed into a new scheme. If it ain’t broke … but the jury’s out on that.

Washington’s defensive front is another massive test for the O-line. Passing this test could mean the Bucs have a prayer of fulfilling Raheem The Dream’s core beliefs: that the Bucs are a running football team.