The QB Blast: No Shot At Smashmouth Offense
November 25th, 2009
Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson
By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst
Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson writes the weekly QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson has TV gigs in the Bay area and trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.
Am I hearing this right?
Greg Olson is moving the Bucs offense back to Jon Gruden’s and Raheem Morris is moving the defense back to Monte Kiffin’s?
For the record, I never believed the Tampa 2 was out of vogue or couldn’t work anymore. A soft Cover 2 (corners that have flexibility in their sideline coverage) that protects the deep middle a bit with the middle linebacker is a tough defense to work a passing game against.
With a four-man defensive front, it is only great if those guys are solid and that hasn’t been the case since Warren Sapp was let go. Jim Bates’ philosophy of blitz and play man-to-man behind it never made sense for this cast of characters from the get-go. And now Morris has dumped the coordinator on both sides of the ball.
On offense, I was never a fan of Gruden’s program (always ranking in the lower half of the NFL), and I don’t like whatever hybrid Olson has been employing thus far, but I’m giving the guy a break for taking over a week before opening day.
The Bucs do not have explosive receivers like the Saints or game-breaking backs like the Panthers, Saints or Falcons, so they must begin using deception like most of the other teams in the NFL do or they will continue to flounder Sunday after Sunday.
The Bucs personnel just isn’t good enough to line up and play smash-mouth football, and that is what most of their plays are lined up to do. I have been relatively pleased with Josh Freeman’s early play, but he needs help from his play caller if they want to have any sustained success.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
” so they must begin using deception ”
I feel decived…
November 25th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Jeff, given the little bit that you’ve seen of Freeman why do you think he is so much better in the shotgun than from under center? Is it just the amount of time?
Also why don’t the Bucs run more screens & or shovel passes? It seems to me that when the other teams are just teeing off trying to cream Freeman that would be a great time to do a screen/shovel pass.
November 25th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Mr. Lucky, I have been bewildered for years about the Bucs lack of screens, shovel passes and other “change of pace” plays that keep the defense from teeing off. This is basically what I have been preaching for so long and mean by deception. A screen is a deception by luring the D-Line to chase the QB deep and he dumps it just over them with blockers in front. Chucky rarely, if ever, employed a screen and it doesn’t look like Greg Olson wants any part of it either.
As far as Freeman’s comfort under center, I think it will come soon enough. He has good mechanics to work from, but with the extra space that the “gun” allows, he does some play-making from back there as opposed to hitting his back foot from a true drop-back and letting it go on rhythm and timing.