Is The Bucs’ Offensive Line OK?
September 17th, 2010
Joe has almost tired of typing that the Bucs’ rushing ills are not because of a subpar offensive line, but because of a mediocre set of running backs.
If Jeremy Trueblood, Davin Joseph, Jeff Faine and/or Donald Penn were cut this morning, they would be signed by someone by midnight.
The TBO duo of Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings, both of the Tampa Tribune, discuss the merits, or lack thereof, of the Bucs’ offensive line in the latest edition of the TBO Bucs vlog. It’s a good watch. Let Joe know your feedback on their talking points.
Oh, nice shirt Anwar! Dude looks like he’s about to go to a luncheon at a country club. Sharp.
September 17th, 2010 at 10:04 am
No, it is not “OK”. All you have to do is watch. We are not opening up the middle, and it forces us to run wide, and our Tight Ends are not blocking well. Steve White has been all over this. We are pass protecting ok, but just ok. Watch the Saints or Indy, and see what a good offensive line does ? I would say we are a C – as far as a grade goes. Next year we will draft some stud offensive linemen hopefully. I don’t know if it the coaching, but I don’t think so.
It just seems like we are not winning man to man matchups, as far as run blocking goes.
But it is only game one, we won that game. I really hope I am wrong, I spent 2 grand on tampa seasons tickets for my Son and I…….
September 17th, 2010 at 10:14 am
1. Roy – watch your wardrobe will you? Black on that background looks terrible
2. Anwar – Can you wear a gayer looking shirt? Geez try pink next time!
3. O-Line – Disjointed at best. They need to work cohesively as a team. No push off the ball against Browns.
4. Roy says the pass blocking is ok? Really?
5. Roy wants Huggy Bear to make more carries – I agree but isn’t Huggy hurt now? PS Huggy can’t block LB’s rushing he gets the snot kicked out of him.
6. Nice videoblog but I prefer Old School compared to Anwer and Roy. These guys remind me of Jackie Chan and Chris Rock without the Chinese or attitude.
September 17th, 2010 at 10:17 am
OH BTW Joe, you wrote that if any of the O-line were cut in the am they would be signed by midnight right?
Tell me what teams would take our O-line and START them? (Donald Penn is the exception, i.e., DALLAS). You think Davin, Jeremy, “penalty king/Dunderhead” Trueblood, Vincent & Zuttah are starters on other teams TODAY?
September 17th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Derf:
You will notice Joe never referenced Vincent and Zuttah.
September 17th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Yes, it is OK. Just OK.
They need to upgrade at LG and RT next year. The year after that, Center.
And yes, re-sign Joseph.
We have an OK offensive line. It’s not great, it’s not terrible.
September 17th, 2010 at 10:28 am
P.S. @Apple Roof Cleaning Indy does NOT have a great OL. They have a great QB who masks their average OL. Why do you think they can’t run the ball?
September 17th, 2010 at 11:05 am
I blamed the Oline after the 1st game, and then as Apple Roof said was reminded of piss poor play of the TE’s after reading Whites good, bad and ugly on his blog site.
Last years Bull rush lessons were forgotten.
September 17th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Yep, said it before and will say it again, blocking TE’s what a concept!
As for the o-line, it is somewhat average. But, they wasted almost a whole year of development/continuity with that zone blocking scheme last season. They didn’t have the players for it and tried morphing/changing our power blockers into them. Gain weight, now lose weight. Also, we sure miss ole Sears!
September 17th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
The current personnel on O-line will never be much more than mediocre. In every draft from now on, we need to be replacing these duds.
September 17th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
If this line gels and gets better than it was against the Browns, how will the Bucs ever win only 6 games? If the defense plays the rest of the season like they did the second half, and not like they did the first half, how will the Bucs win only 6 games? What happens when Freeman’s thumb heals? Does he throw better and make those wide opens to Mike Williams? This could be awful.
September 17th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
@ Apple Roof Cleaning
Keep in mind that Faine is no longer helping Freeman recognize the defense. This year is the first year it’s all on Freeman, so there is a learning call. It was already said by freeman that he keeps changing from passing plays to running plays, and he said he was doing it too quickly. In such cases, the line is prepped to pass block.
Changing the play means they have to adjust…mentally and physically. The stance for a pass block is different than for a run block. And once they are set on the line, they cannot move to adjust, even slightly…or its a false start. This means they have to adjust after the ball goes in motion instead of before.
So once the learning curve is worked through, the whole unit will look improved.
(Now, I just made that up off the top of my head! Sounded good though)
September 17th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
@TrueBlue
I feel the same way you do. If the team were remaining stagnant, I would guess most of hte predictions are correct, 5 or fewer games.
But they are not remaining stagnant. They are improving from game to game (counting the end of last year, the preseason and this last game).
Every year I’ve been seeing a team that plays badly in the second half. This year seems, so far, to be a team that plays the whole 60 minutes.
I don’t see how they can’t go 8-8 or better personally.
September 17th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
I don’t think their skill level is all that different from some of the better teams. What’s different this year may be attitude. It’s attitude that wins games in the second half. It’s easy to blame player’s skill and tallent, and there is some truth to that. But I just don’t see the the gap all that big this year. Young players need experience, true. But confidence is no small factor. Freeman exudes confidence, tempered by his understanding that he needs to continue to develop. That’s a good combination. We have the leader we’ve lacked for years. It’s only a matter of time and experience now.
September 17th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
@Pete Dutcher We could win the Super Bowl and you still couldn’t convince some on here that we were any good. I agree 8-8 is not a stretch.
September 18th, 2010 at 7:59 am
@topdoggie
Man…I sure would like to put that theory to the test this year 😉