Five Carries For LeGarrette Blount
September 11th, 2011
Look, Joe knows the Bucs established a whole lot of nothing today on offense when it counted, but there’s something dreadfully wrong when LeGarrette Blount ends up with five carries in a game that was close on the scoreboard for quite a while.
The Bucs didn’t even dare to throw the ball to Blount where he could find some space.
Then there’s Blount on the sidelines in the fourth quarter when the Bucs handoff to Earnest Graham on the Lions’ 10 yard line — and not even a play that had Graham pound it into the line. No gain. Graham LOST the short-yardage job last year, and he was the best the Bucs had to offer today?
The Bucs have to put the damn ball in Blount’s hands. There’s a reason he’s on the side of the stadium, and there’s a reason no team shut him down last year in games he started.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
joe, i agree he must be hurt or something
but there were positives like our dline who was getting in the backfield reguarly
September 11th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Greg Olsen sucks at play calling
September 11th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
That was some of the worst play-calling I’ve ever seen. Why did they run a Josh Johnson read option with Earnest Graham on the 2nd possession of the game? That’s terrible. Freeman should never be off the field, but if you’re going to do that why not with Blount? That was the exact type of thing he ran in college. Then not even running the ball all game, just bad.
I also want to say that Earnest Graham has no explosion at all. Screens or handoffs to him out of shotgun will not work like they did with Caddy last year. They really should have went out and gotten a quicker back in the draft.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Domenik is a dumbass for not getting any olineman threw freeagency and we shouldve brought back CADDY who had a great game today. Olson is a terrible playcaller.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Letting Caddy go in favor of a scrap heap guy like Lumpkin, and then seeing him not produce is just laughable. I bet Dom is so shocked that it didn’t work out!
September 11th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Or should have just kept Caddy. I just saw he ran for 91 yards and caught 6 passes for 50 yards.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Hey Dominick… how’s that ‘running back by committee’ thing workin’ out for ya?
September 11th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
The whole offense looked out of sync for most of the game. Looked like the preseason offense carried over into regular season. I understand The Lions have one of the best D lines right now. But our O-line hasn’t looked good to me. Seems like Josh never has time. And Our defense didnt help out much either. I thought for a while our defense did ok on the run. Then got tired….And they couldn’t stop The Lions passing game.
Really This is kinda what I expected. The team didnt look that great in preseason and I think it carried over. Also our offense is always best in the last few minutes of each half. I think we need to start running more hurry up offense. Maybe that will get us going a little faster.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
we could atleast try bringing madu off the practice squad plus our oline didnt play that bad i mean considering how good suh is and he got no sacks and freeman looked good he threw the int because he thought he got a free play
September 11th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
i agree with you joe 100%! what the heck…FIVE TIMES?!?!? i seriously doubt LB was hurt…we would of seen or heard something. did mccoy even do anything? btw, that was clearly pass interference in the endzone on mike williams before halftime. i froze the picture on my tv. barry’s head was NOT turned at the ball when his arm was all over him. ref’s missed that obvious call.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Agree 100 % Joe I guess ernest grham is the key playmaker of our offense cause for 3 quaters he sure was (our that is what they are trying to make him be )ssssssssssssssssssss . key 3rd and 4th downs draws and screens .Yeah DOm and Rah keep feeding us that BS that freeman is a top 10 Qb, you trust your top 10 QB
September 11th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
If he is not hurt I must ask WTF?
September 11th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
I said this before the season started that dominik needed to resign caddy stupid move graham might have better hands but hes less explosive and shifty then caddy. Dumba$$ move. Olson couldnt do a worse job today calling plays. Seriously coming out of half time the graham draw works for 1 play and gets 9 yards then the play gets called twice for no gain. Then with 5 mins left on 4th and 1 he does another graham draw play for no gain. Olson a lil advice just because it works once dont mean its gonna work the next 3. Then why is Freeman not runnign any no huddle in the 1st qt thats terible. There dline wasnt doing anything special and if we would of opened them up we could of went up 17 3 instead of 10 -3. we only had 4 yard the whole first qt. The D played well for being out on the field the whole game tho. but they were gassed towards the end.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Not giving Blount the ball was a BIG reason for us not winning today! That and the rest of Olsen’s pathetic playcalling.
Our D line got no sacks either, again. And when is Price going to get his fat, out of shape a** back on the field?
September 11th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
I just got back from the game and I have to agree, sorry offense, dumb play calling. Check down, check down check down and no running game. Either no one could get open, which is B.S. I saw Benn and Winslow stay open or the receivers were running wrong routes. I dont blame the defense one bit. Freeman let them stay out there, and tehy withered. I’ve been to enough Buc games to know that once the offense doesnt deliver, the defense in this heat will melt. and they did. One thing about the D though, can someone besides old man Rhonde Barber get a sack in this defense?
September 11th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
I knew we were in trouble when Graham was the lone back on the first offensive play of the game. The offense looked much worse than the score.
And I agree with everything Josh said above.
Bring in Tiki.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Do we know why Blount was not in the game? WTF
September 11th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Dom will never make himself look bad by signing Tiki Barber even though it would be a great move.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
i almost hope it was a small injury just to justify the stupidity of him not getting the ball and our d did play well considering how long they were out there and aqib was defending cj the best you can but eg was doing his best its not his fault they keep on given him the ball
September 11th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
@josh and @dew how the hell is tiki better than graham hes been out of football what? 3 years now. No what dom shouldve did was sign caddy back because you know hes an actual upgrade.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
The radio picture was one of not much push by the O line. Add a RB who either doesn’t see the holes or misses them and it may explain why Olson would turn to the veteran. We obviously don’t know what the game plan or play calls were but the OC has always been pass happy. The more I listened to the game the more it sounded like the Garcia offense only with Freeman largely contained. Maybe those of you who watched it can help the rest of us out…
September 11th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
besides i would take clinton portis or brian westbrook over tiki and there both free agents
September 11th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Signing Tiki Barber isn’t going to kill our team, i agree. Blount isn’t going to be able to carry the whole load for us!!! Why didn’t the future pro bowler Lumpkin get any carries today huh??
September 11th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Terrible game, worse play calling that I’ve seen in years. The coach doesn’t understand why they can’t start faster. Here’s an idea – go to the no huddle or sugar huddle earlier in the game. It seems to get them moving late in the 4th quarter with 7 minutes left in the game, so clearly it could provide a spark at the beginning of the game. Why they waited until the 4th to go no huddle is beyond me. Defense did a good job hanging in there with no support from the vaunted ‘O’.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Olsen abandoned the running game big time on this one. It seems to me that on the first instance of Blount getting a negative run, he stops giving him the ball.
I’m not going to try to pretend like I could be an OC, but am I the only one that feels we play the first half extremely vanilla on offense? Either that of Freeman starts out the game as Capt. Checkdown. I would love to see us open up in no huddle to start the game – just once. That’s about the only time we seem to be able to move the ball. This is amazing how awful we look on offense early in virtually every single game. Our defense is not going to be great right now, so the offense has got to help them out a little. The ’85 Bears can’t stop teams when their offense can’t even get a first down.
September 11th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
This game reminded me of the Bucs 2009 game against the NY Giants.
To sum it up in ONE WORD: PATHETIC
September 11th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
@HAwaiian Buc amen brotha! Olson really needs to let josh do his thing in the beginning of the game not just wait till the 4th to get the no huddle going. The O obviously needs a shot in the arm every first quarter not start out being vanilla
September 11th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Blount was on the field for 4 plays in the 3rd quarter. None in the fourth. WTF?
September 11th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I agree, I thought it was ridiculous that Blount wasnt in the game. I mean honestly? Blount is so bad at pass blocking that we need Graham in all the time? Something doesnt seem right here. Just the pure threat of Blount on the field gives defenders something to worry about. Plain and simple, we need to run the ball more.
@Patrick, Price WAS in the game and made an amazing stop in the backfield on the play where he limped off. Im tired of people calling out Price for being over-weight, what dont you guys understand about him having BOTH HAMSTRINGS SCREWED INTO HIS PELVIS AFTER HE RIPPED THEM OFF? It was a horrific and rare injury and its amazing he can play at all, so soon.
September 11th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Sign Tiki? He’ll, we could get a time machine and sign Barry Sanders. It wouldn’t help.
Stretch your memories allll the way back to games 1-5 last year. Our backs were averaging 2.4 yards a carry. We were all crying that Caddy was Washed up, etc, Etc.
It ain’t the Backs.
We didn’t get a running game, until we replaced our lame ass staters on the line. Once Faine, Joseph, and Trueblood got out of the way, our averages improved. Caddy went from 2.3 to 5.5.
It’s the line . And it has been for years. Our best hope to get a running game, is if the center and right side of the line all pull ham strings. Sad But true.
September 12th, 2011 at 8:09 am
I was at the game and the lack of carries for Blount was painfully obvious. Why is it that hundreds of Bucs and even Lion fans alike are noting that he is not getting the rock yet our overpaid offensive coordinator can’t realize it? Pathertic display of play calling by Olsen today.