Schiano Wants Blount To See More “Action”
September 26th, 2012
The leader of the New Schiano Order held court before the Tampa Bay pen and mic club today to discuss all things Bucs. The very first question lobbed at Schiano was about the Bucs’ sluggish running game.
Rookie Doug Martin has had the lion’s share of the carries, almost all up the gut, in-between the tackle, not for much yardage.
Against Dallass it seemed the Bucs were bound and determined to break Martin through the interior of the Cowboys’ line, to no avail.
Help may be on the way, Schiano said. While he admitted the Bucs haven’t run the way he wanted — Schiano fingered blocking as a culprit — Schiano hopes to get LeGarrette Blount more touches in the rushing attack.
“I think with LeGarrette, we need to get him more involved,” Schiano said. “But [the Bucs are] not thinking of making any changes [to the lineup] or the way we are doing it. Just give [Blount] a little more action. The whole thing with the injury and we weren’t sure what it was, it threw things into flux a little bit. I think he is practicing well now and is ready to go. So I think we will have a good one-two punch like we envisioned early on. That is what my hope is.”
Schiano quickly explained this is not a swipe at Martin in any way, though Schiano did say the Bucs need to block better for both running backs.
Martin is “running hard, running well, but I don’t think we have done as good of a job of blocking as I felt we were going to be able to,” Schiano said. “You have a vision and then you lose [right guard] Davin [Joseph] and that throws it into a little state of flux and you start a new guy at tackle. I think we will clearly get better as we move forward. These guys, [the Redskins, Sunday’s opponent] will try to crowd the box. It is going to be upstream to run the football. We will have to be really perfect to be able to gain yardage running the football.”
This is good in Joe’s eyes. Schiano wants a two-headed monster to attack opposing defenses and the more he plays, say Blount, the better it will be for Martin, who has taken a pounding so early in the season, when he hits that rookie wall.
September 26th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Why do I feel like I’ve heard this same thing every week?
September 26th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Mo Blount is mo betta.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:08 pm
“Toes on the line coach”
Run blount please, no excuses not too…..
September 26th, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Why has this been a hard thing to do? Martin first quarter, Blount second quarter, Martin third quarter and Blount to finish them off when the defense is most tired in the 4th. Eazy Peazy!!
Use your weapons. More Dallas Clark and two tight end sets. New England is lethal in the two tight end set. We should have grabbed Josh McDaniel after Denver let him go.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Yeah Joe whenever Blount is brought up Schiano says the same thing. I will believe it when I see it. I just don’t understand why it’s so difficult to get one of our top playmakers in the game. I do t really care to hear how Schiano looks forward to the two headed rushing attack anymore. I want to SEE it
September 26th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
I’m calling BS. I’m guessing 5 carries for Blount. I like Schiano’s approach, discipline and everything, but it seems evident he lacks a very important trait in coaching. The ability to create a scheme based on personel rather than craming personel into your predetermined scheme. It’s why I wish we had landed Kelly. But that’s another story. Hopefully he will grow out of his stubbornness and learn to be a little flexible and creative.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Joe,
Thanks for the follow up!!! As fans, we really have no voice outside the media and your ability to get to the source is paramount. As long as they insist on leaving LGB on the bench, please keep needling the subject as it is driving me insane. Other topics I think fans would like to hear about:
1. Predictable play calling with no outside runs
2. Freeman’s inability to read defenses and go through progressions with out locking on a reciever.
3. Why Freeman stopped scrambling and extending plays.
4. What or who is responsible for turning Foster into a manamal?
5. Was McCoy right when he took Sapp’s advice last week and wanted to drop the blitzes and stunts? Seems so.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Very Good Captain Stagger, you brought up some great topics, especially the one about Freeman’s supposed inability to read defenses.
And why we insist of Martin always going inside ?
September 26th, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Sounds like some politicians. Step up to the mike and say one thing, walk away and do something totally opposite.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
I don’t think Schiano is all to blame with this, Mike Sullivan could just be a really terrible OC.
September 26th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Whatever the case might be, I hope Sunday we start making steps to fix the offense not continue to unnecessarily handicap ourselves.
September 26th, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Nice to hear the questions being asked and answered the way Schiano did. As I stated in past comments, I believe we will see more Blount action!!
Now lets get Freeman running/moving outside the pocket amd you will have the majority of the Bucs fans not lighting torches at One Buc!
Go Bucs!!!
September 26th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
I’ll believe it when I see it and have never been one to buy into lip service. Actions speak louder than words big S.
September 26th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
Going from three carries a game to about six for lgb….
September 26th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
we need a neopolitan offense…not a Vanilla offense
September 26th, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Off topic, but if anyone else was hoping for the possibility of Andre Carter for addin DE depth with Clayborn out…S.O.L. Raiders signed him.
September 26th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Joe(s),
How have we not heard your take(s) on the new DE Charleston? Is this guy gonna be able to contribute or is he just a depth signing?
I’m frankly shocked that you were not among the first to break the news???
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I am of the same cloth as most everyone else on the use of #27. I’ll wait till I see him get some real touches. I hope he was kept out due to some clandestine injury. I know he’s not the most complete back you could ask for but he has a rare talent to make/create explosive if not game changing plays as we all have witnessed.
If the current coaching staff cannot figure out how to make Blount a force to be reckoned with on Sundays, then they’ve got some big problems. Raheem and Olsen got 1,000+ yards out of this kid in his rookie (half) season behind a true patch-work offensive line (no Nicks, and a green Larsen and Hardman).
Let’s go Bucs. It’s time to put it all together!
September 26th, 2012 at 7:41 pm
I hate to say it but Schiano is starting to sound like a defensive minded coach who thinks defense will win the games regardless of the offense. I hope I am wrong.
September 26th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Off topic but looks like the Raiders got Andre Carter and the Buccaneers got whats left a castaway from the saints named Jeff Charleston with a name like that he better be chewing up the competition and not have some lame ass sack dance so george johnson teo blaasy blah and charleston chew will be the makings of the left side rush rotation when the decide to bring in peppermint patty maybee the sack sensation will increase the heat on the third line of defense
September 26th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
@ sandbagrudy:
What in the f*** did you just try to say/write?!!!!
I’m no English professor but the biggest point you made in your post was that you are either piss as* drunk or just plain retarded…
September 26th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
@sandbagrudy:
Lay off the meth. If those seven lines of gibberish are indicative of what’s going on in your head, you need some serious help. No joke, get yourself some help. Now.
September 26th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
@eliot no a was plesasuring your wife and fumbling around with the keyboard at the same time but to break it down in remedial terms for you flipperhead charleston chew is a candybar so is peppermint patti have you been locked away with the other catholic priests?
September 26th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
@sandbagrudy,
Take a look at your keyboard. Do you see those 3 little buttons to the left of the right shift button? Those are called punctuation marks. They tend to be used when writing. If you want to seem intelligent, I highly suggest you learn to use them.
September 26th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
To me, Martin has an amazing knack for making the correct decisions at top speed while running the ball. He just hasn’t had much to work with, so in that I have to agree with Coach. That being said, Blount is an amazing back & I’d like to see him get blended in to the gameplan better & more often
September 26th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
First this had to be Schiano’s idea….which is as close to him saying he f’ed up as we will ever get. The game against the Skins will be extremely telling on multiple fronts.
September 26th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Steve White had an excellent writeup with pictures of some of the mistakes of our offense against the Cowboys. He showed one play where Freeman had a huge hole to run through and/or Mike Williams wide open, but chose to make a difficult and low percentage throw to Luke Stocker, which of course fell incomplete. He also explained how a fullback needs to have running back vision, and block as if he were running the ball. A tail back is taught to follow his fullback, so when the fullback doesn’t have good vision, the play doesn’t work. He showed a play where Lorig made a terrible decision and chose the wrong gap, and the play failed. Had he chose the correct gap, it would have been a huge gain. Basically, the opportunities to make plays were there (despite the questionable play calling), but they just weren’t made for one reason or another. I don’t know how Joe feels about posting the link, but you can go on Steve White’s twitter page to read about it. Definitely a great read that explains a lot.
September 26th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
I’m wondering if this message was a request from the Glazor’s to see if folks would buy more tickets if they thought Blount was going to play. Thought?
September 26th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
All this talk about running the ball and “two headed monster” is useless unless Freeman can start playing the way he is expected to play. The Foreskins will crown the box (as they should) to stuff the run as no one respests our passing game right now. Instead of running 3 times and punting, why dont we really surprise someone and take a shot down field on the first passing play of the game. Vincent Jackson on a fly – that’ll get me fired up – as long as it’s not an interception Freeman – lets go Bucs!!!
September 26th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Blount will probably never get more than 10 offensive snaps in a game for the rest of his time as a Buccaneer. A Doug Martin injury is probably the only way any of us will ever see Blount get 15+ carries in a game again, and even then I’m not confident they wouldn’t just give the lion’s share of the carries to D.J. Ware.
To add to what Hawaiian Buc said, Lorig has been in for 77 out of 177 offensive snaps so far. That is waaaaaaaay too many in this day and age. It’s fine in goalline and short yardage plays, but at some point you need to just let your tailback read the blocks without one more guy clogging it up inside.
By the way, that injury excuse was a massive pile of crap. Blount never once has been on the injury report during this regular season that I know of.
September 26th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Hawaiian good point on Lorig. He’s not terrible but he’s not that great either. If you are trying to field the best 11 I find it hard to believe Lorig would be on the field. I have long wondered if part of our folly is using power sets so often. Two TE’s, fullbacks or what have you. Looking at our personnel I feel like our team is really geared toward spreading the defense out and running a single back primarily. I think it would help the running game by forcing teams to stop loading the box which would also make it easier for our lineman to figure out their blocking assignments. So why are we in these power sets with a mediocre fullback and receiving tight ends who are sub par blockers?
Plus this is perfect for Blount and Martin who both thrive in the open field. Yes Martin and Blount can both run between tackles but that’s not there strength. Doug Martin uses his quickness and agility to gash defenses and when the box is crowded and clogged he can’t do that. And we all know blout is best when he is at full speed breaking arm tackles and hurdling defenders in the open field. Again if the box is crowded and clogged he can’t do that.
Today Schiano claimed tha he didn’t want to necessarily be a run first team, he just wants to run the ball effectively when he does run. I remember him saying he specifically wanted to focus on running the ball so maybe that was his way of backing off of that and moving towards the NFL norm of a more 60/40 split pass to run. I just feel it’s necessary seeing as though right now we are dead last overall on offense, second to last in passing attempts, and dead last in first downs. We are 13th in rushing attempts yet we are the only team with more runs than passes that isn’t in the top 10 in rushing around the league. In fact we are 21st in rushing.
Looks like we are banging our heads against a wall with this insane resistance to pass the ball. again the best way to pass successfully is to run successfully and the best way to run successfully is to pass successfully. The days of lining up and running up the gut until your opponent breaks is long gone. To get this two headed monster that Schiano keeps talking about but has yet to show going, we need to have a respected run game and we have to use our personnel to our advantage.
September 26th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
@gotbbucs,
Not to say that it’s not full of crap, but Blount definitely was on the injury report for the Giants game. I think he was listed as probable, but he was on it. I don’t believe he was on it for the Cowgirls game though.
I think we are going to see a lot more of Blount on Sunday, unless he really struggles early. Unfortunately as a backup, that’s the way it normally is. Regardless, Bangkok Buc is absolutely right. If we don’t establish a passing game, we aren’t going to run the ball effectively. Teams are putting 8 in the box on us on a regular basis. This needs to be one of those games where Freeman puts the ball in the air 35 times, just to strike some fear in defensive coordinators.
September 26th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
You might be right Hawaiian, I think they sent him for an MRI on that Monday, it came back clear, and he practiced the next day.
I’m hoping Schiano was just using that as an excuse for his OC forgeting that Blount was even on the team. What Blount needs to do is get that ridiculous baseball cap off, keep his helmet on, and stand no less than 5 feet away from Sullivan for the entire game.
Honestly, there’s no excuse for why Martin and Blount aren’t going every other series to start the game and seeing who’s more effective early on. And even after one establishes himself to be more effective, the other should still be getting two or three carries in a row here and there.
At some point the training wheels need to come off of this offense and some chances need to be taken. I just hope it happens before we dig ourselves into a playoff race hole that we can’t climb out of. The NFC is up for grabs this year and I’m really hoping we haven’t screwed ourselves these last two weeks.
September 27th, 2012 at 12:15 am
ElioT:
Joe really has no take on the guy. Remember, Joe is about topics, not transactions. It’s hard for Joe to get worked up over a guy who was walking the streets in late September. Joe always has to ask himself, “If the guy really could contribute, why did 31 other teams also pass on him and why was he walking the streets?”
September 27th, 2012 at 12:28 am
off topic i think its hilarious how we are number one in stopping the run and last in our passing defense. but needless to say use blount didnt we learn from cadillac not to use these rookie running backs at whole lot its pathetic how much their using martin.
September 27th, 2012 at 1:01 am
Of all the media rubbish floating around this week, I think the soon-to-be-starting play of Te’o-Nesheim should be forefront.
He has shown big time play as well as big time gaffs. Clayborn may not have been a huge impact so far this year, but he wasn’t hurting the line either. Te’o-Nesheim may aid or break that side of the line.
September 27th, 2012 at 1:02 am
Well Ander my running theory is that Schiano is REAL big on not turning the ball over. Every coach hates it but Schiano fears it, he loathed it, he won’t accept it and he does everything in his power to stop turnovers from happening. That’s why we have cut so many punt returners so far this season, it’s why we have the second least amount of passing attempts and it’s why Blount doesn’t play (last years fumbling issues). That’s why He is so hesitant to take Martin out, because he has never had an issue securing the ball. I imagine it will pass though. Schianos new to this head coaching thing and he’s been out of the NFL for a long time. His philosophy will change because he’s not stupid and probably already realizes you can’t play that conservative, ball security over everything style anymore and survive.
September 27th, 2012 at 1:32 am
Been busy but I finally just got a chance to re-watch the game and there’s a few things I just wanted to say. We could have had a couple of really big plays out of our running game, had Dallas Clark not completely whiffed on his blocks. I’m sorry, but he is wasting a roster spot right now. Whatever he had at Indy is long gone. We don’t have a single TE on our roster that is worth a poop at in-line run blocking or even at just holding their ground at the point. I would seriously consider releasing Clark soon, and I’m not being over dramatic about that either.
The first sack that Freeman took on that three step drop, where he just stood there and Ware drilled him from behind…..all Mike Williams fault. Williams was supposed to run a hot route slant and I think Freeman could not beleive that he just jogged off the line looking like he had no idea what the play was. Had he run his route he would still be running because the backside safety blitzed and there was nobody there between him and the endzone. Mike Williams has serious issues against press coverage, he looks like a boy fighting with men whenever he is jammed at the line. That will be a serious problem moving forward for him.
Something just looks completely off with our whole run blocking scheme. we don’t have the horses up front to just maul guys one on one besides for Nicks and sometimes Penn. Zuttah can’t do it and Larsen certainly can’t. In 2010 when we had this issue running the ball we switched to alot of zone concepts and pulled our guards alot more and attacked the edges. They need to go back to that style I think for the ground game to turn around. It’s just too hard to run up the gut consistently in the NFL. Lorig is better at kicking out DE’s than he is at trying to decipher the right hole to hut for our RB’s.
September 27th, 2012 at 2:08 am
Yep gotbucs I agree. As I posted above with the receiving tight ends we have, our mediocre fullback, and the personnel on our o-line I think this team is tailor made to spread defenses out and run out of single back. Get rid of the weak blockers in the TE’s and fullback and force teams to stop loading the box on us. I won’t reiterate my whole thoughts because it was a lot of writing before, I’ll just say that I think all the power formations we use is working against the personnel we have.
September 27th, 2012 at 6:07 am
Joe –
C’mon man. Stop force-feeding us Blount stories.
Many of us are really getting sick of it.