Running Against The Grain; Overruling Sullivan
October 29th, 2013
In a somewhat ironic twist, the NFL is proving to be more of a passing league than ever yet Bucs head coach Greg Schiano talked multiple times yesterday about how he and his staff blew it by not running the ball more against the Panthers.
This was somewhat bizarre on two levels. First, the Bucs had no chance against Carolina without going to the air. They were trailing big early. Second, Schiano telling everyone that will listen that the Bucs need to run the ball much more on Sunday screams of the head coach trying to sell a smokescreen because he plans on Glennon throwing early and often.
NFL stats show that halfway through the 2013 season only three teams have starting running backs averaging more than 80 yards per game: LeSean McCoy (91.6), Adrian Peterson (81.6) and Alfred Morris (80.7). And none of their respective teams have a winning record.
The totals represent a significant dropoff from years past. Last year, six running backs averaged 89 or more yards per game.
Joe would love to see the Bucs pound the rock successfully, but they’ve proven incapable of that this season. And with Doug Martin out of the lineup, it’s downright foolish to think they’ll be able to pull a running game out of thin air — in Seattle.
Yesterday, Schiano came very close — and it Joe’s opinion he did — to publicly criticizing Mike Sullivan for getting away from the run and being seduced by the talent and execution ability of Mike Glennon. Schiano talked about it during his news conference, and during his radio show.
“We need to be more committed to the run game. And that’s me. I know that we have an offensive coordinator who calls plays. But I have a say,” Schiano said on WDAE-AM 620 last night. “I can get on and say, ‘Look, I want to keep running the ball. Let’s run it, you know, more.’ In our game planning, I need to do a better job of making sure that that’s clear.”
October 29th, 2013 at 9:55 am
I caught that too, Joe. First thing that went through my mind was more runs on first 🙁
October 29th, 2013 at 9:57 am
And Sullivan is about to take the bullet.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:03 am
How the heck are we supposed to run more when our putrid line can’t make holes for our rookie running back? Sullivan knows he has no option other than Glennon. Were about to get creamed in Seattle.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:08 am
I agree with blackmagic this coach is a little league ball coach.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:14 am
So in other words, nobody over there knows what in the world they are doing
October 29th, 2013 at 10:24 am
Please Stop!!!
Just go away already.We have endured enough.Stop talking.Just please don’t make any more changes that will hurt this franchise moving forward.Thank you for your time Coach.We wish you and your family much success in your next gig.But please in the name of Leroy,Derrick, Warren,Hardy,Ronde just stop and kindly don’t break anything else before you leave.
Thank you.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:26 am
Saying we need to run more when our line can’t open holes and we are playing from behind makes no sense. He is just talking….
October 29th, 2013 at 10:27 am
Look at it this way…how long has it been since the Bucs had a true shot at the best quarterback in the draft?
I agree that this is now a passing league, and the college coaches that have failed seem to think running the ball is more important than passing it.
Although, it could be argued that we stopped having close games when Sullivan started passing more.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:29 am
Schiano’s overall philosophy is dated in todays NFL. He wants to run the ball like crazy and throw low percentage deep passes. Schiano’s hand picked QB has yet to throw a deep ball with accuracy. The Bucs offense has Schiano’s fingerprints all over it. Sullivan is taking a lot of heat, but he’s not running the Giants offense, the offense he knows.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:44 am
So Joe you agree that Glennon should pass 50 times a game?? That is what he is saying..A rookie QB shouldn’t be passing 50 times a game dude!!!
October 29th, 2013 at 10:48 am
The Bucs can’t win passing and they can’t win running. The guy is trying to change things up in an effort to produce a different outcome but it simply won’t work. Nothing will work this season. Moving on from Schiano and Dominik is all that will work, and that likely won’t come until season’s end. Enjoy your 0-16 or 1-15 Bucs fans, and a top 2 pick along with it.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:53 am
Too little, too late.
October 29th, 2013 at 10:54 am
So running a rookie behind a decimated offensive line is a better move?
October 29th, 2013 at 11:05 am
Our problem lies with our O-line & D-line…its as simple as that….Oh, you can add coaching, injuries, penalties, playcalling, scheme and all those things add up to losses but our lines are losing our games.
Poor protection and not opening lanes
Little pressure on opposing QBs
October 29th, 2013 at 11:08 am
The rookie running back, Stacy, for the Rams got 134 yards against the Seahawks last night, 200 yards rushing for the whole team.
Sure they still lost, but that is mostly because Clemens threw two picks.
October 29th, 2013 at 11:30 am
Changing things up at this point, is fruitless. Even if he did it early on it probably would not have worked either. The guy is inept when it comes to coaching in the NFL. It’s a damn shame too. A lot of us fans saw the team addressing the secondary in the off season and thought that it would translate into more wins. With the offense coming into it’s 2nd season in the same system, surely it was all going to translate into more wins than last. The one thing most of us we’re overlooking was the HC was still new to the NFL and judging by some of his calls last season was he was learning on the job. I know I surely did see many mistakes he made last season, but I overlooked them coming into this season thinking he would learn from them.
I don’t think he is capable of learning from his mistakes at the NFL level or even adjusting and fixing them. What was it he said about 6 weeks ago?
“we have a formula that works and it’s proven to work.” Something along those lines. It’s either he’s too damn stubborn to change or too inept to adjust.
There were a few of you that saw this about Schiano early on, and I dismissed you as just an angry fan that’s just frustrated over the losses.
This guy is far worse than anything that was suggested by some fans in here early on though.
I knew what Buccaneer Men was all about early on. I also said it might work or blow up in his face. It appears that it has blown up in his face. Some say he treats the players like kids. I say he is an over-controlling maniac, which is fine, if your team wins. Now that the team has not won, there is not many that respect him anymore within the players and the fans.
Hate to break to all the fans, but this team IS going 0-16. It’s going to be a long 2 months Bucs fans. There is no fixing this mess with Schiano at the helm.
October 29th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
I agree, running a rookie behind our current Oline is not going to produce any different results, we’ll just be in 3rd and long situations more often. And with Williams now gone teams can double Jackson which will make passing even more difficult. Realistically I don’t see any chance for us winning in Seattle. I had assumed we would win a few games at least this year but that now is in doubt.
October 29th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
JOE! Yes, running it and passing it is a better move. That is all He was saying!!! this Schiano bashing article # 2 today.
October 29th, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Joe, why did you pick 80 yards/game as a your benchmark? Drop it to 75 yards/game and you have Jammal Charles, Marshawn Lynch and Frank Gore. Seems a bit arbitrary, though I don’t disagree with your overall point.
October 29th, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Schiano needs to stop with run versus pass balancing BS. In the Bucs case they have to go with what ever is working on offense. The O-line gets stuffed 9 out of 10 times on run plays.
So of course your going to have to pass more unless you like giving your QB 1 pass play to make up 10 yds. Which after the first penalty they are typically looking at 2nd and 15 anyway. Schiano is a clueless dimwit. Go watch more tape coach maybe it will just come to you.
October 29th, 2013 at 3:44 pm
No.
No.
Schiano has intent to change only one thing.
His scapegoat
It’s the wretched Rutgers offense. He’s armed it down Sullivan’s throat.no that it has predictably failed- time to pass the Buc!!( lol)
Sullivan, recent info is that you are taking Antibiotics, and Viagra!!!
THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!
October 29th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
This isn’t so much the Rutgers offense, it’s more like the Woody Hayes offense at Ohio State except we are lucky if we can get 3 yards before the cloud of dust!