The Demise Of Davin Joseph And The O-Line
October 14th, 2013
Joe’s watched Davin Joseph struggle all season long. It’s a sad dropoff in performance from a former Pro Bowl player and a guy the Bucs are paying a fortune of money at right guard.
What’s also stunning is that the Bucs’ offensive line is not opening holes for Doug Martin. Jeremy Zuttah often looks like he might be a better guard than center, and the loss of Carl Nicks is evident.
Former Bucs guard Ian Beckles (1990-1996) has long been one of Joseph’s biggest fans, but now it pains Beckles to watch him.
“I’m watching this offensive line. Larsen’s not good. Ok. Larsen wouldn’t start for anyone else at any time. Davin Joseph, I’ve sat here before and said, ‘Davin Joseph is the best guard to every play [for the Bucs.] And I played the exact same position. He’s not good right now. He’s not healthy. He’s getting driven back,” Beckles said co-hosting the Ron and Ian show on WDAE-AM 620 today. “Listen, I know Davin a little bit. I would say, ‘listen, you’re hurt bro.’ I mean, I applaud him for playing through it, but the results aren’t that good. We’re not moving anybody off the ball.
“It’s not Doug Martin’s fault. Doug Martin is running his ass off to get 50 yards, running hard, running guys over, but there’s nothing there.”
Cerebral former Bucs tight end Dave Moore also talked today on WDAE about the surprising demise of the Bucs’ O-line and about how Martin is not to blame in any way for the running game’s struggles.
Joseph could be at a crossroads of his career. Yes, he’s coming off a major knee injury, but he’s about to turn 30 next month. If he doesn’t improve this season, then Joseph likely could be history in TampaBay. He’s scheduled to earn $6 million in 2014. (Enjoy Beckles’ full rant below. He hits on a lot of topics.)
October 14th, 2013 at 10:47 am
The O-line is a shell of what it was last year. Last year they opened holes for Martin to run through. Not this year, not without getting penalized for holding every single time. Someone please litmit Martins carries before he gets hurt. Nothing left to play for this year except pride.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:06 am
Just seems like this is one of those seasons that almost everything that could go wrong has for the team. Jobs will most likely be lost (coaches, players, GM?), but at this point I’m just praying none of the Bucs get career ending injuries.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:07 am
after 5 drafts is anyone with an i.q above room temperature okay with Doms drafting of O-lineman??
He is going to blow my 5-11 predication!
October 14th, 2013 at 11:07 am
I’d trade Joseph get the salary off the books same with turnstile penn and nicks if he is fine by deadline trade him to we could get a first for him then with the three picks you rebuild this oline to fit whatever new system we will run oh and I would tell zuttah take a big paycut or ur gonna be released make him back to back up swing guard/center so we can release Larson and build real depth along the front line I’d pretty much draft like this 1st(qb or de) 2nd(te or oline) rest oline depth
October 14th, 2013 at 11:08 am
As much as it pains me to say this about the team I love, The Buc’s roster is full of overrated and overpaid players. Be it by injury, age, or not fitting a system, some big money making names are underperforming. I know a lot of it is the coaching, but if players can’t or won’t do what they are coached up to do, then it looks like 0-5
October 14th, 2013 at 11:08 am
Or make penn take a huge paycut and put him at his true position RT
October 14th, 2013 at 11:11 am
Ian Beckles said it after the ARI game and it stuck in my head: watch Doug Martin. When he’s juking BEFORE he gets to the line of scrimmage that’s a sign that the O-line is getting pushed back. He shouldn’t be juking to avoid DTs. He should be juking to avoid LBs and Safeties.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:12 am
@john
Dominik is on record as saying he doesn’t LIKE drafting O-linemen! He prefers to get them off of other team’s practice squads. Boy oh boy is it showing.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:20 am
Talk about disrupting plays, Zuttah kept getting pushed back into the backfield and spent as much time there as Glennon
October 14th, 2013 at 11:25 am
This line couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper sack.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:48 am
Major house cleaning coming. I like Schiano and Dom but it’s time to go. The player’s never bought in to Schiano this year. I’m ashamened of the Buc’s player’s and want a number of them gone. Starting with the 8M cancer….Goldson. Unfortunatly the dead money in that contract makes him uncuttable. Yes we can just release Revis at the end of the year. A trade is impossible. Nobody will take that contract. He’ll probably get another year. Nicks and Joshef are as good as gone maybe even Penn. We’ll take that 20M and try out a couple younger O-linemen and draft the third. A FREAKING TE would be nice. This should be an attractive job for potencial GM. The holes are not hard to see. Dropping Revis would allow us to fill them all. Maybe even free up enough cash to just eat Goldson’s dead money. Then sign a safety capable of defending a pass. That won’t worry about adding to his hard hitting video at the expence of the team.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:19 pm
I tried to tell people that D. Joseph was overrated. Just like Clayborn is overrated. These guys are not dominant and are very inconsistent. They make one good play and fans act like they’re all-pro caliber. Both are tremendously overrated
October 14th, 2013 at 12:28 pm
It’s a bit of Martin too. It’s in his head. I didn’t watch the game yesterday but vs ARiz. You could see him making the wrong read. I mean it’s the same line as last year. Actually better on paper. This is a team effort. Everybody is pitching in on this losing streak. The OC that called a pass play up by 7 with 4 minutes left vs Ariz. Too the trainer and medical staff. The new coach will not be a hard a$$ college coach. Today’s player’s can’t handle REAL coach’s. Player’s today are as tough as women in the 50’s. I think it has something to do with the way kid’s are raised nowaday’s. The pussification of men today. More likely to sit at the coffee shop and run smack. Than build a deck or gut a deer.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Profootballfocus has been calling Davin a bum for 5 years now.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Davin Joseph is not overrated, he is just not healthy. As a consequence he is not playing well at all. Clayborn on the other hand is playing well. No one is calling him J J Watt but he is a hard player who disrupts plays much the same way McCoy does. Yesterday the entire defense had their first bad game. That’s a shame because in spite of the poor offensive line play putting Glennon in long yardage situations he actually showed up to play and did very well. Overall our O-line is horrible.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
When Clayborn is opposite Clowney, we will finally have a great pass rush.
October 14th, 2013 at 2:17 pm
D. Joseph is an average ball player. Bucs is my squad but I have to be objective. Every crucial short yardage play he gets stonewall and a lot of time pushed backwards. This is when he was supposedly healthy. Also he gets injured every season.
October 14th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Clayborn is very overrated by the fans. No one that isn’t a Bucs fan give him props. When the game is on the line he never gets a sack. The expectations are so low I hear fans getting excited over a 7 or 8 sack season like that is doing something great. That is average to slightly above.
October 14th, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Ian Beckles is my favorite analyst… always tells it like it is.
October 14th, 2013 at 6:32 pm
This team is littered with over-paid above average talent on the decline. If this were a contract year do you think Joseph would be performing better? I would bet yes and the same with Penn & Nicks. All three have mailed in, you’ll be rebuilding that line here soon as they all know there jobs for the most part will go unchallenged. Schiano was dead on when he said the team was built to soon. Dominick has over paid in all the wrong areas in hopes of masking his poor drafting in the others. A great QB can make average offensive players look better. Same is true with a great d-line. We have neither however Glennon could turn out to be a special fella if he doesn’t get caught in the circus tents collapsing at ONE BUC PLACE.
October 14th, 2013 at 9:31 pm
Also Mike Williams is overrated. He never gets separation from DB