Offensive Line A Simple Solution?
December 26th, 2013
Left guard Jamon Meredith was benched in the second quarter Sunday.
Bucs commander Greg Schiano isn’t exactly doing jumping jacks over the play of his offensive line.
Watching Bobby Rainey run time after time after time into a wall Sunday was enough for Joe to jump off the ledge of the Ed Jones dome. Granted, the Rams get paid, too, and they did their job but it wasn’t like there were holes for Rainey to run through.
Schiano detailed woes of the offensive line Monday, as Joe documented, but Schiano also explained the formula to fix them.
“What do you do? You go back to work and you say ‘Okay we got a combination block on that three technique. Let’s go back to the footwork.’ You always teach from the feet up, ‘Let’s start from the feet up, did we take the proper step?’ No? Well then you really don’t have to talk about the rest of it, because if you don’t take the right step, you’re not going to have the right base regardless if the linebacker flies over the top or if he stays where he is,” Schiano explained.
“You just go back to fundamentals and teach, that’s what you can do or you can throw it every down and then Mike [Glennon], he’s not going to be standing. Our approach is you go back to the fundamentals and you don’t hit this time of year, so what do you do? You work on footwork, you work on hand placement, you work on eye placement, all the little details and we’ll improve in our final game. We have to if we’re going to win this game, we have to improve. We can’t go out and do what we did Sunday and think that we’ll win.”
This puzzles Joe. It was Joe’s understanding that Schiano and his coaches were sticklers for fundamentals. Yet in the waning days of the season, fundamentals and technique are still an issue? These are not Bob Bostad’s finest moments as offensive line coach. The guy did a tremendous job last year when he lost two starting guards and had to bench a right tackle and relocate a center. The Bucs weren’t exactly the 1970s Oakland Raiders up front, but Bostad’s charges did an admirable job.
If you go by results alone, Bostad hasn’t worked any magic this year. Joe’s of the mind that line sure could use some fresh blood in the offseason.
December 26th, 2013 at 8:39 am
the solution is easy, Fire the pop-star. trust me, the whole team will be better for it!
December 26th, 2013 at 8:59 am
Spend two mid round picks on two big college OTs that are considered to be too slow or not tall enough to make it at OT in the pros, kick them inside to OG, restructure or cut Nicks/Joseph, sign a young cheap vet and retain Meredith and Larsen for depth and competition and make a go of it.
December 26th, 2013 at 9:45 am
Talent people or lack of it – hey why can’t that local band sound like led zep
December 26th, 2013 at 9:50 am
I like Schiano’s take on this. I would take a similar approach. Lets go back to fundamentals. We start with a head new coach. Then we implement some a new offense of coordinator followed by a defense of coordinator.
You have to start at the foundation of the problem. If you don’t, nothing will work. Then talented players become vanilla under college game plans in the NFL. Even Adrian Peterson will gain minimum yardage running into a wall of defenders like last Sunday.
Trust, Belief, Accountability
Fundamentals people…. Fundamentals.
December 26th, 2013 at 10:10 am
The O-line is not performing…fire Schiano! QB can’t hit wide open WR…fire GM!
Who on this OL did Schiano draft? Hmmm. These are “professional” athletes, it’s not always on the HC, you can’t blame him for everything!
December 26th, 2013 at 10:12 am
I remember watching a Patriots game several years ago where they came out and threw the ball on something like 25 plays in a row. Why? Because The Hoodie evaluates all the factors and then has his coordinators do what is most likely to succeed. Schiano could never, never, ever throw the ball that many times in a row – even if the situation called for it. On 9 in the box, you effing throw it or you’re a dumbass. No huddle is working great? Um, better stop calling it because we didn’t practice it enough. The Hoodie would have gone no huddle for the rest of the game until it got stopped.
And that is one of the differences between apprentice and master.
And Joe is spot on with the “back to basics” thing. After two years of this coach, the team is WORSE at the “basics.”
December 26th, 2013 at 11:07 am
So grown men that have been playing football all their lives and are now NFL professions don’t know the fundamentals of their position?
December 26th, 2013 at 11:15 am
So the solution is to fire everyone? That approach may work but as a fan since the Bucs inception I am not sure its a way to build a good team. Unless you plan on being bad for a number of years and loading the team with top 5 draft picks. Simply go look at our history and you can see how its worked for us.
Mrsa, josh spiraling out, et al… Its like a chef working with half the kitchen. Schiano and staff deserve another year before we start changing coaches like I change my socks
December 26th, 2013 at 11:50 am
Nah, not buying the coach speak, nor am I buying fundamentals bullspit. Amazing how these players forgot how to play the game after Schiano and Co. arrived.
December 26th, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Exactly Mr. Patrick! Coaches coach and players play! Some blame has to be put on the players, don’t you think?
Madmacskillz, are you seriously comparing Belichek and Schiano?! Belichek has like two decades of head coaching experience(probably more but I’m too lazy to look it up!), and some guy named Tom Brady at QB. I’d say that is one lopsided comparison.
Compare the two when Belichek was HC at Cleveland. We often forget that he wasn’t always “the hoodie”!
December 26th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Bucsfanman — yes you can blame the head coach for everything because he is RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING…. Personal Responsibility and Accountability are lost in today’s society. If you fail YOU fail!!!! OWN IT!!! Everyone knows the old saying Excuses are like Aholes everyone has one. Schiano is not the right man for the job. He is too stubborn and waits until it’s too late to make adjustments. Whether the adjustments are in game, personnel or daily tasks. It just takes too long for him to make adjustments.
I am OK with Dominick I blame his first couple of years on ownership for not spending money while they were dealing with Manchester United’s debt problems. I think Dom and his staff do a great job with UFA. The the draft is such a gamble and I believe an honest evaluation would show that he and his staff have gotten consistently better with drafting. The last two drafts have been great.
December 26th, 2013 at 1:23 pm
We have one the best defenses in the league.
And the worst offense in the league.
Our offense cant give our defense a break!
The fact that our defense is playing so great. While spending so much time on the field, is amazing.
Our defense is unbelievable this year. Schiano did it. And Dom. They gave us a defense that is eerily reminiscent of the Old Bucs Defense.
We just got screwed on our O-line! Cant you fools see that??
We are a running team, with no guards!! Joseph has been so weak all year. He should of been placed on IR and given another YEAR to rehab. With big men, lineman, they need twice as much time to rehab than skill players. I think we rushed Joseph AND Nicks back. So we destroyed both of their careers.
We shouldve signed TWO young guards to coach up. Meredith, Zuttah, and Larsen are veryyyyyy avg. to below avg. starters.
Davin Joseph got pushed back ALL year.
Our offense was a disaster because we had the WORST O-line in the NFL.
We MUST fix our O-line to have ANY chance next year!
But you cant blame Schiano for Nicks and Joseph. U just cant.
December 26th, 2013 at 2:06 pm
teacherman777 – Be realistic we DO NOT have one of the best Defenses in the league. The D has the Potential to be great…. When the BUCS did have one of the best defenses in the league it translated to WINS…. Wins are all that matter and this defense has blown leads, gave up untimely big plays and led the league in penalties… I do agree with you on the O-Line but damn dude saying the bucs are one of the best defenses in the league is a stretch. Potential YES!!!! One of the Best NO
December 26th, 2013 at 2:12 pm
dominick seems to have a problem with falling in love with his own roster. going all the way back to thinking jermaine phillips could take over derrick brooks’ job up to this year’s business with the likes of luke stocker and da’quan bowers, he just fails to anticipate “his guys” not living up to the job they’ve been handed when competition is out there at a bargain price to be signed. of course, the ultimate example of overrating his own players has turned out to be his first ever draft pick, josh freeman. our OL, largely homegrown, was probably never as good as dom projected it to be and now definitely needs some new blood. we have seen these fill-in linemen (larsen, meredith, dotson) show their limitations when pressed in to service year after year and yet the same guys make the roster without much difficulty every season.
the boldest thing dominick ever did was make gaines adams the most quickly traded away top 5 pick in history (until trent richardson i guess) – he hasn’t shown that clarity of thinking about his team’s talent level often enough, unfortunately.
December 26th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
on a more optimistic note, davin joseph is likely back to a near-pro bowl level next year with another offseason of recovery, and maybe we will finally see carl nicks start a run of games. i think we have a very healthy cap situation without having to jettison either. and we shouldn’t let either go until we know we have a capable replacement for the next 3+ years on the roster PLUS a solid backup. the team needs to stop valuing cap rollover more than competitive depth or it will always be stuck a year or two away from contention. if the 2 guards above show they are on track by may, we can focus on tackles higher in the draft and some interior line sleepers late. Penn does not have much time left as an NFL starter. he publicly discussed this being his best offseason of preparation ever and he’s had some of his worst games since getting the job
December 26th, 2013 at 2:36 pm
tmaxcon-Your point is well taken. Accountability is severely lacking in today’s society. That being said, don’t the players have responsibility as well? I would argue that since they are being paid to play, they have the most responsibility on the field. Penn whiffing on a block that gets Glennon sacked is not an adjustable situation. Penn failed, not Schiano. You can’t just sub some schlepp in at LT and expect the problem to be corrected. You’re right, the team hasn’t adjusted late in games, that’s on the coach. All I’m saying is that it isn’t Greg dropping footballs, missing tackles, or allowing sacks. Spread the blame.
Look, I get it. The guy isn’t winning football games. He deserves the criticism as well as some of the blame. You gave the GM a pass though. I think it’s fair to say that Dominick should shoulder some of the blame as well, don’t you? 5 years with no playoff appearances speaks for itself. Schiano’s only been here for two. Is it coincidence that the last two drafts have been better? Something to think about.