Stop Clobbering The Offensive Line
September 10th, 2014
Last year, the Panthers held opponents to 16 or fewer points in 10 — Ten! — of their 16 regular season games. They had a smothering run defense and the led the NFL in sacks. What exactly was expected from the Bucs’ offensive line Sunday?
The reality is they weren’t that bad.
Joe’s had enough of the Bucs’ offensive line bashing that he’s hearing from various analysts and spreadsheet crunchers.
The Bucs scored two legitimate offensive touchdowns against an elite defense that allowed — whaddya know — two touchdowns a game last season (15 points average).
Sunday’s loss, offensively, belongs on Josh McCown’s shoulders. His mistakes were brutal.
But some would have you believe that somehow, this heinous offensive line, led to McCown completing 63 percent of his passes, including two (perhaps three) drops by Vincent Jackson. That doesn’t happen behind an incompetent offensive line.
Now Joe’s not saying the Bucs’ offensive line was anything more than average. They weren’t, but dropping the blame there is misguided.
What set Joe off this morning is former Redskins and Texans general manager Charley Casserly, of NFL Network, ripping the Bucs’ offensive line and pointing the dreaded finger of doom at them.
(You can listen to Casserly’s take below via 620wdae.com audio. The Bucs talk picks up at the 5:00 mark.)
September 10th, 2014 at 11:11 am
You don’t see Malloy bashing the O-line.
He only puts blame where it is sorely deserved
and endures the scorn of the profane masses
who (unlike Malloy) cannot see big picture.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:15 am
Too bad we don’t play the texans later in the season.
Might be a rude awakening for Mr. Casserly.
Maybe we will??
September 10th, 2014 at 11:16 am
Is this a joke? The line was terrible. It was bad in pass protection and inexcusably bad in run blocking outside of one play.
Good god. Its atrocious. How can you defend that performance?
Smh
September 10th, 2014 at 11:16 am
Nice Joe. I like the blaming of McCown….exactly where its due. If he doesn’t make those terrible decisions that were 2 INTS, the Bucs win that game. Both lead to TDs by Carolina. And one of them took them out of near FG range.
I also like you sticking up for this view yesterday vs Deumig. He loves any QB named “Josh” for some reason. If Glennon had that game, Deumig would have destroyed him. He’s getting old and senile
September 10th, 2014 at 11:18 am
Josh did not have enough time on most plays and we could not run the ball, until the Panthers tired at the end of the game. The line needs to and they will, get better with each game together.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:20 am
Jenkins out for season. Torn pectoral.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:26 am
Wrong! The O’line has been pitiful for multiple seasons now and nothing has changed. It’s not like it was their first bad game. They cannot stop penetration and they cannot open holes. Yes, they did pass protect well at times but, they were manhandled on too many occasions. Until this O’line starts to play well my beloved Bucs are going nowhere.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:27 am
If you can’t run the ball you’ve got no balance to your offense and play action won’t work. Your bell cow RB averaged 1 yd/carry for 9 carries. The O-Line opened one hole the entire game and you think they did a decent job?
September 10th, 2014 at 11:27 am
Had Trent McCown…I mean Josh Dilfer….uh, you know, our QB not made those eye-brow lifting, stand up out of my chair, strangest crap I’ve seen from a BUCS QB in a while, plays – I think the tone would have been much different and the Defense would have benefited from it.
The fact that our Defense had to keep trotting out there due to this crazy behavior, in that heat, over and over, manifested itself into what is now the week 1 loss to the panthers.
Line played well given the circumstances and injuries.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:31 am
Pass pro was pretty good, slightly above average. Outside of the Lane 53-yard run the run blocking was below average. On many plays significantly so.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:31 am
Great post, Joe.
Fact is, his first INT was when the Bucs were on the Carolina 40 in a then scoreless game. Taking the lead there with some kind of points would’ve been nice.
And the 2nd INT set them up with short field.
Carolina scored 14 off both INTs.
O-Line wasn’t anything great but they didn’t lose the game. McCown’s careless play did.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:31 am
Joe
Playing against the 2nd ranked defense in the league, our patched together OL did fine. The QB has to throw the ball and not hang onto it. Could you also explain why he was in a shotgun and would back up even more after being hiked the ball?
Also I keep asking why was the FB only given one carry for 54 yards and never seen again? Can you get an answer for us?
September 10th, 2014 at 11:35 am
Wins against division foes will be a tough nut to crack. None of these teams got worse over the offseason, it appears. The NFC west and south look to be stacked with legitimate contenders, bar a couple teams.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:35 am
McCown held the ball way to long. It was painful to watch.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:42 am
Isn’t there an old saying that you can tell how well the Offensive line played by the looking how dirty your QB jersey is? By all accounts Josh looked filthy as hell lmao
September 10th, 2014 at 11:42 am
There is plenty of “blame” to go around for this loss on both sides of the ball. Starting with McCown’s 2 terrible decisions which resulted in turnovers then points. But to defend the OL (even against a great Defense) and say they played “average” is a fools errand Joe. OL did not play well – at least not for 3 1/2 quarters.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:45 am
I’d blame the line for the lack of a running game if we didn’t see the same thing when Martin tried to run last year. I’m starting to think that it’s more about the RB and less about the OL. McCown had time. Not every snap but he had time on plenty of the plays that went awry. They won’t be a HoF line but they did well enough for us to get that win.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:52 am
If the line sucks why is a offense trying so many 5 and 7 step drops? When the bucs play a QB and don’t get any sacks the excuses is: “look how many 3 step drops the QB took”. Every QB on every team or practice squad can throw the ball when the O-line gives them time. McCown makes the o-line look bad because he holds the ball. He can’t and hasn’t ever been able to process the info quickly enough to be an effective QB in this league. QB’s that can process the info fast enough are rare but that’s why they get the big dollars. To win the Bucs need to get the ball out of hand as quick as possible and not let him do “his thing”. He is like a really crappy version of Bret Farve.
September 10th, 2014 at 11:59 am
Saying we scored 14 pts against the panthers is like saying we “almost” beat Seattle in their house last year. So what – we lost. Scoring 14 points against the panthers was too little too late. So we scored twice – Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then…
September 10th, 2014 at 12:10 pm
A patchwork, work in progress O line matched against a top front 7 in their first game. Dubious play calling by the Love Boat’s “committee” and a typical Buccaneer QB performance. Ack….
Not too shabby. They’ll get better.
September 10th, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Patrick, the Panthers keyed on the running game because they weren’t exactly respecting our “QB of the present”.
They were right.
September 10th, 2014 at 12:23 pm
That O-line play may not have been world beaters, but I’ll be damned if they didn’t play lights out compared to what I thought they would play. Overall I was happy with their performance against one of the best front 7’s in the league.
They improved greatly from the Jags game. If only incognito was here, maybe McCown would have had only one absolutely stupid, boneheaded, left hand girl throw the whole game.
September 10th, 2014 at 12:27 pm
They were decent in pass protection but McCown held the ball for way too long.
They couldn’t push a grocery cart in the running game though.
September 10th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
It is not all on the o-line…every unit deserved blame.
That said, their inability to open lanes to establish the run game torpedoed our whole game plan on offense.
September 10th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
I blame Lovie Smith.
September 10th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
Aside from the javorski’s touchdown, the run blocking was atrocious.. and we only got that because it was the only play all day that Tedford called( I hope…. oh god I hope).
September 10th, 2014 at 12:53 pm
“Buc1987 Says:
September 10th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
I blame Lovie Smith.”
Agreed.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Collins play well and so did sunshine. EDS is a little soft he waits for contact instead of delivering the punishment. The rook didn’t play completely aweful although he still looked lost out there and Dotson held his own.
But here is how I measure a good oline. If you can interchange RBs and they still run for 100 yrds a game then you have a good oline ala Denver, Washington in the 90s.
If a bucs oline could ever get 3 different running to run for 100yrds a game especially against a top ranked defense maybe like a Super Bowl contender then I’d be like yea they have a decent oline. But that has never happened here in Tampa. I bet lovie would pay n arm n a leg for an oline like that.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Given the turnover on the O-line, I think even average play early in the season is encouraging. I fully expect they will continue to get better as the season goes on. Sunday was the first full game they’ve played together as a unit, so I think there’s reason for hope.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:19 pm
I’m with you. The offensive line played average. Our QBs can’t throw INTs and RBs can’t fumble if we want to win.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
mccown holds the ball too long and it doesn’t make our below average o-line look any better than it isn’t. it’s going to be a long year and i would say we will see glennon at some point. maybe sooner than later.
if i were the coach i would tell mccown in no uncertain terms that ridiculous plays like the 3 he made this weekend will not be tolerated and if he pulls that crap again he will be benched and if outplayed he will stay there.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Wow. I am with Charley who has orchestrated some of the best olines in history. I believe he knows what he is talking about. Our line sucks period. Some of you are so not used to seeing a good line that you think what you saw from the bucs was average. This line sucks period and if they keep playing this way then McCown will not look any better.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:48 pm
Jaworski scored a touchdown? Please don’t comment on a game you didn’t watch.
September 10th, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Other than those ridiculous decisions leading to ints, he had Vj and evans wide open downfield on multiple occasions and just didn’t pull the friggin trigger. We shall see what happens week 2. I don’t want mccown to fail (again) but i would love to see my boy MG8 come in and save the day and stick it to all the haters
September 10th, 2014 at 1:55 pm
The Rams DL have ordered pizza while watching the comedy in their film room today !
September 10th, 2014 at 2:24 pm
We could have scored way more than 2 touchdowns, wide open receivers but the ball was held to long. That being said the run game was horrible, you run thru open holes but if there are no holes you run into a wall or in our case we run into the back of our lineman because their being pushed all over the field.
September 10th, 2014 at 3:36 pm
STOP CLOBBERING THE OFFENSIVE LINE!
(the other team does it enough every Sunday)
September 10th, 2014 at 3:40 pm
As bad as some of you Yucs out there think the OL was, consider they were playing one of the top defenses in the league in both scoring, yards, and rushing yards. They don’t get much tougher than the Carolina run defense. They didn’t do well, true, but not every team will be anywhere near Carolina on D.
September 10th, 2014 at 4:08 pm
So if the team is playing someone good, we shouldn’t complain. Cause, you know, they’re tryin’ out there.
By the way, any other Season Ticket Holders get their invite as to when the ceremony is at the end of the year where all the Bucs players get their participation trophies?
September 10th, 2014 at 4:15 pm
For those of you who believe the offensive line was so bad Sunday you ought to go back and watch the tape…in slow motion. They really were pretty good. They didn’t open many holes for the RB’s but don’t RB’s get paid to make plays anyway? Beastmode does. He doesn’t always have holes open up for him, he still makes plays. Doug Martin was terrible in pass protection. Rainey was better except for the fumble. I was impressed with how Gilkey stepped in. He looks like a good pick up.