Ronald Jones And Explosive Plays
May 10th, 2018
Needs to add explosive plays.
Is he explosive enough?
That will likely be on the mind of one Dirk Koetter beginning Friday .
As the rookies snap on a chin strap for the Bucs for the first time when their minicamp begins tomorrow afternoon, the third-year Bucs head coach will likely be asking his assistants, if not Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht, whether second round pick Ronald Jones can be explosive enough.
It’s one thing to do it in college, it’s quite another with grown arse men in the NFL.
Koetter loves to talk about explosive plays. Koetter considers an explosive play as any running play of 12 yards or longer or a pass play of 16 yards or longer. Koetter has said in the past his goal is to get eight in any game.
Outside of turnovers, Koetter believes, no stat is as important to winning football games as explosive plays.
Yesterday, data-driven, limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’, kiss-stealin’, data-analyzin’, Bucs-film-studyin’ Thomas Bassinger of the Tampa Bay Times took a look to see which of the top running backs selected in last month’s draft had the most explosive plays.
Per Bassinger’s research, Jones had nearly as many explosive plays as No. 2 overall pick Saquon Barkley, drafted by the Giants. Jones averaged more explosive than Patriots draft pick Sony Michel who was also selected in the first round.
The run game of the Bucs stunk last year. Per Bassinger, the Bucs only got 19 explosive run plays from running back, tied for second-worst in the NFL with Washington.
If the Bucs can get explosive plays from Jones, then it accomplishes two things. First, it helps the team win of course. Second, it gives the offense two dimensions, something it terribly lacked the past two seasons.
May 10th, 2018 at 5:14 am
What ?
May 10th, 2018 at 5:19 am
That’s a good analysis. Jameis would benefit tremendously from an explosive back. I’m not sure how many explosive plays Dalvin Cook had at FSU, but it was a lot. And he took so much pressure off of Jameis, allowing him to really spread the ball around finding open receivers. If Rojo can be the next big explosive and dynamic Buccaneer running back, Jameis is going to light up our offense.
May 10th, 2018 at 5:58 am
Top 10 offense possible, top 15 defense more likely. We might not make the playoffs, but our team should be fun to watch. We have a foundation to build on. I believe it’s a good one. Go Bucs.
May 10th, 2018 at 6:08 am
@Joe … “Koetter believes, outside of turnovers, no stat is as important to winning football games as explosive plays.” Dirk’s probably studied that a bunch & he’s probably right. Came across a very interesting stat yesterday that blew my mind: Bucs were SECOND in the NFL last year in total number of 1st downs with 352 (right behind the Pats who had a whopping 389).
Bucs’ offense was FIRST in number of passing 1st downs with 243 (well ahead of the Pats in 2nd place who had 232 passing 1st downs). But the Bucs were #26 in terms of rushing 1st downs (an additional 33 were by penalties). So with the addition of Rojo (and hopefully more explosive plays), Bucs should be getting a lot more rushing 1st downs this year … and scoring more points. And that’d be a VERY good thing.
May 10th, 2018 at 6:23 am
here you go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscNYiX2tZc
May 10th, 2018 at 6:31 am
I find it funny with the arbitrary numbers on yardage viewed as explosive. 12R and 16P. Why not 10R and 15P? Would 8 “explosive” plays be just as good as 16 “mini-explosive” plays of 7R and 11P (arbitrary)?
I’d be happy with a lot more “mini-explosive” plays as well. It would put us in short 2nd down situations, so we don’t “Koetter all over ourselves” like last years play calling fiasco.
May 10th, 2018 at 6:37 am
RoJo, a revamped OL, and more experience for 2nd year offensive weapons will hopefully make Koetter look like a friggin’ offensive savaunt instead of the guy who stands cross-armed angry that 3 straight passes didn’t fool anyone.
May 10th, 2018 at 6:40 am
Justin Watson is signed by Bucs. First rookie contract iced.
May 10th, 2018 at 6:50 am
We will have alot of explosive plays this season
May 10th, 2018 at 6:55 am
Go ROJO GO!!!
May 10th, 2018 at 7:19 am
Where this team ranks in Forest downs running or passing is irreverent to scoring points. The team was horrible I’m the redzone so I don’t think it matters how many first downs we got on the way to 3 points or a missed field goal
May 10th, 2018 at 7:37 am
Defense rules –
Very good analysis… and more rushing 1st downs will keep the defense OFF the field
May 10th, 2018 at 7:46 am
Rojo’s college film reminds me of Lesean McCoy.
May 10th, 2018 at 7:57 am
Have been so tired of watching good holes get opened up by the better than average OL just to have our RB get tackled from behind. This has been going on for years.
Watched several mashups of RoJo to see if he could pound between the tackles and wasn’t disappointed. Got about halfway through them and realized he wasn’t getting tackled from behind by linebackers very often, if at all. Had to go back and rewatch.
Wow, what a concept! Would usually take the fastest man 30-40 yards to get close to him once he got past LB’s, and usually only if fastest was DB on his same side. If the fastest DB was on opposite side and RoJo got around the opposite end, he was flat gone.
Translating to the pro’s usually means having an extra step or two in speed across the defense. If our receivers also block little better and give RoJo a chance, we may see a nice increase in those “explosive plays”. 50 yard line to goal line from 1 running play? That would make a heck of a difference in how defenses had to play with our receivers. Similar type plays from DJax too?
Wow! What a concept!
May 10th, 2018 at 7:58 am
lambchop- We’ll all be watching Coach K this year. There are ZERO excuses for this offense. We need to see more creativity and less predictability.
I think ROJO will be fine after watching some of his tape. The question lingers above; Will Koetter use him properly?
May 10th, 2018 at 9:34 am
Hope this guy pans out as an upper tier RB I really wish the bucs would have swung for guice as he is going to end up being a top NFL rb for the next 5 years
May 10th, 2018 at 9:35 am
I love how Barber and Jones compliment each other.
I am very happy with this entire draft.
May 10th, 2018 at 9:48 am
I think if the right g/t position stays same… There might be some excuses. Can’t expect much from Kappa in rookie season to beat NFL defensive linemen. He’s a project with big upside.
May 10th, 2018 at 9:53 am
When you produce soft ass players they don’t make many explosive plays.
#GetToughBucs
May 10th, 2018 at 11:25 am
@DR
Pretty crazy stats actually. I am wondering how many 3rd down conversions we had to pass for vs run for. I’d imagine it’s the same breakdown. Also indicates how hard it is on the QB in this offense in terms of completely relying on them for 1st downs and moving the chains
May 10th, 2018 at 12:09 pm
Reading Koetter’s comments about explosive plays makes me think this is why he should give up playcalling. . . . he has not shown an ability to gameplan or adjust during a game – he seems to be more worried/hellbent on staying in his scheme instead of taking what the other team is giving him OR attacking a weakness. . . IMO he tries to rely on his 4Vert scheme too much. . . . js
May 10th, 2018 at 12:37 pm
bucnole
your right…..that 4vert scheme is soft, predictable and outdated…..
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!…#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!