About The Ronald Jones Debut
October 1st, 2018
There was good. There was bad. There was ugly.
And some of the ugly came from the guys tasked with blocking for Ronald Jones.
The rookie made his long-awaited debut yesterday against the Bears. With the game still a game and the Bucs in the red zone trailing 14-0 late in the first quarter, Jones got his first NFL carry.
It was a successful run up the gut for five yards, but Jones had a chance to cut that run left to massive daylight when he hit the second level. Instead, Jones lowered his head and initiated contact. Perhaps he was nervous.
On the next play, Jones had his number called on a quick pass out of the backfield to the right side. He dropped it, just like he did too many times in practice this spring and summer.
Jones’ next carry came in the third quarter on a play in which Ali Marpet decided not to block rookie defensive tackle Bilal Nichols, a fifth-round pick. It was minus-4 on that carry, as Jones was crushed immediately after taking the handoff.
Jones had nice effort runs after that, but Joe was disturbed by some offensive linemen not finishing their blocks for him as the game wore on. Unacceptable.
By Joe’s count, Jones was 1-for-2 in his pass blocking, and that won’t be a good-enough percentage for Dirk Koetter.
Regardless, Jones got this first game out of the way and, hopefully, Bucs coaches are no longer afraid to use him.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:24 am
How many running backs do they have to trot out there before people realize it’s that putrid o line?
First it was Doug Martin sucks. Just give Barber a chance. And he sucks. Now let’s see Ronald jones and he sucks.
It’s not the backs. It’s the sh it o line.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:25 am
Joe it would not matter if he ran for 200 yards. The Bucs defense would find a way to give the opponent more. I just figured it out. Perhaps Mike Smith is still on Authur Blank’s payroll
October 1st, 2018 at 5:32 am
Koetter is on that Payroll too
October 1st, 2018 at 5:35 am
Jones has pour vision. This was the case at USC as well. He’s no longer one of the most athletic people on the field. He will continue to be exposed as a player that has more athleticism than talent.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:44 am
Go get Earl Thomas for a 2nd rounder you freaking morons. Start trying to plug some holes in that sieve you call a secondary. The coaching staff was outclassed by the Bears coaches in every phase of the game period. Get Earl Thomas while you still can.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:44 am
Rojo did OK considering……he got no blocking…..none of our RBs were able to run.
And could we please stop trying to run in the red zone….we do it every time and we get nothing. It seems like every time we get there we run on 1st & 10 for little gain.
If someone can pull our YPC stats in the red zone over the last two years it would likely show that.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:45 am
Wow, Joe. I’m watching the press conferences and heard you ask Justin Evans a question intended to get him to say Mike Smith had to go… This is a preposterous take. If Joe wanted to ask Evans about Mike Smith, Joe would have mentioned Mike Smith. Jiminy Christmas! Evans could have talked about getting more aggressive, or going back to more 3-4 looks, or changing how they prepare, any host of things. Of course, Joe expected an answer. Evans’ answer, not what you think Joe’s answer should have been. Go watch it again. –Joe
First, did you really expect an answer?
Second, that question was inflammatory, division causing.
Thirdly, if you had gotten the answer you wanted, poor Justin Evans would have been torn a new one.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:53 am
@Joe … “Bucs in the red zone trailing 14-0 late in the first quarter, Jones got his first NFL carry.” I admittedly lost interest in the game at that point … you’re in the Red Zone, you’re trailing by 2 TDs, and you give the first TWO chances to a rookie who hadn’t shown anything in preseason & who hadn’t even been allowed to dress for the first 3 games. DUH! That 1st run could’ve been a TD IF Barber was carrying the rock. The next pass to RoJo hit him squarely in the hands, but he was already looking downfield instead of focusing on the ball.
That whole game looked like the Bucs’ players … AND COACHES … wanted to lose. The play-calling on offense was atrocious. Of course, if your OLine decides to take a 60-minute nap during game-time like ours did yesterday, play calls probably don’t really matter all that much.
And what I saw on defense was 11 guys doing their own thing. Any semblance of TEAMWORK was purely accidental all game. Nobody was backing up anyone. Missed assignments abounded all game. Read elsewhere that the Bears used a 7-man blocking scheme much of the game … sure did negate any pass rush we might’ve had, as well as any blitzes. And with no pressure on the QB, our college-level Secondary got eaten for lunch time-and-time again. DUH! Oh BTW, for the entire game, Kwon had 2 tackles and GMC had 0 tackles … that kinda says A LOT when your opponent rushes OVER 30 times & the middle of your defense has a TOTAL of 2 tackles. (HINT: Somebody’s not doing their job maybe?). Oooh ooh, another HINT: IF your opponent has an effective running game going, MAYBE that’ll set up the pass & create some great opportunities there, especially IF there’s no pass rush.
Learned many years ago: Don’t focus on the SYMPTOMS; Identify the CAUSE of the problem IF you truly want to fix it. CAUSES? Offensively, our OLine sucks (especially on the right side). Defensively, devoid of quality talent in too many positions AND lacks depth (especially now that injuries have decimated virtually every position group). No question in my mind that Smitty’s defensive concepts are ‘old-school’ but if ya notice, so were the Bears. They (like Jacksonville) built a defense that can play smash-mouth football. The Bucs? Kinda obvious that ours can’t. And thus Smitty’s defensive concepts won’t work. But neither will anyone else’s until Licht stops with his band-aid approach to ‘fixing’ this defense.
October 1st, 2018 at 5:54 am
On the topic of Rojo, you missed a reception. I think it was during the next possession or close to it. He caught a pass along the left sideline. I think it was for a first down (not sure). So he redeemed himself for the drop. So Joe chose not to write about Jones making a -1 yard catch, and Joe “missed” it? You’re on quite a roll today.–Joe
First regular season outing in his career…so he gets a little slack. Nothing in this game is worth judging him over.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:19 am
Has SMITH been fired yet!
October 1st, 2018 at 6:21 am
With the mess yesterday, Jones is NOT one of the reasons this team puked on itself yesterday. This team can NOT run the ball, no matter who is there.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:25 am
Wheres all the Quentin Nelson crowd? Clowney turned him into rag doll nelson yesterday. The Oline is only as good as its weakest link. Always has been always will be. Cant trot out Benenoch and expect greatness. Teams will find it.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:26 am
Koetter was holding that playcard, wearing the headset and talking into it every time the offense was on the field. He either took back the playcalling OR is just telling Monken what to call. That offense is not what we saw in the first two weeks.
The run game just looks lime.its poorly coached, and the oline looks lime they don’t know the difference between run blocking and pass blocking. All they do is pass block and never drive the lineman back or over to create holes.
Our rbs are always slow to the line of scrimmage from the snap. I’m not sure why they are not hitting it faster but thisnisnt what I expected.
Our defense is going to kill the heartbeat of this team. It’s so pathetic how there have been no changes yet
October 1st, 2018 at 6:33 am
People find serviceable running backs on the street all the time. This guy was a freaking second round pick. What a waste. And wth is up with this jekyl and Hyde o line?!?
October 1st, 2018 at 6:37 am
I am sure the Glazers are awake by now, why have you not posted the firing of mike smith
October 1st, 2018 at 6:40 am
Buccaneer Bonzai, are you joking with your chastisment of Joe asking questions to Justin Evans?
Reporters ask questions the fans want to know. They should not care if the player will or will not answer the question. They should not care if that will cause divisions in the locker room. Joe is not in that locker room as an employee of the Buccaneers.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:41 am
First off, thanks for ruining my dads birthday… He’s a USC fan because he’s from Southern California and my grandfather graduated from there. He said this kid is hit or miss. Damnit!!! I’m embarssed to go to work, smh. This team fooled us again, and I’m the smuck who drank the Koolaid AGAIN!!!!!:(
October 1st, 2018 at 6:42 am
I just want to put a name out there:
Derrick Brooks.
Think about it.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:42 am
@passthebuc…. because no matter how much WE can see it needs to be done it won’t be! We are stuck with this old coot for a while.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:43 am
Lol pretty sure earl thomas left the game with an injury yesterday. Pay attention people
October 1st, 2018 at 6:51 am
BucEmUp Says
“Koetter was holding that playcard, wearing the headset and talking into it every time the offense was on the field. He either took back the playcalling OR is just telling Monken what to call. “The
I realize you want Monk to be the ultimate fix, but Koetter does not intercede. This offensive playcalling has been Monk all year. Stop making excuses for him.
How do I know this?
Go to the Bucs website and listen to Koetters All Access show. In it, he says that he never tells Monk or the players what to do over the headphones. He says too many voices becomes confusing to the players so he doesn’t do it.
The coaches do have a channel of their own, but as he said during his post game conference, he was informing the other coaches that wWinston would start the second half.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:52 am
Darin,
You act like Clowney isn’t a generational talent and former #1 overall pick? Nelson will be good too! I remember that Clowney didn’t dominate as a rookie. We need to invest in the trenches. More top picks for the lines.
October 1st, 2018 at 6:56 am
Bucfansince1976
Didn’t you watch any other games yesterday. Earl Thomas fractured leg. He flipped the bird at own team as taken off field in a cart.
October 1st, 2018 at 7:03 am
from feast to famine almost overnight…the story of a bucs season…
#MikeSmithOwnsAndBonesDirkKoetter
October 1st, 2018 at 7:05 am
Man I saw that too. A cut would’ve turned five yards into minimum 20 yards. I hope he was nervous because that was a bad miss. Could point to a lack of natural running back ability? Both sides of the ball would benefit greatly from a running attack. I don’t think we have a single starting rb.
October 1st, 2018 at 7:05 am
In the NFL, talent reigns supreme. Isn’t it interesting that the left side of our OLine is decent while the right side is awful. Left side = high draft pick investments. Right side = not so much.
As for Rojo, I thought he ran hard behind what we’ve already established as a lousy run blocking OLine. However, he’s a complete liability if he can’t demonstrate the ability to catch the ball or pass protect.
Really have to question the coaches for putting him in the game inside the 20 when we were trying to answer a score.
October 1st, 2018 at 7:05 am
fitzie is not the issue…they should stay with fitzie more…but they won’t…
#DirksBeardLooksCrazyWeird
October 1st, 2018 at 7:08 am
After last season we expected changes, especially on defense and we expected a few heads to roll on and one coach got the ax on defense (way later than people expected too) then we hire Buckner and move Monken to OC. We made very few Coaching changes overall. How can this be on the players after we add more talent on defense and a lot of people expected more changes in this staff after last years defensive performance and with Mike Smith saying they are breaking down the defensive scheme and relearning making players accountable or what ever crap he fed us in the off season, and here we sit.
(Saints) This team looked prepared for the Saints, second half here come the Saints, we get out scored in the second half, defense starts laying down or was that prevent?
(Eagles) This team looked prepared for the Eagles, again a team out scores us in the second half.
(Steelers) This team didn’t Look like it wasn’t ready for the Steelers, was trying to play catch up in the second half, sloppy play and turn overs killed us.
(Bears) This team looked so unprepared, on every aspect against the Bears.
The trend if you can see is after each game we are less and less prepared each week, that is on coaching. We couldn’t even try to have a close game with the freakin Bears, I’m all for loosing with diginity, but that was anything but losing with dignity. Yes, we are 2-2 but how can anyone feel good going into the bye week now …with this defense, and now this offensive offence? Even the solid playing O-line was lost. Like most recent years we sit here saying “i hope they figure it out” and i hope they do…..again.
October 1st, 2018 at 8:07 am
RoJo looked like the guy that ran scared when usc got crushed by bama, thats who jones is not a top flight pick for rb, look at all the rbs that are shining for their teams and then you have this group, yes the OL is garbage and that is on licht as he has no clue what he is doing but lets give him a pass, horrible gm = garbage team
October 1st, 2018 at 8:33 am
Ask any rookie to run in the NFL with the kind of blocking this OL delivered yesterday, you can expect the results we got.
No MORE PRAISE for this OL. They stink! Marpet included.
October 1st, 2018 at 9:03 am
Bucs should find an alternative to Benenoch- doesn’t seem to be working out
October 1st, 2018 at 9:15 am
bucem
I agree….
I think dirk took back play calling…..I didn’t see him walking the sidelines, talking to players like he did in games 1 and 2……he was zeroed in on the offense, talking marking his play sheet…..
and if monken was still calling plays then that means dirks 4vert scheme is predictable and outdated…..just like his buddies defense…..
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!!!#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
October 1st, 2018 at 9:24 am
He seemingly does not have natural running back instincts. He also has hands of stone.
October 1st, 2018 at 9:32 am
He has extremely quick feet….I want to see more…
October 1st, 2018 at 9:34 am
Come on Glazers..You’ve had your Monday morning breakfast..finished your minimalist exercise routines and counted your profits. What the hell you waiting for??? FIRE MIKE SMITH..NOW!!!!!!!!
October 1st, 2018 at 9:40 am
He’s a bust and he had zero business on the field. He was not ready.
BUST!
October 1st, 2018 at 9:54 am
Buccaneer Bonzai Says
“On the topic of Rojo, you missed a reception. I think it was during the next possession or close to it. He caught a pass along the left sideline. I think it was for a first down (not sure). So he redeemed himself for the drop.”
So Joe chose not to write about Jones making a -1 yard catch, and Joe “missed” it? You’re on quite a roll today.–Joe
That comment was not intended to pick on you, Joe. I was just mentioning it because it seemed forgotten.
I respect a man who says “Jiminy Christmas”. 😉
You are right though…I am on a roll…so I’ll try to control myself a little better. lol
October 1st, 2018 at 10:13 am
Sheesh…think we should see RoJo in action for at least 2 or 3 more games before running this kid off the team! He is probably the most physically talented RB on the roster. He’s young, and he’s probably overthinking stuff considering the unexpected self-inflicted adversity he’s seeing in his short time as a pro. He’s absolutely got work to do in order to improve his game, as does the O-line, but Jones has that top gear speed to change a game if he gets into the open field. I don’t believe the same can be said for Barber or Quizz (at this stage of his career).
October 1st, 2018 at 11:02 am
“Our 199lber cant even win the “Kenny Bell participation award”
“Vegas has odds up already either or both Tony Dungy and derrick Brooks in charge at 1 Buc Place next year
yes -250
no +375
“Tony Dungy comes in, Jameis goes out”
Kobe Faker
October 1st, 2018 at 11:02 am
Hell for sitting on the practice squad he looked better than Barber or at least someone who should carry the ball more. Koetter is like Gruden with his rookies he is scared of using them.
October 1st, 2018 at 11:19 am
RoJo sucks, he will never be a quality starting back in NFL.
October 1st, 2018 at 11:36 am
The RoJo hate begins… goodness. The fans can’t figure out who to blame.
October 1st, 2018 at 12:16 pm
Tony Dungy won’t take the job #1, #2 he wouldn’t send Jameis packing. Where do you come up with this crap Faker. You are Fake News!
October 1st, 2018 at 12:18 pm
Quizz can shake free every now and then but cannot pull away and never has been able to. Barber was an UDA. Just goes to show how bad Jason Licht is. It’s not that hard to find a running back..
October 1st, 2018 at 12:30 pm
Does Ronald Jones have hands, or just stumps at the end of his arms?
I’m genuinely asking.
I honestly think Shaq Griffin could catch and handle the football with his one hand better than RoJo can with two.
October 1st, 2018 at 2:19 pm
one of the biggest beneficiaries of Mike Smith’s ineptitude is George Warhop. If the defense weren’t such a big problem, more people would be talking about how far below expectations his guys have been since basically Logan Mankins retired.