Talkin’ Chucky, Jameis & Physical Football With Jay Gruden
November 9th, 2018
BY IRA KAUFMAN
As Jay Gruden makes his return to Tampa this weekend, his football team couldn’t look more different than the Buccaneers.
The contrast between these clubs is stark heading into Sunday’s matchup. Most importantly, the Redskins are 5-3 and in first place in their mediocre division. The Bucs are 3-5, dwelling in the basement of the rugged NFC South.
But look beyond the records and you also see a different approach.
Tampa Bay throws the ball all over the field with a very talented group of targets. Washington likes to pound you with Adrian Peterson running behind a stout offensive front.
The Redskins play sound defense, swarm to the football and tackle well. The Bucs do not.
Redskins coach Jay Gruden
Tampa Bay has been plagued by interceptions while Washington veteran Alex Smith is a master of ball security.
Washington failed to execute its game plan last week against surging Atlanta and the result was a 38-14 home setback that added more bodies to a bloated injury list.
“They got on us early, but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” Gruden told me on a conference call. “We’re a physical football team. That’s how we had our 3-game winning streak. We won in the trenches. Offensive line, defensive line, we were able to control the line of scrimmage, run the football and stop the run.
“For us to get back to our winning ways, we have to be a physical group and unfortunately we lost a lot of physical players. We have to adjust and get back to our ways.”
Tampa Sons
Perhaps Gruden will have time before the game to see his parents, who still live in Tampa. He served seven seasons as an offensive assistant on the Buc staff of his older brother, Jon, who has been berated in the national media during Oakland’s awful start.
“The Grudens always take beatings in the media,” he said with a laugh. “We know that, we’re used to it. We think it would be a weird day if we didn’t get a beating somewhere. Jon will be fine. He came into a situation where they have a few holes. He’s trying to do the best he can to put a competitive team out there.
“In the meantime, they’ve loaded up with some draft picks and I think the future looks bright for them. You build your team through the draft. That’s the way he’s going to go about it and I think it’s the right way.”
Jay Gruden was a standout passer at Tampa’s Chamberlain High and starred at Louisville and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena League. He knows what a good quarterback looks like.
“Fitzpatrick has had a few games where he looks darned near unstoppable,” said Gruden. “They’ve got great weapons and Coach Koetter does a good job of utilizing them. It’s difficult to contain them. They do a great job with their scheme. Turnovers have hurt them quite a bit. If they can eliminate those, they got a chance to make a run here late.
“Our job is to get turnovers and get after the quarterback, which we failed to do last week.. Our biggest challenge is to get after Fitzpatrick and make him uncomfortable in the pocket.”
When Gruden looks at Jameis Winston, he sees untapped potential.
“You bring him in as the first pick in the draft and you know you’re going to have some growing pains, but you see the arm strength and mobility,” he said. “You’ve got a lot to work with there.
“Now, it’s about getting some consistency from the player. The consistency factor just hasn’t been there for him, but he has the talent without a doubt. I still think Jameis Winston is a heck of an NFL quarterback. He can make all the throws, he’s big and strong and he can run. I just know he’s a talented kid.”
More Derrick Brooks talking Bucs is always a good thing, especially when he’s doing it with Ira Kaufman, esteemed JoeBucsFan.com columnist.
It’s a new TAMPA TWO, presented by Caldeco Air Conditioning and Heating. Another can’t-miss production from The Identity Tampa Bay and Joe.
November 9th, 2018 at 11:07 am
The Bucs offense will have a hard time with Washington 3-4 defense. Atlanta took them out of their rhythm with their run game. The Bucs will have to run the ball to get them off balance.
November 9th, 2018 at 11:20 am
Well Jay Gruden, I agreed with everything you said up until the part about Jay-Miss being able to make ALL the throws.
November 9th, 2018 at 11:20 am
……. unless you were referring to baseball!
November 9th, 2018 at 11:36 am
Surely by Week 10 Peyton Barber will become a No. 1 RB.
November 9th, 2018 at 12:25 pm
Wow what an insane philosophy to build through the trenches and win the LOS on both sides of the ball. It’s not like a sh1t load of JBF posters have said this is how you build a team over the years or anything.
Thank god we’ve prioritized spending our resources and draft capital on midget CBs / safeties / kickers / wideouts / tight ends and have one decent O-line pick in 5 years and no good D-line picks and no decent RB when the entire NFL is now full of awesome dynamic RBs.
Great f*cking plan and execution Licht & company.
November 9th, 2018 at 12:48 pm
LC…..right on…and unfortunately this team is so far away from being a legit 5-3, 6-2 team that is solid with a bright future
November 9th, 2018 at 12:52 pm
@lol Lord… told everyone if they thought using 2picks for a kicker wasn’t great then they didn’t know football. You also championed weapons for winston. With that said, I believe an elite lineman is best route but James was the pick over Vita
November 9th, 2018 at 1:17 pm
Gonna skip watching the game and enjoy my family. No need to suffer for 3 hours on Sundays. Already know they’re gonna lose.
November 9th, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Hey where is the guy I bet that we would go 6-10?
He said 10-6 haha
I’ll talk my roll tide oj Howard jersey now
November 9th, 2018 at 1:46 pm
“told everyone if they thought using 2picks for a kicker wasn’t great then they didn’t know football.”
lmao. My wife can attest to me shaking my head at that pick live. But feel free to quote where I was endorsing or loving that pick…
And yeah I was on board for weaposn for winston. That’s the 1 thing Licht did OK at. Am I complaining about the skill position players here? WTf are you getting at?
November 9th, 2018 at 1:48 pm
@lord… sorry, i though you were gilhealy.
November 9th, 2018 at 1:59 pm
Just fattening up the Bucs before the slaughter. The defense is in shambles and Koetter admittedly knows nothing about that side of the ball. Why aren’t they bringing in some sort of consultant to help?
November 9th, 2018 at 2:37 pm
What’d I say?
November 9th, 2018 at 3:25 pm
@gil…. Here are a few of Lord gils post.
gilhealy Says:
Fact-less warriors and those that follow. Fact is, Bucs barely hovered around 70% of field goals made last year which was damn near the bottom of the league, two spots away from that honor to be exact. And let’s not forget the missed extra points. Bottom line is, they used a pick to make the trade up which they did not initially have to begin with. His ability to pin the ball deep and in certain areas on kickoffs and his field goal accuracy makes him worth it IMMEDIATELY. No other third rounder can have an immediate impact like the impact Aguayo presents. If you don’t see that, you don’t know football.
gilhealy Says:
August 17th, 2016 at 9:25 am
@Bonzai- the uprights are the same width in college and pro. It’s the hash marks that are wider in college. And the pick will be fine. Some of you guys can find something negative in every thing. Sad. Licht knows more about football than you fella’s will ever dream of knowing. Just watch the pro’s and quit second guessing those you have no qualifications to judge. Stay in your lane.
gilhealy Says:
May 6th, 2016 at 11:14 pm
With all the talk about the assassins legend and why any team would use two premium draft picks to get him, the truth about how much of an impact a kicker of his caliber will have on game winning FG’s, extra points and the all important “mortor” kick-offs with the new rule change, gives the Buccaneers an advantage for years to come. By this time next year those draft picks will be an afterthought.
November 9th, 2018 at 3:27 pm
Motor kick offs! you can’t beat that. No better excuse than you can ask my wife.
November 9th, 2018 at 3:29 pm
@ Lord Cornelius
I went through Tampa’s drafts the last ten years and it is hard to tell who was worse, Dominick or Licht.
All the picks that are no longer in Tampa is quite telling.
November 9th, 2018 at 10:41 pm
Ira picked the Bucs to win on Sunday on his podcast, perhaps just to a foil to the 2 Joes who logically picked a Redskin win. I was questioning Ira seriously after listening to him on the podcast but here he has stated a much more reasonable analysis of the situation in DC and here and how they are so different. My guess is a depleted DC OL will limit AP but that they will still be able to pass the ball relatively easily against a joke of a Bucs D unless JPP gets help and they rough Alex Smith up which probably will not happen. If Fitz is not perfect the Bucs will lose, probably in an embarrassing fashion of some sort. The Glazers should be ashamed that they allowed Licht and Koetter another year to push this franchise further into the abyss.