Score Points
July 15th, 2019
Misused?
Look, Joe is not as anti-Dirk Koetter as many Bucs fans were and are. But as Koetter often said, the NFL is a production league.
And unfortunately for Koetter, despite having one of the best offenses in the NFL during his tenure with the Bucs, that offense simply did not produce enough points. Simple as that, to borrow a saying from arguably the second-worst coach in Bucs history.
Yesterday Joe brought word about how few times Mike Evans was targeted when the Bucs had the ball inside the opponents’ 5-yard line last season, per “Warren Sharp’s 2019 Football Preview.” That was not good. But reader @Peps5971 brought something to Joe’s attention. He asked Joe about O.J. Howard’s use in the red zone and targets. Well, it was pretty pathetic.
Whenever the Bucs got in the red zone, Howard was targeted a grand total of seven times. That’s five fewer times than Adam Humphries (12) and just one more than currently unemployed Jacquizz Rodgers (six).
Now that’s just shameful use of talent! Or more like, misuse of talent.
Howard, like Evans, is a total mismatch for corners and linebackers when it comes to basketball-like jump balls for a potential touchdown. Now how exactly can one logically suggest that a midget running back like Rodgers should have had almost as many targets as a beast like Howard?
That’s simply inexcusable and hopefully will be rectified by Bucco Bruce Arians.
Want to know why the Bucs struggled to score points despite having a Star Wars-like passing attack? Right here is a pretty good example.
Oh, and how many receiving touchdowns did Rodgers have in his three-year Bucs career? Zero.
July 15th, 2019 at 5:28 am
Curious though Joe, how often was OJ in the game and just not targeted? Any QBs obviously have their favorite targets in various situations as well. So is this a combination of play calling and/or QB progressions and decisions, that may or may not be problematic? Regardless, definitely hope they use OJ and Evans more in the Red Zone. And is OJ as capable of snatching passes in his vicinity as say, Brate? In retrospect, for all of his warts, Koetter was lauded for his offensive mind for a couple of years…though I will never understand constantly sending Sims up the middle on 3rd and short.
July 15th, 2019 at 5:55 am
How many times was Brate targeted? This was one of the many predictable play-calling scenarios where Jameis was locked in on a single target.
July 15th, 2019 at 6:14 am
Its only 1 ball Joe
July 15th, 2019 at 6:18 am
He also missed 6.5 games… he was on pace for 11 redzone targets. Useless article today
July 15th, 2019 at 6:29 am
Hit ’em on time and in stride and the scoring will come….11 days
July 15th, 2019 at 6:49 am
That was then.
The now has the Bucs with a new set of mechanics to overhaul its sputtering engine.
Bitching about the past has no bearing on this new future.
Hopefully, this bunch of ‘poor me’ keyboard enthusiasts will allow the overhaul to go around the block a few times before finding something new to cast their woeful proclivities upon … Ah, to dream …
On another note. I’ve opened a football Armchair business. We sell specific armchairs tailored to specific needs. In addition to giving easy access to beer, pizza and multiple internet devices, all chairs come with a built in recorder–allowing the user to playback his or her expletives immediately after each play. The “Quarterback” is our biggest seller with the “Coach” running a close second. Personally, I prefer the “GM.” It comes with a crown and a superiority complex, all in one!
Any takers?
July 15th, 2019 at 6:51 am
If defenses don’t respect your capability to run the ball down near the goal line then you just made their ‘defense’ much easier. Opponents never really had to ask ‘Is this a pass or a run?’ because … oh ya, we couldn’t run it in. We didn’t have the horses (in our RD stable or in OLine).
Bucs tied for 23rd last year with 3 other teams (Falcons, Lions, Jets) in rushing TDs (11). Three other teams (Raiders, Vikings, Cardinals) only had 9 rushing TDs and three more teams (Dolphins, 49ers, Jaguars) only had 7 rushing TDs.
Of those Bottom-10 teams, NONE made the playoffs. Zip, zero, zilch. ALL except for the Cards had better Yards Per Run averages than the Bucs (ours was 3.9 YPC but Miami for instance had 4.7 YPC). And so far this offseason, nothing’s changed for the Bucs. But there’s still time to add 1-2 starting-caliber OLinemen when cuts happen and 1 quality RB. Make it happen Jason.
Interesting tidbit popped out BTW. Team with the most rushing TDs? New Orleans (26). Team with the highest YPC average? Carolina (5.1). Saints averaged 4.3 YPC and even the Falcons averaged 4.5 YPC. IOW, Bucs desperately NEED to fix our run defense (ranked #24 in rushing yardage allowed and #29 in rushing TDs allowed if we expect to compete in the NFC South. I’m convinced the defensive changes we’ve made will do exactly that.
July 15th, 2019 at 6:58 am
They would pull him off the field. He was a between the 20s guy for is. Ridiculous.
July 15th, 2019 at 6:59 am
JA … OK, now you’ve got me curious. Does the GM Armchair come in pink?
July 15th, 2019 at 7:15 am
So who had the most targets? And don’t say the opposing team’s cb.
July 15th, 2019 at 7:16 am
JA—
I’m in for the Bucs Cheerleader model.
Keep the chair…just give me the model.
Website to order up?
July 15th, 2019 at 7:32 am
JA- Put a patent on it. I prefer the GM chair myself! My problem is that, based on previous seasons, my recordings will be so profoundly profanity-laden that none of it will be safe for ANY audience! LOL!
July 15th, 2019 at 7:40 am
Gotta know where you have been (and it helps to know why you go there) before you can purposefully map out where you are going–lest you repeat the mistakes of history.
New coach, new GM, new players, new stadium, new owner, soak, wash rinse, repeat. The current regime is but a blip…and even worse, already advertises this may not be long term, and sure isn’t rebuilding.
For such a young team, we’ve seen it all, in too many cycles. As short as the history is relative to other teams, it would be foolish not to remember and understand.
July 15th, 2019 at 8:04 am
Depending on injuries, the redzone offense should ALWAYS consist of Howard, Evan’s, Godwin, Brate and Watson on the field.
Just do it!!!
July 15th, 2019 at 8:52 am
Comes in most colors, except PINK!
$729.66 gets you the chair, one free pizza from Guido’s Brick Oven Pizzarea and a dictionary of foreign expletives. Impress your friends by trash talking in other languages. “Er ist eine dumme scheiBe” is my favorite. Shout it out and your German football friends will be duly impressed with your crafty intellect. Play it back on demand to keep the room in hysterics!
Make checks payable to “Cash.” Mail to: Friendly Fred’s Savings & Mistrust–24 Empty Wallet Way–Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
Delivery time is six weeks. Just in time for the September opener against the 49ers!
Don’t delay. Orders are pouring in!
Note: All payments are non refundable.
July 15th, 2019 at 11:24 am
Thanks JA thats a great one.
Win our Division. Beat the teams we “know” and that we will play twice this year and next year and the year after. Six wins only this season and it is every team in the NFC South. That is a winning season. Beat those teams we play twice. Beat on them, make them not want to play us. Win our Division. Consistantly and we will begin to win other games out if the division and those teams will also grow to not want to play us. Yes they play in the NFL but they are in the NFC South Division win that no matter what else. Be Six and 0 in the South and see what the rest of the NFL has to offer up. Come on, {Hat tip} we play in the toughest Division in the NFL. We need to want to Win it. First and foremost. Everything else will fall into place.
Show me, don’t tell me!
Go Bucs!
July 15th, 2019 at 11:51 am
When you do not have an effcient OL and no running game your offense will ALWAYS be predictable…..Despite that and despite JW turnovers, our offense was still one of the best on the league…..so I would be cautious when critiziosing Koetter´s offensive mind……Now when we talk about about overall head coach position, maybe we can have an understanding, but please don not question KOetter´s offensive mind because does not make sense at all
July 15th, 2019 at 12:18 pm
Hopefully that will change. Evans is much bigger than most DBs. Oj should be targeted more an we all know Brate is a touchdown machine. But if the running game could actually get going maybe it could cut down on some of the turnovers in the red zone an take some of the pressure of #3
July 15th, 2019 at 1:26 pm
I think the only player that can be blamed for not utilizing the more obvious weapons is Jameis. Blaming it on Koetter is not really accurate when every play is designed to have 3 to 4 receivers in route and Jameis throws to his check downs like Hump and Rodgers.
July 15th, 2019 at 3:04 pm
yet another indictment on the incompetent dirk!!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
July 15th, 2019 at 5:28 pm
Bobo should’ve gotten way more snaps.