Running To Daylight
September 11th, 2019
Vision.
This, in a nutshell, is what used to drive Joe nuts about the “Muscle Hamster,” Doug Martin.
Martin’s last two years with the Bucs should never have happened. After having a career year in 2015, the Bucs re-signed Martin who promptly went back onto his hamster wheel spinning and running to nowhere. The highlight of Martin’s final two seasons with the Bucs was a suspension for testing positive for a banned substance right when the Bucs were trying to make a push for a wild card.
Did Martin’s stunt torpedo the Bucs’ playoff hopes in 2016? Joe isn’t sure but won’t argue with you that he didn’t.
In Martin’s last two seasons, Joe would sit up high in press boxes and often see holes open that either Martin didn’t see because he had his head down trying to bowl over linebackers for little to no gain.
This used to drive Joe wild. Even Joe’s good friend Gil Arcia of BucsNation.com would post videos of Martin not seeing or ignoring holes that could have netted the Muscle Hamster five or more yards.
And many fans had the nerve to rag on the Bucs’ offensive line for Martin’s non-production! (This is one reason why Joe is numb to all the hollering about the Bucs’ offensive line.)
Muscle Hamster is currently out of football.
Well, last year Bucs running back Ronald Jones looked to be one of the biggest busts in Bucs history (that’s saying something). The second-round pick from USC was virtually invisible.
But this year, at least through Week 1, Jones has come alive. Matt Bowen of BSPN’s NFL Matchup, highlighted a Jones run where he had the vision to spot a hole, and the speed to burst through it and run to daylight.
In his final years with the Bucs, Martin had neither the vision nor the burst to do what Jones did in this video. But he looked good playing in a sandbox.
Perhaps the Bucs indeed finally have a reliable back? Reliable in that he can get production on a consistent basis.
What a concept!
#Bucs — RB Ronald Jones. 75 yards rushing on 13 carries (5.8 YPC) in Week 1. There’s the jump-cut ability we saw on his college film at USC. @NFLMatchup @JennaLaineESPN pic.twitter.com/gvu90qmIJc
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) September 11, 2019
September 11th, 2019 at 5:05 pm
Well, last year Bucs running back Thomas Jones looked to be one of the biggest busts in Bucs history (that’s saying something). The second-round pick from USC was virtually invisible.
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Who?
September 11th, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Ronald Jones will have a huge game tomorrow night. Mark my words.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:11 pm
Man we have had a lot of the wall stuff on this franchise. For some reason I think the game was more enjoyable as a fan when we had access to less information.
Go Bucs!
I BA I Trust!
September 11th, 2019 at 5:12 pm
“It’s a Bucs life” is about to be retired. Tomorrow night. If I’m not right, I’ll eat a “W”.
Wait…that’s been done already.
Never mind.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:34 pm
We might have something.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Sport, I agree with you on that. Like anyone REALLY cares about a RB who’s now out of football. But hey, Joe makes a living out of living in the past, so humor him. Tomorrow it’ll be GMC’s turn in the barrel again.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:41 pm
Just get to Cam and mess up his hair and he loses all interest. This game has zero to do with Jameis or the Ice Cream Man or Ronald Jones. It is about bumping Cammy because he is the most fragile QB, mentally, in this league.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:49 pm
Looks like bad weather for the game, hopefully that will mess with him.
Would be interested in a piece on that Joe
September 11th, 2019 at 5:49 pm
Bucs should try a lot of one-two punch against the Panthers and see if it works. If RoJo continues to run like he did in game one, this run game could be nice (likely not great) with PB and RoJo both keeping each other fresh.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:56 pm
Carolina gave up 166 yds rushing to the Ram, Gurley on a gimpy knee averaged 6.8 per carry, Henderson 4.8
Would love to see nothing more than 45 rushes for 220 yds, 3 TDs and JW throws maybe 20 passes -15/20 for 200 yds, 1 TD –
He won’t lose the game if he doesn’t throw the ball 45 times and run for his life 25 of the 40 times…
Just smash it down GMC’s big mouth until he reverts to the sideline
Our tackles suck pretty much all around, well one’s too old and one is just plain LAZY AF, but GCG is pretty strong in the run game it appears
September 11th, 2019 at 6:11 pm
@clw Henderson actually had 1 carry for 0 yards, averaging an astonishing 0 yards per carry. However Malcom brown did average 4.8 yards per carry on 11 attempts. I do agree though, run the damn ball, Rojo should get at least 20 carries
September 11th, 2019 at 6:34 pm
Banned? Blocked?
September 11th, 2019 at 6:50 pm
hopefully the game plan is run heavy… Jet sweeps.. wild cat… just don’t let J throw any more and they might win…
I imagine it’s a lot tougher to game plan when you have to plan as though your qb plays for your opponent..
September 11th, 2019 at 6:58 pm
The running game was encouraging. But it’s bittersweet for me. To set back and watch our QB one of his worst games as a pro was completely deflating as a fan. This team really has no chance without good play at QB.
I expect Winston to come out and play better on Thursday but that’s not enough for me. He is going to have to string together some good starts to earn back my trust. The life has been sucked out of this fanbase. The little we had going into the season.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:59 pm
@ Dave Pear, you don’t remember Thomas Jones. Heck of a RB for the Bucs for a few games
September 11th, 2019 at 7:02 pm
Love JBF as website but really wish Joe would proof read articles before posting them. The grammar and they way they read sometimes is maddening. Martin “Either didn’t see the hole” or what? I get later there’s an either/or that’s phrased differently but it annoys me having to re-read paragraphs because I think I’ve missed something. Same problem at Pewter Report sadly with tons of missing words…..meh….I’m just a crotchety git….love to see RoJo turn the corner….keep up the good work Joe
September 11th, 2019 at 7:03 pm
And then auto-correct burns me with a “they” instead of “the”…..perfect….FML
September 11th, 2019 at 7:06 pm
Todd – weren’t you the glass is totally full guy who said we’ll start out 6-0? Cam is definitely a head case at times, but we have the ultimate head case at QB – Jay Miss.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:13 pm
Drug Martin would be known to party and do part drugs late Saturday night before games. He was probably hung over and almost destroyed from doing drugs the night before.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:17 pm
JimmyJack
Amen brother.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:25 pm
@rod munch
Where o where r u?
Hahahahaha probably changed screen names huh?
I would too with as much as you talked up Winston and then watched him make a fool of himself lmao.
If he played great you would be in here gloating like a fat fish lol.
Can’t face the music can you ROD MUNCH lol.
If Winston would’ve played great I’d still be here. But you?
Hiding like an Easter egg lol.
Hahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahaha
September 11th, 2019 at 7:44 pm
My hope is that the coaches are preparing RoJo for this rivalry. The Panthers defense will aggressively attack to strip the ball from RoJo. I hope he’s up for the task. DSmith is often bullied by the Panthers defense n always play poorly. Years ago against the Falcons Kiffin game planned with DBrooks shadowing MVick. The scheme worked. If we scheme accordingly, we can do the same with Newton n McCafferty.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:45 pm
It’s quite obvious that, if the Bucs want to win tomorrow night, they should establish the running game. It is clear that the Bucs can’t rely on Jameis’s arm any longer.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:45 pm
Figures showing his true colors again.
Anybody that takes any type of pleasure from our first game is not a true fan.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:47 pm
Only a matter of time before RoJo becomes the starting RB.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:55 pm
So Figures is all happy that Winston failed game 1 and wants to trash a fan who was hoping for success. GFY Figures! No real fan wants the team and QB to fail.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:00 pm
TouchDownTampaBay…if you support Winston it’s somehow a bad thing. You’re called a Winston nut hugger or something or other. Figures.
Like it’s some sort of competition or something.
Oh the mind of a 5 yr old…..
Figures.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:03 pm
Joe
You conveniently forgot to mention that Martin avg’d 4.0 ypc behind OAK oline and that Jameis Winston, America’s Quarterback, is the GREATEST QB IN BUCCANEER HISTORY.
#fixedit
September 11th, 2019 at 8:14 pm
If the entire offensive line is blocking right thorn why did he not fake right and move to his left earlier?
September 11th, 2019 at 8:17 pm
Martin didn’t have any holes to run through. Don’t be dumb.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:20 pm
Our o-line was complete trash, no idea why you defended them so much, it was clear as day to pretty much everyone else.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:41 pm
Peyton Barber looked like a fish out of water in this offense on Sunday. Neither of the backs seem fit for the receiving roll in this offense. I like RoJo and think he can blossom into a good RB1, but the Bucs need a scat back like Cohen in Chicago.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:50 pm
JAMEIS WINSTON DOESN’T SURVIVE BY THE WEEK 7 BYE. HE’LL BE BENCHED.
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.
September 11th, 2019 at 9:04 pm
I’m with you Sport…
That’s one reason I don’t care for TNF. The NFL is over saturating market, has been for years.
Made it more fun when you had to wait all week for Sunday to roll around, left something to the imagination.
September 11th, 2019 at 9:06 pm
Oh and it’s definitely a close 1-2 on headcase QB’s…
Thursday Night mental instability bowl….🤯🤯🤯
September 11th, 2019 at 9:09 pm
I would like to personally thank RoJo for getting rid of Kobe Faker.
September 11th, 2019 at 9:26 pm
@Ship thief nice call!
September 11th, 2019 at 9:30 pm
RoJo reminds me so much of the running style of Cadillac Williams. In time he will be our Kamara.
September 11th, 2019 at 9:55 pm
Rojo explodes for 100+ and JW has a quiet 2 td 1 int night. Bucs win a squeaker 20 to 17 late Gay field goal.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:23 pm
Quinton Flowers got cut from the Indy practice squad…
Not sure why they moved him to RB, but he has some awesome vision.
Also not sure how the Ravens haven’t snatched him up, he’s like a Bridgewater except he can throw the ball a bit better, is faster and can run better.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:33 pm
They dropped Quinton Flowers and picked up Bruce Anderson
September 12th, 2019 at 12:06 am
I’d rather have Quinton.
Also just watched the NFL Gamepass quick version of the Indy vs Chargers game, and wow does Marlon Mack look great. He’s reminding me a ton of Bell in the way he runs, he waits for things to develop and seems to run really well in traffic. He had a big run so he has good speed, but he doesn’t necessarily have great immediate acceleration, but he’s so good at being patient with the run and reads the lanes so well, it doesn’t matter that much. For some reason this offseason I heard the fantasy football nerds saying he was overrated and nothing special, well this game from last Sunday proves otherwise. What’s amazing is that on the Bulls, Flowers was the better runner – but I always thought, and said here, that Mack just looked and ran like an NFL runningback, and if he could stay healthy he’d be a star – and it’s starting to look that way.
September 12th, 2019 at 7:22 am
I just spoke to Miss Cleo and she says that the Bucs are so difficult to predict that she’s seriously considering giving up the card-throwing gig.
September 12th, 2019 at 1:54 pm
I hope the run game is poppin revival of play action M1k3 going off 32-13 bucs win