Do Players Hear Criticism?
May 28th, 2020
Not big on perception.
A populist belief is out there that the offensive line of the Bucs is unadulterated trash and park-violating, home-invading quarterback Tom Brady at 25, much less 43, will be lucky to throw a completion.
The way some fans holler about the line (habitually?), one would think the Bucs employ five turnstiles up front.
(Joe’s response is fans must have terribly short memories because the current front line is light years better than the true trash the Bucs had in 2014. Joe wouldn’t hold back if Joe thought an element of the team was trash.)
So yesterday left guard Ali Marpet did a Zoom chat with the local pen and mic club and was asked about the constant bickering that he plays on a line that isn’t fit for an XFL team.
Marpet, in so many words, said while he hears critiques, he puts stock into what he sees on film, what he hears from coaches and what’s in his own heart.
“What the perception is and how I feel about it? I feel much more confidant in how I feel about it than whatever the perception is,” Marpet said. “I really don’t put much into [perception]. An offensive line coach may try to use that to motivate guys. That can be useful sometimes.
“For me, it’s about how I feel what kind of effort we are putting forward and how we are preparing and are we doing everything we can possibly do to be successful? If we are kind of checking all of those boxes and doing all of that, that’s what I’m going to ask for.”
Joe has actually heard rumors that some guys on the offensive line don’t like Joe much because they think Joe is too negative. And readers of this site pitch fits because Joe won’t march to the beat of the torchbearers wanting to run off all the team’s offensive linemen.
Joe can’t win!
So yeah, players say they don’t hear or read opinions about the squad. But they do. And that’s cool.
Marpet has the right (and smart) mindset: If your coaches are happy and your game results are good and, most important of all, the team is winning, then the repetitive barking at the moon is meaningless.
May 28th, 2020 at 11:06 am
These guys are professionals. If they feel they are being disrespected, then go out each Sunday and prove the critics wrong. Simple as that.
May 28th, 2020 at 11:09 am
Marpet is a bad@$$.
Jensen is a bad@$$.
Smith is Very solid.
Wirfs and Cappa need to solidify the right side, but I do believe they have what it takes to accomplish that.
We seem to have some decent depth pieces behind them as well.
If Gronk or Vaughn or Rojo can help in the blocking game, we should be fine.
We might not have the best Oline in history, but they don’t have to be.
May 28th, 2020 at 11:23 am
Ditto.
May 28th, 2020 at 11:42 am
I think we have a very solid o-line. I honestly believe some of the issues we have had in the past can be blamed on Jameis.
May 28th, 2020 at 11:46 am
“If the team is winning, then the repetitive baking at the moon is meaningless.” Well I guess from that quote we can say the repetitive barking isn’t meaningless at this time since the team has been losing. I like many others hope we start winning this season.
May 28th, 2020 at 12:03 pm
Bucs were not able to run behind Dotson and Cappa last year so it made things very difficult on the offensive line as a whole.
Cappa looked much improved from 2018.
However, the line is like a chain in that it is only as strong as its weakest link.
If Cappa and Wirfs play well the Bucs can have a dominating offensive line, but that is a big IF.
May 28th, 2020 at 12:08 pm
Torchbearers?…hyperbole much?
Objectively this oline was mediocre as a whole and miserable as a run blocking unit. No need to cry foul in order to change the subject. Sounds a lot like what a certain politician does when the truth is inconvenient to a narrative.
Oline has kinda sucked for a long time. This is apparent to anyone watching the film and is backed up by the numbers. A non-argument turned into some whiny emotional conspiracy to turn your attention from what’s apparent on the tape and in the stat sheet.
May 28th, 2020 at 12:57 pm
The quarterback playing behind a line can have a HUGE difference on the amount of pressure they give up. A pro bowl line can look like trash behind a spaz at the QB position.
May 28th, 2020 at 1:06 pm
“On tape, and on the stat sheet” I see a bad@$$ LG, a bad@$$ C, a very solid LT, a young late round RG that seemed to have taken his game up a notch throughout last season, and a 1st round draft pick at LG.
Like I said, that looks alright to me.
This isn’t going to be one of the best lines of all time,
But it looks alright.
If I turn out to be wrong, no problem… I am just guessing (like every other football fan in the world at this point).
There are going to be Olines that are better than ours. That’s pretty obvious.
But there will be many that will be much worse.
Every team in the league is beatable.
I believe the Bucs have just as many BAD@$$ mofos as any other team.
Brady
Gronk
Evans
Godwin
Marpet
Jensen
JPP
Suh
Barrett
Vea
David
White
This is one serious list IMO, and I believe that by the end of the season a couple more players may rise up to that level of BAD@$$NESS.
Wirfs?
Winfield?
Dean?
Murphy-Bunting?
Davis?
RoJo?
Vaughn?
All of these players still have a chance to explode this year.
I know that we will have some injuries, and some guys will NOT rise to the challenge, but this is one serious roster!
I haven’t felt this pumped up about our roster in a long time!
Yes, we have some weak spots (or unproven players), but that’s the same for pretty much every team.
May 28th, 2020 at 1:07 pm
Obviously I meant to say a first round pick at RT
May 28th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
The offensive line is fine. It was an average unit. Now, if one wants to include poor blocking on the part of the RBs or TEs then by all means but the front five is average to above average. They got stronger in the draft. The offensive line is fine (unintentional rhyme).
Mr. Turnover Machine, New Orleans’s 3rd String Quarterback, Backup Jay-Miss Winston was 2nd most blitzed QB in the NFL because teams knew that if they could hurry Jay-Miss their chances of him turning the ball over went up exponentially. That won’t happen with Tom Brady.
May 28th, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Suffering
If they are going out to prove critics wrong their heads are in the wrong place. They shouldnt give a S#!T. Critics who dont play football? Fooooget about it. They win they’re happy.
May 28th, 2020 at 2:31 pm
You know who consistently runs the ball well without any superstar talent at the RB position?…Tom Brady’s Patriots. And you know why? Of course you do. They consistently have one of the most solid olines in the business. The whiners always complaining about RBs and deflecting attention away from an overpaid, overrated and underperforming oline need look no further than the track record our new QB had with what on film and in the stat sheet were highly effective offensive lines.
Guaranteed that if this piss poor oline blocked better for our RBs last year then Winston’s interceptions would have been way lower and we would have easily won more games.
Stop the diversions, excuses and madness! Oline has sucked. Here’s to hoping it improves with a Tom Brady in the house.
May 28th, 2020 at 3:19 pm
I personally don’t think the o-line is trash, there’s definitely talent there but I do think there’s room for improvement. I feel better at the middle of the line than I do at the edges, I’m hoping Smith continues to improve and hope Wirfs is an improvement over an aging and bad knee’d Dotson. And the addition of Brady over Winston will help, Brady can help with identifying blitz packages and d-line stunts and will make quicker/smarter decisions getting rid of the ball when it comes to choosing receiving targets.
May 28th, 2020 at 7:49 pm
The O line is a good blocking unit for the passing game but the run game is substandard. They simply struggle opening holes and dealing with d-line stunts, overloads and different blitz packages. When our RB’s get caught in the backfield on a regular basis and we struggle making a 3 and 1, I wonder if the O line is strong enough to dominate the D line?
May 28th, 2020 at 9:02 pm
Raging Brisket,
I totally disagree.
But I’ll let you prove me wrong.
Show me the stats on how great the Patriots Oline has been.
May 28th, 2020 at 9:51 pm
Ship- any quick search ranking oline effectiveness will show NE in the top year after year with TB way in the rear. Footballoutsiders showed up first in my search as an example. But hey, you don’t have to take their word for it. All you have to do is watch the Bucs oline play for the last dozen years. Tells the sad story all by itself. It sucks but true. Sorry pal.
May 29th, 2020 at 3:54 pm
If your O/Line is a just above average in pass blocking and can’t run block..then it will never be dominant. Some of it is getting into the right play against a certain defence (shouldn’t be a problem with NE12 at the helm) without OTA’s I just don’t see this O/line getting any better!!!
May 29th, 2020 at 11:51 pm
Marpet and Jensen allowed 3 sacks combined. Cappa allowed 4 or 5 I think as a late round rookie. Smith allowed 5 if I remember?
This ain’t bad folks.
May 30th, 2020 at 12:59 am
Ship- I showed you the stats you asked for and never once criticized the pass protection aspect of the line. An offensive line that proves year after year that they cannot run block is mediocre at best even with decent pass protection. Offensive balance breaks down when you cannot run the ball. No team can win in this league solely on the arm of one man. Patriots proved for two decades that a great QB is an assassin with a great run game. They never went out and got superstar backs to plug into their offense. They simply maintained a highly effective oline and let any decent RB become a productive back taking handoffs from Brady.
Fix the push up front and we will be near impossible to stop. Go Bucs.
May 30th, 2020 at 2:38 am
This will be the season to see how good they are. I mean, we have good pieces, they just need to work as a unit. They will play motivated for Brady.
Are they great? No. They’re about avg to above avg, but I think there is potential to milk them for more.
May 30th, 2020 at 11:46 am
Raging biscuit:
I don’t know the actual number but since we’re talking numbers and all, wasnt the majority of jw ints when he WAS NOT under pressure? So your statement about a better oline leading to fewer ints is blown out the water.
Yes, the oline isn’t the best. I think we can agree to that. We have an average lt and a rg who is just ok. The rt was weak last yr but obviously that has been addressed. I would love to see a new rg and have cappa as backup. In a perfect world, a new stud lt would be great!
May 30th, 2020 at 11:49 am
But I think the sack numbers will go down for multiple reasons. Brady has better pocket awareness, Brady knows to climb the pocket instead of ducking out, Brady will make better reads, Brady will audible into a different play before the snap. Simple things like that can make an oline look way better.