OL Should Be Fine (Barring Injury)

August 31st, 2020

“Ali, you are not gonna gets hurt this year, are you?”

A lot of Bucs fans like to gripe about the Bucs offensive line. They shouldn’t.

Most of the kvetching about the line is, in Joe’s eyes, unreasonable. Just what line in the NFL’s current offensive line crisis has five pancake blocks on every snap and offers running backs consistent five-yard wide holes to run through?

Joe would suggest none.

Joe is of the opinion that the Bucs may have the franchise’s best offensive line in the post-Chucky era. Albert Breer of SI.com thinks the Bucs have a chance of being fairly decent this fall.

@AlbertBreer: The one area to watch is OL depth. Tristan Wirfs has turned a corner the last week at RT, and Alex Cappa looks ready to break through at guard, giving the Bucs a solid starting 5. But if one of those guys go down, it could be a problem (the team did sign AQ Shipley on Monday).

The Bucs have been extraordinarily fortunate to have very few injuries in the trenches. The Bucs’ five starters on the offensive line last year missed a total of five starts. Alex Cappa missed three of those five with a broken arm.

In 2018, the starting offensive linemen missed a total of one start. One! So in the last two seasons, all five starters on the offensive line missed a total of six starts in 32 games.

Just the law of averages suggests that streak should end this year. And the way offensive lines are in the NFL, Joe isn’t aware of many if any teams with great proven depth up front.

15 Responses to “OL Should Be Fine (Barring Injury)”

  1. SRQBucsFan Says:

    Keep it coming Joes much appreciated! Paul please go away

  2. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Anyone remember how Dan Marino made his O Line’s life alot easier, because of his quick accurate release. From 1983-90 Dan was not sacked 20 times in a season. Alot of that was simply because of how fast Dan got the ball out. This is another effect of Brady being here. So on large percentage of plays, the O Line will only have to hold their block momentarily and Brady will get the ball out. Then another Brady effect on the O Line is they will be springing the Running backs into a light box, no more loading up the box against Tampa Bay until Brady says C Ya! The O Line barring injury, is going to be just fine. GO BUCS!!!

  3. gp Says:

    The o-line has been somewhat average over the past few years. Considering the talent we have built there we should be a “little” over that average in coming years… Hopefully
    With a slightly above average line, and a true game managing quarterback, plus the weapons accumulated over the years… I anticipate a truly strong season coming.
    I would even possibly label it a “perfect storm” type of offense!

  4. lambchop Says:

    I hope someone is working on that field at RayJay.

  5. Rod Munch Says:

    Hey Joe,

    Now that camp is basically over (for the media anways) will you be writing up a story about how things were different with Winston vs Brady? I’d really love a non-hyperbolic article that just goes over everything, from practice habits, to performance in practice, accuracy, deep ball, playmaking, how quick to make adjustments, etc. I’d really love to hear how the offense is running different, this year from last, when it comes to the QB and what exactly is the difference. Just please, no hyperbole – just a regular old sports story would be great. I don’t hate Winston, I’m hoping they resign him this offseason to sit behind Brady for a year before getting his job back, but I’m also happy Brady is the current QB. So I’m not looking for an article trashing anyone or an article trying to score points with the idiot brown man bad crowd either. Just a simple, Tommy does this better, Winston did this better – that type of thing!

  6. lambchop Says:

    Resign Winston? That chapter is closed. They can’t afford him and he’s not coming cheap. We already know what we’re getting with him.

    This is the 2nd time I’ve heard someone say the Bucs should resign Winston. Ludicrous. Makes 0 sense.

    Habits don’t die, homey. It doesn’t matter who he learns from.

  7. lambchop Says:

    Jameis is going to play the waiting game and wait for Drew Brees to retire or get hurt. He’s not going to go anywhere after this season unless some bonehead organization overpays.

  8. Bucsfanman Says:

    gp-“Perfect storm offense”! I like that. We have an explosive offense, and that was before we added the GOAT and Gronk.
    The real “issue” with the OL for the last few years has been run-blocking, or the lack thereof. When you blend that with lack of vision at the RB position, you end up with a pass-happy, unbalanced offense.
    If we develop anything resembling a run-game, it could very well be the “perfect storm.”

  9. Sarasota Garey Says:

    I wish we could find out where the Bucs had Whirs ranked on their draft board? Many mock drafts had him as the first OT going in the draft.

  10. DanBucsFan Says:

    I think with Sipley and Haeg, we actually do have depth and vetran depth at that.

  11. DanBucsFan Says:

    *Shipley

  12. BucBrady Says:

    Saying something is fine “barring injury” is dicey in a regular year. Saying the line is fine “barring injury” during the Age of Rona is a whole other.

    Depth is going to be everything this season.

  13. Kobe Faker Says:

    “There is nothing between my ears”

    Dope Smith

  14. Brandon Says:

    Joe Haeg is proven depth. Shipley is as well. Josh Wells has played a little and not embarrassed himself.

  15. Ndog Says:

    Yeah and Brady will be great until he gets touched. Then he will start to go into full 🐢 mode!!!!!