“We Are Not Throwing The Ball 50 Times To The Tight Ends”
September 21st, 2020
Lack of targets explained.
Joe has had a lot of readers ask since the start of yesterday’s game why the Bucs are not throwing to foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski? And why they are not throwing to O.J. Howard? And where the hell is Cam Brate?
Arians explained very simply in three short sentences today.
Arians was asked if he is surprised by how park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback Tom Brady is not targeting his old buddy Gronkowski much.
“Not really,” Arians said.
He detailed why in simple terms.
“We are not throwing the ball 50 times to the tight ends,” Arians said. “That’s what we’ve got receivers for. That’s the way our offense is built.”
That’s a fair answer and it adds up, if you are familiar with Arians’ history with tight ends (except for his time in Pittsburgh where he did use TE Heath Miller).
Now if you want to argue the Bucs have a sh!tload of Team Glazer loot tied up with three players at a secondary position (in Arians’ offense), that is fair.
Frankly, Joe would rather have any position loaded like the Bucs are at tight end than a bunch of no-name stiffs who would be lucky to have made an AAF roster.
September 21st, 2020 at 12:59 pm
The Bucs could trade a TE before the deadline to a team that gets hit by the injury bug.
September 21st, 2020 at 12:59 pm
Then why spend over 16 million per year on TEs?
September 21st, 2020 at 1:01 pm
As if you needed any more proof that Bruce Arians is exactly like the last 3 head coaches here:
“This is how I’ve always done things. I don’t change or adapt.”
September 21st, 2020 at 1:02 pm
That is a BS answer from BA……50 times?…..How about 5?
You paid $10 and gave up a 4th round pick for a blocking TE?…….BS…..
We have a 1st & 4th round pick and over $15 million tied up on TEs…..
I’m of the opinion that you build your offense with the players you have……and you have some TEs…..they should be a bigger part of the mix.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:08 pm
@BFFL
Exactly! Paying $10 million for a blocking te is just absurd! This is exactly what kills me with Licht and BA. At the end of the day, that money can go elsewhere to a position of real need.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:15 pm
In no way is this a acceptable answer I haven’t heard or ready anywhere to throw the ball 50 times to the TEs. BA unwillingness to change his stance on TEs is a terrible trait to have when you’re a coach. If you only want a TE to block them trade ours and get some worthy O linemen like a good LT
September 21st, 2020 at 1:16 pm
It blows my mind that we have soo much talent at Our TE group and receiver corpse that we should be putting up 400 yard games through the air instead of what it’s become.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:20 pm
Meh. Gronk is babysitting the rookie and the thing occupying the LT position. I will laugh hysterically when the game plan opens up when it needs to – and that time is not right now.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:23 pm
Not impressed with Ariens or Leftwich as coaches and their record. They are dumb for not using their TEs. Might as well trade em and get some more OL help. I feel sorry for OJ and Brate. They want to be used not misused.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:27 pm
Yall act like we havent seen this before over and over. Everytime you change HCs your team takes a step backwards as he is stuck with players you brought in for the last guy.
951….Fair to blame Licht but it seems obvisous Brady was a huge factor in adding Gronk to the roster.
And dont write Gronk off you soon yall. If we get into a big game IN December and Gronk carries us yall will love the guy. You might even pencil him in to play huge when the Sints come to town……Since Mike Evan’s never shows up against him we might need Gronk to pick up the slack.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:28 pm
What a waste of weapons. If Bruce hates throwing to TE’s so much, than line OJ or Gronk up as a WR, surely they’r better options than Grayson.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:30 pm
Oh and OJ is a terrible football player. He’s done nothing in 4 seasons now aside from like 3 plays.
A TE that cant catch the ball over the middle is kinda useless. I wont be suprized if he gets no passes on Sunday…….He did make a fine block on Fournettes 1st score. That was encouraging.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:32 pm
It’s incredible to watch how Josh McDaniels and the Pats have adapted to use Cam Newton. The Patriots offense looks nothing like it did for the past 20 years with Brady….
But now Ole stuck in his own ways Arians is gonna refuse to adapt to the talent we have at TE? Unacceptable.
Just goes to show that Arians is an overrated coach. Gronk has certainly lost a few steps but I guarantee that if he was in New England right now he would be producing.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:37 pm
Because coaches always tell the league exactly what they’re going to do all season.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:40 pm
That’s just crazy. Arians needs to get his head examined or retire. So throw the ball to Grayson or Miller in the end zone? Lol. Brate has better hands and runs great routes. Unbelievable. Both Arians and Leftwich are horrible at making game time adjustments and to cut out the TE’s is just lunacy. Basically the TE Corps are just extra blockers for a poor O-line.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:47 pm
You guys have been wanting to rewrite his entire playbook for 2 years now to accommodate OJ. And OJ Howard is just awful.
How bout nah? OJ got what? 2 looks yesterday and couldn’t make a catch. He is terribly overrated by this fanbase and I’ll never know why. I guarantee you Brady loses trust in him too since he’s to scared to catch in traffic.
Just mine opinion and I hope I’m wrong.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:52 pm
That’s true, the TE’s are not going to get 50 targets… but maybe 10-15 targets is reasonable. So, we need to see Gronk getting 5 or 6 targets, OJ getting 7-8 targets and maybe a few for Brate. They need to be involved in the game to keep the defense off balance. Otherwise, they are just extra O-Line blockers.
September 21st, 2020 at 1:53 pm
Two TE targets were dropped on Sun. Both Gronk and Howard guilty.
September 21st, 2020 at 2:32 pm
BA is done! Bucs and us, are paying the price of this stupid JL pick.
Watching Seattle vs NE last night, you see how the real coaches look like.
The game was battle of coaches….. things that BA will NEVER be able to do.
We have win NOT a single game because of BA and shall never win one. Not only on TE position he is clueless, but on all positions.
We have an OK DC coach, and that’s IT. The rest, starting with BL and finish with BA are terrible.
To win SB we will go through the needs to have a great HC, at list for one game. We do NOT have such a HC.
They hopping TB12 is going to magically make Bucs champs ….
Watching the match last night, makes you realized that we can’t be top of the crop, not with this coaching staff.
BA = Lovie S 2.0
September 21st, 2020 at 2:34 pm
Did we win Sunday? Who Cares?
I counted 200 plus yards that literally got dropped Yesterday. Not to mention if Tom was able to throw the ball further then 40 yards he hits Watson in stride for a walk in score. Thats another 30 right there.
So for fun. Add another 250 yards and 3 TDs to Toms stat line then tell me what yall think about our TEs
September 21st, 2020 at 2:35 pm
and our Coaches
September 21st, 2020 at 2:37 pm
So why were they refusing to trade brate this off-season? They will continue to pay him what 8-10 million to sit the bench because he took a discount to stay? That’s not much of a discount and they could have easily used him and a late round draft pick for Trent Williams or even Jamal adams. A lot of what we do makes no sense and I don’t know about Super Bowl until what they want to do as a team becomes more clear.
September 21st, 2020 at 2:55 pm
You’re right Joe, depth at any position is great, but you’ve also argued many times about how important cap space will be next year. So, if BA is not going to target 3 supposedly exceptional receiving tight ends (OJ, Gronk, and Brate), clear at least 2 of them out next year and resign Godwin.
September 21st, 2020 at 3:03 pm
The barrel of Gronk pictures has no bottom.
September 21st, 2020 at 3:05 pm
You mean it is not a smart move to wait to before the trade deadline to see which teams are desperate for a TE while we may have an unforeseen injury?
September 21st, 2020 at 3:29 pm
What a stupid answer. No logic, at all.
September 21st, 2020 at 3:57 pm
Smoke and mirrors!
Why are TEs running routes then?!
If you’re a QB and you have the choice of throwing to an open ME13 or Gronk, who do you throw to? Godwin or Gronk?
23 of 35 with some HUGE drops. Who you going to take targets away from? The RBs that keep moving the sticks? The HOF WR? Or the TEs?
The TEs are going to have big days, just not EVERY day.
And I 1,000,000% agree with JimmyJack, OJ Howard is easily THE most overrated TE in the league.
September 21st, 2020 at 4:07 pm
Either BA is completely senile or he’s full of crap.
September 21st, 2020 at 4:31 pm
If this is true why did Licht waste a 4th rd pick and 10 million of cap space for Gronk. It is early but he looks very washed up and slow.
Could have easily spent money on a safety. hell he could have gotten Clowney for a one year rental with that money spent on Gronk
A shot a draft pick would be nice
Or even better would have been to trade for trent williams at left tackle.
September 21st, 2020 at 5:08 pm
Should have used that Gronk money elsewhere. Dumb.
September 21st, 2020 at 8:13 pm
BA is full of BS, and needs to retire. Only super positive thing he’s done is bring Bowles here. Our TEs are among the most talented in the league. They are treated like lepers. Why is that? Cos of the HC who is full of crap, and fossilized.
September 21st, 2020 at 8:28 pm
If you’re not gonna use the tight end group, at least trade one and pick up another asset at another position.
September 21st, 2020 at 9:07 pm
Hey Bruce, you have TWO NFL level WRs, Godwin and Evans. That’s it. In the last 2 weeks, one of them has been injured, so you’ve really had 1 NFL level WR.
Yet you have the deepest TE group in the NFL.
If all you wanted was extra offensive lineman, then why send a 3rd rounder and spend $10m on Gronk? Why keep Brate around at $4.2m? Why keep OJ around at $3.5m?
It makes zero sense to spend nearly $18million for TEs when you could literally be spending like $1.5m on some scrubs who can block but can’t catch.
September 21st, 2020 at 10:42 pm
This is a long season. I bet their will be games where our TEs catch the red zone TDs and help us win. We don’t have to display all of our weapons after 2 weeks. Let’s get into a offensive rhythm first before we go forcing the Football
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:19 am
Shows once again is that Bruce is clueless. Trade for the GOAT TE just have him block. What an idiot.
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:40 am
Boring and Childish!
park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback Tom Brady
and not Funny
September 22nd, 2020 at 10:08 am
This group of TE’s isn’t as great as most would believe.
Gronk = old and slower. Good blocker.
Brate = only is good around the red zone. Offers nothing anywhere else.
Howard = doesn’t have the hands to be a consistent stud.
This is an average group of TE receivers. So Evans, Godwin, Miller, McCoy and Fournette are all as good or better receiving options.