O-Line Crumbles At Worst Time
October 9th, 2020
First time looking like a rookie.
Four days after the Bucs’ offensive line played so good, they played Thursday night at Soldier Field as if they partied in Wrigleyville on Wednesday night in Chicago.
Yes, Joe knows the team didn’t escape its hotel bubble to slam beers, chase skirts and shut down bars. But damn, the pass blocking was so bad in the second half these guys played like they were hungover.
For the first time all season, Tristan Wirfs looked like a rookie. Bears manbeast pass rusher Khalil Mack was just toying with the poor kid.
And of course, left tackle Donovan Smith had his predictable roller-coaster play. From one game to the next, you don’t know if the Bucs will get a brick wall at left tackle or a ticket taker who gets more flags thrown at him than a presidential candidate on stage at a rally.
(Smith has the second-highest base salary for left tackles in the NFL, per Spotrac.com. And he is not providing the second-best play of left tackles in the league. Joe likes you, Donovan, and Joe has defended you often in the past, but if Joe holds Devin White to a high standard for being the fifth player taken in the draft, Joe must hold you to a high standard for your salary on a team that is strapped for cap space.)
Mack wasn’t the only guy getting pressure. Mack had two sacks, three quarterback pressures and two tackles for loss.
In other words, he lived in the Bucs’ backfield last night.
“We did a poor job of blocking him,” Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians said of Mack. “One [sack] was poor communication. But no, we didn’t block him very well.
“They have a heck of a pass rush but we have to do a better job [blocking].”
Throw in a terribly stupid penalty by Ryan Jensen and it was just an awful night, specifically the second half, for a unit that most thought was playing solid ball after beating the Chargers last Sunday.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:01 am
That was embarrassing! Sort it out
October 9th, 2020 at 8:06 am
What No we had best defense. Best oline
Best run game
Yah but kicker is best now
What. Until we lose. And then
Brady sucks
Ndog has facts
He is happy today
I will say it
The FSU fans are nitches. What a group of losers
October 9th, 2020 at 8:09 am
Donovan Smith is gone after this year
October 9th, 2020 at 8:09 am
It was not a good showing, compounded by penalty after penalty.
If I’m the Bucs, I start looking at replacing Smith in very short order.
And yeah, who knew? Wirfs is human after all.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:11 am
Tht shaq roughing call flipped the field we would’ve got punt mid field. Gm over I don’t care what any says tht call changed the gm.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:11 am
Carlton Davis PI streak continues. And WHY the hell is he playing 15 yards off of Robinson. Guy isn’t a burner. I swear Lovie was on the sideline or in the headset.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:12 am
eye opener, good thing is were still in it at this point anyways, 11 games left so a lot of football i don’t think ryan liked getting chewed out on the sideline by brady, so i do not think he’ll make that stupid penalty again, hopefully we get godwin and miller back at full speed, and on a bright note the rookie receiver johnson looks like a keeper, and rojo gets another hundo rushing yds
October 9th, 2020 at 8:12 am
Tank for sewell.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:13 am
Stop blaming the refs. It’s weak. In fact, that mentality works perfect for this team so makes sense Bucs fans would blame refs.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:13 am
I don’t know how many games this is now where you can say this coaching staff didn’t have these guys playing disciplined football. There were some really bad calls last night, but having the biggest coaching staff in the league you would think they would fix the bone head plays. How many times do you have to see the Bucs beating themselves with poor play. Even Brady is out there making mistakes that he’s never made before. All of this comes down to preparing the team. Too many coaches for this garbage football, they need their a$$ chewed just as bad as the players do.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:15 am
Jensen and others should be fined by the team for dumb emotional penalties. Or they need to trade them. It’s been a problem for a while and cause many drives to stall or fail for years.
We need to consider stop starting two defensive end as outside linebackers. The coverage by those guys are sub par. Those flats have been exploited a lot.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:17 am
I thought Wirfs and Smith played equally bad, which you expect for a rookie going against a guy like Mack but for Smith, its unacceptable…..yet in classic Jason Licht form the only option we have. As for Jensen, his blocking seems to be grading well but he offsets it with penalties.
Its frustrating…..this team reminds me of sitting on my HOA once. Every homeowner will find ONE rule they disagree with but if you allow every homeowner one exception, the community will go to hell in a handbasket quick. That’s our Bucs…..one lazy effort here, one penalty there, a turnover, missed blocking assignment….before you know it, they all add up to a poor performance. Arians is going to have to do something drastic again to get the teams attention. Last year it was cutting Hargreaves….I dont know who it will be this year but he will need to take action sooner then later.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:18 am
The Bears are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!
October 9th, 2020 at 8:29 am
I thought Mike Smith was on the sideline coaching for how far off the wide receiver some db’s were playing. Where’s the bump and run at the line? Let’s get aggressive.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:29 am
Joe I agree the O line wasn’t at it’s best last night. However watching the game I couldn’t help but think of how mobile QB’s would’ve fared last night. You see the Mahomes, Rogers, Watson etc. escape the pass rush all the time to either make a play running, or buying time scrabbling to make a big pass play down field. It’s easy when the defenders don’t have to worry about that with Brady. The days of pure pocket passers are over. Pass rushers are to good to expect any O line to form the perfect pocket every time. Brady’s age isn’t the problem, it’s his immobility that’s the problem. The days of pure pocket passers are over. If this Brady, Arians thing doesn’t produce, it’s time for a complete change to the more modern NFL.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:32 am
I’m trying to show some love for Tyler Johnson!! He showed up and played extremely well when he had the ball in his hands.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:36 am
“We did a poor job of blocking” DO YOU THINK SO! BA, pure freaking brilliance in that comment. Captain Obvious is also looking for a coaching gig. SMFH
October 9th, 2020 at 8:37 am
D Rome – yep Denny Green and I agree lol Classic bro
October 9th, 2020 at 8:40 am
Hmmm, reading the article & the comments I noticed that something’s missing: the words ‘playoffs-bound’ and ‘Super Bowl Champions’. Lots of very high aspirations when this season began, but quite frankly this team isn’t even close to playing good enough football to make the playoffs, yet.
IMO it all comes down to preparation and discipline, and BOTH were sorely missing last night. Shameful performance by our defense, our offense AND our special teams (in terms of coverage, not punting or FG kicking). That all comes down to coaches not having these guys prepared for the game; you could see that early-on. Bears are a PHYSICAL, SMASHMOUTH TEAM, but they’re not 4-1 good. We let them dictate the game. Champions don’t do that.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:41 am
Literally coming out of your stance and stepping to the left as the end runs past you isn’t blocking.
October 9th, 2020 at 8:44 am
WiscoJoe The ghost of Mike Smith has been showing up too much. It is ridiculous to position yourself to concede a first down on any down let alone on 3rd down late in the 4th Quarter with the game on the line. GO BUCS!!!!
October 9th, 2020 at 8:53 am
Oline was truly horrible. If there was one reason for the loss, it was the Oline.Play calling was not very good; officiating was the worst of the year; BUT,
Is it too late for Donavon “swinging door” Smith to “opt out”? Why not throw Haeg out there for one frigging play to send Smith a message?
Is Gronk freelancing, or is BA/BL’s play design suspect?! Several times last night, Gronk and ME were so close together they could hold hands. I don’t think that is how it is supposed to be. Even the play-by-play guy commented that he thought Gronk stole a pass intended for ME – and it definitely looked like it.
Hey 813, wasn’t BL amazing last night by going away from a strong running game and going for it 4th and 1 at the Bucs 19yl, and settling for a FG on 4th and 1 on the Bear’s 7yl?! WTF was that?!
Such a cluster F last night
October 9th, 2020 at 8:55 am
The bucs only had holding penalties so jameis lost
Yah. They had how many in a row on one drive
“ but brady yelled at them”. “Great leader”
😂
What a loser. Nsob showing true self
I hate the loss. We will be fine. Nsob never will
October 9th, 2020 at 9:24 am
PENALITIES!!! Joe Haeg should at least start getting some first team practice reps to let D Smith know OFFSIDES..ALL DEAD BALL FOULS ARE UNNACCEPTABLE!
Let’s start with that most fundamental of disciplines…and drop out of the top five of most penalized teams.
Penalties in sports are defined as a disadvantage or handicap imposed on a player or team, typically for infringement of rules.
This team shows promise but it is nowhere near good enough to spot other teams advantages!!!!
October 9th, 2020 at 9:33 am
RoJo just cannot catch can he? And those penalties. Just sloppy all around. We lost this game due to mental weakness.
October 9th, 2020 at 9:44 am
HeyItsAdam Says:
October 9th, 2020 at 8:41 am
Literally coming out of your stance and stepping to the left as the end runs past you isn’t blocking.
________
^^^^^^^
This!
And to top it off after the penalties he just acts like “oh well”…….
No fire, lazy “technique” …….
If GMC had a son………
October 9th, 2020 at 10:02 am
senor henry
BL had a bad night…i was disappointed….rojo was hot imo….
but he wasnt the only coordinator to sh!t the bed…..BOWLES defense couldnt stop a nose bleed….
BA, BL & Bowles all shat the bed….
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 9th, 2020 at 10:03 am
senor
gronk doesnt know what he’s doing out there….and whenever he does do something he’s slow as he!!….
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 9th, 2020 at 10:04 am
unfortunately, d.smith and wirfs performance didnt surprise me….
especially d.smith….
GO BUCS!!!!
October 9th, 2020 at 10:39 am
All I know is NDOG lives in Bird’s head.
I guess that’s where the phrase Bird Brain comes from.
October 9th, 2020 at 10:42 am
By BA not trading off Turnstyle D. Smith now the whole nation knows what a lousy OT he is and BA now will never be able to trade him to anyone and will just have to cut him. Part of the blame goes to Licht for giving the bum a guaranteed $14 million this year. Licht was a lineman at one time and should have known better. And Leftwhich should have gone for a touchdown on short yardage deep and just kicked a field goal. The next contract for our Center needs to contain a money penalty for head butting.
October 9th, 2020 at 10:42 am
DS76 and RS66 should be made to account for their bad play and their penalties. Brady has to rely on these bozo personalities is unfortunate!
October 9th, 2020 at 11:55 am
The OL was a total debacle last night. From stupid pre-snap penalties to poor technique to personal fouls. One one drive alone, EVERY member of the OL got a penalty. One one drive! Bucs had the ball at the 50 with a chance to put this team away and they freaking IMPLODED.
October 9th, 2020 at 11:55 am
Every member execpt for Marpet that is.
October 9th, 2020 at 12:52 pm
The online and the defense both crumbled.
But you can’t fiz it if you don’t know it’s broke.
October 9th, 2020 at 5:41 pm
Leftwich should have noticed the Line was completely gassed by the second half and changed the play calling. Brady kept dropping back and holding the ball because just like with James, Byron kept forcing the ball down field. A good play caller adjusts to the defense when the defense is winning….Byron isn’t capable of making those in game adjustments.
Said the day Arians announced he got the play calling job this offense is screwed. Arians playbook is a chess board ad Byron is playing checkers with the most important pieces. I don’t give a flying crap what excuses or stats you put out there for the guy Leftwich SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Arians were calling the plays that game would’ve been won in a landslide. It was truly pathetic watching the “Goat” with these weapons unable to accomplish anything on offense.
The roughing the passer call against shaq was a major ripoff but the game never should have been that close….this is another loss on coaching. Yes, the online made mistakes but again they were gassed….adjust and help your players. BE A COACH DAMMIT!!!!!!!
FIRE LEFTWICH!!!!!
October 9th, 2020 at 5:42 pm
The defense only fell apart because Bowles refused to play aggressive on 3rd downs. I don’t understand why he can’t just take it to them for three downs and get the ball back. Playing soft and scared doesn’t make any sense.