“We Might Be In This Ballgame With Two Guys”
October 6th, 2020
Top dog
The Buccaneers have a battered running backs crew that’s down to almost scary numbers.
LeSean McCoy and Leonard Fournette have ankle injuries and Kenjon Barner is in the concussion protocol. And it’s too late, per NFL rules, to add a running back with a game on Thursday night, Bucco Bruce Arians said today.
So the Bucs might be down to just Ronald Jones and rookie Ke’Shawn Vaughn. “We might be in this ballgame with two guys,” Arians said of the running back position.
The good news, per Arians, is that Fournette is improving and Arians said there’s at least a small chance he’ll play Thursday. So that means it’s about definite that Fournette will be ready for the Packers in 12 days.
Joe’s not concerned about having just two backs for one game. The Bucs can win through the air if they have to. Heck, Tom Brady is averaging 39 passes per game.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Let’s hope he has some un-injured receivers to throw to.
They are just as battered right now.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Fournette better man up, and get on the field. Godwin is hurt. OJ is done for season, and Evans was playing on one foot Sunday.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:39 pm
No worries. We can just put Vita Vea in as a RB for a few snaps. Game prediction is , Da Bucs 24 Da Bears 13.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:39 pm
Tyler Johnson will needto have some production, and I expect to have a Tanner Hudson siting. Also I might expect to see Gronk rotate into the backfield to block as an H-back and then get some screen passes.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Dumb comment. If his injury is not severe he’ll on the field. If it is severe and he can’t walk properly then he needs to stay off the field. It’s not an issue of manning up.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
McCoy will be out. Fournette is a game time decision. I haven’t seen any news on how severe Mike Evans injury was, but since he was able to play taped up I am hopeful Mike, Scotty, and Justin can play for some of the game against the Bears. Maybe put them on a pitch count and rotate more so we can manage their injuries on a short week, and then rest them up on the mini-bye in preparation for Green Bay. We should have Godwin back by then too. I am hoping he stays healthy the rest of the season. We need him.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Our healthiest skill position group on the offensive side is TE’s, I would they will be relied on heavily. Could be a big game for Cam Brate.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:49 pm
Uh huh, something that Gronk has *never* done in his career. If Gronk lines up as a halfback then Arians should be relieved of his duties.
October 6th, 2020 at 1:55 pm
@D Rome Evans shouldnt have been on the field sunday, he couldnt even walk. He stayed on the field and made big plays for his team. Everyone plays hurt in the NFL. With only 2 runningbacks healthy right now, Fournette might have to man up and play through the pain.
October 6th, 2020 at 2:23 pm
Devin White played RB in high school, I think. I’d give him some snaps. 😂
October 6th, 2020 at 2:25 pm
hammerhead Says: Your moderation is awaiting comment.
October 6th, 2020 at 2:29 pm
Gronk, Brate, Watson, Johnson, Rojo, Vaughn and a 60% Evans and 75% Miller should be enough to put 23-26 points up and if the D can’t contain Foles then they are over hyped.
October 6th, 2020 at 2:29 pm
It seems that Vaughn and Jones could rotate series and still be alright, as long as neither gets injured during the game. Bucs have enough weapons that they can go spread formation and empty backfield if they need to, but ideally we have some production at RB so that we can run some play action against the Bears.
October 6th, 2020 at 2:30 pm
If we add O.J. to IR would that clear any cap? Or no because it was a football injury?
October 6th, 2020 at 2:40 pm
It would be so glorious if RoJo treated us to his true break out performance on National TV.
I have been one of those people who have believed that if we feed Ronnie the ball more he would be a top 5 RB for years.
The only problem with him has been not being the featured back.
So now that he is nice and “Charged” up from his last game. He is ready to run away from Da Bear
October 6th, 2020 at 2:47 pm
“Air it out?” Do you know something I don’t? It would lovely if guys would stop getting hurt. Not interested in “airing it out” with Tyler Johnson and jaydon mickens, and we still don’t know if gronk can get open consistently. This has the potential to be a supremely ugly game, not sure why everyone is so cocksure that we’re making turn Chicago in to a mushroom cloud with long bombs
October 6th, 2020 at 2:49 pm
Rojo & Vaughn can get it done…….when you look at the past few games….we didn’t use Fournette or McCoy that much.
Devin White used to be a RB……(sarcasm)…..
October 6th, 2020 at 2:56 pm
D-Rome Says:
October 6th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Fournette better man up, and get on the field.
Dumb comment. If his injury is not severe he’ll on the field. If it is severe and he can’t walk properly then he needs to stay off the field. It’s not an issue of manning up.
I agree with you D-Rome.
October 6th, 2020 at 2:58 pm
TBBfan – So did Vea.
October 6th, 2020 at 3:00 pm
just dress fournette and have him potentially ready if everyone else is literally carted off…
or use te’s as backs…i’m sure some have minimal experience
October 6th, 2020 at 3:01 pm
vea – emergency sumo to the rescue 🙂
October 6th, 2020 at 3:02 pm
scotty miller 15 jet sweeps for 88 yards in the game 🙂
October 6th, 2020 at 3:14 pm
Yeah because Fournette has never been accused of sitting out games he could have played in 🙄
October 6th, 2020 at 3:26 pm
Would love to see Fournette play Thurs., but having him for the 11+ games after da Bears is way more important. So if he’s not 100%, RoJo and Sneak will step up and get it done!
October 6th, 2020 at 3:28 pm
Would love to see Fournette play Thursday night, but having him for the 11+ games after Da Bears is much more important. So if he’s not 100% it would smart to keep him out, let RoJo and the Sneak step up and get the job done!
October 6th, 2020 at 3:34 pm
Vita Vea was a running back in high school.
The fanbase has been dying to Vea in the backfield since watching YouTube.
Do it!
October 6th, 2020 at 3:37 pm
i like rojo for another 100+yards….
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 6th, 2020 at 3:45 pm
I find it interesting that posters can get inside someone else’s body and determine if they can play with their injury…..how perceptive….the shear genius of it…..what a talent.
October 6th, 2020 at 3:50 pm
Vea, do it. He is actually a pretty nimble runner. Lol.
October 6th, 2020 at 3:59 pm
Da Bears run defense sucks out loud.
Don’t get Fournette injured more in a game where 2 RBs will be sufficient.
Man up to Fournette coming from a couch potatoe is ridiculous.
October 6th, 2020 at 4:14 pm
A couple of decades ago all you needed was one solid back, now 2 running backs are considered “only”.
October 6th, 2020 at 4:15 pm
Too bad they couldn’t have kept Raymond Calais on the Practice Squad…we were deep at RB so I get it but the Ram’s poached him and he killed it as a kick returner for them recently. I’d rather have him back there than Mickens but I doubt they could justify 5 backs.
October 6th, 2020 at 4:18 pm
Hmmm, seems like just yesterday that Bucs had a plethora of running backs: RoJo, Fournette, McCoy, Vaughn, TJ Logan, Barner. Now we have two? Oh well, they’re 2 good ones so we’ll be OK.
Of course we’re also down 2 TEs (OJ & Auclair), but thankfully we’ve got a ton of WRs, even though several of those are hurting too. On the bright side, it’s getting easier for Brady to spread the ball around. And on the real bright side, Bucs will have a full 10 days to get rested & get well before meeting the Packers.
As an aside Joe, Tom Brady averaging 39 passes a game is NOT a good thing IMO. Yes the passing yardage is up a little over last year (1095 passing yards this year in 4 games versus 1094 last year) but the attempts are also a tad when you include sacks (160 passing attempts this year versus 151 in 4 games last year). And oh ya, 6 TOs last year thru 4 games versus 6 TOs this year, although our penalties are down slightly (36 last year thru 4 games versus 31 this year). Hmmm. Bottom line though IMO is that 3-1 is better than 2-2. And yes, a huge part of that is because our defense is playing much better early in the season.
October 6th, 2020 at 5:00 pm
If Im Arians, thisnis a game I tell the defense to go out and win, or even dare to try and conserve everyone for Greenbay. Evans needs to rest that Hammy he shouldnt even sniff the field. Fournette and Rojo??? Let them rest also, bring up a rb or wr from the pracice squad and tell them to just run like hell for one game.Going into week 4 I thought the bears were more of a challenge than the chargers, but im less worried about the bears now and more worried about the packers.
October 6th, 2020 at 5:11 pm
The short passing game should be in effect Thursday. It’s not like we can just write the Bears off. They have pretty darn good players on defense: Khalil Mack, Kyle Fuller (Hokie Alum), etc.
For the “passing league” folks, dink and dunk is in full effect!
October 6th, 2020 at 5:20 pm
D-Rome — an “H” back isn’t a halfback, genius. It’s more of a blocking fullback / tight end hybrid. But go ahead on and pretend like you’re an expert.
October 6th, 2020 at 5:25 pm
We have a third running back
Have you seen college film on Jordan Jordan Whitehead
October 6th, 2020 at 5:58 pm
BucEmUp … Barner was our only RB on the PS, and he’s in concussion protocol & now suspended for 4 games apparently for using performance-enhancing drugs. I’d rest Fournette (need him for Green Bay) & McCoy is down anyways, so we’ve got RoJo & Vaughn. Pass blocking might be an issue, but I’ve got a feeling they’ll both do fine running the ball AND catching it out of the backfield.
October 6th, 2020 at 6:08 pm
Let’s see Sneaky, maybe he’s special. Jones is solid but he’s not special.
October 6th, 2020 at 7:22 pm
Lets just hope Vaughn can pass block. He looked good in limited play time on Sunday, Brady loves those James White type of RBs who can catch out of the backfield, so if he can pass block, he could have a big day.
McCoy has actually done a good job outside of the dropped TD and giving up a big hit on Brady by missing his block on Sunday… which, come to think about, when you have 2 massive mistakes in 4 games, that actually isn’t all that good. So again, if Vaughn can pass block, McCoy might end up being on the bench of getting cut — not that I’m for that, I think he’s been good in his role minus those 2 mistakes.
October 6th, 2020 at 7:41 pm
DR
If rojo could catch……
October 6th, 2020 at 9:27 pm
Defense rules, my fear is that Leftwich doesnt ackowledge the pass rush and chooses to force the ball down field. Im hoping they let brady take the short game, eat up clock and keep our defense rested. Im afriad he will vall nothing but deep routes and get Brady killed on a short week for our Oline.
Hope I am wrong…
October 6th, 2020 at 9:42 pm
Give him a break jmarkbuc, he’s not THAT bad. Right at 75% catch ratio for his career, which is close to the same as Fournette & McCoy. RoJo’s improved considerably in pass catching since year 1 IMO. However, Fournette’s the one I want to see in the backfield as much as possible, but not until he heals up.
October 6th, 2020 at 10:00 pm
Sign Beastmode
October 6th, 2020 at 10:43 pm
Rojo is the exact same age at 23 as Cadillac Williams was when he was a rookie that was a HUGE liability in the passing game. Williams improved so much over his career that when the team finally gave up on him as a featured RB, he was our 3rd down RB for a few seasons. Rojo will be fine in time.
October 6th, 2020 at 11:00 pm
Sounds like Fournette may be activated as an emergency backup
October 6th, 2020 at 11:02 pm
Barner is suspended now, so their definitely at 2 if Fournette can’t go.
October 6th, 2020 at 11:02 pm
*they’re
October 7th, 2020 at 7:04 am
DR
Was rojo 75% on Sunday? Idk, but it didn’t feel that way.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:03 pm
@jmark he was 6 for 9 on targets sunday, so 66.66%
For the season, he is also at 66.66% for the season (12/18).
But to be fair- there was 1 against the Chargers and at least 3 others I remember from early games that were just really poor throws. So in my humble opinion he’s more like 12 / 15 on the year.
Not amazing, but not terrible. The weird thing is his hands seem to have gotten worse this year, while his running has gotten better.
October 8th, 2020 at 12:29 am
It’s better if Rojo gets all the carries!! He needs time to get rolling he’s an old school back!!!