Bruce Arians Takes RoJo Off The Fumble Hook; Says Run Blocking Was Weak
November 4th, 2020
A lot of fans watching Monday night thought Ronald Jones was benched for fumbling with five minutes remaining the first quarter, which led to the Giants’ first touchdown.
Listening to Bucco Bruce Arians speaking last night, you wouldn’t think that was the case at all.
“That fumble really wasn’t [RoJo’s] fault,” Arians told Bucs Total Access. “The ball was tipped, he caught it, he tried to get up and make a play and the guy hit him. So I didn’t blame him for that.”
RoJo next touched the ball after halftime, so Joe will let readers decided whether RoJo was given a break to think about his poor ball security where he needed it most.
Arians went on to praise Leonard Fournette’s for versatility and attributed that to much of his increased workload against the Giants. But it seems there is no battle for top-dot status yet.
“RoJo is still our guy. We’re going to lean on him in the running game. And he’s been running great,”Arians said.
As for the run blocking seen in New Jersey, Arians didn’t hold back.
“This was one of our poorer games. I didn’t think we were as physical as we needed to be,” Arians said of the O-line work in the run game. “The Giants do have a nice front. But again, we had some runs. We hit some explosive runs; our winning percentage in the running game wasn’t high enough.”
November 4th, 2020 at 10:38 am
Lies! Arians must really think we’re stupid not to recognize the obvious! The fumble wasn’twasn’t quite his fault because it was low and I think tipped at the line and the guy was on his back before he could completely secure the ball. You look later in the game he had the same situation happen only there he had time to secure the pass and get up and turn around. Running problem isn’t him it’s the weakness of our Oline that everyone tries to laud as so great. They’re soft in the run game and struggle to open holes regularly. A lot of RoJos success has been on the back of his patience and great cut back ability. Arians is hurting the tyne game because he keeps putting Fournette who runs right into tackles in his place.
November 4th, 2020 at 10:50 am
I do agree with coach in that our run blocking was poor in general. The giants front 4 pushed us around a bit. We are the only team in the NFL that has had the same 5 starters all yr. Frankly we should be a bit more dominant at point of attack. As an aside, the giants to me are a bit better than their 1-7 record. They’re very strong in a few areas. And actually, their WR trip to go with a healthy Barkley and Evan Ingram is really nice. That’s a playoff team to me with a competent quarterback
November 4th, 2020 at 11:08 am
The giants are the 4th best team in the league against the rush at 3.7 ypc. Let’s not panic just bc the run game wasn’t humming Monday night.
November 4th, 2020 at 11:14 am
leighroy
BINGO!!!!
folks act like the giants are the jets…lol…the jets cant stop the run or pass…
the offense will be fine….so will the defense…
GO BUCS!!!!!
November 4th, 2020 at 11:24 am
Look at the Trends
Raiders
Rojo dropped an easy pass in the first quarter of the Raiders game. Fournette was inserted on the next drive, caught a crazy pass, and played the majority of the snaps.
Giants
Rojo fumbled the pass against the Giants. Fournette was inserted and remained in the game.
Analysis
The coaching staff is living up to their word: It’s Rojo’s position to lose. If he can’t catch, they’ll find someone who can.
November 4th, 2020 at 11:36 am
Rojo fumbles the ball, Bucs respond by punishing rest of the team by benching him.
Sorry, folks that can’t see it. Fournette is bigger and faster than Rojo but has the tackle breaking power of a 3 year old. He’d get tackled by dog chew toys and a Tonka truck no problem. Rojo is our best back. We are hurting ourselves when he isn’t in the game.
November 4th, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Arians said they didn’t block well on run plays. Well when everyone knows your running on first down kinda hard to block for it dont you say. they just stack the box. starting to seriously question the play calling too. This does not look like a playoff caliber team yet, hope they get their act together and put a big @rse whoopin on the aints.
November 4th, 2020 at 12:08 pm
God forbid we don’t run the ball on every single 1st down…
November 4th, 2020 at 1:16 pm
Unbelievable … Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. BA & BL are totally clueless when it comes to designing & calling run plays. It’s become embarrassing IMO, and it’s definitely holding this offense back.
The Bucs’ OLine hasn’t been consistent in terms of run-blocking, but that’s largely because BA & BL don’t emphasize the run game, at all. Halfway through the season, we’ve run the ball 204 times (25.5 runs/game) & passed it 309 times, plus 10 sacks that can be counted as pass attempts (works out to 40 pass attempts average per game). Means that we’ve run the ball an average of only 39.0% on the season. Despite that, RoJo & Fournette primarily have averaged 4.0 YPC.
Last season the figures were almost identical, except that we averaged only 3.7 YPC. We ran it 409 times (25.5 run/game average) & passed it 607 times, plus 47 sacks (41 pass attempts average per game). Means that we ran the ball an average of only 38.5% on the season … almost exactly the same as this season.
The only things wrong with our run game is (1) plays are poorly designed by & large, and show very little creativity; (2) their predictability (ie, running mostly on 1st down) is astounding; and (3) we don’t run nearly enough to be good at it. When we lost to the Bears, we ran the ball a season-low 20 times … 31.2% of our plays. RoJo had 17 runs in that game … 14 of them (82.4%) were on 1st down. That’s over half of the 1st down opportunities that we had in the game.
Interestingly, the one game where we ran more than we passed was the Packers game. Our TOP in that game was only 28:33 but we racked up 158 yds on 35 carries (4.5 YPC) & 2 TDs. It did a pretty good job of keeping the Pack defense off-balance too it seemed, making the passing game even more effective. Whodathunkit?
November 4th, 2020 at 1:37 pm
Defense rules, check your math. The team may be averaging 4.0, but RoJo and Fournette are both averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
This dang Brady guy tho bringing down the team numbers 17 attempts for 6 yards! Qb sneaks and kneel downs I guess?
November 4th, 2020 at 2:23 pm
DR
the offense is ranked #4…lol…
yeah, its REALLY being held back….lol…
stop whining….WE’RE 6-2….
GO BUCS!!!!!!
November 4th, 2020 at 2:32 pm
Leighroy you’re spot on; Brady & McCoy together have run 23 times for 5 TOTAL yards. That does tend to drag down the average for sure. Even more reason though to push for a more balanced run-pass attack. Anything less than about 45% in my book is too low, UNLESS our opponent is flat-out shutting down the run.
November 4th, 2020 at 2:41 pm
813bucboi … There’s not an OC in this league who wouldn’t love to work with the talent that’s on this Bucs’ offense. It’s being held back by your guy Lefty. And his offense is being boosted up by the FOURTEEN turnovers this defense has generated in just 8 games, resulting in what, around 25% of the offense’s points production? Good thing The GOAT’s as experienced as he is to make up for some of the lousy 3rd-and-longs that Lefty’s play-calling puts us in game after game.
And if it wasn’t for this defense & for Tom Brady constantly bailing him out, you’d be the one whining about Leftwich. Oh and if you talk to him today, please tell him that it’s OK to run on something OTHER than on 1st down.
November 4th, 2020 at 3:46 pm
Jones is a better running back right now than Fournette.
We have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, and Rob Gronkowski. If they’re concerned about Ronald Jones catching passes, maybe pass to any one of the number of All Pro’s that get paid to catch passes. Let Jones run. Let Fournette catch 3rd down passes.
I’m sick of Arians head games with some of these guys. You don’t bench good football players because they make one mistake.
November 4th, 2020 at 4:58 pm
What is the deal with constantly running up the middle on first down? It isn’t just BA, DK did it, too. It is just stupid especially with a talented offense.
November 4th, 2020 at 9:22 pm
@orlbuc All agree but it is something offenses do at all levels. To run plays in a certain formation against certain defenses is done all the time to set up further plays either in that series or in future series in that game or future games. it looks unproductive but is done by design and hopefully will be to their benefit down the road. Probably a poor job of articulating but there is a method behind the madness.