“He Hasn’t Done Anything To Lose The Job”
November 13th, 2020
Bucco Bruce Arians struck down the notion of backfield change today during his afternoon news conference.
Asked about Leonard Fournette clearly being a better pass catcher than Ronald Jones and possible becoming a three-down back, Arians said that isn’t in the cards.
As for RoJo, Arians said. “He hasn’t done anything to lose the job.”
Joe has written previously that Arians didn’t/doesn’t put the costly, first-quarter fumble by RoJo against the Giants on the third-year running back.
Joe is intrigued by how fresh RoJo might look Sunday against the Panthers, when the Bucs are sure to invest a lot more in their running game than in the past two weeks.
RoJo has just 10 carries for 32 yards in the past two games. That’s almost like an extra bye week for a full-time running back.
November 13th, 2020 at 12:40 pm
Both Rojo and Fournette have proven to be at least decent. Our game plan for them last week was pathetic and needs to be improved in a hurry.
November 13th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
bradys been off early in games…
screw the chumps that complain about running on 1st down…
run rojo 3 straight times!!!…set the tone….
GO BUCS!!!!
November 13th, 2020 at 1:47 pm
Think we do need to get back to a steady, balanced attack and RoJo is important in that. He’s still looked like the better pure RB on the team despite his role diminishing a bit the past several games. He started the Saints game off with several solid 5+ yard runs…but one was called back by a Donovan Smith holding penalty that completely ruined the drive, resulting in the first of many 3 and outs…and the rest, as they say, was history.
This idea we need a “bellcow” is pointless. Fournette provides a 3-down guy when we need him to be, but RoJo’s legs are extremely important in maintaining the flow in this offense. The offense hasn’t looked better at any point in the season than it did during his stretch of 3 straight 100 yard games…find that balance again and help open the field for Brady and this entire team will benefit.
November 13th, 2020 at 2:07 pm
Rojo should be the back up. He can’t catch if his life depended on it. We all know Brady likes to throw to the RB, why the hell is rojo back there when he does?
November 13th, 2020 at 2:30 pm
@buczilla …decent????
aside from them obviously running up the gut, Rojo has been making spin moved and grinding out runs like never before. I think Fournett is better at hitting the edge and catching balls though.
Fair to say Rojo has done nothing to lose the job, but Fournette has also done some things to win the job.
November 13th, 2020 at 3:03 pm
When you only run 5 times a game it really wouldn’t matter if you had PeeWee Herman back there. That’s hardly enough rushing attempts to allow any RB to get on-track.
It’s not the backs, it’s the scheme. Or more specifically, lack thereof.
November 13th, 2020 at 3:11 pm
D.R.
Nice play of the Pee Wee Herman card!
I’ve liked ROJO for a long time. TBBF has also been a booster of ROJO’s by simply using last year’s statistics.
But what has he done to lose the job?
Let me ask you guys. If a back is out in the flat for an outlet pass from Brady do you feel better if it’s ROJO or Fournette?
If it comes to the ability to create “some” of his own space with smash mouth football Fournette is clearly a notch above ROJO….
The rest is pretty much a tossup but when you’re trying to help Brady isn’t it better to have a back who can catch the ball…CONSISTENTLY and smoothly with his hands so he can tuck it and run instead of wrestling it into his bread basket.
November 13th, 2020 at 4:07 pm
No, not enough to lose his job, just carries
November 13th, 2020 at 4:39 pm
OK lets be honest Rojo has been the better runner and neither have done a thing in the pass game. Fournette catches better but NEITHER of them have had success at making the 1st man miss. They both get tackled consistently by the first guy for 1yd or a loss of a yd. Heck bring in the rookie he looks like he has more wiggle in his game. A running back should win the one on one battle in open field vs a linebacker more time than not but our guys can’t do it or at least haven’t shown the ability to do it on a consistent basis.
November 13th, 2020 at 6:14 pm
A quarterback best friend is a good running back if you don’t run less than ten carries a game you will never know.
November 13th, 2020 at 6:23 pm
StPete … I’m a huge advocate for BOTH RoJo and Fournette getting lots of snaps & touches. Personally I think that a creative OC could find ways to get BOTH of them on the field at the same time on occasion (seems like we used to do that with Dunn & Alstott?).
And in RoJo’s case, there’s only one way to get better at catching the ball out of the backfield … maybe by having the QB throw it to you periodically? Hard to improve your numbers if you’re always an afterthought.
November 13th, 2020 at 6:26 pm
Will … They both get tackled consistently IMO because they’re always the 4th or 5th in the progression. Remember that fumble by Vaughn? Kid never had a chance; he caught it, turned and got blown up. That seems to be happening a lot to RoJo & Fournette too (like they’re way down in the pecking order & Brady throws it to them just to avoid the sack). Crappy play design and play-calling IMO.
November 13th, 2020 at 7:10 pm
Didn’t Rojo have a couple of nice runs early in the Saints game…..the second one was called back because of a D Smith holding penalty……then we stopped feeding him.
Also….on that fumble…..I agree with BA……Rojo actually made a very good catch of a low throw from Brady……didn’t secure it before getting up to try for extra yards…..
Rojo simply doesn’t get enough carries….
As for Fournette……has anyone noticed that every pass to Fournette was to Brady’s left?…….not sure why.
November 13th, 2020 at 8:00 pm
@Defense – I agree with a lot of the things you say on here good to see people with a football IQ giving relevant opinions and also I’ll admit I don’t dig in to the stats as you and a few others do the things I say come from playing the sport, watching a heck of a lot of football and coaching it.
BL needs to get creative with this offense he should have DCs up at night trying to figure out what we’re going to do and how to stop it. We’ve been potent at times not going to lie but it seems he doesn’t know what to do when things aren’t going well. Where are the crossing routes, quick slants, reverses, heck I think since he’s been the OC we’ve run 1 trick play (the flee flicker earlier in the year) and from what BA said that was Tom Moore who put that in. Smh I can’t imagine what Eric Bienemy would come up with this talent pool. I’m tired of hearing him say he wants things to happen organically F-that. This offense should dictate what the defense does. Take BA’s playbook and update it to todays game.
November 13th, 2020 at 8:08 pm
Kind if hard to have a run game when you only try to run the ball in an all time low nfl five times in the whole game …our coaches better plan better these coming games…attack opponenta weaknesses….take away thier strengths…and if it isnt working always have a plan b and another game plan….def not zone defense on hof qbs man come on…..
November 13th, 2020 at 8:28 pm
Where did my response go?
November 13th, 2020 at 8:43 pm
Fournette is better.
November 14th, 2020 at 8:42 am
Opposing defenses play us two safety deep most of the time because RoJo doesn’t instill fear in them. RoJo is bad at pass catching and even worse at running routes or helping with blocks on his way out.
We need a true #1 RB and RoJo is not plain and simple.