RoJo… May Be A Go?
December 28th, 2020
Status a mystery.
Joe sure didn’t like the way this sounded.
Joe doesn’t know the health status of Ronald Jones. And with the NFL’s protocol on The Sickness, if a player is in a COVID protocol, coaches aren’t supposed to talk to the players.
So when Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians was asked today how RoJo is coming along and if he will be a green light for Sunday in the regular season finale against the Dixie Chicks, Arians (metaphorically) threw his arms up and surrendered.
“Your guess is as good as mine still,” Arians said. “I haven’t been able to talk to him. Hopefully he’s clearing the COVID [protocols] and we can get him into the building to look at him and see if he can play with [his broken finger].
“I’ve got my fingers crossed that we can get him a bunch of game action this week, but I’m not going to risk it [if he is] not able to protect himself.”
And therein lies the rub: How can you build a gameplan to use RoJo if RoJo’s status is unknown? It’s hard to design plays for a ghost.
Why is Joe worried about Arians’ answer? Well, this summer when training camp opened, Arians was asked about the status of walking disabled list safety Justin Evans, who was rumored to be on the roster.
Arians replied, “You’d have to talk to Jesus.”
Not only did Evans not play another snap, he never practiced again and was released last week.
Merry Christmas!
December 28th, 2020 at 4:35 pm
The Jones and Bustin’ Evans examples aren’t comparable. I bet RoJo is “good to go” against the Falcons and beyond. Should no for sure tomorrow would be my guess…
December 28th, 2020 at 4:38 pm
@ Jonathan – Wednesday at the soonest.
December 28th, 2020 at 4:46 pm
So, on this site… Joebuc had called for the benching or trading of Ronald Jones, Scotty Miller, Jamel Dean and even floated trading JPP when he was inured, and made fun of the organization for drafting “the savior” as they called him Devin White who now has 9 sacks…. At the same time this site advocated for the likes of Winston, Martin, Fornette, Smith (who is not great but this is a toss up) and wanted them to spend the money to get big names like Levion Bell …. I think it’s safe to say that we’re lucky joebucfan is not in charge of this organization!! 🤣
December 28th, 2020 at 4:46 pm
Thanks J.P.A. I’d like to see more Vaughn if Jones is indeed out. Fournette has been mostly disappointing…and I was excited for his signing and thought he’d unseat Jones. After one memorable play, even Shady looks better.
December 28th, 2020 at 4:54 pm
@ Sorry – I have disagreed with Joe a ton on some of the stuff he says but really…Joe always (IMO) says things in a smart way with “a grain of salt” if you will. For instance ref the JPP trade – that kind of struck me as Joe saying, “if you can get great value for JPP due to his age, wear and tear, and neck injury – then strike while the iron is hot” but don’t just give the dude away.
That’s my take on most of Joe’s comments and maybe I’m wrong but Joe can speak for Joe.
December 28th, 2020 at 5:02 pm
There is no game planning. We’re winging this one Joe. What else is there for us to know about the Falcons? You can bet the coaches are looking at tape of the teams we may face in the first round, and not looking at any Falcon tape. Here’s this weeks game plan. Don’t get hurt, and stay home till the playoffs are over because of covid.
December 28th, 2020 at 5:06 pm
He is 100% a go
December 28th, 2020 at 5:10 pm
trust me, I know a guy who knows a guy
December 28th, 2020 at 5:34 pm
Anyone that thinks Arians is looking past the Falcons and the playoffs is on their mind doesn’t understand how important momentum is going into the opening round of the playoffs.
The Bucs should be in a high confidence mode with the way their offense has performed for 6 consecutive quarters. Keep it up baby! Don’t hold back your mojo. This team has had none for so long that they need to play hard vs Atlanta and go into the playoffs at their highest, not rusty because they treated it like the final preseason game. Brady knows how important it is to be prepared.
If you let down against Atlanta you can also let down against the NFC East. No time for rest, there will be 6 months of rest down the road. Lets kill the Falcons early with tons of points.
December 28th, 2020 at 5:39 pm
BA may not be able to talk to RoJo but that doesn’t mean that someone can’t be feeding him intel
December 28th, 2020 at 5:48 pm
we doing great with out him ….i really don’t see the point bringing him back with broken finger. …. we have depth… if we can put some of the coaches under the PROTOCOL, would be great. 🙁
BA = Lovie S 2.0
December 28th, 2020 at 6:01 pm
I think Vaughn is now the 2nd best back on this team. Fournette has totally crapped the bed, and I was thrilled when he was signed. Less so now. I hope we can see Rojo on Sunday and I hope he can get his 1,000 yards. Rojo has the potential to be pretty special, if he can get rid of his Roberto Duran “hands of stone.”
December 28th, 2020 at 6:38 pm
We need a run game from someone vs the Falcons….
But we really need our Oline to protect Brady….open receivers…a few sacks on Matty…..a plan for Ridley and we will prevail….
December 28th, 2020 at 6:38 pm
You are correct, Ed. I second everything you said.
You are also probably correct, Dbbuc. Though, we don’t want our head coach to lie, there is no reason for him to reveal all he might know or say everything that might be said during the week before a game.
December 28th, 2020 at 6:57 pm
Fournette has no power left, he stops on contact every time and was getting single tackled by DB’s often last Sunday – Vaugh looks wayyyyyyy better than him
Let’s hope ROJO can get back this week and get some touches to gear up for the RUN and keep feeding Vaughn
December 28th, 2020 at 8:23 pm
Hoping RoJo gets some reps in this week to get in the grove for the playoffs. Vaughn showed some flashes, Fournette has been a big disappointment as a few posters have stated.
December 28th, 2020 at 8:59 pm
Offense was better without rojo
December 28th, 2020 at 9:00 pm
So long as Vaughn see more carries than Fournette I’ll be happy. Any carry Fournette gets is basically saying “I’d like to run the ball for two or three less yards than any other running back would get on this particular carry”.
Been saying it since the beginning of the year, Fournette is saving himself for free agency. As soon as he realized that Ronald Jones was legit he put it in cruise control just trying to get through the year unscathed. Don’t forget that he was a healthy scratch a couple weeks ago.
December 28th, 2020 at 11:36 pm
What kind of idiotic rule is that? The NFL has a lot of asinine rules. They can’t pick up a phone and talk to their own player? That’s ridiculous.
I hope he can play and is healthy and gets 100 yards so he can get 1000 on the season. I really want to see him and Evans go over 1000.
December 29th, 2020 at 2:35 am
Vaughn looked legit. Fournette is not. He certainly helped the balance. Glazers came in way too late telling them they have to use RoJo. Right before he got injured. A fresh RoJo could be a very nice one-two going into the playoffs.
December 29th, 2020 at 2:40 am
Would be nice to get Rojo back for at least a few snaps this game, hopefully that happens. Fournette did a good job last week, in particular with the pass catching, so I’d be OK with him getting more time. As for Vaughn, he was basically playing a preseason game in the 2nd half, so it’s hard to take much from it. He look good, but lots of guys look good against clueless defenses with guys from the stats department calling defensive plays.
December 29th, 2020 at 4:17 am
Sorryjackchuckiesback Says:
December 28th, 2020 at 4:46 pm
So, on this site… Joebuc had called for the benching or trading of Ronald Jones, Scotty Miller, Jamel Dean and even floated trading JPP when he was inured, and made fun of the organization for drafting “the savior” as they called him Devin White who now has 9 sacks…. At the same time this site advocated for the likes of Winston, Martin, Fornette, Smith (who is not great but this is a toss up) and wanted them to spend the money to get big names like Levion Bell …. I think it’s safe to say that we’re lucky joebucfan is not in charge of this organization!! 🤣
Yoooo this is the post of the year!! I love JBF but you hit it straight on target 💯
December 29th, 2020 at 5:32 pm
And…Jones is off the COVID list as predicted by JonBucsFan…the junior varsity division of JoeBucsFan 😉