Hit And Run
February 5th, 2021
Dirty him.
Former Seattle fullback Michael Robinson, now a part-time co-host on NFL Network, believes he has a simple two-part plan for the Bucs to win Super Bowl LV.
Joe doesn’t know if any readers watched Al Davis vs. Pete Roselle on BSPN last night. It was gold. It may have been the best thing Joe has ever watched that outfit produce (“Elway to Marino” and “Of Miracles and Men” are right up there.)
This is why Joe gets so frosted over that place. They broadcast some of the most mindless sh!t known to mankind. But there are times, like last night, that prove when the four-letter wants to, it can produce top-shelf content.
Within that documentary was the clip of Davis saying Joe’s first commandment of football: “The other team’s quarterback must go down. And he must go down hard.”
Nothing in defensive football that substitutes for a strong pass rush. It is the great equalizer. It is why Joe constantly harps on the Bucs to get pass rushers.
Well, Robinson must be reading Joe’s mind. With Kansas City likely down two starting tackles on offense, the Bucs’ pass rush must rise up, Robinson said. In no uncertain terms, Robinson said Pat Mahomes has to feel that rush.
In short, Robinson said, Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaq Barrett, Ndamukong Suh and Vita Vea must hit Mahomes. Again. And again. And again.
Robinson believes the Bucs have an offensive line made up of “maulers.” Therefore, Robinson said the Bucs have the tools to run with Playoff Lenny and Ronald Jones.
Robinson also added something Joe found interesting: When an offensive line is mauling a defensive front with a ground game, they also tend to pass block better.
See and hear Robinson tell the gang on “Good Morning Football” his two-part plan.
“When you get to Patrick Mahomes, even if he does throw the football, you gotta make sure he felt that you were there.”@RealMikeRob breaks down the biggest threat to the Chiefs in #SBLV. pic.twitter.com/4YC5NvLq6T
— GMFB (@gmfb) February 4, 2021
February 5th, 2021 at 8:41 am
Run the ball? Sure. Just not every time it’s first and 10 please?
As a matter of fact, the Bucs need to – first offensive possession – play action pass on first and ten and take a deep shot. Gas pedal down. Let’s go.
February 5th, 2021 at 8:50 am
Running on 1st and 2nd down may only get you 2 or 3 yards per carry, but 2nd and 7 or 8 and then 3rd and 3 or 4 is very manageable for offense and tough on opponents’ D, especially if you have Bucs’ weapons.
February 5th, 2021 at 8:55 am
Need a Suh stomp on his toe.
February 5th, 2021 at 8:58 am
Our D line with Vita Vea is elite and they need to have the game of their lives for us to win this game. I believe they can do it. GO BUCS
February 5th, 2021 at 8:59 am
Need to give Mahomes “turf-butt”
February 5th, 2021 at 9:17 am
Getting a ‘3rd-and-manageable’ is great, but I always prefer it when the Bucs make a 1st down on 2nd down (as opposed to having to go all the way to 3rd down). And the Bucs have been very, very good at that this year in case no one noticed.
Bucs ranked #8 in the NFL in making 3rd down conversions … 44.9% of the time this year (last year we only converted 41.5%). We also ranked #10 in terms of 4th down conversion percentage … 62.5% of the time (last year we only converted 52.9%).
What seems interesting though is that the Bucs only averaged 12.4 3rd downs per game in 2020, but we averaged 22.6 1st downs per game. Since we converted slightly less than half of our 3rd down opportunities into 1st downs (around 5.6 per game), it seems that the Bucs must’ve averaged making around 17 1st downs on 1st or 2nd down. Hard to believe, but when I looked back at the Chargers just to get a feel if that was even in the ballpark (we had 28 1st downs that game), sure enough that’s what we were accomplishing. We either scored or made a 1st down on 20 situations that were either 1st or 2nd down.
IOW, our Bucs are very good at getting the job done on 1st or 2nd down. Why mess with 3rd or 4th down if you don’t have to.
February 5th, 2021 at 9:19 am
Win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and we win the Super Bowl in my opinion. Go Bucs!!
February 5th, 2021 at 9:39 am
My opinion is play action pass on run downs.. 1st down, 2 nd and short. Run on pass downs, 2nd and 10. Then mix it up. Balance the run and the pass like the green bay game with one exception.. don’t run on 1 st down every time. Play action 1 st down more than not. This will keep the defense off balance. The Bucs can win this game!!
February 5th, 2021 at 10:51 am
@DR: really interesting analysis, and verifies what my gut has felt: the Bucs are not a grind-it-on-3rd-down team. 2nd down is their paydirt.
I prefer 6-yards-and-a-cloud-of dust, over the 3-yard equivalent…;)
I want to see 32 runs and 32 pass plays. I also want to see the LoS consistently pushed back to the KC side of the line. Every. Play.
One key to the game for the DBs is to never, ever, release your man after 4 seconds because that is when Mahomes can slice you as he’s running for his life.
February 5th, 2021 at 10:53 am
I also hope to see ZERO empty backfields when Bucs are on O. That’s when KC will tee off with their blitz…
February 5th, 2021 at 11:32 am
@Mort 100% agree with you. If they do play action on the first play of the game, it’s going to be a huge play. But I’m sure Byron will run it right up the A gap for a gain of 2.
February 5th, 2021 at 11:46 am
2000 Ravens only ranked 22nd in sacks that year. There’s more than one way to win.
February 5th, 2021 at 2:12 pm
Key to the game might be Suh with a roughing the passer penalty that takes Mahomes out of the game.
Not wishing for it, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen.
February 5th, 2021 at 2:54 pm
Cobraboy … a 50-50 split like that IMO would have the Bucs winning the Super Bowl because it’d mean we were in control for most (if not all) of the game. When we’re ‘in control’ we dictate the flow of the game, and that’s when we’re at our best far as I’m concerned.
That first Chiefs game concerned me because that’s close to the fewest number of plays (59) that we had in any game all year. We were in the 60’s & 70’s in number of plays per game in 12 games this regular season, and actually had 80 in 1 game (2nd Panthers game). But we were down to 50 against the Saints in that 2nd game (big-time loss), 51 against the Vikings (I’m still wondering how we won that one we did so bad statistically), and 59 against the Chiefs (another loss).
And all 3 of those games had ridiculous TOPs. We had the ball for only 19:56 in that Saints game, for 20:57 in that Vikings game, and for 23:13 in that Chiefs game. Hard to win games like that unless your opponent just sucks defensively (thank you Vikings).
February 5th, 2021 at 3:39 pm
sounds so simple….
February 5th, 2021 at 3:50 pm
This isn’t talked about enough. Even if you have a backup get thrown out for roughing calls, knock this dude out. Take the extra step and hit the guy. The new rules are BS and Mahomes especially is untouchable. If he can get hit like the old QBs for 4 quarters and still get up and be accurate, fine. Until then, he’s the greatest flag football QB of all time.
February 5th, 2021 at 4:47 pm
I want this to be the game that Rojo is a BEAST!!!
February 5th, 2021 at 5:05 pm
This game will be won by the defense, who will stop who. And yes, it IS that simple!
The team that controls the LOS “controls the universe!!!”
(Sorry for the ‘Dune’ reference!)
February 5th, 2021 at 5:54 pm
We are the more physical team. I like our chances. The NFC is the more physical conference. And we played and won three road games to get here and now we are playing at home. I feel as though we will dominate, especially at both lines of scrimmage. AB and CB play, don’t worry about that.
February 5th, 2021 at 6:22 pm
@Coraboy
Those last second sideline passes to Hill ate a gut punch.
I have said it all year to my buddy, those last couple seconds in zone
You gotta man up.
Even then Kelce can put his foot in the ground and reverse, but you gotta be there to make a play.
Our DBs are guarding like basketball late in the play and that has to stop.
February 5th, 2021 at 8:54 pm
Cobraboy: Agreed on empty backfield, rarely does anything good come from that.
I watched some of last year’s Super Bowl, and how the 49ers got pressure on Mahomes. The Niners have a good pass rush, but so do the Bucs when Vea gets a push up the middle, and JPP and Shaq coming off the edges.
February 5th, 2021 at 11:24 pm
The Buccaneers have a better O-line and a better D-line.
That is what has mattered in every football game ever played, the trenches. Bucs win 38 to 27
February 6th, 2021 at 5:31 am
You always leave out the X factor, Joe. The guy that led the team in QB hits, Will Gholston. All season long he was a catalyst for the pass rush. Give the man some credit.