Ronald Jones: “We Knew What Time It Was”
February 11th, 2021
RoJo
Joe has transformed into a huge Ronald Jones fan.
Not only did he get the job done in the Super Bowl and through the season, he shook off injuries and The Sickness, as well as teammates and coaches screwing him out of 1,000 yards rushing in the regular season.
Joe can’t wait to see what RoJo delivers next season, a contract year, sporting a ton of confidence and fire.
This week, however, RoJo has been busy drinking Michelob and talking about it as a paid spokesperson. (Switch to Big Storm, RoJo! Don’t drink that nasty stuff.)
RoJo’s world tour brought him to SiriusXM NFL Radio, where he was asked to give his take on why Tom Brady chose Tampa and The Goat’s impact.
“I think he saw a lot of young talent, you know, mixed in with a lot of experienced vets that hadn’t been to this point,” RoJo said. “You know, we had some issues last year, but as soon as we signed him, we knew what time it was. You know, guys just kind of geared up into gear.”
Hmmm, interesting word choices from RoJo.
As for what sparked the Bucs’ eight-game winning streak that culminated in a Super Bowl win, RoJo had a clear mind.
“Just game planning improved, he said. “Leaving some things out there. So we just looked back at the film and said we’re not going to let this happen again, not at home.”
RoJo was brimming with appreciation for Bucco Bruce Arians and his staff — “they gave me opportunity after opportunity.” And loves how Arians is willing to be flexible within games. “If you start rippin’ and runnin’, he’s going to ride you.”
Tom Brady, per RoJo, drilled into the offense that “nobody has to be Superman” to win a Super Bowl. Joe will add that the Bucs are so damn talented, nobody has to be Superman to win another one next season.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:14 pm
Joe, whats your preference for the backfield next year? Same situation and try to retain fournette? Let fournette walk and ride ROJO and vaughn? Id be interested to see what you would want to see, and of course financials will play a big part.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:18 pm
RoJo had three attempts inside the one yard line and couldn’t cash in.. Hope the off-season benefits Keyshawn Vaughn or our running game is going to be trash next season. Who knows maybe Fournette takes the vet minimum to stay another year
February 11th, 2021 at 4:21 pm
All aspects of this team seemed to improve as the season progressed. Probably a lot (at least with the O) had to do with Brady becoming familiar with the system and players. It worked. I thought RoJo and Fournette evolved into a terrific one-two punch. Sure would like to see both of them back next year. With Vaughn waiting in the wings in case of the (almost sure) injuries. Hope Licht can make that happen.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:31 pm
I don’t see how Fournette is back unless he comes at a huge discount. Frankly, from a Bucs standpoint, they’d probably be better off to just make Rojo the guy and pair him with a dedicated pass receiving back, like how Charles Sims was that guy to Doug Martin. Fournette and Rojo are similar runners, with Rojo having more movement and pop and Fournette having much better hands – but they both are power runners. Before the playoff run I thought they’d be able to get Fournette back on the cheap, like in the $2.5m range, but I doubt he’s getting less than $4m, and likely it’s going to be closer to $5m, and with such an incredibly tight cap, I doubt they can make it happen. Instead the Bucs should focus on drafting a pass catching back.
As for Vaughn, who knows. He actually looked better than Rojo did in his rookie year, so there isn’t a reason to give up on him yet. The only issue with him is that he’s not that dedicated pass catching back, he’s just sort of average at it coming out of college, which might be good enough, but I’m not wanting to bet on it at this point.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:49 pm
I called it way back when everybody was crying how we suck and B.A. sucks and blame here blame there. Early season I saw a monster forming. Slowly coming together to get better and better. No OTA no true off season I was super impressed by us just staying in the hunt. Knowing the talent this team had. I was shocked we such underdogs in the superbowl. Shocked!! Look at the talent on our team! It’s unreal!! I posted awhile back I thought this team had more talent than our beloved 2002 Bucs. I standby that. I grew up in the losing era. Grew up in Brandon/valrico/bloomingdale from 1984 till 2000. I remember handing out flyers door to door to keep our Bucs from moving to Cleveland or somewhere else. I was super young I believe it’s was a half cent sales tax or Bucs were gone. I bleed orange pewter and red. Been reading Joe’s site since the beginning. I used to post in the old armchair qb forum from the Tampa Bay times or St. Pete times. Until pewter report and Joe came out.By far Joe is the best source for us Bucs fans. I can’t believe how huge it’s become. Glory Glory is ours!!!
February 11th, 2021 at 4:56 pm
Curious to see if Vaughn develops, and do like RoJo’s more aggressive running style this season. Actually reminds me a bit of AP with the way he strides and the ability to run through tackles, though AP had a little more juke.
February 11th, 2021 at 4:59 pm
Rod munch – yes. I love Fournette, and would love to have him back, but RB is a fungible asset especially when you already have a ROJO. The depth will be easily solved with a James White type Signing and/or the draft. I saw a mock that had Tampa taking Najee Harris. Najee- freaking -Harris. Now, I don’t think he falls that far, but in any case the Bucs are still gonna average an easy 30 next yr with or without Fournette, and Godwin for that matter.
February 11th, 2021 at 5:07 pm
“Build through the draft. “- Jason Licht
Stop it Jason! Every year we have a guy coming out of rookie contract that is going to get Big Bucs. They hope they have a map for the next four years. Too many young stars. Jones,Vea, Wirfs, White, Weinfield Jr. We need to trade Miller while he’s hot. We can a better OT than Smith for cheaper. We’re in a sticky spot at TE. Damn you Gronk.
But there is offially a line of FA stretching from OBP to Ray Jay with wet pens. Apparently AP is first, but I’m thinking he’ll only hear “Next.”
February 11th, 2021 at 5:09 pm
Lenny was money in the playoffs, but our offense made him look really damn good with the opportunities he had. Have to ask yourself why he looked so bad in Jacksonville then comes here and stars. What I’m saying is if you can get Lenny back on a team friendly deal, then yes absolutely but he’s not a guy I’d overpay for or prioritize over Shaq, David or Godwin.
And for the love of God, please don’t draft a first round RB Bucs. No, no and no again. Under any circumstances.
February 11th, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Derrickbrooks – I get it, but at the same time, WHATEVER. Licht built this team, they’re the champs, and if they wanna go get a running back that took a big ol dump all over the gators, then he’s earned that right. BPA dude, B-P-A. The Bucs are in a position of power of not necessarily needing to draft for need.
February 11th, 2021 at 5:45 pm
I really don’t get how anyone could think that we would be alright letting Fournette go. He was the freaking MVP of the playoffs.?We don’t win the Super Bowl or even get there without him. You cannot only have one workhorse on a Super Bowl team. They had to play 20 games! One featured back cannot hold up and will not be as effective without any rest.We need Fournette and Jones with Vaughn backing them up. We need him more than we need Godwin.
February 11th, 2021 at 7:18 pm
I can’t believe the humility in Rojo. He proved in every regular season game how superior of a runner he was to Fournette and still took a back seat to him in the playoffs. Fournette played well but I have no doubt that Rojo would’ve taken some of Fournette’s runs the distance. He is a truly special runner.
February 11th, 2021 at 7:31 pm
@Rod Munch
Vita Vea is not that good is he.?
February 11th, 2021 at 7:47 pm
Rojo needs to visit the Wizard of Oz and get some hands, then he will be unstoppable.
February 11th, 2021 at 8:10 pm
SOEbuc Says:
February 11th, 2021 at 5:07 pm
“Build through the draft. “- Jason Licht
Stop it Jason! Every year we have a guy coming out of rookie contract that is going to get Big Bucs. They hope they have a map for the next four years. Too many young stars. Jones,Vea, Wirfs, White, Weinfield Jr. We need to trade Miller while he’s hot. We can a better OT than Smith for cheaper. We’re in a sticky spot at TE. Damn you Gronk.
______
Just STFU, stupid. Winners are built through the draft. All of our young studs were drafted by us. Teams that draft well don’t have to roll. The dice on high priced free agents and instead get bargains with rookie salaries. Trade Miller who has another two years on his rookie contract? Dont you have some crayons to munch on?
February 11th, 2021 at 9:09 pm
Brandon
Lol. Learn how to pick up the sarcasm. Our GM is too damn good. They do need a plan. That’s how the business is played. And if we resign Godwin and AB with Johnson I’d trade Miller for good picks in a hot minute. Except for the first half ender, he was a ghost in the playoffs because you’re not beating AB for snaps. Johnson is just another large and in charge route runner with hands. He’s better than Scotty. I don’t want to see any TE leave. Funny to me how far off one could be.
February 11th, 2021 at 9:11 pm
1. To all the idiots that keep saying trade Smith, he has developed into one of the top 10 left tackles in the NFL, the entire line is phenomenal. They aren’t going anywhere. The fact that some want to get rid of him just shows total football ignorance.
2. ROJO Will be the man next year. Vaughn will be his back up. They should both be better at blocking and receiving with an off-season with Brady.
Fournette is probably taking a payday somewhere
February 11th, 2021 at 9:12 pm
@Joe … ” Joe will add that the Bucs are so damn talented, nobody has to be Superman to win another one next season.”
Agree Joe that the Bucs are ‘damn talented’ in their starting rotation & key rotational players RIGHT NOW, but once free agency hits on Mar 17th we essentially lose roughly half of our Super Bowl team. Fortunately most of the 30 Bucs hitting FA are replaceable with other FAs because they were ‘depth players’. But several weren’t, and whether we win another SB this year will largely depend on keeping the band together.
I’m convinced that we’ll end up keeping the first 26 players on the 2021 Spotrac Bucs’ list (they’re already under contract), which will tie up about $147 mil. Gulp. Of our 30 FAs, I think we’ll end up re-signing between 15-20, and some of those are high $$$ guys (LVD, Shaq, Gronk, Suh probably will eat up $40 mil or so assuming that we re-sign all 4 of course. So that’d take us to $187 mil for just 30 players. And our rookie class would eat up the rest IF the salary CAP stays the same. And that’d still leave Godwin, Brown & Fournette unsigned. Gulp again.
So that’d get us to about 36 players at a maxed-out salary CAP. Wonder if the NFL would allow the remaining 17 players, plus Practice Squad of course, to play for free. My guess is probably not. No wonder it’s so hard for champions to repeat.
February 11th, 2021 at 10:29 pm
You are right guys, Scotty Miller is on a rookie contract, and fast. He have a good rapport with Brady, and that’s priceless.
Watson is very good, I love him, but he made a huge mistake when he ran that route on the outside and it end with a pic 6. And he lost Brady trust. He’s finished with our BUCS. Look over the years prior, Brady played with Occocienco (I’m not sure how to write his name) but had a bad rapport in a game with him and had been intercepted and Occ almost never received another ball from Brady. He was out of NE next year! Watson is on the same course.
In the draft? We need another big body on defense in the middle, and another young pass rusher. We need to keep te entire Offensive line, because they are difficult to groom to be a starter (Don’t think we will find another roockie able to start like Wirf and be a star from the start. He is the exception!) O-Line men take one, 2, or 3 years before becoming full time staters most of the time. We need to win NOW, not in 3 years when Brady will be out. Keep intact the entire O-line. Please.
End rushers can be good as rookies, it’s well documented.
Another position difficult to replace with a roockie is linebackers. In take tow, 3 years to become an excellent linebacker. Levonta David and White are exceptional, and are an absolute priority.
We need another rapid and long cb.
Running backs are good from the start as rooks. We can afford to let one go, because we can replace a RB and still have a good production from a rookie.
We must resign our back up at QB. He knows the system, and was OK when he replace Brady.
Next year will be BUCS year,… again!
Go BUCS!
February 11th, 2021 at 11:09 pm
Like RoJo – but count me as fan who prefers Lenny… just sayin – ENDZONE when it mattered.
February 12th, 2021 at 1:12 am
they’re not gonna sign any running backs initially…
they will use the money elsewhere…
and bank on the fact that rojo is in a contract year and is going to come up big next season…
with vaughn maturing – they hope he rounds out into a solid number two…he has a lot of time to think about all his mistakes this year – and regret it all, and riding the bench in the playoffs…
they will draft a running back mid rounds…
and find a vet on the cheap off the scrap heap…
and as the season wears on if they feel the need to adjust at running back they will swap out a vet scrap heap guy who will almost play for free to get a ring…
they have a whole 6 months to get rojo and sneak to improve on their pass catching ability
February 12th, 2021 at 2:02 am
“Game planning has improved”
Hmmmm… game planning? The exact thing that Brady was supposedly p!ssed off about bc they were not doing a good enough job with mid-week preparation…