Bruce Arians: Run Game Led To Man Coverage On Receivers
October 10th, 2021
That’s two weeks in a row now that the Bucs have run the football like they did during their dominant Super Bowl run of last season.
Leonard Fournette was the clear No. 1 running back again, carrying the load and finishing with 12 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown scamper before the blowout was in full force.
Ronald Jones had 5 carries for 21 yards and Giovani Bernard had 4 carries for 21 yards in mop-up duty.
Bucco Bruce Arians said the run game was the key to Tampa Bay’s arial explosion. He told the Buccaneers Radio Network after the game that the rushing success led to more man coverage on receivers. Speaking of man coverage, Antonio Brown and Mike Evans combined for 13 catches for 237 yards and 4 touchdows.
Miami normally plays a lot of man defense, but it’s never expected to be seen a ton against the Bucs unless an opponent has elite cornerbacks.
With a strong run game, the Bucs offense is ridiculously lethal and diverse. That was on display today.
October 10th, 2021 at 4:42 pm
Feel like Gio has earned the right to be 1-2 punch with Gio and Rojo had earned late mop up duty. Both the other two guys have been very solid catching and running, Rojo only comes in to run because he can’t do much else. Seems best place to play him is when you’re predictablu running out the clock. Had hoped for more from him. Did have a couple hard runs
October 10th, 2021 at 4:44 pm
Not that the team cares, but I didn’t mind the run game today because they at least mixed it up more than they normally do. It wasn’t 7 straight series of running on first down everytime, there was some variety. That variety is what opened things up.
October 10th, 2021 at 4:48 pm
I agree
Gio can run and hit the tiny holes
Rojo never has head in game. Ran wrong way on one carry or would have huge gain. Any team that needs a rb? See if we can add a draft pick for a db. Cause teams wont run on us and our secondary is below average.
October 10th, 2021 at 4:48 pm
Fournette was a beast today
And he can catch and take out right blitzer
October 10th, 2021 at 4:52 pm
Speaking of RB, Saquon hurt again
October 10th, 2021 at 4:53 pm
Fournette was solid with ball security–good for our offense and our defense
October 10th, 2021 at 5:00 pm
The drop off without Gronk really cost Bucs today, Brady was hoping to throw for 500 and 7 TD’s. Maybe next week.
October 10th, 2021 at 5:01 pm
Yeah, Fournette was very good today. If he keeps performing, they should stick with him.
Gio is a very good 3rd down back — and you keep him as a 3rd down back and he helps your team. Of course a lot of people don’t understand how roles work, and they think a guy who looks good running the ball on 3rd and 17 will look the same on 1st and 10.
October 10th, 2021 at 5:19 pm
Don’t sleep on Gio – he will become a very valuable 3rd down, move the chains type of back as the season progresses, and especially during playoffs. Ya’ll don’t think the Bucs are setting all this up by their play these first 5 games?
October 10th, 2021 at 5:29 pm
Well rod its never been 7 straight series of run on first down no matter how many times you lie about it. That narrative is old, wrong and tired
October 10th, 2021 at 6:34 pm
Webster, you’re wrong. The narrative continues bc it’s (mostly) true. CBS flashed a stat on the opening drive that the Bucs pass on 71% of their plays. They ran the ball slightly over 50% of the time on 1st down today, which was “mixing it up” for them.
It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that kind of percentage only happens if you’re typically a run-pass-pass offense. It wasn’t an issue against an inferior opponent today, but this story isn’t dead yet.
October 10th, 2021 at 6:46 pm
webster – The Dallas game was literally 7 straight series of running on the first play of the series. Literally. I was counting along in the shoe thread.
October 10th, 2021 at 7:04 pm
#94 flop on Lenny was funny as hell
October 10th, 2021 at 7:23 pm
Aloha,
How did the Defensive backs do? I could not get the game in Hawaii.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:03 pm
Bucs ran the ball 25 times today (for 121 yds) versus only 9 runs for Miami (for 39 yds). Bucs had 72 plays versus 51 for Miami, so really the major difference in our respective attacks was the emphasis on the run game. More than anything else, our run game allowed us to control the clock (37:07 mins TOP for us to only 22:53 mins for Miami). That not only helped to keep our defense fresh, but also kept the Dolphins offense on the bench. IMO that’s COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL at its finest.
October 10th, 2021 at 8:50 pm
Leighroy and rod…..i literally showed u idiots after the 1st 3 weeks of the season, the bucs had 100 1st down plays and ran the ball only 26 times to debunk your fox news style of reporting. That is 26% percent for you math challenged fools. You can go to espn, nfl.com, si, fox sports etc and research the play by play as i did. The facts are there. The past 2 games, its obviously even less but go ahead and continue to spew your bs
October 10th, 2021 at 8:56 pm
Rod….against dallas, the bucs had 36 1st down total and ran the ball on 1st down SIX TIMES. And no….those 6 times were not all to start the series. Again you can spew bs or you can go to the play by play log on espn, fox sports, si, nfl.com etc and see for yourself or you can scream stop the steal. Its up to you
October 10th, 2021 at 8:57 pm
Fournette is starting to look a lot smoother catching the ball. If he continues to make improvements in that area they’re going to be tough to stop down the stretch.
October 10th, 2021 at 11:55 pm
The Dallas game the Bucs ran the ball the first 5 drives on 1st down. So say whatever you want, that is not mixing it up[ to start the game.
And the stats prove out about BL and running the ball on first down over the last 3 years.
Time and again over the last 3 years, the Bucs have wasted first downs.
Let’s be honest, BL has done very well, all things considered,
BUT sometimes he loves the 1st down up the gut run to much.
I have yelled many times at the TV on many of the “1st down up the gut” wasted first down run attempts over the last 3 seasons.
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 11th, 2021 at 9:10 am
August. And the next EIGHT drives were started with all passes.. And as i stated, they only ran the ball 6 times on first down. whats your point?