Injured Cyril Grayson May Force Bucs To Change Offense
January 9th, 2022
Bucs OC Byron Leftwich.
Joe is a huge believer in using your available talent to craft an offense or a defense. In fact, it’s what good coaches do.
Lesser coaches just run “their system.” You know, fit a square peg into a round hole. Good coaches see their talent and try to put it in the best position to both get production and wins.
So now it is time for Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich to earn his stripes. Joe still isn’t sure if it is Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians or Leftwich who is running the offense. Arians claims it is Leftwich but watch any press conference from Leftwich and tell Joe this is a man in full command of the offense. Mostly, Leftwich comes across as a figurehead with few answers or explanations.
(Fun fact: Did you know the immortal Cyril Grayson has twice as many touchdowns catches this season as Julio Jones?)
So now that the Bucs lost Grayon today with a hamstring injury, the wide receiver corps is in an absolute shambles. It’s Mike Evans and wannabes (yes, Joe likes Breshad Perriman and Scotty Miller and Tyler Johnson, but outside of Perriman during a very short sample size — which he aced — when have those three been productive full-time players?
On the contrary, the Bucs have a bruising offensive line and damn good running backs. Le’Veon Bell has looked his best since he took a year off from football and virtually ruined his career. Ke’Shawn Vaughn has shown spurts and both Playoff Lenny and Ronald Jones are proven NFL starters if not studs.
So why not go more ground-and-pound? Right now with the Bucs down three receivers, it is clear the Bucs’ offense is heavily weighted in talent with the offensive line, Rob Gronkowski and backs. Go ground-and-pound, possession-football with play-action passes to Evans, Gronk and periodically let a pass fly to Perriman deep?
Did you see Vaughn’s touchdown on the first drive of the second half? Inside the five he runs up the middle on the NFL’s second-best defense and the Bucs’ front line blew a hole so open Vaughn literally was not touched. This team has the capability to ground and pound.
(It is never dumb to run inside of Tristan Wirfs, by the way.)
In Joe’s mind, Leftwich can prove to the football world he’s able to adjust on the fly and change offenses. In fact, the Bucs’ chances of repeating hinge on Leftwich’s adaptability.
Can he? Or more importantly, will he?
January 9th, 2022 at 7:40 pm
2 seed is decent
January 9th, 2022 at 7:41 pm
They can cope. I hope so. They need scotty miller and someone else to step up.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:42 pm
Hey rod munch what happened to your playoff machine predictions đ
January 9th, 2022 at 7:43 pm
Let brady run hurry up. We will be better at game planning. I mean he was getting everyone in position. Changing plays
Dude is the best ever
January 9th, 2022 at 7:44 pm
Saints out too
January 9th, 2022 at 7:45 pm
Despite all the criticism of Coach Leftwich, he led a Super Bowl winning offense to the second best record in the NFL. At this point he wonât get credit no matter what and intellectually honest fans know why. But the stats and scoreboard does not lie, nor confirm the agenda of those who hate to credit him for the success of the unit he runs.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Ndog sad tonight. đ
January 9th, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Miller stepped up with a long TD run. Grayson will be back. The only player out right now who may not be back is LD.
I see the rest and Grayson playing next weekend.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Well if Joe is pushing for us to run, then all the coaches on this site will be complaining about BL’s play calling every time we do not get a first down.
Just saying.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:49 pm
Evans, Perriman, Miller and Johnson is a better WR crew than this team has had in about 42 of its 45 years. So âshamblesâ is a bit of a stretch.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:50 pm
Whatâs the prognosis for Grayson? Was it a severe hammy injury?
January 9th, 2022 at 7:51 pm
Ground & pound my a$$……we just hung 41 points on the #2 defense…..and it was without Grayson…….we can get the job done with Evans, Gronk, Perriman, Johnson, Brate & Miller….
And….sure we can run to set up the play action.
Stay the course with Brady…..don’t ask him to be a game manager.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:51 pm
We need OJ and Justin Watson to step up.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:51 pm
Do you really think Grayson is that much of an impact? I can tell heâs the fourth receiver behind Evans, Johnson, Perriman.
Plus you have Gronk, Brate, and Miller
They will have to run on the Eagles some though because the Eagles are running team. If the Eagles run all day and get first downs, it wears the defense down, so the O will need to take some time off the clock to get them rest.
Either way, I donât think the Eagles are going to be a problem.
Round 2 they are going to face the Cardinals or the Rams or the Cowboys⌠All three can be a problem.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:52 pm
We still got Scooter and Perriman….calm down!
January 9th, 2022 at 7:52 pm
Yeah more two tight end sets, some with Wells in there and run the ball more. But still have some receivers who can make things happen
January 9th, 2022 at 7:54 pm
Paging OJ Howard. You may not be here next year, but you might want to get paid next year somewhere else.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:57 pm
Scotty Miller tryed to replace Grayson but came up short. Perriman was the guy who really stepped up, Tyler Johnson also had a quiet good game.
Evans was elite and if that continues we have more then enough weapons to win on offense.
January 9th, 2022 at 7:58 pm
Bucfan Says:
January 9th, 2022 at 7:47 pm
Miller stepped up with a long TD run. Grayson will be back. The only player out right now who may not be back is LD.
I see the rest and Grayson playing next weekend.
Grayson won’t be back next week. Maybe not at all as quick as they shut him down.
And YES Grayson already had a big impact on DCs’ minds. He occupied a space in their minds regardless of the space he occupied on the field.
Big loss actually. TB knows how to use guys like that.
January 9th, 2022 at 8:01 pm
Youngbucs Says:
January 9th, 2022 at 7:42 pm
Hey rod munch what happened to your playoff machine predictions đ
——
Not sure what you’re referencing — had Bucs vs Eagles since about 5 mins after the game last week ended.
January 9th, 2022 at 8:11 pm
As always, stay balanced. Don’t do the obvious. It will play right into the Eagles hands. Grateful Joe isn’t the OC!
January 9th, 2022 at 8:11 pm
SB
I hope you are wrong but it seemed that we really didn’t miss him after he left but we need all hands in deck in case we lose another WR.
We need to score at least 30 each game and if we do we should win. If we can get JPP, Barrett and LVD back that will be a BIG boost to our defense.
January 9th, 2022 at 8:23 pm
I agree with Mod. But he left out Gronk. Gronk and Evans killed the Panthers today. Perriman is more than adequate and Johnson contributes. If Grayson can play we are pretty dam good. And Brate is good for several first downs each game in key moments. Gronk and Evans draw double coverage most of the time and that puts linebackers or a fith db to cover Perriman or a running back man for man. With solid blocking Tom will pick defenses apart. Those dam Saints are the one team that matches up really well against us. Very strong pass rush and probably the best defensive backfield in the game. Their weakness is mostly at quarterback. And running back if Kamara is hurting. Our primary weakness is at line backer with 3 of our starters are currently injured. Nelson is decent. White has been off his game. And Tryon is lost in space. Minter is good against the run, but can’t run with receivers. But if the defense can keep the game close we have the potential to beat anyone. If 3 or 4 of the injured guys can play at all we have a decent chance against anybody as long as Tom Stays healthy. Just being real I think we are pretty good dark horse, but not the favorite.
January 9th, 2022 at 8:38 pm
Anonymous, BL has been doing this for what 3 years? Do anyone think he’s this mastermind making all these play decisions? When the O needs to play catch up Brady is pretty much drawing plays in the dirt. Many or you watched the Rams /49ers game, those are two creative offenses, Bucs is not and Brady, Evan’s, Gronk’s talent make it work.
January 9th, 2022 at 8:40 pm
As long as Evans and Gronk are out there and we get Fournette back we are going to score some points. But, even with JPP, Shaq and possible Lavonte David possibly coming back next week I am still concerned about our defense. How healthy will Lavonte be with his injury and what the hell is wrong with Devin White. He is obviously injured because on a couple of occasions where he could have really stuck someone he ran up to them and hugged them to the ground. If they continue to say he is healthy then we need to file a missing persons report for White and then find out who in the hell is out there wearing number 45 pretending he is in inside linebacker.
January 9th, 2022 at 8:53 pm
Wouldnât hurt if Brate could catch five yard passes that hit him on the HANDS.
January 9th, 2022 at 9:21 pm
Wow, that’s a surprise Joe. You lobbying for ‘So why not go more ground-and-pound?’ when we have Tom Brady.
I suspect we’d do that anyways in the playoffs. Last year Bucs ran the ball a LOT more in the playoffs than they did in the regular season, almost 10% higher run-pass percentage (121 runs vs 144 pass attempts & sacks for a 45.7% run-pass ratio in the playoffs as opposed to 36.3% ratio in the regular season). This season we ran it even less (33.8% run-pass), BUT … we can when we want to. Or have to.
January 9th, 2022 at 9:31 pm
I don’t see the need for much change. Miller can slip into the spot Grayson was building for himself. Perriman should still be there.
He and Scotty can blow the top off the defense a few times, then have a TE follow in the cleared zone.
Don’t have any running backs that do a ground and pound.
January 9th, 2022 at 10:01 pm
Why is it so hard to believe that Byron leftwich is calling the plays for the offense? black men can be good offensive coordinators Greg olsen was garbage and I’m pretty sure nobody doubted whether him or koetter was calling the offense I hope Byron leftwich goes on to become a head coach cuz he’s done a great job handling a guy like Tom Brady knowing that he wasn’t on the same level as a quarterback in his time but sometimes those backup quarterbacks become great coordinators because they seen the game and they’re in the film room all the time give this man credit where credit is due ariens is not God it’s a team and a staff effort that’s why the bucs are where they are
January 9th, 2022 at 10:11 pm
Golden Tate.
January 9th, 2022 at 10:59 pm
Agree Joe but a modified “ground and pound”. Short passes work as well as handing the ball off and will get Fournette and Bell in space against a slower LB.
Who has better touch and timing on swing passes out of the backfield than Brady and BOTH Bell and Fournette have career catch %’s right at 80%.
DC’s have seen ME and Gronk…we have a chance for mismatches and surprise with Fournette and Bell who haven’t been featured for a month.
January 10th, 2022 at 5:25 am
The Bucs donât have the second best record in the NFL. They are tied for the best record with the packers. GOBUCS!
January 10th, 2022 at 6:43 am
I believe we need to run the ball to open things up, but the game against
Washington tells me that if the RB’s are the focal point of the offense the offense is more prone to stall. We are are first and foremost a big play offense that needs to score to a lot to cover for the deficiencies of the defense due to injuries.
January 10th, 2022 at 6:51 am
One other thing I would change is use OJ in the passing game more. Cam just isn’t playing with surehandedness and has been limited to 5 and 6 yard passes of late. Unfortunately he doesn’t haul enough of them in with a 52% catch rate.
January 10th, 2022 at 7:16 am
Bob … Wanna bet that Cam is gone next year? TEs who can’t catch & can’t block aren’t BA’s favorites. And especially when their salary next year is over $7 mil.
January 10th, 2022 at 2:49 pm
As long as we have Gronk and Evans we should change absolutely nothing. We have Tom Brady!!!! He doesn’t need 50 weapons. Cleaning up mental miscues will be the key. Its playoff football and its all about penalties and turnovers. Yes we are banged up but I still LOVE our chances at Lambeau. Everyone has written us off because we haven’t lived up to RIDICOULOUS expectations. Its not my first choice, but I dont mind winning ugly.. Who else could finish 13-4 with all those injuries. Packers have not blown away the competition and they have been relatively healthy. We are most clearly a co-favorite with Green Bay. 13-4 enough said. Go Bucs!
January 11th, 2022 at 3:24 am
Ok I said this weeks ago the Bucs need to use Vaughn more. He’s the quickest to the hole and cuts with explosion. So if they run him Nd Lenny Bernard then they can control and still pass. Lenny Nd Bernard are better receivers then Vaughn. But let’s not forget Bell he will also give them an edge. I think Leftwitch at times plays not to lose instead of to win. Multiple backs doing different things will mess with a defense and still Brady can throw to Evans Gronk Brate and the others. 3 tight end set. Tight end and receivers in a bunch think about it. Who’s taking Gronk. Play action or linebacker slides over and you run