Offensive Line Pushed To The Brink?
September 12th, 2022
Key injury testing thin depth.
So the first starts for rookie Luke Goedeke and Robert Hainsey earned a passing grade. They did fine. At times they did great. No, they aren’t Hall of Famers but they were strong overall.
When you consider Playoff Lenny had his best game rushing as a Bucs running back (127 yards) largely because of the blocking of the front line, and Tom Brady absorbed but four quarterback hits, that is excellent.
Throw in the fact that at least two guys who played the majority of the snaps began training camp as backups, that’s a helluva night. The play of the offensive line certainly didn’t warrant the freakout that came from some folks in previous weeks.
With Donovan Smith going down, and who knows for how long, are the Bucs’ pushed to the limit? Right now, with the possible exception of Nick Leverett, the Bucs have no depth.
When any team loses its left tackle, that is bad news. And Joe watched Josh Wells get eaten alive by Micah Parsons on pass plays until the Bucs began making adjustments.
Joe doesn’t know if general manager Jason Licht now has been pushed to the wall and will go get a lineman. If Smith misses games, these injuries to the offensive line will have grown to be beyond worrisome.
They are beginning to crack the foundation of a Super Bowl contender.
September 12th, 2022 at 12:37 am
You have to sign some dudes. Surely there is a guy on someone’s practice squad better than Wells.
We need a legit tackle and a backup interior guy. Yeah we’d need to let some guys go. Rudolph and Darden. No one will pick either of them up and we can re-sign them.
Do it JL.
September 12th, 2022 at 12:38 am
Wells can hold his own. Donny isn’t much better
September 12th, 2022 at 12:39 am
Not many good LTs on the market, but ANY of them are better than Wells in pass pro. You gotta make a move.
September 12th, 2022 at 12:40 am
yes please sign some back up guys and get them acclimated to our playbook immediately should already of been done
September 12th, 2022 at 1:01 am
@Buccos. Are you kidding me?! Donnie is a damn good LT. Wells is awful. I hope you’re being sarcastic
September 12th, 2022 at 1:37 am
Losing D Smith forces action. Can’t see how they can avoid making a move now, if D’s injury is serious. In terms of LTs, Eric Fisher is out there, as is Nate Solder (but who hasn’t been great).
They were able to mask the lack of OL depth and experience by emphasizing the run. How long can they keep it up is the question.
September 12th, 2022 at 1:43 am
Goedeke is a run blocker and Lenny had a career night mostly to the left.
September 12th, 2022 at 1:43 am
My Momma says: Joe I don’t know what you’re looking at, but I saw Goedecke get beat with swim move after swim move. He was awful and pass pro. Brady looked quite uncomfortable at times.
September 12th, 2022 at 1:50 am
Yes Wells is not good at all even if he looked somewhat good tonight. If Smith is serious, we need to trade for at least a above average LT if they wanna make it to the show.
September 12th, 2022 at 2:11 am
Between Wells and Goedeke, there were plenty of whiffs to watch in the film room.
They got away with it in this game, barely. (19 points is not domination.). Next game will start the real test.
I don’t see how they can get away without signing one or two. Ereck Flowers, Eric Fisher, Isiah Wynn, Nate Solder (if he can still play). Would they consider moving Wirfs to LT?
September 12th, 2022 at 2:42 am
Tackles can’t just switch sides easily. Wirfs needs to stay at RT. I don’t think people realize how hard is it for OL to switch sides. I’m worried about this offense. Get in the film room and work out the kinks. You can’t expect the D to play lights out every night. We are missing Gronk badly in the RZ. It was painfully obvious. We need to capitalize in the RZ. Maybe it was just me, but Brady looked a little stiff in the pocket. I’ve seen him move better. His arm isn’t showing age, but his mobility in the pocket isn’t as good.
Brady doesn’t trust his OL and when you don’t trust your line, you make mistakes like that bone headed pick by him. He will be killing himself all week about that pick. You can’t dwell on it, but during his post game interviews, he was definitely pissed with himself. He talked about missing Julio on the slant.
Gage was nonexistent. Did Licht get fleeced? He hasn’t been healthy all training camp.
September 12th, 2022 at 6:28 am
Right after NBC put together a highlight reel of how Tyler Smith was “holding up” against the BUCS, he committed a false start penalty! I loved it!
September 12th, 2022 at 6:58 am
There is no one to sign. Are people serious when they say go get someone from another rams practice squad? What exactly will happen if we bring up any guy from the practice squad. If they were starter worthy they would be active on gameday
September 12th, 2022 at 7:27 am
Agree with Joe. We have to go get some depth for our o-line. However, I must say, it’s not unpredictable that a backup LT would have some difficulties with Micah Parsons. After all, he was the Defensive Player of the Year last year. And he was only a rookie.
September 12th, 2022 at 7:47 am
Leave Wirfs at RT.
September 12th, 2022 at 7:48 am
Bucco
You sound extremely ignorant. Donovan Smith has been fantastic for years now. He got beat on one play… And there is not a left tackle in the NFL that would have stopped that inside spin move by Parsons. It was a fantastic move
September 12th, 2022 at 7:54 am
Tretter is one of the top centers in the league-have TB12 call him and tell him that we need your skills and you need a ring to finish up your career. Plug in Tretter at Center and move Hainsey out to Tackle. Tretter should have been signed already. Defense played so well last night.
September 12th, 2022 at 8:25 am
Tristan needs to switch to the left side if Donovan is seriously injured.
September 12th, 2022 at 8:25 am
Tretter is blackballed by the owners.
September 12th, 2022 at 8:25 am
Its a physical game. The season now has 17 regular games to it. Attrition is going to happen. I guess the sky is going to be perpetually falling. I can remember a time when this fan base never gave any concern to how the line does, and who is playing on it. Our 45 yo quarterback got hit 4 times. He uses his skill and talent to get rid of the ball before he gets sacked, and I am sure that pick he threw had nothing to do with the line play. Lenny rushed for over 100 yards. RELAX. We likely threw the ball waay too much the last few seasons, and I think we are getting proof that the game is more manageable when there is balance between the pass and run. Also helps when you get great effort from the defense. This is what winning football looks like.
September 12th, 2022 at 8:38 am
Offensive tackle was the position we had the least depth at last year, and that continues this year. We just cannot afford for an injury to the LT or RT positions. We don’t have depth at that position at all.
September 12th, 2022 at 9:33 am
My first impression was that Smith had broken one of the bones in his lower arm… but after watching the replay… a slight hyperextension and possible dislocation of the elbow is also a possibility. I’m usually pretty good with injury diagnosis. I nailed the TJ Watt torn pec the moment he did it yesterday.
September 12th, 2022 at 9:51 am
Tyler Smith “held up” against Shaq Barrett last night because he was holding on every play. He even horse-collared him once on his way to sack Prescott and the refs whiffed on it. The missed calls were laughable.
September 12th, 2022 at 10:14 am
Dallas has good defense they were going to give the bucs fits. I don’t think there is anyone out there that is starter worthy otherwise they would be starting. Alot of teams are dealing with oline issues not just the bucs dunno what fans expect. Tretter is retired and he wasn’t practicing anymore so I dunno why fans are so hung up on that. Good win some things to clean up for sure but a solid base to improve from go bucs.
September 12th, 2022 at 12:46 pm
I hold my breath on pass plays when Wells is in the game. However when Lombardi Lenny put the hammer down on Micah Parsons that was it for Parsons rushing the passer last night. Maybe we should call him Woodshed Lenny cause Lenny took Parsons out to the Woodshed and whooped that azz.
September 12th, 2022 at 1:14 pm
I keep hearing that Smith’s xrays were negatice but cant find the source. Anyone have an update on the injury? Possible dislocation? Just looked like he got bumped by the knee of Parsons but hard to tell.