Atlanta Helped Dig Its Own Grave
October 10th, 2022
Runaround quarterback.
If Marcus Mariota was an NFL quarterback and not a gimmicky, misplaced spread-option QB, the Bucs might have been in a world of hurt yesterday.
The fact Atlanta coach Artie Smith doesn’t trust Mariota to throw — imagine, a head coach of an NFL team has such p!ss poor quarterback depth he has to start a guy that can’t throw — helped the Bucs win as much as one of the worst calls Joe has ever seen, a phantom roughing-the-passer flag on Grady Jarrett.
It was the fourth quarter. The Bucs defense was gassed. Atlanta took over at their own 30 following a Bucs punt with 9:49 left, trailing 21-7.
The Dixie Chicks ran the ball. And ran the ball. And ran the ball. All the while the clock ticked, ticked, ticked, eating up precious minutes. Of the 12 plays in the scoring drive that pulled the game within six at 21-15, Atlanta ran the ball 7 times.
Only toward the end of that drive did Smith roll the dice and have Mariota put the ball in the air.
“It’s kind of unheard of,” Bucs linebacker Devin White said of the Dixie Chicks’ allergy to letting Mariota air it out. “They don’t care if they’re down 20, 21, 30, they’re going to run the ball because that’s what their strengths are.
“I mean, it’s hard to believe it, it’s hard to keep thinking that they’re down and they’re going to run the ball, but they are. You just got to accept the fact and bow up and be gritty for four quarters.”
So yeah, the Bucs dodged a bullet with a major blown call when Jarrett was flagged for roughing Brady. But the Bucs may have caught the biggest break when Smith decided Mariota was his best option at quarterback.
Basically, Mariota is a small forward pretending to be quarterback. And that’s good news for the Bucs, and was great news yesterday.
October 10th, 2022 at 4:00 am
Why is Joe so hard on Mariota? He has his limitations, but he’s not THAT bad. The coach is just very conservative, and they were getting chunk yards from the run.
October 10th, 2022 at 5:04 am
The Bucs were perfectly able to lose that game without Mariota ever yhtowing another pass. The Bucs run defense sucks. Awful. And Bowels can’t seem to do anything about it other than talk.
October 10th, 2022 at 5:42 am
I’m tired of hearing about the roughing the Qb call. It’s not only consistently the way they’re calling it now (see 1st on V. Vita) and earlier in the London game. Had the refs not blown the PI the down before that on Scotty Miller the Bucs wouldn’t haven’t needed to throw the ball again.
October 10th, 2022 at 6:09 am
Pretty embarrassing that the Bucs defense knew it was run and still couldn’t stop it.
October 10th, 2022 at 6:15 am
Who says he does this because MM can’t throw? It’s actually a time tested strategy. And it is working.
Even if true, the guy is playing to his strengths. Gotta love it. Like the Alstott-Dunn years.
October 10th, 2022 at 7:39 am
If your strength is the run then you live and die by it. You won’t get deep in the PO’s look at Indy and Titans last season. What bothers me most is the lack of passion from the coaching staff, NO fire. I watch the Giants the head coach needed a defibrillator at the end of that game, McVay, Carrol and many others, I don’t care about the record. Bowels & BL are like sleepy Joe. Where the head goes the arse follows that’s why the team lacks emotion.
#jetstrash
October 10th, 2022 at 7:41 am
If your strength is the run then you live and die by it. You won’t get deep in the PO’s look at Indy and Titans last season. What bothers me most is the lack of passion from the coaching staff, NO fire. I watch the Giants the head coach needed a defibrillator at the end of that game, McVay, Carrol and many others, I don’t care about the record. Bowels & BL are asleep at the wheel. Where the head goes the arse follows that’s why the team lacks emotion.
#jetstrash
October 10th, 2022 at 7:50 am
It’s not a blown call anymore Joe. Calling it the Tua tackle. D linemen can’t whip a QB to the ground with force. Going to get a roughing call for that from now on.
October 10th, 2022 at 8:07 am
Mariota is a gimmick quarterback running a gimmick offense. Seems like he is the right quarterback for that. Well, available quarterback anyway. Lamar Jackson already has a job as the best gimmick quarterback.
October 10th, 2022 at 10:18 am
Marcus Mariota won the Heisman Trophy in College.
I watched him play us when we took Jameis instead of him in the draft.
He literally carved us up!
His tight end and main target Pitts was hurt yesterday, so Atlanta was basically a one receiver team.
Their coach reminds me of a Tony Dungy, who wants to run the ball all the time.
Coach Smith came from Tennessee, so running the ball all the time is in his DNA.
October 10th, 2022 at 10:54 am
jesus.. WTF with the mariotta 20 yard scramble on 3rd down? i think everyone in section 300 knew Atlanta was going to run the ball. The falcons dominated the 2nd half on both lines of scrimage. not seeing a championship football team so far, more like a tony dungy 10.6 team in the late 90s.
October 10th, 2022 at 11:43 am
Lol- don’t you always say “ you play to your strengths”? Which for the Bucs, is passing. For Atlanta- it’s running. And it was working. They were running down our throats. We were bailed out by a bad penalty, and the only reason I don’t feel bad was because the zebras missed a blatant PI call on the previous play.
Also, Throwing 5 out of 12 snaps isnt exactly being afraid to pass either, IMHO.
October 10th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
Joe,
Looking at the film of Winfield’s takedown of Mariota at the end of the second quarter I noticed Cade Otton was the first man to hit him. Are the Bucs using him as a pass rusher? I haven’t seen anyone comment on this.
October 10th, 2022 at 3:20 pm
?????????????????????
You sure that wasn’t Anthony Nelson (98)?
October 10th, 2022 at 9:08 pm
Joe,
Thanks for your response, it makes perfect sense. However, if you look at the last 30+ seconds of the second quarter (FOX Sports by Tampa Bay Times) the player that hit Mariota first was in a #88 jersey. It may be my internet that is fuzzy, but it sure looks like 88, not 98.
October 10th, 2022 at 10:05 pm
MJM:
Officially Cade Otton never played one snap on defense. And no one has mentioned it because he never played any defense. This would be a fairly big story if it happened.
Really sounds like you are confusing Anthony Nelson. Don’t feel bad. All kinds of sportswriters and photographers confuse numbers of football players in the heat of battle.