Film Study Paid Off For Leonard Fournette (And Bucs, Too)
October 11th, 2022
Every down back.
We all know the story by now.
Last week Tom Brady and Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich went up to Playoff Lenny and told him on pass plays the Dixie Chicks linebackers dropped back and often left open short routes into the flat.
Brady and Leftwich told Playoff Lenny they believed that could be exploited so be ready for a bunch of passes.
Of course, Playoff Lenny had 83 yards receiving, his best output as an NFL running back. He caught 10 of 11 balls thrown his way and had a touchdown catch.
NextGen Stats broke down each of Playoff Lenny’s routes. Every target in the flat was a catch.
So Brady and Leftwich were right on two counts. The first was that the Dixie Chicks linebackers abandoned the flat on drop backs. The other estimation Brady and Leftwich made was that Playoff Lenny could have a big day.
He sure did.
Leonard Fournette caught all 6 of his targets on flat routes for 46 yards & a TD in the Buccaneers 21-15 victory over the Falcons.
Fournette has more receptions on flat routes (45) than any other player has on any single route since 2021.#ATLvsTB | #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/EOn1I8xh2S
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 9, 2022
October 11th, 2022 at 9:10 am
I dont believe Leftwich picked up ANYTHING.
The narrative probably went like this: Last week Bucs quarterback Tom Brady went up to Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and told him on pass plays the Dixie Chicks linebackers dropped back and often left open short routes into the flat. Then Brady and Leftwich went to Fornette and told him to be ready for a busy day in the flats.
Just saying
October 11th, 2022 at 9:24 am
Yep. Brady got that, but lets the idiot Leftwich take some credit to save his face.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:30 am
Of course the Steelers read this also and if you don’t think Mike Tomlin is going to have his players fuming mad and ready to play, you’d be sadly mistaken.
Instead of Bowles talking about being more physical, how about his team actually go and play more physical, especially the OL, DL, and Diva White. Maybe Diva needs to get on one of his horses and ride off into the sunset since he is so bored with football at the most important time of the game.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:31 am
Our play calling on both sides of the ball have been very predictable IMO.
There is zero creativity on Offense. Defense creativity form the start of the season is now on film
October 11th, 2022 at 9:33 am
Gee, you think we run left alot?
October 11th, 2022 at 9:41 am
“Every target in the flat was a catch.”
That’s a lot better than the old days of throwing uncatchable bombs to the muscle hamster.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:42 am
And yet, wouldn’t most evaluators of talent notice that Wirfs and Shaq Mason are on the right side of the line? Hmmm.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:52 am
We do seem to run left a lot with Lenny……but mostly right with White…..puzzling…
I will say this…>White seems to get the short yards when we need them.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:52 am
Dang, lots of Leftwhich hate. I like everyone else am not happy with some of the play selection but he’s not near as bad or dumb as he’s been portrayed in the previous comments.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:56 am
Goatfarmer … ‘Instead of Bowles talking about being more physical, how about his team actually go and play more physical, especially the OL, DL, and Diva White.’
The OLine misses Jensen’s nastiness … BIG TIME.
The DLine misses Suh’s nastiness … BIG TIME.
And Devin White isn’t a ‘nasty’ player. Good speed, size, talent & finesse. But NOT nasty like some of the great middle LBs were. Like say Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher?
October 11th, 2022 at 9:56 am
No the Steelers do not scout the Bucs by reading JBF, that’s idiotic Goatfarmer. You show your ignorance when you make statements like that. FYI All NFL teams get all the game film for all the games, that is what they use to scout.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:56 am
I have no clue why Byron LEANS on runs to the left. He’s done it since he’s been here and seems that it’s mostly on 1st down. I know on the 4th and 1 if Lenny had gone behind Whirfs and Mason it was a 1st down.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:57 am
But then the Falcons keyed on Fournette in Q4 and the Bucs responded with three straight 3 and outs when one more score puts the game out of reach.
October 11th, 2022 at 9:59 am
Here we go putting the black man down. Leftwich gave some input if you notice when Brady got there they had problems with airians
because he would red pen the plan that Brady and Leftwich put together.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:19 am
Well his name IS Byron LEFTwich not Rightwich. Thank you, I’ll be here all night
October 11th, 2022 at 10:27 am
To me, it seems apparent that the team consistently runs to the left. Im not on the coach hater bandwagon, so I wonder what advantages they are setting up by running away from the strong side of the line. Is it a protection on the back side of the run thing? Do they run to the weakside in order to create space on the strong side for their bunch formations? Blaming the play calling is silly because we all know TB12 makes the decisions on the field.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:28 am
The most prolific offense over the last few years in Buccaneer history and some of you just hate BL and think he has nothing to do with it. The football IQ of some people on here is astoundingly low
October 11th, 2022 at 11:10 am
What David said. Goatfarmer and his endless pounding about the coaching is wrong, and tired.
By most measures this is by far the best coaching staff this team has ever had. Dungy/Gruden and Kiffin is the only thing that comes close. And frankly if we’re going to beat on about predictive, boring, unhelpful offensive play calling then Leftwich beats the Dungy/Gruden offenses by a mile.
Just stop, you can’t sound more ridiculous.
October 11th, 2022 at 11:10 am
I am very skeptical that BL identified and strategized this.
October 11th, 2022 at 11:38 am
Having a RB run to the flat is hardly some groundbreaking thing. My nephew, who I absolutely destroy at Madden, will run this exact same play pattern like 40 times in a row as I beat him 70-3.
Brady was checking down on Sunday because something was wrong with him, I’m thinking he hurt his hand because he was getting rid of the ball very very fast and throwing some very ugly balls. We’ll see if he practices — or gets a veterans day off coming up. Hopefully he’s OK and just needed to ice his hands down and the arthritis isn’t killing him too much.
October 11th, 2022 at 11:48 am
@Greg G
it’s only predictive and boring to some on this site when it doesn’t work. The perfect example of that would be that counter left Lenny runs where Shaq Mason pulls left after Ko Kieft is motioned into the backfield pre-snap which basically turns 12 personnel into a strong-I with Kieft playing H/Fullback, but we lack creativity in some fans’ eyes. That play has been called almost every game which has gotten us chunk gains off of it this past Sunday and against Dallas.
Also, two weeks ago it was runs up the middle, now with Lenny’s rushing and receiving diagrams the Hardly’s are having raging clues that we favor running to the left LOL guess what, Shaq Mason is a better pulling guard than Goedeke and Wirfs can crash down to the inside to prevent the play from being blown up off the shallow backside. I’m convinced some wouldn’t know offensive creativity if they sat down and watched it for hours 1 day of every week.
October 11th, 2022 at 12:07 pm
Hey DR – Warren Sapp wasn’t Warren Sapp until Dungy challenged him and got it out of him.
Maybe Todd is working hard on Diva when no one is watching, but for Diva to say the crap he says and put the crap on film he does with his talent, yeah, I hold the head coach and DC accountable for letting him get away with it.
Bench him for the first series against the Steelers. Do something. All talk and no results is what we are seeing now. That’s not sustainable, obviously.
October 11th, 2022 at 12:14 pm
I saw one creative play, when he had White & Tip toe
in the backfield together. I don’t why it took so long.
October 11th, 2022 at 12:17 pm
@Goatfarmer
We’re trying to win games, benching one of our better defenders and leading tackler since joining the team to prove a point as a coach is counterproductive
October 11th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Dooley. As the person accountable for your team’s results, when your alleged alpha leader of the defense claims boredom is a problem in the 4th quarter with a big lead – you act. You do something about it. One series. Three plays. Get his attention.
He missed games with Covid and came back possessed.
Let him know in zero uncertain terms his play for his talent is unacceptable, his leadership sucks and his comments are counterproductive.
But we could go the snowflake route too I guess. This team under Bowles as DC has rarely ever been able to put anyone away after getting a big lead.
There are reasons for that and no one should be able to do something about it better than the Head Coach DC. Unless he is trying and simply can’t.
October 11th, 2022 at 12:45 pm
@Goatfarmer
First, it’s football there are a ton of moving parts and people that go into to contributing to the teams’ results. Second, Devin White has put his foot in his mouth before, and this will not be the last time. Third, can’t stress this enough, benching a player for an offhand comment during a post game interview is literally the definition of making a mountain out of a molehill and is flirting with alienation of other players in the locker room in a very Greg Schiano type of way.
Lastly, nobody on this site is hearing how/if Bowles responded to that quote by White, because there are still some aspects of running a professional football team that aren’t available for the public to consume. Benching White, proves nothing, doesn’t make our defense better, and it’s not going to stop #45 from being the motor mouth he’s been since we drafted him. Bowles has an entire week of practice to correct Devin White, you don’t wait until gameday to show discipline.
October 11th, 2022 at 1:13 pm
The Steelers are a bad football team. If this Isn’t a blowout, it’s a bad sign. Tomlin is a rah rah guy, not an x’s and O’s coach. They do what they do, kind of team. Brady usually destroys teams like that.
October 11th, 2022 at 1:37 pm
Redeemer … Mike Tomlin has been the Steelers coach for 15 years and he’s NEVER had a losing season. I don’t think the Bucs could say the same.
Steelers may be 1-4 right now, but any coach who hasn’t had a losing season EVER as a head coach probably is doing something right. Hopefully Devin White & the rest of the team doesn’t get bored too early in the game.
Personally though, the way the Bucs have been playing thus far this season, I wouldn’t take ANY team for granted.
October 11th, 2022 at 2:58 pm
True that
October 11th, 2022 at 5:17 pm
Playoff Lenny has been impressive. He is an every down back. I’m just worried the guy is relied on for too much. This offense should be slinging the ball after setting up play action. Having Lenny as a 3 down back definitely sets up play action. This offense should be clicking. A 3 down back was what this team was missing in 2020 and 2021. A running back like Lenny should allow the offense to open the play book wide open. 2020 we telegraphed the play by who was in the backfield. The way Lenny is playing those days are over. This dude can do it all. Chip block, pick up the blitz, run it down thier throat, catch out of the backfield. Lenny seems to have replaced the tightends as the broken play outlet guy as well. How long has it been this team had a running back like Fournette?