Byron Leftwich, Rachaad White And Not Running Right
December 1st, 2022
Misused?
Joe really, really doesn’t understand this Byron Leftwich.
The Bucs offensive coordinator baffles Joe with many of his ways. Joe would love to understand why Leftwich does what he does, but good luck getting that from him.
In his waste-of-time press conferences, at best Leftwich doesn’t answer questions. Oh, he replies, but with jibberish or the repetition of favorite empty phrases.
Take Leftwich’s fetish for running left. Joe looked at the past two game’s worth of charts from Rachaad White. Leftwich, for reasons unknown, doesn’t like to run White to the right.
Sadly, White’s percentage of gaining five yards or more a carry running right jumps. On top of that, on the right side of the line are two of the better offensive linemen in the game, right guard Shaq Mason and All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs (until Todd Bowles irresponsibly wanted to play in overtime last week where he got two of his best players hurt, Wirfs and Antoine Winfield)
Most offensive coordinators would drool to run behind those two guys. The Bucs, instead, have Leftwich.
In the last two games, White has carried the ball 36 times. Of those carries, 26 have gone either up the middle or to the left.
Half of White’s runs to the right have gained at least five yards.
So armed with the intel of who is playing on the right side of the offensive line (at least until last week when Bucs coaches cowered because the greatest quarterback of all time with two picks all season might throw this third) and the evidence that White is good running right, you would think an offensive coordinator would call for more White runs to the right.
But the Bucs have Leftwich as an offensive coordinator.
"The Nature Boy" must have watched the Bucs on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/v0pxPpK5A0
— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) December 1, 2022
December 1st, 2022 at 12:30 am
Netting out Hainsey, running right means you have Shaq Mason and Wirfs blocking for you. That’s the strength of your line in terms of ron blocking. This isn’t rocket science.
December 1st, 2022 at 12:36 am
Hi Joe–running right or left is inconsequential. I understand your point–situation is, we are playing a saloon door right tackle against the saints on monday football. The saints are bad and they are looking forward to wooping up on the nfc south leaders, their old buddies the Bucs. They are 100% confident they will embarass us. Last game they antagonized Evans and that led to a fight.
LOL!!!!!!!!! I am on the last 8 minutes of tonights Ira podcast–Joe is going off Lol!!!!!!!!! get out the building and get a counselor awesome — we feel the same way out here!
Anyway I am not concerned we will win or not–I think Brady will get hurt and it will be his last game ever. So running right or left–not important but support the right tackle with Ko Kieft–that is what matters and Leftwich won’t do it–he didn’t chip Myles Garrett when it obviously needed to be done. Leftwich and Bowles are awful and it will escalate Monday night.
December 1st, 2022 at 1:15 am
Brian Flores or Eric Bienemy.
December 1st, 2022 at 1:16 am
Running left or right does matter. On the right you have an All Pro RT and a RG who has consistently been considered one of the best run blocking interior linemen in the game. Again, I’m netting out Hainsey. Your run block strength is to the right side, away from penalty prone Donovan Smith and whatever practice squader the Bucs play at LG.
December 1st, 2022 at 1:22 am
For the 1000th time:
Leftwich is stubborn and clueless
The only thing I don’t get is why Brady doesn’t ever audible to shift the play to the other side.
December 1st, 2022 at 1:43 am
No to Flores, Ken Dorsey Bills OC is my front runner, we are going to be back in purgatory anyways
December 1st, 2022 at 1:44 am
leftworst is dumb,stubborn, defensive, and simply NOT competent-at all .
one thing i’m not seeing at all so far this season; is Brady waving off Lefty’s calls during a game
When he won the Rams game in 40 seconds–Brady called / audibled every play until the TD throw to Otton –Which Brady told lefty was his (Brady’s ) best suggestion during that last time out just before the TD to Otton & lefty said ” go for it ”
They need to let Brady call the plays. PERIOD
December 1st, 2022 at 2:20 am
In addition to Leftwich not caring (he will run left no matter what), he will now be even more insistent about running left with Wirfs out. We’ll never see him learn his lesson running behind Wirfs with Wirfs out for the season. So this whole debate just gets added to the increasingly long list of offseason problems that must be addressed with drastic action.
December 1st, 2022 at 2:24 am
The other issue with White’s production is White himself. Neither he nor Lenny are the kind of backs with the instant acceleration and explosiveness to get through small holes, or bust through tackles, one step and gone. They mince and tip toe, waiting, waiting, and either get taken down or require several steps to get going. They need to be in space with great downfield blocking set up.
December 1st, 2022 at 3:06 am
Or…. Opposite DCs are actually competent and stack the box to our right side forcing us to run left behind our weaker side of the line….
I know we are not used to it, but that’s actually what good/competent coordinators do: they influence the other team with good tactical choices… go figure!!!
December 1st, 2022 at 3:53 am
Hopeless coaching.
December 1st, 2022 at 4:02 am
Unbelievable … ‘The only thing I don’t get is why Brady doesn’t ever audible to shift the play to the other side.’
Just relooked at the Browns’ game. Bucs ran 11 left (for 68 yards … 6.2 YPC), 1 run middle (for 2 yards … 2.0 YPC), and 8 run right (for 26 yards … 3.3 YPC). On the surface it looks like the Bucs were almost twice as productive running to the left. But when you look at the individual runs, that’s very deceptive. Our RBs are VERY INCONSISTENT, and that’s been a major problem all season, even in our wins.
In Cleveland, here are the 11 runs to the left: 35, 4, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1, 11, 2, -3, 5 (total of 68 yards). Broken out by quarters: 51, 1, 12, -1, 5. Broken out by RBs: 57 White 8 runs), 11 Vaughn (3 runs).
Here’s the 1 run up the middle: 2 yards (Brady in the 2nd qtr).
Here are the 8 runs to the right: 7, -1, -2, 1, 15, 1, 4, 1 (total of 26 yards). Broken out by quarters: 7, -1, 14, 5, 1. Broken out by RBs: 7 White (6 runs), 4 Vaughn (1 run), 15 Julio (1 run).
What I see is tremendous INCONSISTENCY in our running game, regardless of which side we ran to. Of the 11 runs to the left, 4 of them were 5 yards or over (for a total of 57 of the 68 yards gained to the left). The remaining 7 runs gained only 11 yards. The sole run up the middle was 2 yards (Brady on a 4th-and-1). Of the 8 runs to the right, only 2 of them were for 5 yards or over (for a total of 22 of the 26 yards gained to the right). The remaining 6 runs gained only 4 yards (and 5 of those runs netted ZERO yards total).
So no, running to the right WASN’T more effective in the Cleveland game than running to the left (we gained a lot more to the left). More importantly though, our running game … against a bad run defense … was INCONSISTENT as he11. Of our 20 rushes in that game, 11 of them were for 2 yards or less. And worse, 3 of those LOST yardage and 5 others only gained 1 yard each. It wouldn’t matter Unbelievable whether Brady audibled out or not; our run blocking sucks … all the way across our OLine.
December 1st, 2022 at 4:12 am
Leftwich, it’s in his name that’s why he runs left all the time.
December 1st, 2022 at 5:48 am
DR – really impressive summary, thank you. The run efforts were inconsistent, as you noted. That first break through on the left was really not a result of anything the line did, as much as Cleveland simply being out of position. So excluding that one play may make things a little more meaningful. The inconsistencies are a result of tipping pitches. All on BL.. He can’t understand how to keep the opponent off balance, or how to make in-game adjustments when something isn’t working. How that guy is still employed is remarkable. Terrible, terrible misguided loyalties.
December 1st, 2022 at 5:56 am
Well Joe, you will have many years to try to understand BL. He isn’t going anywhere. He’ll be here for years to come.
December 1st, 2022 at 6:07 am
Bowles told you they don’t look at stats around here.
December 1st, 2022 at 6:38 am
Hodad with the observation of the week. It’s in his name! 🤣
I’m sure he leans to the left also. It’s only 6% less than a balanced 33% so it’s not a big difference. I thought White had as many big runs in the middle and left as apposed to the right side.
December 1st, 2022 at 6:45 am
I’m sick of bowels too.
Time to clean house.
December 1st, 2022 at 7:11 am
DungyDance … ‘The inconsistencies are a result of tipping pitches. All on BL’.
I agree with you 100%. Gaining the ‘element of surprise’ has significant value when it comes to the running game IMO. Much easier for a defense to disrupt your run-blocking if your formation tips them off to a run. When those of us at home can tell it’s gonna be a run, chances are the opposing defense can figure it out too.
December 1st, 2022 at 7:21 am
It’s always difficult to understand something that you clearly know nothing about! …and I ain’t just whistling Dixie … if you have no coaching experience then yea it can be hard to understand the decisions of our Great Head Coach and the play-calling of our Great OC! With you people Tom is Tom and everyone else is trash and gets called out or called idiots or even worse “baboons”! Tom is not playing top-notch football that’s my thought! LETS GO BUCS …let’s get back to Winning and we’ll continue to let the Fair Weather Fans whine!
December 1st, 2022 at 8:28 am
Tap-Out, you’re right about jumping to conclusions without having all the necessary background or information needed to asses the situation. However, there are occasions when the senses kick in. When you see the RB getting stuffed every time he runs up the middle or to the left side of the line and then picks up 5 yards when he runs to the right, I think the average person would question why you don’t run to the right more. You don’t have to be a tennis player to appreciate an elite players performance at Wimbledon, and you don’t have to have been a coach to know when the team’s defensive coordinator is doing a crappy job of designing and calling plays.
December 1st, 2022 at 8:32 am
“The Bucs, instead, have Leftwich.”
December 1st, 2022 at 9:06 am
I have plenty of criticisms of Leftwich, but the running right criticism is odd to me. Smith/Leverett are perfectly capable run blockers. Mason isn’t a great run blocker due to his size on the right side.
A lot of these run plays break down because our TEs absolutely suck at blocking and miss blocks constantly. Leftwich is too stupid to spread the other team other and just get the TEs off the field. There’s really no excuse for the Bucs to ever play more than 1 TE in a formation.
December 1st, 2022 at 10:01 am
Tap-out – you are correct, in part. As casual fans, clearly coaches know much more about the mechanics of x’s and o’s, position responsibilities, etc. But coaching also involves leadership, accountability, and reflection. I beg to differ that we as fans cannot know a thing or two about those topics. These coaches would do well to take some advice.
December 1st, 2022 at 10:02 am
“Left field” Leftwich hasn’t a clue. His time is running out. The only thing saving him is the WOK stupidity of the clueless Glaser family, “No Balls” Boles, and the NFL. Leftwich is an idiot along with his twin “No Balls”
December 1st, 2022 at 10:32 am
Still struggling to understand what BA and the Bucs see in BL.
“There is something rotten in Denmark”
What are they hiding? The complicity for BL’s predictable, irrational and obtuse play calling appears to have deep root support in the Bucs organization. How else are we to explain this ongoing insanity with no reasonable (read: logical)
explanation being put forth.
The clock has already struck Midnight. At what point will Buc’s supporters begin marching to the exits en masse?!
December 1st, 2022 at 11:33 am
@Daniel you’re wrong Mason was said to be an excellent run blocker. I’ll never understand why BL doesn’t spread the field and then run inside or to the left. Instead he puts us in a tight formation which just brings the defenders closer. Yes our new TEs aren’t great at blocking it’ll come and they’re willing to stick their nose in there. Brate just isn’t good at blocking and can’t get open anymore. Time for Otton and Keif to get all the snaps.
December 1st, 2022 at 2:03 pm
@DR – thanks for breaking down the CLE game. I was going off the combined stats from the last 2 games that show provided.
But you hit the nail on the head: INCONSISTENCY!!
Take away that big 30 yard run, and it seems left and right we’re mostly even against CLE at least.
At the end of the day, this scheme just isn’t very creative. There is very little misdirection, disguise, scheming guys open, etc. It worked when we had 8-9 pro bowl / HOFers out there. But now that we only have about 5, it just doesn’t work.
The only thing that is still consistently effective is our hurry up offense.
December 1st, 2022 at 2:03 pm
*that Joe provided ^
December 1st, 2022 at 5:20 pm
Toliet Bowl and Sandwich need to go. Just let Brady and Lavonte call their own plays. Need sideline management…bring a Glaser down and then everyone can ignore him.
December 1st, 2022 at 11:42 pm
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET BRADY CALL THE PLAYS, I. 2 MIN DRILLS HE CLEARLY MOVES THE BALL LET BRADY CALL THE FREAKING PLAYS LFGO MY GOD
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:33 am
Left, right up the middle none of it Works. Be Clear. Blame it on whoever. But when I defense know the QB can’t throw anymore. They stack the box. It’s Simple. But U don’t want to put the blame on Brady. So we have to point the Finger somewhere