“Start Giving Him His Flowers”
October 16th, 2023
Flower child?
Joe can’t cry this morning like it was another Monday during The Lost Decade (2009-2018).
Joe didn’t expect the Bucs to be a 12-win team going on winning streaks a few times this year.
Yeah, the Bucs lost yesterday and the offense looked limp, but Tampa Bay still leads the NFC South and good things are happening.
One good thing is the pass blocking. All-world tackle Tristan Wirfs was very positive about it after Sunday’s loss to Detroit.
“Us up front, pass protection-wise was pretty damn good — 67 down there is like, you know, you guys got to start giving him his flowers. You know, he’s ballin’,” Wirfs said, referring to No. 67, right tackle Luke Goedeke.
Joe is impressed with the pass blocking, too. And it should only get better. The O-line is a very young unit in a new system with players at new positions.
Wirfs also shook off any reference that the Lions are in a class significantly ahead of the Bucs.
“We fix some stuff and we’re right there with’em,” he said.
If the Bucs bounce back Sunday against a very meh Atlanta team, then all is good. If the Bucs lose, well, then the good Joe is seeing is probably overrated.
October 16th, 2023 at 11:34 am
Pass blocking was good, but if we can’t hit the open guy and when we do he drops it, it doesn’t matter much.
October 16th, 2023 at 11:35 am
If Mayfield had been accurate yesterday, the Bucs are right there with the Lions until the end. He knows it.
October 16th, 2023 at 11:35 am
How bout that run blocking tho?
Or do we just not talk about that?
October 16th, 2023 at 11:38 am
Need a bigger center
October 16th, 2023 at 11:38 am
The run blocking prowess was suspiciously absent in the flowery talk…
October 16th, 2023 at 11:40 am
Yep that is a pleasant surprise, but can we try to open a hole in the run game!? It’s terrible, white is to blame but so are the OL and the coaches who can’t figure this out. Gotta be a way to scheme a 7-8 yard run in there a couple times a game.
October 16th, 2023 at 11:41 am
instead of run blocking what about a rb?
October 16th, 2023 at 11:42 am
The pass blocking is good when Baker runs around avoiding sacks. The run blocking isn’t good at all.
October 16th, 2023 at 11:43 am
I agree we are right there kinda like joe you said In the Ira podcast were about half a season behind but we’re right there
October 16th, 2023 at 11:43 am
A lot of us gotta eat crow the glass eater has been incredible and is a borderline pro bowl player
October 16th, 2023 at 11:45 am
Mauch to center next year, than find 2 more guards
October 16th, 2023 at 11:46 am
Why do we hear that every dam big game failure? No disrespect to Tristan but the team is always a dollar short or a day late against better opponents.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:02 pm
Let’s not talk any positive’s Joe, Not-Victory Monday is for the defeatists. Let them get it out so they don’t beat their old ladies, or kick their dogs or yell at their moms.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:05 pm
Joe I know the feeling. I was there watching the Leman Bennett, Ray Perkins, Sam Walsh coached Bucs a lot of frustrated Mondays. My opinion is, and opinions are like rear ends, everybody has one, I am tied of and I am sure many other are tied of the could have should have almost. The Bucs need to win these games. The entire offense was terrible on Sunday with the exception of Godwin. Evans dropped a first down pass he gets a penalty when its 3rd and 1. Mayfield missed a wide open # 10 and had several over thrown passes and I am still unsure of what’s going on with all these batted down passes, No running game. Understandable the first 2 or 3 games but this was the 5th game and also coming off a bye week. No excuses
October 16th, 2023 at 12:07 pm
Goedeke has performed well……we’ve got a young line….and have invested a 1st, 2 2nds & a 3rd round picks…….starting to pay off.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:15 pm
All fans ever hear is how much harder pass blocking is yet the bucs oline never seems able to run block. I know some if not most is on white who sucks. Where is Edmonds he is the only rb this year that looked like he knew how to hit a hole
October 16th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
It used to be that pass blocking was harder but now in college with all these teams lining up in spread offenses, those guys are actually working on pass techniques more than ever.
Most of them never have developed any sort of power run blocking ability.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
I agree with Wirfs. Our line play was better than the Lions on both sides. We hit on the play to Evans from our own 10 and not get batted and picked, it’s a different ballgame. We missed some throws, Evans with a big drop, Mayfield just missed Palmer twice deep. But the biggest area of concern is giving up those 3rd and longs. We fix that, we win moving forward.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:24 pm
It’s a shame, offensive linemen are the Rodney Dangerfield’ s of football, they don’t get no respect or recognition unless they do something wrong! It shouldn’t be that way but unfortunately it is, that ‘s why it’s good Joe recognizes them for their good work so often, and our our guys really deserve the kudos!
October 16th, 2023 at 12:24 pm
That’s another point tampabaybucfan. The offense line has played a lot better than many thought they would. The defense has played very good not great but very good so what is the issue
October 16th, 2023 at 12:36 pm
Wirfs, Mauch, and Goedeke are great. Feiler is serviceable. Hainsey is a backup. It’s a good OL. Next 1-2 years, it will become dominant.
The OC sucks. The RB sucks. It’s really that simple.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:39 pm
Both lines should keep improving all season.
October 16th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Bucs. simply lost to a better team. It was not even close. Completely manhandled from start to finish. Oh well, on to the next opponent. The creamsicle uniforms were a ghastly mistake that made the team look rinkydink.
October 16th, 2023 at 1:04 pm
Baker is not the answer.
October 16th, 2023 at 1:06 pm
In the big scheme of things #1)the Bucs Oline is trending in the right direction #2) Buc fans do realize the Lions stop running the ball because it was TOTALLY ineffective for them also #3) THE REAL DIFFERENCE between both teams yesterday was one QB was accurate hitting his targets & one QB was EXTREMELY inaccurate ALL GAME LONG going only 2 for 12, lastly #4 the Lions have done a great job with picking talent in the top 10 of the draft for quite some time now and CURRENTLY it shows!!!!
October 16th, 2023 at 1:10 pm
The middle of the line is struggling on the run. Next season, I can see Mauch and Hainsey swapping spots, and anticipate that to be a better fit. Hainsey can make the line calls, but he can snap the ball and fight off the nose tackle efficiently enough. I bet he is more effective off the ball. Giving Goedeke his props because during the lost decade our RT would frequently end drives with holding calls. The middle of the line also needs to work on keeping defenders from batting down passes. They should have the leverage to bury those guys in the turf at that point. Still room for improvement, and I think these guys can get there.
October 16th, 2023 at 1:49 pm
The O Line hasn’t been playing badly.
Bucs got problems at RB and QB.
October 16th, 2023 at 1:53 pm
Goedecke did a helluva job on Hutchinson.
October 16th, 2023 at 2:15 pm
Joe, did you tell Wirfs he was wrong? That it wasn’t just a couple of things and that the game was a “Blow Out”‽‽‽
October 16th, 2023 at 2:24 pm
Hey “Unbelievable”….. that’s ALL we’ve talked about you kook. FOH
October 16th, 2023 at 2:43 pm
Long passes and no catches – sums up the whole game
October 16th, 2023 at 2:49 pm
I agree with Wirfs. I do NOT think the Lions are that great. We had some opportunities to seriously change the course of that game.
I did focus on Goedeke, as much as I could, and I liked what I saw. Keep trending up.
October 16th, 2023 at 3:08 pm
The game was frustrating but even the guys calling the game talked about how good the pass blocking was. I do like that we didn’t get blow out by the Lions. They won the game but as many others are pointing out, just a few plays here and there and we are in that game if not winning it.
October 16th, 2023 at 3:59 pm
Tackles have not been the problem. It’s a real shame we let Shaq Mason go for a bag of peanuts. Hainsey filled in admirably for us when Jensen went down, but he has no push up front. The middle of our line is the real weakness, it’s very apparent how many runs up the middle get blown up. Especially from Feiler and Hainsey. Mauch has promise, but was playing in DII last year. He needs more time to put on weight and get stronger. C and LG are two positions that need to be upgraded next year
October 16th, 2023 at 4:27 pm
Our right guard is our weakness.
October 16th, 2023 at 4:30 pm
I don’t fault the offensive line…
Their pass blocking is good and will get better.
But we have to be more creative in the run.
Canales payed an egg after having a bye week to prepare.
October 16th, 2023 at 4:47 pm
Pass blocking might be important if this was a passing league, but it’s not, the NFL is all about running the football like it’s 1972.
Wait, I just looked at my calendar and 1972 was over 50-years ago.
Turns out teams win with the foreword pass.
October 16th, 2023 at 5:00 pm
This is, for all intentions, a very new team. The WR’s were open a lot and were missed by short distances; a timing issue that will get sured up. This team is ahead of where I expected them to be, considering last year’s abysmal OL play. The defense is high-end and young. If they have a winning record this, the rest of the division needs to take heed.
October 16th, 2023 at 5:06 pm
What is this “new system” of which you speak, Joe?
Same run game coordinator and same o-line coach and same results as last year (or worse) in the ground game.
Luke is only in year 2 and the move to RT was the right one. Big props (and flowers) for his handling of Hutchinson yesterday especially.
October 16th, 2023 at 5:09 pm
The new OC hasn’t been perfect, but it is his first season at that level and he can only work with the talent we have. And we can definitely kill the “Canales as a HC next season” chatter. That being said, it’s irritating to me how disjointed our offensive philosophy is from our talent. This is what happens when you have a defensive HC. So we’ve got 2 $20 mill/yr WRs (strong pass focused), a late third round starting RB that’s best ability is catching (pass focused, negative run focus), an Oline that’s pretty good at pass blocking but poor at run blocking (pass focused, neg run focus), a QB that everyone says “you’re not gonna win with him throwing 40+ times a game & whose best seasons were with a strong run game (slight neg pass focus, run focused), and an OC & HC who aren’t just saying “we want to improve in the run game,” they’re saying they want to focus on the run game & avoid INTs (run focused). Does that make any sense to anyone??? We’re mostly built to be a passing team, but without a strong passing QB and with a HC with a strong affinity for the rushing game. It’s just dumb. And you can say we were built as a passing team for jameis & Brady, but we’re transitioning to a rushing team. I don’t see it. We didn’t draft or trade for a RB after finishing with a historically bad rushing attack. We won’t trade ME13. The Ravens & the Titans want to be rushing teams and they are built to be. Miami is a passing team and they’re built to be. We’re some mismatch conglomeration bumbling to mediocrity.
October 16th, 2023 at 6:00 pm
Aww, c’mon joes, get off it. You guys would have stroked out if you were around the Bucs in the 1980s.
October 16th, 2023 at 7:03 pm
I remember 21 Says: “So we’ve got 2 $20 mill/yr WRs (strong pass focused), a late third round starting RB that’s best ability is catching (pass focused, negative run focus), an Oline that’s pretty good at pass blocking but poor at run blocking (pass focused, neg run focus), a QB that everyone says “you’re not gonna win with him throwing 40+ times a game & whose best seasons were with a strong run game (slight neg pass focus, run focused), and an OC & HC who aren’t just saying “we want to improve in the run game,” they’re saying they want to focus on the run game & avoid INTs (run focused). Does that make any sense to anyone???
———-
Why would you want to play to your strengths? Every good coach knows that you mold the team to fit the system you want to run, not mold the system to the players. Duh!
October 16th, 2023 at 9:20 pm
If Trask were playing yesterday we would have had at least 3 more touchdowns
October 16th, 2023 at 10:43 pm
The pass blocking was not good. Or passes don’t get batted down and Mayfield does not have to escape the pocket so much.
Don’t lie to us.
October 17th, 2023 at 2:16 am
Glass
Eater!
Here, have some flowers sir.
Go Bucs!