Unfair Generalization Of Buc Offense
July 2nd, 2024
Checkdown team?
Joe gets it. Not everyone believes in the Bucs. That’s understandable. Joe doesn’t and never has thought that everyone should think alike.
When someone in the national #NFLMedia has bad things to say about the Bucs, Joe tries to have an open mind to see if they’re offering has a kernel of truth to it. In this case, Joe thinks the criticism of the Bucs is off base.
Seth Galina of the PFF tribe last week appeared with Robert Mays on The Athletic’s “Football Show” podcast. Galina is no fan of the Bucs roster with the exception of stars in their 30s like Mike Evans and Lavonte David.
Galina could not believe, he said, that Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht did not go out and get impact players in free agency. And naturally, Galina is not a Baker Mayfield kind of guy.
Then, displaying his lack of research on the Bucs, Galina scoffed at the offense claiming it’s a dink-and-dunk offense.
“They’ll be one of the best checkdown teams in the NFL,” Galina said, who is based in Montreal, giving the Bucs a back-handed compliment. “That’s what they were last year.
“And for the millionth year in a row, they won’t be able to run the ball. That’s just not stable.”
Well, Galina may have no clue what new offensive coordinator Liam Coen will do, but Galina was right about no run game. The last time the Bucs had a really good run game with a 1,000-yard rusher was when Doug Martin ran for 1,402 yards in 2015 and was named All-Pro.
Blowing Galina’s contention to shreds — that you have to have a good run game in order to win — the Bucs in 2015 finished 6-10.
Joe doesn’t see the Bucs as a checkdown team. No, they weren’t a deep-throwing team like when Tom Brady and Bucco Bruce Arians were around. But it wasn’t like Rachaad White or Deven Thompkins led the Bucs in receiving.
Did all those long passes to Mike Evans look like checkdowns? Not to Joe.
July 2nd, 2024 at 10:26 am
French Canadians should stick to hockey
July 2nd, 2024 at 10:26 am
I find it funny how these NFL media talking heads and writers have takes on the Bucs that aren’t even realistic. It’s like they don’t see any of the improvements the team made so their opinion is empty and based on last season’s team. I don’t really care because their opinion means nothing to me but I like all the motivation this gives the team in general and it gives Licht more receipt keeping opportunities. I thought last year’s team would be at least as good as they were if not a tad better, they honestly shouldn’t have lost a couple games that they did lose, but the offensive line was a tad worse than I expected. But the Peter King types that were down on the Bucs last season had to eat their words and I hope it happens again this year. At least Peter King had the cojones to come out and retract his opinions and admit he was way off. I doubt this guy or too many others will do that… these guys rarely have any character.
July 2nd, 2024 at 10:32 am
I appreciate Joe finding content during the down time, but I can’t wait for real football news and not the musings of these self-appointed experts who just parrot the same dumb sh!t. ( I wonder how much money they make putting their money where their “data” is?) LFG already!
July 2nd, 2024 at 10:41 am
I think at this point you should be taking names so you’ll have something to write about in February.
July 2nd, 2024 at 10:45 am
I have absolutely no problems with checkdowns ……..dump it off to Rachaad & Bucky all day long……they get YAC…….much better than getting stuffed on a run up the gut.
On occasion, let one fly to Mike or Chris….
Good by me!!!
July 2nd, 2024 at 11:05 am
Jeff’s….French Canadians are the worst! Just ask any Canadian…
July 2nd, 2024 at 11:06 am
Looking at the Bucs history I’m not sure a dynamo runner would be great for the franchise. The Bucs have had a player be top 10 in rushing yards eight times in their history. Their record is 49-79 those seasons with 6 last place finishes in their division and one 3 way tie for last. Their lone winning season was 1979 with Ricky Bell running the ball.
July 2nd, 2024 at 11:14 am
It gets tedious and tiresome to listen to these national (or international as it were) pundits spouting off on something they clearly know very little about.
July 2nd, 2024 at 11:18 am
Yea we’re a checkdown team, because Baker is our QB and his mechanics don’t allow him to drop passes in the bucket a la Tom Brady, or Blaine Gabbert for that matter. When your RB has more YAC yardage than actually yardaged gained because almost every one of his 64 receptions was caught behind the LOS for -62 yards, nobody is shaking in their boots about our deep threat ability.
Mike Evans’ entire career he’s been the equalizer for plenty of QBs of varying degrees of talent and making their production look like it’s mostly their talent when it’s really Mike just being Mike. Been that way since McCown, Glennon, Winston, Fitzmagic(how much better is Baker than him?) and Brady. Mike will make most QBs look like barn burners a few times a season.
July 2nd, 2024 at 11:18 am
We’re running out of room on the bulletin board in the Bucs locker room. Thank god the Bucs will always have Joe to remind them, and us.
July 2nd, 2024 at 11:27 am
“That’s what they were last year”…
Well, a new season is forth coming & Bucs have a new OC…So, Galina’s analysis is bunk.
July 2nd, 2024 at 12:04 pm
All Canadians know you don’t vote for the french guy
July 2nd, 2024 at 12:19 pm
How is a check-down offense #9 in the NFL on passing yards?
July 2nd, 2024 at 12:35 pm
Yet another example of someone who reports their biased opinions as fact after reading only reports that support their bias without actually observing the actual reality of the situation.
Just plain lazy.
I wish I could be paid as well for being so lazy!
July 2nd, 2024 at 12:42 pm
“How is a check-down offense #9 in the NFL on passing yards?”
Total yards gained is one thing, how those yards were gained is a totally different matter and this is how:
Out of 35 QBs, he ranked:
#2 in completion rate (87%) (career high)
#4 in EPA/att (+0.15)
#6 in YPA (6.8)
#10 in success rate (44%)
When not targeting RBs, he ranked:
#17 in EPA/att
#21 in success rate
#22 in YPA
#30 in completion rate
July 2nd, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Geez, who cares what anyone in the nat’l media thinks? This isn’t fantasy football where stats have an impact on standings. Let’s say Baker throws for 5,000+ yds., Evans and Godwin have 2,000 and 1,500yds receiving and White rushes for 1,500yds.
Potentially, the Bucs should have a winning record, but they could just as easily below 500. A lot depends on what the defense and special teams do. W’s are what matter, not how you achieve them. Win by 1 point or 20, still counts the same.
Assuming no major injuries, the first 10 games of the upcoming season are tough and the last 7 games, not so much. By that I mean, I can see the Bucs going 6-1 after the bye, which IMO means the Bucs at the very least, need to be 4-6 in the first 10 games. Personally, I think they can be 6-4.
July 2nd, 2024 at 1:12 pm
Guys, it’s July.
There are no games, no practices, no underwear football, no draft, no OTAs, no minicamp, no combine, no Super Bowl Week. One Buc Palace is closed, literally locked down. Employees including players are scattered across the globe savoring what precious few hours are left of their private lives before training camps open.
We are in the throes of List Season.
July 2nd, 2024 at 1:15 pm
You do! 🙂
July 2nd, 2024 at 1:16 pm
The “Galina” is a fruity cocktail crafted for the Alternative Lifestyles set.
Es macht nichts.
July 2nd, 2024 at 1:23 pm
Since we haven’t played any games yet in 2024, no one can possibly know (like Galina claims to) that the Bucs ‘won’t be able to run the ball’. We were #32 last year in Rushing Yardage, which is bad because we actually TRIED to run the ball in 2024 (#23 in Rushing Attempts). We also came in #32 in Rushing Yardage in 2023, but in all fairness we barely tried to run the ball (#32 in Rushing Attempts that year).
Appears that Galina is ASSUMING that the Bucs changed nothing when it comes to their rushing game, and thus the past is doomed to repeat itself. But we all know different; when it comes to running the ball, our OLine SHOULD be better, our RB stable SHOULD be better, and our OC SHOULD also be better. That doesn’t mean however that we’ll be working towards getting MORE RUSHING ATTEMPTS. But it SHOULD mean that the Rushes that we do attempt will be MORE EFFECTIVE. And that’s what we need most out of our running game. Last year’s 3.4 YPC was abysmal; Bucs need to get that up to at least a 4.0 YPC.
The bottom line is always scoring more points than you surrender. BOTH SIDES of that equation are always in play. The ONLY team who made the playoffs last year that scored FEWER points than we did (Bucs scored 348 points) was the Pittsburgh Steelers (they scored a meager 304 points). And their defense (#6 Points Allowed) saved their butts (Bucs defense (#7 Points Allowed) pretty much saved ours also). Interestingly, of the Top-15 scoring teams, only 3 didn’t make the playoffs (Jaguars, Colts, Saints) … and all 3 finished with winning records.
IOW 12 of the 14 playoff teams came from the Top-15 in offensive production. We’ve gotta do better, and we will.
July 2nd, 2024 at 1:34 pm
It’s July. It’s BS season. It’s “top 10 list” season. It’s trash. Come on, August!
July 2nd, 2024 at 6:09 pm
One of the best check down teams? Really? Passing to both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin is checking down? Plays designed specifically to get Rashad White out into open space is check down?
July 2nd, 2024 at 7:56 pm
Bucs were definitely not a checkdown team last year and with Coen using 3 WR sets more expect more bigger chunk plays like Koetter used to have with his 4 vert offense.
July 3rd, 2024 at 9:24 am
This dude did not watch a single Bucs game from last year. Check downs?
Go Bucs!
July 3rd, 2024 at 9:26 am
Not sure why checkdowns have become a bad thing anyway. Ask Payton Manning or TB12 about checking out of a bad play.
Go Bucs!