He Can Pass Block, Too
August 11th, 2024
No one-trick pony.
Joe already typed about how the interior blocking of the Bucs’ offensive line on Bucky Irving’s five-yard touchdown run was just damn beautiful.
It wasn’t just because the Bucs blocked for Irving, but how they blocked. Physical. Mean. Nasty. Gnarly.
Cody Mauch ground his man into the ground. Ben Bredeson ragdolled his man. And then there was Graham Barton. The rookie center drove his man damn near five yards into the end zone.
Blocking is one thing. Imposing your will on a defender is quite another.
But it seems Barton can pass block, too. Jenna Laine of ESPN had a very interesting stat on rookie center Barton. He didn’t allow a single “pressure” on 11 pass blocks.
Joe would say that’s a good stat for a center’s first game wearing an NFL uniform, worthless preseason game or no worthless preseason game.
Yes, it’s way, way, way early. But just in Saturday night’s sneak preview, it seems the Bucs got a good one in this Barton.
Bucs general manager Jason Licht gave a candid assessment of Barton on the Ira Kaufman Podcast last week. That included Licht saying Barton’s nasty streak seen in college hadn’t shown up yet in practice but the Bucs were expecting it in game action. Licht’s words were prophetic.
August 11th, 2024 at 7:14 am
Uhhhhh….”no worthless preseason game” is my vote. We just saw last night how useful these games are.
August 11th, 2024 at 7:24 am
Right on Lt. Dan. Been saying it all along. Preseason games are not worthless. They just don’t count.
August 11th, 2024 at 7:28 am
Woodshed Joe – 10 minutes. Be there. We are going to have a shirtless brawl – “Florida Man” style!
August 11th, 2024 at 7:29 am
Dude definitely looked like he belonged out there. I wish I would have recorded it to see the line more closely. Bredeson looked ok and Klein looked fine from what I noticed.
August 11th, 2024 at 7:32 am
That was the line on him. If you go back and watch the Bucky Irving TD Barton & Mauch were maulin their blocks that’s the type of stuff that impresses me, but holding up in pass pro is also a must.
August 11th, 2024 at 7:38 am
Barton got out to a good start at the center position last night.
August 11th, 2024 at 7:41 am
Good to hear
August 11th, 2024 at 7:53 am
Dude has been going against Vita and Calijah for two weeks. The guys he was blocking last night must have felt like Uncle Rico DL by comparison
August 11th, 2024 at 7:59 am
We played well….especially on offense & run defense. Bengal fans showed up for their “worthless” preseason….almost a full stadium…..and they really wanted to win the game.
I did think it was a class act for them to not go for the draw at the end.
August 11th, 2024 at 8:02 am
Makes sense he can pass block, he was a LT after all. That’s one thing LTs have to do is pass block. It’s good to know he can road grade too. Maybe that’s why Licht looks for LTs he can put inside, they can pass block.
August 11th, 2024 at 8:11 am
Attendance….63,000…..that’s an impressive number….
August 11th, 2024 at 8:26 am
So far so good!
August 11th, 2024 at 8:30 am
If this pre season game is any indication of how well the younger guys are going to play, the Bucs have a better team than last year.
August 11th, 2024 at 8:48 am
Yeah, they have been extremely excited up there (it’s my home tv market – Lexington, KY), since Joe Burrow… And, he’d been saying all week that he WAS playing in their first preseason game. They definitely showed up for it… It was all over my FB feed.
August 11th, 2024 at 9:11 am
I saw Barton handle his man then go after another defender a few times.
He ain’t the one and done type like some of the overpaid deadweight we’ve had in the past on our OL.
This line is gonna be very good.
The nasty is there!
August 11th, 2024 at 9:14 am
Barton looked very good in my book.
August 11th, 2024 at 10:05 am
Along with the good Oline play, think Coen’s play calling is night day better than anything Canales can do. Looks like this team finally has some good depth on the Oline and RB. Hope the pass rush improves…..
August 11th, 2024 at 10:19 am
Hainsey,on the snaps he was in there, did not look as good and I believe he had a somewhat errant shotgun snap. When I watched Barton he looked very good. Move that man on the depth chart. McMillan and Irving looked as advertised as well.
August 11th, 2024 at 10:19 am
TampaBayBucFan Says:
August 11th, 2024 at 8:11 am
Attendance….63,000…..that’s an impressive number….
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Isn’t that close or sellout numbers at RJS? Wowsers! Ohio football fans turn out for their teams. Browns and Bengal history proves it. There’s also the Ohio State University crowd. They’re rabid up there. They also had gorgeous weather for football, unlike down here with the climate change sauna.
August 11th, 2024 at 10:41 am
One of my goals in watching the game was to see how Barton and Klein played, but I mostly only really paid attention to the main action. Fun game to watch, tho.
August 11th, 2024 at 10:47 am
Cometowin2, I could have sworn Hainsey made the errant snap too. Isn’t he #70? My eyes aren’t what they used to be.
August 11th, 2024 at 10:54 am
It was 100% Hainsey who snapped the ball low to Trask.
August 11th, 2024 at 11:03 am
Barton and Bucky look good so far. Tykee Smith played okay, not much from Braswell, hopefully that changes next game.
August 11th, 2024 at 11:05 am
I focused on Barton & Klein last night.
Barton is The Real Deal. The boy can run, stays on blocks, snd gets into the second level quickly.
Klein stayed on his man and rarely gave an inch. While nowhere as refined as Barton, he showed some serious potential.
August 11th, 2024 at 11:08 am
I just watched the replay on my tiny phone so couldn’t see much OL detail. Nice to hear Klein showed well, Cobra.
August 11th, 2024 at 11:13 am
When they bought season tickets, probably made them buy pre-season games TOO
August 11th, 2024 at 11:18 am
Good start for the guys but …
Got to get more pressure on the QB . Looks like we’re still thin at D-line . It’s understandable though , team can only address so much in each off season . So far looking good . Bucs dominated the run game . 140 yards rushing . 22 first Dwns . That is winning football.
I really didn’t care about the score until I watched the game from the home team announcers side . I was laughing my butt off . They were calling the game like it was a playoff game . They were bragging about how the Bengals were pushing the Bucs around on the first drive but never mentioned that they were playing starters against Bucs 2nd , 3rd stringers. If you look at the game statistics you will see the Bucs dominated most of the game . Bucs had almost 400 yards offense
August 11th, 2024 at 11:21 am
Barton seems like an All-Pro. I couldn’t be more excited. The OL and DBs are going to be much improved. Isaac and the kid from Appalachian State are going to surpass Hayes and Mayweather looked great. Young depth!
Same with the wideouts. The rookie looks great and Palmer and Jarrett showed well, too. They should mothball Miller or some other team will scoop him up. Durham looked good, too.
Ramirez looks like a keeper at OLB. I am starting to lose faith in Dennis and Watts. Got to show up in a game at some point, injuries or no.
August 11th, 2024 at 11:52 am
hainssey had a bad snap too, trask saved his arse
August 11th, 2024 at 1:03 pm
Haggard, Barton and Klein all came out with elite grades from off for that game
August 11th, 2024 at 2:34 pm
He’s a center.
August 11th, 2024 at 3:41 pm
Couple of my notes:
Swing tackle Brandon Walton played like total crap last nite. I thought he was better than that. They switched he & Skule in 2nd quarter and Walton went right to left tackle and still played awful…..
We may need to address this position!!!
Elijah Klein is a BEAST. That guy is so wide, haha!!! He may be starting by the end of the season…..Would love to see a goal line package with Klein as the 6th lineman, and Vita as a fullback!!!
August 11th, 2024 at 4:11 pm
Good news on Barton, it was hard to focus on just one thing, and with the awful WFLA production where you got few replays and terrible production quality, it was hard to take much from the game watching it live.
But it’s good to hear Barton was doing his job – because for the most part of the offensive line was pretty awful last night until late in the game. As stated above, the backup tackles were terrible, and they were going against their fellow scrubs and still looked bad.
It is a new offense, and defenses are generally ahead of offenses – but it says something that in the practice threads it sounded like the defense pass rushing was causing all sorts of issues, yet last night there wasn’t hardly any pass rush from the Bucs – meanwhile the Bengals pass rush looked like they’d end the season leading the NFL in sacks and pressures.
August 11th, 2024 at 4:19 pm
I thought Barton played pretty good. Focused more on him than Klein. Maybe they should consider using DJ Williams as their short yardage back or move Ko Kieft back there as one. They’re big enough.
August 11th, 2024 at 4:29 pm
Bucsfan,
I agree, Elijah Klein is a BEAST, he’s a “ seek someone out to smash the crap out” type BEAST. He’s a steal!!
August 11th, 2024 at 4:30 pm
great news
August 11th, 2024 at 4:30 pm
Bucsfan,
I agree, Elijah Klein is a BEAST, he’s a “ seek someone out to smash the crap out” type BEAST.
August 12th, 2024 at 12:50 am
Barton and Klein were very good, Walton was horrible. I need to go back to see TE blocking. I like the reception by Ko! Izien really struggled when playing deep as he as never was able to get wide to help the CBs on deep throws.