Bucs Need That Running Game
September 17th, 2015
Bad Santa stands in the way of Jameis and victory Sunday.
So the gameplan for the Bucs is simple this week. It really isn’t much different than it was against the Titans.
Yesterday, when offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter spoke openly and freely about his under-performing charges, he made no secret how the Bucs will attack Bad Santa Rob Ryan’s defense of the Saints.
Pound the rock.
“You can see, we need to be a balanced football team right now,” Koetter said. “Again, with a rookie quarterback we need to be balanced. If you look at the whole, our run game wasn’t too far off. It was still off, because we had those penalties that took us out of some decent runs [against the Titans]. In any game you get behind – the other team scores – it’s the offense’s job to score. They scored on the first drive, we got the ball – not only did we not score, we gave them a touchdown. Now we’re down two scores and pretty soon we’re down three scores. We got out of our game plan quick because – I think we talked about this in one of my first meeting with you guys – time and score.”
Of course, the way the Bucs played (or didn’t play) defense last week, the more you can keep the ball out of the hands of Drew Brees the better. You have to figure if a rookie read-option quarterback making his NFL debut can light up the Bucs like a Times Square billboard, what exactly will Brees do?
The thought gives Joe the shivers.
To hear more from Koetter, click on the arrow below. Audio courtesy of Joe’s friends at WDAE-AM 620.
September 17th, 2015 at 9:06 am
Does anyone think this is a must-win? It might be that if you had any hope for success this season but considering most fans are skeptical that Incompetent Lovie Smith could stumble into a single victory it seems Sunday’s game is a must-lose.
September 17th, 2015 at 9:08 am
You lost me at ” The game plan really isn’t much different than it was against the Titans last week”. Anyone who has Brees as their fantasy QB has to be feeling pretty good this week!
September 17th, 2015 at 9:19 am
During the preseason game against Cleveland, our offense, defense and special teams looked bad. OK, really bad.
During our first real game against the Titans, our offense and defense looked bad. OK, really bad. But our special teams actually did reasonably well.
We’re making progress.
This week we’ll work on the run game.
By week 17 … oh wait, the Bucs don’t get to the playoffs at this rate. My bad.
September 17th, 2015 at 9:28 am
Drew Brees has had all his career days against the Bucs. He is going to top them all on Sunday against this Incompetent Lovie Smith squad of least resistance.
September 17th, 2015 at 9:32 am
I’d be happy with some consecutive defensive three in outs. That’d be progress in my books. Idk if anyone else noticed. But banks got beat on a several passes in the loss. I have never been a fan of him. Best served as a nickel at best.n Dallas, wins are going to be few and far between this year to even categorize the win loss significances.
September 17th, 2015 at 10:02 am
The question for Koetter is how quickly he’s going to throw out the game plan if they get down. 7 points, 14 points? That’s not really up to him, because we already know the Bucs offense isn’t going to score on every possession. How long it takes before the defense crumbles is going to decide the Bucs running game.
On the other side of the ball, If you have Brandin Cooks in fantasy, now might be the week to start him.
September 17th, 2015 at 10:17 am
The Tennessee game was a must win game, the Saints game is a must must win. Add a consecutive must for each loss in a row.
September 17th, 2015 at 10:39 am
The Bucs win this game and look good doing it. Not a blowout or anything but 27-24 sound good.
September 17th, 2015 at 11:11 am
@no better way…I hope your right…GO BUCS!!!
September 17th, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Other teams will break their back to beat the bucs because what team will wan’t to say we could not even beat the bucs, That’s what losing so much does for ya.. Every team is going to throw the book at us, so get ready lovie will have a blank stare on his face every game….
September 17th, 2015 at 12:32 pm
Listen Brees is a great QB…he’s not invincible…in fact a horrible Bucs team had them whipped last year until Lovie’s D failed to hold the lead.
MG8 outplayed Brees with very little running game…the Saints outrushed us
140 yards to 66!!! We picked Brees 3X..Lansannah, Verner, and Banks. All three of those guys are still on the team. Lovie was the coach then as now.
IT CAN BE DONE!!!
September 17th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
Its time to get over the titans game. I mean its starting to look like its just one game. MM caught us off guard with the read options but this week we go against a conventional offense and qb in Brees and the saints. We can pull off this upset this week. We’ve played well against these guys the last few years and they are in an obvious decline themselves. We got a chance to get out of our division basement and put the saints there.
Lovie Smith must continue making personnel changes thru the season on defense. I think Swearinger and Carter should get the starting nod to make this defense more physical and faster for starters I mean Swearinger balled out in preseason and may get lost if lovie doesn’t get a grip on this media overreaction already. If Carter is healthy HE REALLY NEEDS TO GET THE STARTING NOD For speed in the middle of the defense. L ansannah is just not fast enough to be a regular especially WITH NO PASS RUSH up front but no need to adjust upfront but I think Johnson is a third down guy and Jac Smith is a reserve all the time meaning they should let Gholston start since hes a healthy physical body to go with Melton. I like McCoy getting sacks but Conte nor Major Wright nor Mcdougald should not hit the field as starters on Sunday if lovie wants any motivation out there.
The offense should just groom Jameis slowly and go with the run game. They are trying too hard to change their identity on that side of the ball overnight at that. We have Martin running very well and an offensive line that can be physical running the ball as well. Hell its all they can do aside from the two Damn rookies but they need to ride Doug Martin for 1500 yards. Martin and ASJ were the only two positives in our offense and that is a great start for a rookie. It seems Mike Evans will return this week and I think Koetter should use him in slot and Murphy should continue to hit the outside if they are gonna spread the field and they hsve ways to do it successfully with Humphries as another player in 5 wide formations. The fullback has to be on the field more as well with multiple tight ends sets that feature ASJ and Myers. Use Stocker only if we are going to use Lane as a runner which is a great option for the goal line but we dont need to spread to start the game we should be physical then open up the playbook naturally. Even if an opponent know what’s coming they have to stop it too.
September 17th, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Saints pass rush looked weak against the cardinals, Jamies will show you how great he is when he actually has a clean pocket to step in to make his throws
September 18th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
this is going to be ugly