“About Half Our Call Sheet Was Out The Window”
October 29th, 2015
Yeah, bad luck was a moderate factor in whacking the Bucs on Sunday in Washington.
Two injuries at one position slapped virtual handcuffs on offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.
He explained yesterday the effect of losing wide receivers Vincent Jackson and Louis Murphy to knee injuries.
“Difficult, we had four wide receivers up for the game. We lost two. You’re down to two wide receivers, so about half our call sheet was out the window in the second half,” Koetter said. “It’s unfortunate. I’ve never had that happen before where we couldn’t run everything that we wanted to run. We were juggling some stuff around with the tight ends – getting an extra tight end in there. Our three tight ends did an awesome job of doing some things that we hadn’t practiced from basically the first play of the second half on. It did affect how we called stuff, because one thing is, now when you get in your three [wide receiver sets] you can’t guarantee whether you are going to get them in [their nickel defense]. They now control it a lot more than we have control. That’s unfortunate, but that really didn’t have an impact on the game. We still had plenty of chances to win it, regardless of that.”
The part about the Washington defense seizing control is interesting. You just can’t force a schematic reaction from a defense when the guy you line up in the slot receiver position is Luke Stocker or Brandon Myers.
Joe would have loved to see Charles Sims step in as a receiver, but based on Joe’s knowledge, Sims is not cross-trained at the position, except for a role in some four-wide and five-wide looks.
October 29th, 2015 at 9:27 am
Going into a game with 4 wide receivers is bone headed. Even worse to do it when ASJ was out.
October 29th, 2015 at 9:38 am
Sims in the slot would have been the best option, no training needed. America’s QB just tells him in the huddle “run as fast as you can to the endzone”. Would’ve at least pulled a defender with him. IF its a LB, he could beat him deep. IF its a safety then maybe Evans gets single coverage. I agree one of burly TEs in the slot is not going to make Washington change a thing
October 29th, 2015 at 9:40 am
I reckon that is a legitimate excuse for the lack of points in the second half. Now what was the defences excuse for that ghost appearance when the game was on the line. That’s right, nobody knows.
October 29th, 2015 at 10:09 am
The plays should have been leave Doug Martin in on every play unless he’s injured or winded. I for one am tired of this team forcing Sims into the lineup just to make a point. Put him in the slot, maybe a good idea, but taking Martin out when the guy is on a hot streak…not seeing the logic?
October 29th, 2015 at 10:49 am
Toes is right on with his take. Been a Bucs fan since before they existed, but after Sunday’s embarrassment, I can’t hold back on this any longer.
I’ve been scratching my head since Sims came on board, wondering what the heck the coaches see in the guy. Sure, he can catch the ball, but that shouldn’t make him a game day 1/2-starter at running back though, there’s a lot of RBs who can catch the ball sitting on the sidelines across the league, and here’s why.
When Martin runs and makes a cut, his vertical angle is incredibly tilted to one side, almost as if he’s tilting the playing field of the defenders on an iPad pinball game as he goes through the line. Defender after defender are left reaching out in vein with an ‘Ole’ as he goes by, crumpling to the ground trying to tilt with him.
But when Sims runs it’s as if he’s trying not to step on the posies as he runs through the garden, or trying to miss the dog’s land mines in the backyard, the field just doesn’t “tilt” at all when he’s running. It seems from almost as if he has no ankles, at least not ones that tilt, his steps are choppy and his body is at a 90 degree angle for nearly the entire run until he receives contact and that seems to happen quite quickly for him.
It’s those differences that makes no sense to me at all why Sims was the RB on the 3rd and 1 at the goal line late in the game Sunday. Martin would have leaned right, spun 180, tilted left and either dove over the top or even tried a frickin’ back-flip to get in to the end zone.
Instead……
October 29th, 2015 at 11:36 am
Guess who made the personnel choices for the game? Looks like Lovie is gonna toss another season away for a high draft pick. I say we go CB, Roberto Aguayo, DE, WR, DE, G, T. Or something along those lines.