Arron Sears Is Not A Scapegoat
December 16th, 2009
Prior to the season, Raheem the Dream kept saying how the offense was going to be a violent, punishing run-oriented offense.
That belief turned out to be as much wishful thinking as Joe believing Rachel Watson would call him for a late-night tryst.
Part of the hope that the Bucs would be a strong run team is that the Bucs offensive line seemed to be on the cusp of greatness. Instead, the offensive line has been suspect.
Some have suggested that began with Arron Sears playing hide-and-seek. eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune is of the belief Sears’ disappearance had nothing to do with the failure of the offensive line to dominate.
Q: I was wondering how long it was going to take before the coaches realized the young QB, isn’t going to be able to carry this team by himself. Well, (against the Jets) we saw it. My question: what do you believe is the problem is with the running game? Is it the offensive line? Is it the running backs? Some of both?
Dave Kilmer, San Jose, Calif.
A: When this miserable season concludes, the Bucs will look back and realize they failed to establish the offensive identity Morris talked about since the day he replaced Jon Gruden. They weren’t physical, they weren’t tough, and they rarely won the battles up front. Players like Davin Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood struggled and new offensive line coach Pete Mangurian couldn’t develop his guys into a cohesive unit. You can’t pin all these problems on the absence of Arron Sears. And offensive coordinator Greg Olson isn’t blameless, either. He didn’t demonstrate much of a commitment to the ground game and he never allowed Earnest Graham to get a rhythm going.
— Ira Kaufman
More than a few times Joe has pondered the thought that, much like defrocked defensive coordinator Jim Bates’ two-gap system, this zone blocking technique the Bucs installed wasn’t such a good fit for the offensive linemen on the roster.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Part of the problem is the Running Back By Committee approach that some teams follow and us. 1 back, all the time, get him into a rhthym. The RBBC crap is for the birds – I’ve never liked it.
December 16th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Love the Rachel Watson reference. She was one of my favorites. Don’t think she’s on the squad this year. 🙁
December 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Chris:
Thanks for the compliment.
Sadly, you are correct. Rachel is a full-time teacher these days.
Lucky kids!
December 16th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Guys! You cannot establish a running game down by several TD’s a game! I agree that we never established an identity, but you cannot run the ball while playing catch-up. Also, lineman need to get in the same rhythm spoke about concerning Graham. A rhythm cannot be gotten into taking short choppy steps backwards, otherwise known as passblocking. We cannot properly assess our run game based on what hapened this season. Please know we are 27th in rush attempts. We are close to 150 less rush attempts than the #1 rushing team, who I might add has a former Buc as its RB.
December 16th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
There’s also this, and while it may or may not be directly on-point, can we talk about play selection? Now, I’ve never played a snap of football other than the BS we used to do on the local sandlot where I grew up (which doesn’t really count), but A LOT of the play selection on offense just has me picking my jaw up off the carpeted floor and trying to remember what to do with it while my brain seizes up.
Take last week against the Jets for instance: Down and distance is 3rd and 5. We call a run. Why? Have we been making any runs for 5 yards all day? Noooo. I think we gained 2 yards and punted. Again. Later on, it’s 3rd and 2. We call a pass to an outside receiver. Why? have the receivers been catching the ball consistently? Noooo. The pass, predictably enough, falls incomplete. We punt. Again.
December 16th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
no he is a crazy multi millionare goat….that had second thoughts as his bills keep mounting and his ability to pay them decreased…
TRADE…..the lummox for whatever he can fetch…