“They May Have To Dummy Down The Offense”
August 1st, 2020
Talks rookie tackle adjustments and more
Tom Brady friend and legendary Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia may have retired four months ago, but he’s got no shortage of passionate opinions.
Joe loves listening to this guy.
Joe’s heard three Scarnecchia interviews this year and each seems better than the next. One came today on Mad Dog Sports Saturday.
A nugget interesting to Joe was Scarnecchia talking about running an offense and developing an offensive line in a virus-altered year with no offseason and a softer-than-usual training camp.
Whether it’s the Patriots or any other team with change at quarterback and O-line, it’s time to simplify, Scarnecchia emphasized.
“They may have to dummy down the offense, just make it a little bit more refined, a little bit simpler to make sure what they do they do really well. Because that’s important,” he said. “If you do a lot of things just mediocre, you got mediocrity. If you do a lesser amount of things, you know, with a good mentality as far as the players knowing what to do and how to do it, you got a lot better chance to be successful. … I suspect that’s what [New England] would do.
“I think that’s an approach a lot of teams are going to have to look at.”
Will the Bucs have to “dummy down their offense” to be most efficient? It’s a great question.
Yes, the Bucs may have the greatest quarterback in history with a plug-and-play monster rookie right tackle in Tristan Wirfs out of Iowa, but Scarnecchia cautioned that every rookie tackle is an adventure, “It’s going to be painful. It always is with young guys.”
Interestingly, that quote came when Scarnecchia lauded the Giants for drafting tackle Andrew Thomas at No. 4 overall. Scarnecchia explained that Bill Belicheat had him evaluate 50 offensive linemen prior to the draft as his final duty before retirement. And Thomas, he said, is outstanding and the Giants made the right move that early draft, but still “it’s going to be painful.”
A question Bucs fans will want to ask regarding Wirfs is, “Who’s he playing next to?” Scarnecchia explained, noting there will be many times a guard must flat out tell a rookie tackle what to do.
Joe sure hopes Alex Cappa is ready for this critical veteran duty after growing up in the NFL surrounded by veterans.
August 1st, 2020 at 4:11 pm
Is it just me, or do all o-line and d-line coaches have the same look and demeanor?
They’re like John Wayne toilet paper. Rough, tough, and don’t take no crap off nobody.
August 1st, 2020 at 4:12 pm
I thought the dummed down offense just left……..
August 1st, 2020 at 6:04 pm
Every article ⬆️ and usually the same posters.
August 1st, 2020 at 6:29 pm
Some coaches believe in this philosophy even in normal years. He said it well…run a wide open offense full of plays or a defense that jumps around and gambles but the units are mediocre….then you just end up with mediocre variety.
Master a few things and do them VERY WELL.
And no less than the man the Championship Trophy is named for perfected that simple…no real surprises…but flawless execution. Vince Lombardi worked on his famous Lombardi sweep year in and year out as if he was installing it for the very first time.
For nearly a decade, the Green Bay Packers’ Power Sweep was the dominant play in pro football.
When you think about it football is about each guy individually winning his battle and dominating his opponent. If everybody does their job the play succeeds. Lombardi found beauty in simplicity and repetition.
August 1st, 2020 at 6:30 pm
^^^^^stop😭😭😭😭you do the same on most articles beat it
August 1st, 2020 at 6:31 pm
Ndog
August 1st, 2020 at 7:07 pm
First three games will be Brady to Gronk, what’s to dumb down.
After that Brady and some of the other receivers will get their timing down, so Katy bar the door by mid-season
August 1st, 2020 at 7:18 pm
Man baseball looking bad if these players don’t act right off the field with this virus . They are going to cancel the season . They can’t go to clubs or have big parties.
August 1st, 2020 at 7:31 pm
“…with a plug-and-play monster rookie right tackle in Tristan Wirfs out of Iowa”
We don’t know that yet. Hope so, through. But, of all the QBs past and present to have for this situation, Brady is the tops. If anyone can navigate this, it’s him.
That’s not to say guys like Wilson, Brees, Rodgers, Mahomes, etc, don’t have their teams sitting pretty…but those teams are not changing QBs.
August 1st, 2020 at 7:32 pm
TBBF….you took the words right out of my mouth. Common sense in the QB at NO just dropped 2/3.
August 1st, 2020 at 8:26 pm
Isn’t this article mainly about New England dumbing down their offense?
August 1st, 2020 at 8:31 pm
Ndog…..you’re too funny.
TBBF…I guess it still doesn’t take much to rile Ndog.
August 1st, 2020 at 8:41 pm
Valid comments don’t bother me, lying does.
August 1st, 2020 at 11:27 pm
ok glazers… pay this coach what ever he wants to help
August 2nd, 2020 at 1:01 am
Robert James: I’ve thought the same thing for a while now. There’s no salary cap on coaches or advisors. Even if this guy does it from home, I think it would help.
August 2nd, 2020 at 8:32 am
What’s to dumb down? I thought the Bucs offense has been pretty vanilla under Arians and Leftwich. Yeah, there have been a lot of deep passes, and because the Bucs have some great receivers, those have been successful. But as far as creativity, not a whole lot there, especially compared to New England. Relatively few run/pass options, sweeps, reverses, etc.. Just hand the ball off to the RB or throw to one of the receivers, hopefully one on your team. With Leftwich still in the upward portion of the learning curve as an offensive coordinator, Arians has probably already dumbed down the offense.
August 2nd, 2020 at 10:59 am
Tom Brady will not “dumb down” anything. If anything, he will demand more from his team, as he does from himself. I think we have seen how motivated TB12 is!!
August 2nd, 2020 at 11:29 am
Hey Ndog, Welcome back.
Note to self for you. “do not throw bricks in your glass house” You have been one to spew forth your “beliefs wisdom” first second third or last in many posts.
Glad to see you are back.
Go! Bucs!