“It’s An Absolute Travesty The Way We Run The Ball”
September 15th, 2020
Why is a savvy, seasoned and sensible former Buccaneer detailing a failure of the Buccaneers coaching staff?
Joe well let the guy explain in his own words. Former Tampa Bay tight end Anthony Becht passionately ranted on WDAE radio this week about a run-design flaw he says is a recurring theme.
“As far as the running game goes for the Buccaneers, again, I think it’s an absolute travesty the way we run the ball,” Becht said. “I hate the scheme that we run. We always bring a receiver inside. We always tell exactly what we’re going to do. Half the time we brought a receiver inside, he blocked the guy that he was running in with. He’s supposed to be a guy that’s supposed to dig out the safety that’s in the hole, and sometimes the safety didn’t come down until the receiver came in. So it’s a telltale sign. I talked about it last year. It’s gotta change. Spread things out. Move it out. I want to see us run the ball when we have four guys spread out and let the line open up the box a bit. But they continue to run into a circle with a square peg. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Becht was not down on Ronald Jones’ performance against the Saints. He sees “too many bodies in the box” and wants the Bucs to feed the run off the pass far more than they do.
Joe agrees. Frankly, when you pass as prolifically as the Bucs do running should be a lot easier. Remember Leonard Fournette crowing about running into less-stacked boxes in Tampa? On Sunday, he had five carries for five yards.
Joe likes the example of the 2019 Chiefs. Subtract the Patrick Mahomes scrambling and their nothing-special running backs group averaged more than four yards per carry, a half-yard more than the Bucs. And they went out and drafted a running back in the first round.
This Bucs team should be an improved rushing team. Plenty of time to fix that for Sunday.
September 15th, 2020 at 10:08 am
becht has an perfect assessment….
someone at OBP needs to make him and advisor, self scouting rep or something….
i would love to hear his take on d.smith’s performance…lol…
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 15th, 2020 at 10:14 am
Doesn’t matter who the RB is if can’t block
September 15th, 2020 at 10:20 am
Last time the Bucs run blocked well was 2015 when Doug Martin rushed for 1402 yds. Their run blocking has been pitiful since.
September 15th, 2020 at 10:22 am
I did see rojo make a great block on play action that brady ended up with a nice completion to godwin. Had a guybright on him at the mesh point and did a great job slowing him down enough to let brady throw.
September 15th, 2020 at 10:22 am
becht is on the money…
rojo has no space to get thru…
spread it out, open the slightest hole…
and rojo will dash through…
easy formula…just do it
September 15th, 2020 at 10:40 am
I’m sure our next HC in waiting will remedy this problem immediately.
Ha ha
September 15th, 2020 at 10:44 am
I am quite convinced that Rojo isn’t the problem……he runs hard, he runs quickly and he usually either runs with defenders in the backfield or stacked up on the line….
Give the man some holes……give the man the ball!!!
September 15th, 2020 at 10:49 am
Way too predictable. Gotta recognize that and change.
September 15th, 2020 at 10:49 am
Watch the Seahawks run the ball. Pete’s run block schemes are a thing of beauty.
September 15th, 2020 at 10:52 am
What a concept spread people and then run. There’s no misdirection in our run game either. I love the Bucs but I enjoy watching a team just man up and run the ball down a teams throat and that’s something this team can’t do. Hope it gets better but won’t hold my breath.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:01 am
Agree with everyone.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:22 am
Everytime Godwin motioned inside I wanted to jump out a window.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:27 am
I was hoping they were doing that last year cause Dotson was restricted their scheme. I was texting a friend after the Saints adjusted to the first drive and said they changed the Qb but are running the same predictable run blocking that just doesn’t work. Becht is dead on with his analysis. It’s gonna be a long year if they don’t make a change.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:31 am
It’s not poor blocking or technique it’s the system. When you have 8 men in the box with 6 blocking you are at a huge disadvantage. I thought Brady would be able to losen things up inside but if the system is the same as last year RBs will have the same issues.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:32 am
I agree. Poorly coached game plan. Draw plays have value. Nothing like a koetter special where they know what’s coming. Lovie too. Cmon Bruce
September 15th, 2020 at 11:32 am
Great point. Gotta be smarter!
September 15th, 2020 at 11:42 am
Totally agree. Spread things out. Use RPO more. The Bucs have always been predictable and looks like that hasn’t changed under Arians’ leadership.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:42 am
Great points by AB! NFL lineman in the 2020’s are not able to impose their will in the running game like the Steelers, Dolphins and Cowboys did in the 70’s. Successful running teams today do it by misdirection, running when you have the D spread out and running when D does not expect it. I hoped that Brady would help change the O scheme being run but it has not happened yet!
September 15th, 2020 at 12:01 pm
It was the most vanilla offensive game plan that ive seen in the last 10 years. It was sad.
The sloppy play for a first game can be forgiven to a point, but for a coaching staff that boasts about having so many offensive coaches to put that game plan together is ridiculous.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:04 pm
So predictable. All you had to do was follow Godwin inside to find the runner.
What a dumb@ss scheme.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
The more things I read and see the more my confidence wains for this coaching staff…
September 15th, 2020 at 12:31 pm
The most overrated tandem in the league is our “pour me another one” head coach Arians and our “if its broke, lets not fix it” OC Leftwich.
September 15th, 2020 at 1:15 pm
It’s not one or the other meaning it’s a combination of both bad run blocking and ROJO being an average vanilla back.
September 15th, 2020 at 1:48 pm
We’ve got the talent skill wise however our coaching staff seems to think you can still run the ball like it’s the 90s. We don’t have the lineman for that sort of style. Why is it that some coaches just won’t adjust to the times. I thought having a younger mind like BL would update BA’s system giving us the best of both but to this point that’s not the case. I actually wanted Eric Bienemy to be our next head coach but was excited when we got BA. Improve the scheme and watch our rbs have great seasons.
September 15th, 2020 at 4:10 pm
Its a travesty the way teams run the ball against the Bucs too. Sometimes ya gota give the defense credit. The Saints arent bad. The Saints offense looked worse than Tampas. Tighten up the special teams, dont turn it over and block their right DE’s and they’ll be hard to beat. Beat the Panthers and its back on course. Cant get to 12-4, 11-5, 10-6 or whatever u guys picked without losing. Go Bucs
September 15th, 2020 at 5:21 pm
“We always tell exactly what we’re going to do.”
That’s the issue. When we, as fans, can sit at home and know what is being called on every 1st down, what do you think defensive coordinators that do this for a living are thinking? They know what is coming. Leftwich is ultra conservative and ultra predictable. Last year he was awful until Arians called him out publicly, then finally things started to open up. Arians needs to do that again, or better yet, take back play calling duties.
This is why all the worries about losing Leftwich are ridiculous. I do think he can probably be good at this point at some point, but he still needs more tutoring. He is still young and early in his career, so there’s no reason he can’t vastly improve, but he does need to vastly improve and stop being so predictable.
Finally, how about using that all-star team passing game as a way to open up the run. That’s what the team should be doing. Getting 1.7 yards on 1st down and being 2nd and a long 8 on every drive doesn’t do a lot of good.
September 15th, 2020 at 6:09 pm
It’s Fournette time. The two step RoJo dance has long passed.
September 15th, 2020 at 9:30 pm
I think what Becht is clearly and loudly saying and he is very qualified and usually pretty spot on !!! Is that the Meathead Jock disease is in full effect with the run game ,,,
I’m sure Becht has a much better feel for the run game than Lefty !! Becht being a very very successful blocking tight for many many years for a plethora of different run game schemes ……………. He is clearly saying I have seen enough of this coaching incompetence very loud and very clear , remember the NFL is a Meathead Jock protectionism fraternity so when Becht says this he is infuriated with what he sees………..trust me folks nurses see it with certain doctors and judges see it with Lottsa lawyers so Listen to Becht this run scheme of portions there of are junk !! One more note for ya is ,obviously ,even though he was an offensive lineman ,,,,Licht has no clue to a problematic run scheme but at least he pulled his head out a bit with his effort towards some moves he has made……….. As for what everyone saw Sun is exactly what I have seen from Brady for the last 6 years !! A QB that won’t stand in there , doesn’t throw well down field near the hashes and had a coach scheme protecting him for years……………… Now he did make some reads and throws that Winston would have prob made a mess but he also missed guys wide open,coming wide open and had some terrible overthrows ( deflate that ball for Tom deep around the hashes). I was really surprised at Tom not picking up 2nd,3 rd or 4 th options well !!! He was a bit miffed with the Saints taking his first or second read , kinda matching wits so to speak . I would say Winston did as good or better getting to the third receiver . I Think ole Tom had better NUT up and Byron better call in Becht for some run scheme talk ( serious about this) or its 6 wins . Now if Brady can get some better anticipation on Med routs and not just throw deep sidelines, get about 3 times less pocket Bitch , they can win 10 plus !! This run game can be great if Arians gets to work and Tom needs it !! Marpet and Smith seem a lil girly on the field !! Smith may get benched and whirfs moving quicker than one could imagine . I assure u Bruce has had enough of his lazy ass !!
September 15th, 2020 at 9:47 pm
I love how now that Brady is back there, suddenly everyone sees the issues with The scheme, playcalling, pass protection, run blocking, special teams and discipline.
As if those haven’t all been issues for the last 4 previous years too.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:55 pm
Too predictable of a scheme in 2020.
And that doesn’t mean that you can’t run different plays out of the same formation. The Giants just played and had a 3 TE set that they ran power, counter, toss and a multitude of passes out of.
September 16th, 2020 at 5:22 am
Hire Logan Mankins!!!
Make him the highest paid O-Line coach in the league!
Tommy Boy loves Logan Mankins!
Lets go Glazers!!!
Trade Brate and a 3rd for an elite RG.
Put Cappa on the bench. And train him at all 5 O-Line spots.
Cappa can be a serviceable 6th lineman.
But we need a legit RG!
And Logan Mankins in the locker room!
Hes a Legend!