Anthony Becht: “Inexcusable” Third-Down Decisions
November 30th, 2020
Masked and shielded Bucco Bruce Arians
What’s wrong with the Bucs?
Former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht has answers.
Becht was on fire this morning barking to the WDAE radio audience, and the retired 12-year NFL veteran was pointing fingers at the Bucs’ third-down offense early in yesterday’s loss to the Chiefs.
Whoever made decisions on four failed third-down throws/plays in very “manageable” down and distance situations drew Becht’s ire.
“This offense cannot go four straight series to start the game — five plays, three plays, three plays, three plays — it’s inexcusable,” he said.
Becht did not like Tom Brady choices for longer passes on two of those third-down throws, in addition to “two forced slants on 3rd-and-2 that weren’t even open,” Becht continued.
When it comes to the run game, Becht thinks the Bucs are mismanaging the man he said should be the Bucs’ bellow running back.
“I have a problem right now about the usage of RoJo [and] how they roll in the [running] backs,” Becht said, suggesting the running backs coach may be making the calls on which running back to use.
Once upon a time, Becht was a pregame and postgame analyst on the Buccaneers Radio Network. The guy who replaced him, another former Bucs tight end, also had very harsh words for Bucs coaching decisions.
Becht went on to call the Bucs “stubborn” for seemingly being stuck on a “vertical offense” and turning their nose on more offensive balance. In Becht’s mind, the Bucs have too many weapons all over the field to be stuck on a vertical game that isn’t very good.
November 30th, 2020 at 5:11 pm
Surely we should be able to do what most other teams do to us……short, safe passes……..not fastballs…..not downfield on 3rd down…….even the TD on 4th down, although completed to Evans for a TD was an ill-advised play.
And, we don’t seem to trust our running game on 3rd and short…
November 30th, 2020 at 5:13 pm
The idiot should have ran Rojo on every one of those third downs. Odds are he would have made all but one. BA must have Alzheimer’s or something
November 30th, 2020 at 5:14 pm
Leftwich is sucking bad
November 30th, 2020 at 5:16 pm
Rojo was getting 5 yard runs and that moron won’t let him him try for 2 or 3. Replace Leftwich before you lose anymore games. He’s light years away from being ready to be a head coach and he sure isn’t a good OC. Get him outta here. He stinks 😂
November 30th, 2020 at 5:24 pm
Stubborn. Nailed it.
Coaches thinking the players must be making mistakes or not performing. These are A players. If they aren’t executing the plan, then the plan is a bad one and should be abandoned.
November 30th, 2020 at 5:28 pm
looks like the exact same team as last year, except much older. The QB is much less explosive too
November 30th, 2020 at 5:31 pm
Casey Phillips would do a better job of play calling than the current director of this $hitshow.
Take the time during the bye to clean house
November 30th, 2020 at 5:32 pm
Also….has anyone else noticed that Brady is out of sync early in games……missing throws….uneasy…..the cure for that is running….
November 30th, 2020 at 5:36 pm
I cant stand it when I see us throw deep when its 2nd and short or 3rd and short. Obviously its a great idea sometimes but I have noticed this happen several times. We are focused too much on big plays on offense. We still haven’t figured out that Rojo can bust a big run at any moment. I would really like to see them just run the football more in general especially in 2nd and short/3rd and short circumstances.
I don’t know who to blame but whoever is calling these plays needs to figure out ways to just keep us moving rather than just going for fireworks every play its killing us.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:07 pm
…and what will all that commentary do to effect one little bit of change? Not one little bit. The HC is like most all other head coaches: stone-willed. This is and always is the reason a coach gets fired.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:24 pm
The Chiefs kept their safeties deep very often and seemed to be daring the Bucs to prove they could run the ball. Poor play calling for sure in the first quarter.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:38 pm
When Brady’s hot, he’s still as good as they come. When he’s cold, he’s ice-cold. In yesterday’s first half on his 3rd down opportunities …
o 1st series: 3rd & 6 … short pass to Evans – INCOMPLETE
o 2nd series: 3rd & 3 … short pass to Brown – INCOMPLETE
o 3rd series: 3rd & 2 … short pass to Brate – INCOMPLETE
o 4th series: 3rd & 2 … short pass to Godwin – INCOMPLETE
o 5th series: 3rd & 1 … short pass to Brown – COMPLETE (for 2 yds/1st down)
That was the extent of our 3rd down opportunities in the first half. Bucs had 4 more 3rd down opportunities in the 2nd half … made 2 of them. And Bucs passed on all 4 opportunities.
So out of NINE 3rd down tries, we passed on all NINE … and made a 1st down on THREE of them. We also had ONE 4th down try and passed on that one also … and made it for a 1st down. One can only wonder if Bucs could’ve converted some of those missed 3rd down opportunities IF we had RUN THE FRIGGIN BALL.
November 30th, 2020 at 7:22 pm
He keeps trying to force it to Brown. Chemistry was working before with Miller. Reps are now being taken away just in time to kill the season.
November 30th, 2020 at 7:41 pm
I agree 1000% with Becht. Its so frustrating. What pisses me off about it the most is that for most of them, Fournette is in the game and they’re in shotgun. There’s very little threat of a run.
November 30th, 2020 at 7:52 pm
Fix it, genius. Come on, Bruce!
November 30th, 2020 at 8:05 pm
Trust me, sooner or later AB will become a cancer on your team.
He quit on the steelers by blowing off their last game, when the game would determine a playoff spot. Bottom line, he ONLY cares about AB
November 30th, 2020 at 10:45 pm
They’re trying to run the “Jameis “ offense without Jameis. And trying to run it with a guy who doesn’t have Jameis’s skills set.
November 30th, 2020 at 11:22 pm
The mistake was on 2nd down. Sending two receivers straight down the field is a waste. Make send down count and move the chains a few times, then try vertical throws, when the safeties move up.
November 30th, 2020 at 11:51 pm
The good news is we have lost to all of the teams we will probably have to beat to win it all. Does vengeance burn deep?
December 1st, 2020 at 3:21 am
Arians is to worried throwing his players under the bus. Why wouldn’t you play to the strength of your QB. Brady is great in play action, controlling the clock, hurry up offense. Keeping defenses off balance and setting them up to go up the field. Brady is better from the gun. That OL isn’t very good and their backs can’t block. This is Arians game plan throw up the field. Look at the QBs he has coached Brady, Roslinburger, P Manning, Luck, Carson Palmer, Winston all these guys will have thrown the most ints in there career. Arians should be fired now.
December 1st, 2020 at 6:11 am
When you watch RoJo run you see he has very good vision patient but can explode thru the smallest crease. The reason he doesn’t get at least 4 yards every run is our line is simply too weak to consistently open holes. They can’t push forward or get pushed back at the snap and he gets hit at the line. He is our best rb and I’d rather have him maybe drop a pass here or there than have him sitting on the side line for another back who does nothing with the ball. More RoJo makes life better for the offense.
December 1st, 2020 at 9:23 am
Brady is only playing for his TB12 brand he doesn’t care abou Tamba Bay or anyone on team he is useing you.
December 1st, 2020 at 11:34 am
Great game, and they could have beat the chief’s next yr. Will be the buc’s yr. I love Tompa he cannot do any wrong thru my eyes
December 1st, 2020 at 1:16 pm
He thinks he gonna win a super Bowl just because he has tom Brady and half of the other STEELERS rejects lol
December 1st, 2020 at 1:52 pm
There’s lots of blame to be spread around, for sure, but when a team has the kind of firepower that the Bucs have and it’s not firing, the buck stops at the desk of the coach. Brady can still do what Brady has always done best – terrorize defenses with short and medium passes. For all his faults, Belichick’s success as a coach has come from his ability to identify and USE his individual player’s strengths, but Arians seems to be stuck in his planning – trying to put square pegs into round holes and blaming the pegs! It’s not working, and he’d better start using his team’s strengths… if it’s not already too late. I’m not even going to get into the absolutely horrendous play calling!
December 1st, 2020 at 11:14 pm
Leftwich doesn’t scheme plays to get playmakers like Godwin in space. Evans doesn’t finish his routes. Brady wants to get the ball out quicker but the Bucs don’t get separation in the fast pace offense. Too dependent on throwing it downfield. The offense is slow and predictable.
Coaching makes a difference, Leftwich doesn’t put enough pressure on attacking the weakness of defense. He just keeps calling the same plays that the better coordinators know what’s coming. No element of surprise in this offense.