Was The First Drive A Peek Into The Regular Season?
August 28th, 2022
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
Very interesting comment by Todd Bowles last night in his postgame remarks.
Joe is confident all Bucs fans saw the Bucs throw the transmission into overdrive right away by playing uptempo. There were reasons for that, Bowles said. But the one that got Joe’s attention was about the opposing pass rush.
Bowles said, in part, the Bucs went fast-paced because that tends to slow down a pass rush.
“Trying to get a lot of plays in, in a row,” Bowles began. “I think if you go up-tempo to start the game in preseason, they’re less likely to try and pressure you. You want to get everybody involved early.
“In practice we do it, but we needed to do it in a game to get the feel. So everybody can think and play at the same time and not have time to just sit there and mull it over.”
OK, so Bowles believes an uptempo pace slows a preseason pass rush. Is that the case in September?
The Bucs are down three centers. Ryan Jensen will be on injured reserve. Robert Hainsey and Nick Leverett, we don’t know. Hainsey will have tests this morning, and Bowles is expected to address the local pen and mic club at noon. Joe is sure Leverett is in the same boat as Hainsey.
If a pass rush can be slowed (you know, get winded) against an uptempo offense, with all the injuries the Bucs have on the front line, will uptempo offense be used often until the Bucs get healthy?
August 28th, 2022 at 1:34 am
Only works if you get first downs.
No first downs? It’s a great way to wear out your own defense.
August 28th, 2022 at 1:42 am
Licht should talk Ali Marpet out of retirement. He was good for us at center
August 28th, 2022 at 1:45 am
You don’t want him now. Unless he wants to coach.
August 28th, 2022 at 2:01 am
Hahaha, Marpet retired for real. It wasn’t a stunt. At this point he’s probably down to about 230. Couldn’t play o-line if he wanted to.
August 28th, 2022 at 2:22 am
I am just beginning to not trust Todd. We lost 3 games in a row, and have not looked good in them. He acts like he is keeping “good plays” secret for the games we play in September. All I know is that we have played 3 different teams and lost to them all.
August 28th, 2022 at 2:43 am
Preseason? They aren’t games. They’re practices where everyone gets a participation trophy. Unless you’re the Baltimore Ravens who have won 22 PS games in a row.
August 28th, 2022 at 3:06 am
Wonderboy Hainsey claims he’s fine, but he and Water Treader Leverett both need MRIs. With all of these injuries, we have to ask if there is something wrong with the training staff, or something else. Are all of these injuries “bad luck”? Why so many? It’s a pattern.
And we still don’t have clarity on Jensen. He’s still so swollen that they can’t diagnose him? Really? It’s been a solid month.
August 28th, 2022 at 5:55 am
You’re obviously right Goatfarmer, ‘they aren’t games; they’re practices’ but they still count. Not the final scores obviously, but they do give a hint into how good some of the depth-players are, and whether they’d be able to capably fill in if a starter goes down.
Through 3 preseason games, our OLine & DLine DEPTH has shown me nothing. Our starters can hang with the best of them, BUT … they’d better stay healthy. Bring in a ‘weak-link’ and there’s no way to hide him.
August 28th, 2022 at 6:26 am
With a JOKE off an OL, doesn’t matter if we have Brady and awesome receivers. We are not gonna score.
And our D sucked against the Colts. They just punked our D the whole game, capped by that Sam Ehlinger 45-yard touchdown run.
I’m so freaking depressed. Thought we were gonna be the badass team to beat before training camp began, and now looks like we’ll just be a bad team that gets beaten up.
August 28th, 2022 at 6:37 am
The D, the actual D shut Ryan and the Colts down. Yeah they finally scored when the Colts ones went against the Bucs twos. I’ve watched this across the league. The Saints played their starters but the Chargers didn’t yet media is pumping them up. Know what your watching. Happened in several other games also. Take very little if anything from preseason scores.
August 28th, 2022 at 7:12 am
The play calling is lousy. Why do the Bucs insist on running on 1st down most EVERY drive? Seems like they face 2nd & 10 to go on 99% of the drives. Ever hear setting up the run with the pass? Fortunately when Brady is at the controls, he changes plays to move the chains. Out backup qbs don’t have a chance with Lefty’s game plan.,
August 28th, 2022 at 7:16 am
I don’t think he does it to gain yards, he wants to see what various personnel can do
August 28th, 2022 at 7:23 am
DR. I agree with you up to a point but depth all playing at the same time and depth playing with starters are two vastly different things. There’s a major leadership and communication void when guys like White , David and Brady aren’t on the field .
August 28th, 2022 at 7:31 am
First string D looked great. Dline, LB and secondary shut Ryan down. o-line looked good in pass protect. Concern for me was TE. Also, why is Darden still on this team?
August 28th, 2022 at 7:32 am
Thought our defensive line depth looked good in the preseason games. To me it was especially bad linebacker play that led to big plays. But what do I know.
August 28th, 2022 at 7:48 am
I went to bed at halftime. I didn’t miss much.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:11 am
Buc4evr:
You miss the fact the the Colts’ gunner(s) could have caught the punts instead of Darden they were that close? Many of last years punts were the same. Darden never has a chance to take two steps with the ball. This is a STs issue and NOT a Jaelon Darden issue. Pay attention.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:11 am
Brady ran a deadly uptempo offense in NE. I don’t know why we don’t go uptempo more frequently. Changing the tempo keeps the defense off guard. The game wining drive last year against the Jets was a Brady masterclass. Let’s add more diversity to the offense.
Something perked my interest when Brady was asked about the banged up OL, he said they’ll make adjustments scheme wise. Expect more quick game. We needs Gage and CG on the field. Johnson is too inconsistent
August 28th, 2022 at 8:16 am
The interesting thing to me last night was Leftwhich’s lack of interest in competing in the game. It seems like he just wanted the whole thing over with. On several series in the 2nd half, he doubled down on the running up the middle, Trask would dump a 4 yard pass on 3 and 9, we punt, and Leftwitch would immediatly go sit beside TB with a huge grin on his face. He could have cared less. He should have been coaching up the bubble players trying to get someone to step up. Is this how preseaon works now? Nothing is important, the starters take the whole thing off except 1 or 2 series, and now we just turn a switch? Been watching football for a lot of decades, never saw a coaching staff less interested in these games. Let’s hope this magic philosophy works and our starters are Dallas ready.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:23 am
Ever notice the best teams never win much in pre-season, and the crappy teams always SEEM to do quite well?
August 28th, 2022 at 8:23 am
Wow! Crickets on Trask. No article. No comments. Must have had a good game. Oh, look, he did! LMAO.
QB STATS
YDS PER PASS ATTEMPT
Kyle Trask 9.4
Blaine Gabbert 6.6
Tom Brady 5.5
QB RTG
Kyle Trask 99.6
Blaine Gabbert 89.0
Tom Brady 87.5
August 28th, 2022 at 8:30 am
BucsWire has Trask as one of the Bucs’ “Top Performers” last night. Crickets here at JoeBucs.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:38 am
I’m going to start calling Darden….Dardam cause he always drops the ball. Anyway I’m nervous about this team we are fragile right now. Maybe it’s a good thing and we build chemistry they the season but that schedule is brutal
August 28th, 2022 at 8:38 am
What time is the press release drop that we’ve signed a center? Anyone?
That’s all that matters at this point.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:38 am
My eyeballs suggest that Trask has a long way to go.
But hope that he gets there.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:45 am
The only thing Trask has shown is he has a long way to go.
Why the chatter?
And there is no guarantee Trask will ever start a game.
I hope Trask does well, but he is a long way from anything to talk about.
Bring on game one.
GO BUCS!!!!
August 28th, 2022 at 8:45 am
geno711,
Eyeballs don’t suggest. That’s your predetermined bias suggesting.
By the way, you didn’t post one comment on the game thread last night, so you didn’t watch it. LMAO.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:46 am
This team is going to be dominant, Bucs finish the regular season 13-4
August 28th, 2022 at 8:50 am
Injuries to linemen can result from lesser skilled players pushing beyond their skill level or physical strength capability.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:54 am
Also the more Trask plays the more potential he shows. Not bad for a player who got almost zero play last season.
August 28th, 2022 at 8:58 am
Fgs instead of tds without gronk and godwin?
August 28th, 2022 at 9:02 am
Wild Bill is spot on. Unfortunately, too many here are invested is saying “Trask sucks” since he was drafted, so they can’t deal with good performances by Trask.
August 28th, 2022 at 9:28 am
Y’all make good points, just to echo…
Depth seems lacking, but it looks more like lackadaisical coaching than physical ability. Which brings us to, what’s the deal with strength and condition coach. Time to work some yoga in for linemen. Trask seems to get more comfortable every game. He still has a way to go, but encouraging for a red shirt freshman. Can we please stop wasting time with darden?!! I continue to root for the guy, but he’s capped out! Please look at White n bebe, err Miller, for returning kicks.
August 28th, 2022 at 10:12 am
This infatuation with Darden has me confused. He takes a kick off down the left side and steps out of bounds at the 18 yard line. He could have cut back inside and at least gotten the ball across the twenty. On offense he did play a little better than last year but as a returner he still sucks. Our Special teams were terrible all the way around. Bowles said he had the punter kick the ball deep to see who are gunners will be. Doesn’t the punter need to work on kicking the ball higher and not as far so our guys can get down there and cover. When you kick the ball 60 yards and get a 30 yard return the net is terrible. I don’t think we want to be giving the cowboys returner those kind of punts next week or he will house a couple.
August 28th, 2022 at 10:28 am
Our special teams have been garbage for years, with the exception of our kickers.
August 28th, 2022 at 10:29 am
What they wanted out of Trask was to see if he showed enough promise that we wouldn’t worry about drafting another QB next year. I’m guessing they’re satisfied with him. It’s pretty rare that you find a guy like Marino who killed it from his first moment, most of them look very average for a few seasons
August 28th, 2022 at 11:22 am
Trask can’t beat out Blaine Gabbert and you want to anoint him the starter next year. All this because how well he played in the last 3 preseason games? I thought he looked alright in the 1st. Bad in the 2nd. This last game it’s difficult to find anyone behind the starters who played that well.
August 28th, 2022 at 11:50 am
If the oline doesn’t get better, Trask just might get the chance to start this year.
August 28th, 2022 at 1:09 pm
“Stanglassman Says: Trask can’t beat out Blaine Gabbert”
Wrong. He would if Brady was not here and we would not be in a Super Bowl run. You don’t get it. Gabbert with his years of experience is the logical choice during a Super Bowl run if Brady goes down for a game or two. If not for that, Trask easily starts over Gabbert.
August 28th, 2022 at 1:49 pm
Until we trade or pickup a couple young/vet OL first of the week the Offense is going to have to be more 3-5 step drops and quick release which Brady is great at. Then later in the game he can take 4-5 long shots. We have the red zone covered with Evans, Jones, Godwin and even Brate.
Until Gronk comes back.
August 29th, 2022 at 12:15 am
The proof is in da pudding yourself guys. Gabbert goes, boring! Trask goes in and the game gets more exciting including a long bomb reception. Who on here used to say Trask was lousy at over 30yds. The kid comes out and drops a bomb of almost 40!