Rondé Barber On Bucs: “They Need To Run The Ball More”
August 31st, 2022
“Jason, tell Byron to run!”
Joe thinks the world of former Bucs great Rondé Barber. He is one of the most intelligent guys.
But his days working and playing for Father Dungy bubble to the surface in this video. Speaking on The33rdTeam.com, Barber broke down the Bucs defense. Good insight and good intel. Barber also raved about Carlton Davis being one of the best corners in the game.
However, near the end of the video, Barber said for the defense to reach its full potential, the Bucs must be more committed to the run.
“The reality of this Bucs defense, the one way they can help themselves is on the other side of the ball,” Barber said. “They need to run the ball more on offense.”
Joe sees where Barber is going but Joe cannot disagree more. The Bucs offense is one of the most explosive the game has ever seen. Why, oh why, would you want to pour water on that fire?
That whole offense is built to throw and they do it exceptionally well with Tom Brady, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Oh yeah, throw in Julio Jones, too.
Don’t fix what is not broken. Joe harps on this time after time. And until proven otherwise there ain’t a damn thing broken with this offense.
The Bucs led the league in passing last year and have averaged 30 points a game since Brady got here. Joe doesn’t see the rationale of taking the ball out of the hands of the best player in the NFL.
Sorry, Rondé. Love ya’ man. Joe sees where you are coming from but there is no good reason to put this offense and Brady on ice.
August 31st, 2022 at 4:56 am
It might not hurt against the Rams, and Saints. I don’t think Ronde is talking about a 50, 50 split. Maybe he means if we throw 95% of the time, we might want to knock it down to 90? I know one of our bad losses to N.O. we barely ran the ball. Can’t let teams with great pass rushes tee off 95% of the time.
August 31st, 2022 at 5:30 am
Buc’s should get Alex Leatherwood for the 9th or 10th O Line spot.
August 31st, 2022 at 5:42 am
We’ll see our share of running the ball when Brady retires.
August 31st, 2022 at 6:07 am
But NOT 90% of the on first down. Set up the RUN with a PASS. Much easier to run with 2nd & 3 to go rather than 1st & 10.
August 31st, 2022 at 6:33 am
I think we need to run the ball more effectively at times. If you cant get a first down by running the ball on two successive plays ,then IMO more passes have to
be mixed in to eliminate stalled drives. Teams fear our passing game and are happy to give up short runs to get our offense in third down situations where
pass rush has a chance to prevent the first down,
August 31st, 2022 at 7:02 am
When we won the Super Bowl, our play actions was on fire. Last year it wasn’t as good. You have to be a little more balance to keep the d line guessing. Having Brady throw 50 times a game is horrible if there’s no consistent wins to show for it. With our current o line, it would be wise to run more. Because a pass heavy offense lead to a d line that doesn’t care about the run. That’s why Aaron Donald and other were a big problem to us. Running the ball gases the defense for 3rd and 4th quarter. Passing keep them fresher because they are bullying the o line. A 60/40 split is great goal for unpredictability. The more the defense have guess and doubt, the less the are reacting on instinct. More mistakes happen on a guesses and doubting defense. Football is also psychological.
August 31st, 2022 at 7:09 am
Run the ball more Ronda said, not put the passing game on ice. Aaron Rogers had 561 attempts last year to Brady’s 719, and still won the MVP with the best record ( with Tampa) in the league. Running won’t hurt the offense at all, maybe score more points with the time of possession going up. GOBUCS!
August 31st, 2022 at 7:20 am
They will have a great year running the ball
August 31st, 2022 at 7:22 am
Run a little more, mebbe increase our abysmal time of possession, keep defense of the field
August 31st, 2022 at 7:31 am
I think what Barber is referring to is maintaining longer, time consuming drives on offense-keeping defense off the field- which can be achieved with successful run game and short passing game, screens, but agree with Joe- this offense has Brady and receivers as nucleus and that’s how Bucs will roll.
August 31st, 2022 at 7:37 am
Left Hook Lenny did look ready but I was at the first practice with the Dolphins and after watching his drive in Indy, Brady is slinging it man keep on firing!!
GO BUCS
August 31st, 2022 at 7:46 am
As Joe hints, “If it ain’t broke … .
August 31st, 2022 at 7:46 am
Barber is clearly talking about keeping the defense fresh by improving our ball control on offense. Opening up our run game can limit those lightening quick 3 & outs on offense when we don’t move the chains and it’s only a 48 second drive of nothing then a punt. Those sequences don’t help our defense and puts them back on the field with minimal time to get coached up and take a blow.
While the offense is explosive, it’s not consistently clicking on all cylinders and laid a goose egg going down the stretch last season in a game where our defense limited the opposition to 9 points through 4 quarters. That was our second loss to the Saints, and that tendency to stall out showed up again in the divisional round against LA when it took our offense damn near 3 full quarters to find the endzone. So no, running the ball more isn’t cooling our offense down, it’s about ball control, playing complimentary football, and possibly keeping our defense fresh.
August 31st, 2022 at 7:51 am
IMO, teams feared our running game far less than our passing game last year. I believe when we get more chunk plays from our running game teams will have to adjust to stop that. That makes me think the goal should be to get better at the running game to balance the attack. The most effective running game we had in recent memory was when both backs averaged 4.9 yards a carry giving the play caller more chance of getting a first down when calling two successive run plays
or running on first down.
August 31st, 2022 at 7:58 am
I think the point is that the defense will benefit from a more balanced game plan. I noticed that Brady started out in the no huddle against the Colts. They ran it a lot in the opener against Dallas last year too. While that strategy is effective, it also wears down our defense. Sometimes you need to play complementary football even if you’d like to put the pedal to the metal and smoke the opposing D as quickly as possible.
August 31st, 2022 at 8:15 am
I love our running back room…….Lenny, Rachaad, Sneak & Gio…….that is some running, pass-catching RBs…….I’d run a bit more vs certain teams…..teams with a really good defense and pass rush…..
August 31st, 2022 at 8:16 am
He isn’t wrong per say hes just got a different philosophy. He is used to a world where the defense carried a team to victory. We aren’t coming from that world anymore. We are an aggressive score points offense and we win by outscoring just about anyone. The defense is good but it’s just expected to disrupt the other team enough that we get the win.
August 31st, 2022 at 8:25 am
Hard to run when it’s a predictable 1st down run and the defense knows what you are doing. Our run scheme is not creative and rarely gets a consistent push. Bucs strength is passing play to your strength
August 31st, 2022 at 8:35 am
@PewterWarrior
So you’re saying the run is predictable, but being one of the most pass heavy teams in the league the last 3 seasons we should play to our strength that would keep us just as predictable? riiiiiight
August 31st, 2022 at 8:50 am
Dooley Says:
August 31st, 2022 at 7:46 am
Barber is clearly talking about keeping the defense fresh by improving our ball control on offense. Opening up our run game can limit those lightening quick 3 & outs on offense when we don’t move the chains and it’s only a 48 second drive of nothing then a punt. Those sequences don’t help our defense and puts them back on the field with minimal time to get coached up and take a blow.
While the offense is explosive, it’s not consistently clicking on all cylinders and laid a goose egg going down the stretch last season in a game where our defense limited the opposition to 9 points through 4 quarters. That was our second loss to the Saints, and that tendency to stall out showed up again in the divisional round against LA when it took our offense damn near 3 full quarters to find the endzone. So no, running the ball more isn’t cooling our offense down, it’s about ball control, playing complimentary football, and possibly keeping our defense fresh.
****
Best post here.
Remember our first drive against the Rams in the playoffs? First play, Fournette rips off like a nine-yard run. Follows that with another good run a play or two later. Then we more or less completely abandon the run.
We’re too good at the pass to not use it as a strength, but we need a little more balance than we had last year. Our running back room is too talented to not use them.
August 31st, 2022 at 8:53 am
Yes we are the best passing team…
I would like to see some more balance if we had a good oline fir running hut we don’t…
Last year or this year we can’t run the ball.
August 31st, 2022 at 8:58 am
More interesting comment is that Barber rates Carleton Davis coverage skills as good as anyone else in the league.
Good signing Jason!
August 31st, 2022 at 9:05 am
@Dooley when you run majorly on 1st downs it’s predictable and then forces you into predictable passing situations on later downs. Our predictable 1st down runs are rarely successful. So instead of a short quick 4-5 yard pass on 1st down we are looking at a 1-2 yard gain on the ground. I’d love to see more 2nd and 5 situations rather than 2nd and 8.
Passing on 1st down and winning on 1st down is the key to success. It’s not about running more it’s running in the best situations and Byron rarely does that.
August 31st, 2022 at 9:37 am
If we score 30 points a game and the other team scores 31 then that isn’t that great. If we get into a track meet that may happen. Look at the Rams game. If we run the ball more then our defense might get a longer break and be more rested when they come back on the field. Also when we need to run more we will be better at it. Also Brady’s arm isn’t getting any younger. We don’t want it to fall off towards the end of the year.
August 31st, 2022 at 9:40 am
Well you’d want a “mixed splut between strategy” on first downs, meaning a random split between run and pass. Of course that’s what the logic of game theory would dictate; realistically a smart coach will use that as a guideline as situations, personnel packages and mismatches have to be considered.
August 31st, 2022 at 9:41 am
“mixed strategy”… I hate typing on a cellphone
August 31st, 2022 at 9:42 am
This is a misnomer. It’s not “run the ball more” that needs to occur, it’s run the ball more EFFECTIVELY.
And no, it doesn’t take away the explosiveness of the offense, it ADDS more explosiveness.
You HAVE to have an effective ground game if you want to be successful. For all our passing last year, there was still the threat of a house call by Lenny. And if we would’ve concentrated on the productive back we would’ve had a 1,000 yard rusher IN ADDITION to that potent passing attack.
If all you can do is pass, you will not win a SB. Unapologetically!!!
August 31st, 2022 at 9:43 am
I agree somewhat with Barber.
I like the passing game as much as anybody. But a quick-strike O can wear out a D.
I’d like to see more ground and pound, just not on 1st down up the middle, maybe 10 more rushes a game.
More ground and pound keeps a DL on their heels, slows the rush, and opens Brady’s most outstanding talent: the play-action pass.
If you are not sure about the pass blocking of your OL, then run the ball more.
August 31st, 2022 at 9:56 am
I would like to see more screens this year, especially after adding White. Screens usually slow down a pass rush and serve as an extension of run game.
And throw in a few more traps and counter-treys, please. Those also slow down an aggressive pass rush.
August 31st, 2022 at 11:07 am
With a depleted O line I agree with Barber. We now have the horses with Lenny and Rachaad and although I don’t want the constant 1st down run Leftwhich seems to love I’d rather split white and Lenny in the backfield to keep defenses guessing. Goedeke will perform better if he’s allowed to T off on his D line adversary. The guys a mauler. Let’s f’n fo!!!!!!!!!!
August 31st, 2022 at 11:28 am
You guys are really late to the party on the teams tendency to flash the run on 1st down. It’s been thing since Koetter took over for Lovie Smith, but that’s the one over exaggerated critique on Leftwich that’s going to be bludgeoned to it’s demise even when we’re getting 4-5 yards a pop.
August 31st, 2022 at 1:07 pm
Running the ball more doesn’t mean they give up Points.
Please for the love of God don’t throw a 30 yard pass on 3rd and 3.
That’s where the number should come from 19% up to around 25%.
August 31st, 2022 at 2:05 pm
Have to agree with Joe on this one. You never take the ball out of the hands of a group of Pro Bowlers and future Hall of Famers (the Bucs’ QB and WR’s), just to put it into the hands of a group of average players at the RB position running behind an o-line that isn’t nearly as good as the one we had last year.
Advocating for this is asking for a longer time of possession but far fewer points on the board. This isn’t the 1970’s…throw the damn ball!
August 31st, 2022 at 4:09 pm
It would help both sides of the ball to run it just a lil bit more