Leonard Fournette’s Three Runs
October 4th, 2022
Leonard “Lombardi Lenny” Fournette had three rushes for -3 yards on Sunday night, so hey, how about a deep dive into all three.
They all came early in the first quarter. On the first carry, the Bucs’ first snap on offense, Fournette hammered a hole between right guard Shaq Mason and Tristan Wirfs for 3 1/2 yards.
Next up was rookie tight end Cade Otton getting beat in a hurry and Fournette getting swallowed up on the backfield for a four-yard loss on the same opening drive.
The Bucs’ second possession brought run No. 3 on first down (screen shot above), Fournette had the edge but opted to slow down and look for room inside. Otton got blown up — while fellow rookie tight end Ko Kieft held his ground — and Fournette was tackled for a two-yard loss. Joe’s puts that one on Lenny. He had the edge.
And that’s it.
The Bucs essentially abandoned the running game and Fournette finished the game with seven catches for 57 yards, including a touchdown through the air.
The Bucs moved the ball and scored on their opening drive, so Joe can’t say the runs were bad options there. Lombardi Lenny’s final run, the two-yard loss, was not overcome, and helped spark a 3-and-out.
End zone look at play shown in screenshot above.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:27 am
Sign Suh and we can see an article on the opponents just like this .
October 4th, 2022 at 10:36 am
I bet Suh would get that defense right. When Suh speaks, people listen.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:40 am
Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s your eyes but he does not have the edge at all.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:40 am
this game and last two games give me flashbacks to the losses to the chiefs and rams back in 2020. the world was screaming our offense is lost and we got beat down by the chiefs right away. we did bounce back after our bye but i think this was a wakeup call and we will figure it out. however, running three times is a recipe for disaster. dont say oh pas pas pass. all we try and do is get long passes in otherwise, it is like a three and out. we need to utilize gage and godwin more for those quick passes to stay ahead of the chains. leftwich has to figure this out fast. i dont think bowles has done anything to take the ball away from passing far, that is our offense. aside from execution i dont see much difference from last year. right now we havent had the horses so we need to figure it out.
this team cannot take anyone lightly. this whole season is going to be a dogfight and we are down the 8ball but the NFC is still there for the taking so let’s buckle up and beat down on the falcons.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:53 am
No disrespect but you are crazy if he doesn’t have the edge in the last frame! Rojo would’ve broken that into the open. I like Lenny but I’m going to keep saying it he tippy ties to much missing holes. This is exactly what I used to say to people about winston watch the all 22. They complained about him never having check downs it was the biggest lie wrs check downs RBI’s check downs where there. Look at shots and videos when we beat the saints people where wide open with clean pockets.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:55 am
Bring back rojo hey Bucs Gm trade for rojo! He has vision hits the hole hard and has breakaway speed!!!
October 4th, 2022 at 11:09 am
Nah, @ Pewter Power, #22 has in the first photo is crashing down on that edge, might’ve been a no gainer instead of a loss, but there’s next to no space to win had Lenny bounced it outside
October 4th, 2022 at 11:20 am
Suh’s money is saved for Gronk…….sorry, Suh fans……
October 4th, 2022 at 11:35 am
Lol Youngbucs again with the Rojo talk. Dude sucks. Should’ve would’ve couldve. Dude is not even active on his new team LOL. The only time Fournette really f’d up that night is when he whiffed the blitz pick up.
October 4th, 2022 at 11:44 am
Agree Outsider
October 4th, 2022 at 11:52 am
He’ll continue to lose carries going forward and his attitude will turn sour. Just wait and watch.
October 4th, 2022 at 12:04 pm
Can’t really see it in these pictures but my theory is that teams are ready for the Bucs predictable running plays. The running plays (and passing plays for that matter) are plain vanilla, formations tip off the runs, and play calling is predictable. In other words, opposing defenses are stacking the box and the Bucs offensive line has no chance of blocking everybody.
October 4th, 2022 at 12:26 pm
Lenny is hurt. He is definitely not 100% after his injury against the Cows and because apparently Vaughn made Bowles and Leftwich mad, there is no viable substitute. Therefore he has not had time to heal. There’s got to be a running back on some team’s practice squad that is better than Rachel. There’s probably a better running back currently tending bar than Rachel.
October 4th, 2022 at 2:19 pm
@ Goatfarmer
Fournette wasn’t even on the injury report at the end of last week. He showed up for training camp heavy and out of shape and that is exactly what he is running like.
October 4th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
Nothing wrong with Lenny. Chiefs were dominating the LOS all night.
October 4th, 2022 at 3:19 pm
Goatfarmer … I agree that Lenny’s hurt. Against the Cowboys he ran 21 times for 127 yards (6.0 YPC). Of those 7 were runs around LEFT end for 71 yards (10.1 YPC). Means that if you look at the OTHER 14 runs, Lenny got 56 yards. The 4.0 YPC on those is exactly his career average. IOW, Bucs found a weakness in the Cowboys’ DLine and exploited the daylights out of it. Kudos.
Against the Saints, Lenny got 24 carries for 65 yards (2.7 YPC). He ran outside (all RIGHT end) 4 times for 9 yards (2.3 YPC). No weaknesses there.
Against the Packers, Lenny got 12 carries for 35 yards (2.9 YPC). He only ran outside 1 time for 4 yards.
Against the Chiefs, he got 3 carries for -3 yards. Ran outside on 2 of those for -6 yards (once left end, once right end). Bucs abandoned the run entirely for the 1st half after that.
Lenny obviously doesn’t have the speed to get around the end now. I remember him pulling up gimpy in Game 1 (might’ve been Game 2 though) but he stayed in the game. Just hasn’t looked like himself after the Dallas game though. Tweaked hamstring or something similar might be why there’ve stop pounding him outside.
October 4th, 2022 at 4:23 pm
Lenny didn’t get 100 yards on his 3 carries, that proves he’s hurt.
Great analysis fellow posters.
October 4th, 2022 at 7:35 pm
The bucs were forced to give up the run when they got behind by three touchdowns early on. You can’t grind your way when you are that far behind. The Chiefs overwhelmed the Bucs running game. That’s when Brady took over and started slinging the ball. Getting behind 21 to 3 early on negated the running game. They clawed back within 10 points but way too late. Who do you blame? Players and coaches share the blame. O line sucked in the running game. Defense let the score get way out of hand. AND COACHES DID NOT HAVE THE I TEAM POPERLY PRPARED! Brady refused to give up and got us 30 points with his arm. Mike also produced big time. The rest, both O and D were meh!
October 4th, 2022 at 8:08 pm
@ Defense Rules
Whatever the case, he’s fairly ineffective right now. He can’t get to the edge and turn it. He shouldn’t be getting the early down work right now, it puts us behind on the chains every 1st or 2nd down carry he gets.
October 5th, 2022 at 3:50 am
OUR OL IS BAD/WEAK/DEPLETED RIGHT NOW, so yeah, obviously we’re not gonna have a good running game since all Leftwich ever does is run it up the gut.
Maybe try Ko as a Fullback blocking for R. White on runs to the outside. Just a thought since we can’t punch any holes in the gut.