Todd Bowles Wants Bucs To Run More Even Though They Can’t Run
October 29th, 2022
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
The Bucs are on pace to be the worst rushing offense since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. They currently are the worst team in the NFL in yards-per-carry by damn near a half-yard.
Yet Bucs coach Todd Bowles wants to run the ball more.
Joe doesn’t get it.
Yesterday, Bowles kvetched the Bucs were passing too much and he even remarked he told his offensive staff (failed offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich?) to run more.
“I thought we mixed it up a little bit [on] the first two drives of the game,” Bowles said in his day-after presser. “I thought we got a little pass-happy once we got going towards the end.
“I’ve discussed that with them. Obviously, we’ve had that discussion and we’ll be discussing it all weekend. For me, I would like to see a little more.”
Joe doesn’t get it. If you cannot do something, and you are so poor at it your team is the worst in over a half-century in running the ball, why do it more? Unless you are trying to tank.
Does a basketball coach tell a guard who couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn to shoot more three-pointers? Does a baseball manager order his pitcher, if he can’t buy a curveball, to throw more curves? Of course not.
In a football game, you only have X-amount of snaps. Joe sees no logic in wasting more snaps on plays you have proven time and again to be inept at converting. Historically rotten.
But hey, if the Bucs have shifted their focus from winning the awful NFC South to drafting Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, then OK. Run the damn thing 50 times a game (at least). The losses will pile up as will the Bucs’ draft slot.
October 29th, 2022 at 9:58 am
BRUCE!
October 29th, 2022 at 10:01 am
Why haven’t they done anything yet? Are they seriously going forward with this Ish show?!? So embarrassing
October 29th, 2022 at 10:05 am
When they go to Germany, would some staffer please swipe Todd Bowels’ passport so he can’t get back in the country!!!!!!!
October 29th, 2022 at 10:07 am
The SAD THING is that we MUST be able to run some.
We simply MUST.
We can’t just keep getting slaughtered in Time of Possession.
It is killing our defense.
The answer is not to stop running completely.
It’s to run BETTER.
Now the question is are we capable of that?
October 29th, 2022 at 10:08 am
It would also give Tom his play action back, which no team is honoring right now.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:09 am
Let’s see….7.4 yards PER ATTEMPT at passing, 2.9 per attempt at running. I’ll take my chances with the GOAT
October 29th, 2022 at 10:10 am
Todd Bowles is the last guy that should be telling the offense what to do. He can’t even get his defense right. How are he and Leftwich still employed? Baffling!
October 29th, 2022 at 10:10 am
Football is about controlling the line of scrimmage, offense and defense, pure and simple.
Until this team begins to win the Line of Scrimmage again,
mediocrity is the best they will achieve.
On both sides of the ball, the Bucs were one of the strongest teams the last few years.
But now, they are getting pushed around. Painful to watch.
No quick fix, it will take time and new talent.
GO BUCS!!!!
October 29th, 2022 at 10:12 am
Another Bowles coaching-decision gem. Just like last season, all the Bucs had to do was confuse Stafford by dropping into pass coverage… but no, Bowles had to show how clever he was by blitzing Stafford, who is one of the best QBs in the NFL at picking apart the blitz. Sometimes I wonder if Bowles lost this team on that very day, and we’re just witnessing that loss of player confidence and respect.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:13 am
When teams have to respect the passing game, the running game opens up. That tells you what other NFL teams think of our passing game.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:17 am
Too simple, Bucs need energy and motivation to come from within themselves.
Bowles isn’t a modern NFL head coach. He is so stubborn that he can’t correct the offense by attacking, instead he wants to play ball control on a team that is built to move the ball downfield.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:18 am
What Bowles meant was he wants to start running the option with Brady. That should open up the pass. Lol.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:21 am
This is gonna be a long week/season with all of the “unique” and “insightful” ways to state the obvious… Bowles and Byron’s incompetence, bad off/def/run off & def/dwhite/ etc sux, and how poor Tommy should not be held accountable for anything except victories and this great culture and lockeroom leadership HE ushered in.
Meanwhile, let’s continue to plea to the architect (JL) and broker (BA) of this hot mess of a money pit to fix it.
…round and round the Mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel…POP goes the weasel
October 29th, 2022 at 10:23 am
Run smarter, not harder.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:24 am
They need to burn clock for this defense to have a chance. The unit isn’t built to shut teams down the way we once were with JPP, Vea, Suh and Shaq. We’re to lite in the pants and wear down around mid 3rd qtr.
This is where great coaches make adjustments to play off their strengths and mediocre coaches keep trying to coach doing things a certain way. Bowles has to recognize the offense isn’t good in run blocking, yet we keep going back to the same dry well hoping for water. Bowles downfall will be his inability adjust, to make changes. Everyone on gods green earth can see Leftwich can’t scheme an offense on a week to week/team to team basis. He’s running the same plays from the Dallas game in week one as if nobody has ever seen the offense before.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:25 am
Maybe hire Monken back from Georgia. If he can make Bennett look decent, think what he could do with Trask.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:26 am
I’m telling you Todd Bowles is the problem. He is out of touch of reality and has a talented team playing below average. He needs to go immediately says season ticket holder. Go Bucs! We need a drastic change now before we completely lose this season.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:27 am
@August
I agree with everything that you said.
@Demon
You make good points, but I worry that the answer to your question is no, o RF that our coach can’t scheme it.
Shaq Mason is a great pulling guard. I haven’t seen his talents utilized. Bellicheck ran counters and traps very successfully with Shaq.
The Bucs are set up to run to the right and use Shaq to run to the weak side and bring numbers.
Just my two cents.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:27 am
Okay. How realistic are we for Brady to throw 50-60 times a game?? He won’t make it to end of the season. We need to search and find a way to run the ball. I agree with Bowles
October 29th, 2022 at 10:41 am
Anyone that knows football know the secret of a good coach is coaching a team and utlilizing their strengths and not exploit their weakness….
Bowles is doing the opposite which is blatant evidence as to why he is a historically bad HC….
Bowles HAS GOT TO GO!
October 29th, 2022 at 10:42 am
Anyone see the stat yesterday on Fox regarding our rushing offense during the Super Bowl season? We were awful. One of the last 5 in the league.
This is a false narrative. Check the stats from when we won in 2020. We were last 5 t and in league
October 29th, 2022 at 10:43 am
4th worst in attempts and yards on the year
October 29th, 2022 at 10:43 am
Look it up
October 29th, 2022 at 10:52 am
Agree with the TampaBayDemon that we must run the ball.
Only the threat of a run keeps defenses honest, or they will simply come after Brady all out, if they know we plan to pass.
While it is true that when we increase our time of possession it gives our defense a break, the real problem with our team is, our guys are simply badly out of shape!
This is why in the first quarter, we were killing the Ravens, but as the game went on, our lack of conditioning started showing up.
Our guys were flat out gassed, making it easy for the Ravens to do what they wanted to us.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:52 am
There coming to take him away HaHa
There coming to take him awy HoHo
October 29th, 2022 at 10:54 am
Mix the rook in more. Kid Carrie’s the ball well no dancing at the line like Lenny
October 29th, 2022 at 10:54 am
If we were half way decent at it and it could help the passing game, I’d say sure, let’s run more. I mean, it’s possible that one way to be better at it is to commit to it… but the aim is to win the game. You can’t keep failing at it and expect to win, at some point you have to give up and focus on scoring.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:56 am
I’m with Joe on this.
We can’t run, so pass until Brady’s arm falls off.
No sense beating a dead horse.
October 29th, 2022 at 10:57 am
The period after the break in 2020, we had 100 yards+ rushing every game thru the SB, with the exception of the NFC champ game against Green Bay
October 29th, 2022 at 11:01 am
@BelleGladeBuc,
You always make great points/commentary. I fear that you are correct, but I hope not.
I am astonished at how bad the run game has gotten. It begs the question, how on EARTH did we run the way that we did in Dallas to start the season?
33 for 153 yds
(4.6 per carry)
October 29th, 2022 at 11:06 am
That is like asking Shaquille O Neil to shoot more 3 pointers.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:09 am
The o line is not the same this year..
October 29th, 2022 at 11:10 am
Beeej Says:
“The period after the break in 2020, we had 100 yards+ rushing every game thru the SB, with the exception of the NFC champ game against Green Bay”
_________
VERY good point, Beej.
I had forgotten that we ran that well after that point.
We all agree that our bread & butter needs to be Tom/Passing. (and I DO believe that he will be refreshed and ALOT better after the things that have passed this week.) — Also feel that we NEED to mix in an effective running game (like the numbers you pointed out from 2020).
October 29th, 2022 at 11:11 am
There’s such a lack of feel for the game it is sad. Byron in the first half ran wr screens like 8 times in a row because it worked until it didn’t, decreasing levels of success each time. Rather than sprinkle that play into the game 8 times throughout with greater success each time with some element of surprise
October 29th, 2022 at 11:14 am
Wait, what? If you can’t do something we’ll just quit trying to do it? That’s the kind of defeatist mentality I can’t get with. We did stop running the ball against the Ravens after putting up 10 points and our offense went on a point production hiatus for 2 whole quarters. Run/Pass, if all you’re doing is one and neglecting the other you’re basically helping the opposition dig the hole they’re trying to put you in and that’s exactly what Baltimore did w/o saying thank you. Our offense being 1-dimensional correlates to our D being gassed halfway through the 3rd which lends to the 17 minute difference between Baltimores’ TOP and our own.
Player development is a thing, team development is a thing, you practice in between games to improve/mask your deficiencies, but you don’t just take an option off the table because you haven’t done it well. Also, the BBall comparison in this article is ridiculous, because there’s no way I’m playing 21st century baskeball and settling for either of my backcourt guys being poor shooters and with even more context, even if you suck at shooting and your wide tf open behind the 3 pt line and don’t take the shot, you’re getting a talking to and/or at the most extreme benched.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:21 am
I’d be OK with giving it a try if we sat Lenny and went with Rachaad White & Keyshawn…
Where has Keyshawn been?…..he can’t possibly be worse…..
October 29th, 2022 at 11:22 am
Just hard headed bad coaching
October 29th, 2022 at 11:23 am
Unfortunately Coach is right, especially the way the defense has been playing lately and with Barrett one of our better linebackers at stopping the run out for the season. Of course the other side of the coin would be passing with much more efficiency which probably means more dump-offs, which are essentially run plays and would extend drives and extend time of possession which we’re currently getting killed at.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:29 am
^^ Just Saying ^^
Incredibly well said, man. 100% on all points.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:35 am
We quit running the ball after we scored 10 points, we’ve also quit running the ball when we’re down 7, and that’s partly why our offense went on a scoring hiatus from the 2nd qtr to the end of the 3rd qtr. It’s why the difference in T.O.P between BMores offense and ours was longer than an entire quarter of football. Pass heavy for 4 qtrs is worse in terms of predictability than the 1st down runs, because while we’re busy going pass, pass, pass, punt, the opposing team is sitting back watching us dig the hole they want to throw us in.
You can’t run the football, you’re making it harder to win games. If you got a PG/SG that isn’t the greatest from 3 there’s also other way to contribute to the scoring effort, because the teams rely on the 3 pointer that aren’t consistently good at anything else, usually live and die on their ability to actually make them. Same as our pass game, we’re living and dying abandoning the run for to be pass heavy.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:38 am
The Bucs are 1-5 when Brady throws for 40+ passes this year
October 29th, 2022 at 11:44 am
I called the football Gods and asked them how to explain a simple coaching technique for Dumb and Dumber. ALL OF THEM said ” figure out what you are good at and do a lot of it” I guess some of this is my fault. I just assumed that Dumb and Dumber would figure out the opposite. My bad
October 29th, 2022 at 11:47 am
alton d green,
Nobody is disagreeing with you that our bread & butter still needs to be the passing game. But we HAVE to at least sprinkle in an effective running game,,, NOT one that is averaging 2.7 yds a carry.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:54 am
White needs 15-20 touches. With Shaq out and Devon White AWOL, the Bucs must shorten the game. Especially with a banged up secondary.
October 29th, 2022 at 11:58 am
If Leftie could call a run play that was more than “Tom, hand the ball off”, we would be able to run.
He doesn’t seem capable of setting up the run with line play. Just handing the ball off and hoping the back can find a hole doesn’t even work in college.
October 29th, 2022 at 12:01 pm
Joe what Todd said was true we mixed it up well on the first two drives (we also scored on those drives) then BL had no clue what to do. It’s like after the scripted plays things got stale.
Hopefully no matter what happens the rest of the year we build the trenches during the draft and NOT draft a QB. I’ll never understand why teams that suck think they just need a QB. Build the trenches and go with Trask next season if he sucks get your QB the following draft. The rebuild doesn’t have to take long.
October 29th, 2022 at 12:05 pm
Stupid is what stupid does! Run it until the Bucs are 3-14. It isn’t that the Bucs can’t run the ball it is the plays and when. Look at the Baltimore first series, creative play calls, from then on BL101. It would be hilarious to find out if Bowles is in BL’s ear game time calling for runs.
October 29th, 2022 at 12:06 pm
Moron.
Why is he still employed?
October 29th, 2022 at 12:08 pm
Surprisingly, the data backs up Bowles. They should run more on second down, or at least try it more. Most defenses will play pass on 2nd and 8, which is where the bucs find themselves often. BL could do more with formation variation also. I noticed them showing run and passing a lot, but not a lot of show pass then run.They can’t get much movement up front, so they need to be less predictable, and more creative. Those rushing yards should be there, unless BL tips it off with jumbo packages.
October 29th, 2022 at 12:08 pm
The run game was doomed in the off season. Seriously, 70 and 67. Come on.
October 29th, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Rashad White needs to be getting MORE touches than Fournette now.
He is much more explosive both running & receiving…
You can plainly see it…
October 29th, 2022 at 12:17 pm
Kinda funny how there is never enough air freshner available when you have a losing record ain’t it?
October 29th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
8 wins will most likely win the NFC South , so the Season is NOT LOST if Jason Licht will make the obviously NECESSARY personnel changes to the line on both sides of the ball. Sign Suh immediately Jason Licht and sign JC Tretter immediately. Just the two afore mentioned moves would greatly improve both lines , bringing improvement to the run game on offense and our ability to stop the run on defense. Jason Licht needs to get his thumb out of his arse and DO SOMETHING to right the ship.
October 29th, 2022 at 12:36 pm
Bring back BA
October 29th, 2022 at 12:46 pm
Just throw out our run design and copy the Ravens run scheme from now on. Our scheme sucks. And our players are not executing. They should be absolutely embarrassed and I was calling for D White to be benched in the 3rd quarter. Sit his #ss he sucked. We can’t do sh*t
October 29th, 2022 at 12:51 pm
Lovie 2.0. Just to stubborn to be a Head Coach. At this point in a season you see what’s working and what’s not and you focus on what’s working going forward. But not Lovie2.0, he doubles down on what doesn’t work forcing the players to fail. He needs to GO & GO NOW!
October 29th, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Why would you tank for a top QB in the draft. You have to top QB in nfl history and you can’t do sh_t. Plus the bucs have never been known to develop QBs. And Lefty has never developed anyone because he doesn’t have a clue.
October 29th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
i think bowles was misquoted…so here it goes…
“I thought i saw a puddy cat on the field when the game started…we nixed it up a little bit [on] the first two drives of the game, and tweety bird didn’t come to the rescue” Bowles said in his day-after presser. “I thought we got a little azz-happy once we got going towards the end – by golly those cheerleaders are distracting, especially after knocking back a couple cold ones at halftime.
“I’ve discussed the beer issue with the team. Obviously, we’ve had that discussion and we’ll be discussing it all weekend over more cold ones. For me, I would like to see less gatorade coolers, and more coolers filled with cold beer on the sidelines – .”
October 29th, 2022 at 1:29 pm
I’ve been pounding the drum for weeks that we need to trade for quality offensive line help even if that means overpaying in draft capital for a short term rental. IMO the Bucs aren’t that far off from being a really good team again. There is a very small margin from winning and losing in the NFL. The Bucs defense maybe looked awful against ravens but the reality is the Bucs D was gassed. I really have only seen one really bad game from our defense this season (Chiefs). We owe it to Brady to overpay for a high quality/ stud Lineman if there is a deal to be made! Get it done Licht!
October 29th, 2022 at 1:33 pm
TB needs to retire NOW! Todd Bowles not Tom Brady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 29th, 2022 at 1:38 pm
BUC IT, I agree except how can a D be gased coming out of the half? I am starting to believe BA saw this coming and ran for the hills leaving Bowel and Leftnut out to dry and he said F Brady I won that SB not him.
October 29th, 2022 at 1:41 pm
FIRE BOWLES AND LEFTWICH
October 29th, 2022 at 1:55 pm
I just heard Ronald Jones is twittering he wants a release from the Chiefs! Seems like they aren’t using him and he wants out.
October 29th, 2022 at 1:58 pm
It’s sadly starting to look like the Todd Bowles experiment in New York was exactly what we get here in Tampa. In his spot he needs to send a message by shaking things up. This smells of the Dirk Koetfer .Mike Smith relationship where the head coach is afraid to make the tough decision to save his own job.
October 29th, 2022 at 1:59 pm
They are tanking on purpose….I would not be surprised if Brady quits before the season is over.Bucs will not win another game with Mr butthole toilet bowl,he is hot crap.
October 29th, 2022 at 2:04 pm
I’m not a fan of bowles- but, he’s right, we have to run Effectively.. We need to get back to the play-action.. Otherwise ,defenses will just Tee off on Brady against a weak O-line–taking away deep passes and forcing rushed/early throws..
its been widely known for years,that brady prefers to step-up in the pocket because he can’t scramble.. but when pressure comes up the middle he can’t do that .
This O-Line problem goes back to last Spring when Licht deceided NOT to replace 2 pro bowl level guys with proven vets.. he ,alone, is responsible for that collassal mistake which we’re paying for
October 29th, 2022 at 2:07 pm
The runs not working so what does butthole say we should do? Run some more…This moron should be fired allready…Man how this team has fallen….The wrighting was on the wall though ,they played crappy up to the playoff loss to the rams….BA said scew you gaiz lol
October 29th, 2022 at 2:15 pm
Pass happy? Well be successful on the run. I give up. I want to like him.
October 29th, 2022 at 2:18 pm
Joe you are totally right.
And why is it that all the teams that run the ball terribly think that running the ball more is the answer?
Bobby Bowden used to talk about how he liked to pass the ball in order to open up the run.
October 29th, 2022 at 2:19 pm
Bruce handed the team to the coordinator responsible for our most glaring letdowns of last year – time after time TB bailed them out and in the end he let us down again
Now he gets the head gig and we look like hot garbage less than a half season after we won 13 games
It is so simple to see what our issue is – no one respects the HC and they play like it
October 29th, 2022 at 2:25 pm
We need to trade for Kareem Hunt or Cam Akers. Plain and simple. We have the bare cap space to make it happen so LFG!!! A short and quick passing game that runs from the backfield is an absolute option to help the downhill run game. Look at the Patriots years with Faulk, Vereen, SB MVP James White, Danny Woodhead, and hell even Rex Burkhead. It allows the offense to force the defense closer to the LOS, which in turn opens up the intermediate play action passes that Brady has used his whole career to carve defenses and win Championships regardless of who his receivers were.
October 29th, 2022 at 2:54 pm
the team is in total disarray.
Thank you Jason! You stink.
Gonna be a long 9 games
October 29th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
BUCkleup … ‘Anyone see the stat yesterday on Fox regarding our rushing offense during the Super Bowl season? We were awful. One of the last 5 in the league. This is a false narrative. Check the stats from when we won in 2020. We were last 5 t and in league.’
If you’re gonna use stats to prove a bias, you’d best see the whole picture. Bucs ranked 29th in rushing attempts and 28th in rushing yards in 2020. We ranked 25th in rushing yards per attempt at 4.1 YPC. Kinda all go together, don’t they. Run less, accumulate fewer yards, thus not very proficient at the run game. Wow, what a concept.
Our run-pass ratio in the 2020 regular season tells the story: Bucs ran on 36.3% of our plays that season. UNTIL THE PLAYOFFS. Once we had to contend with the big boys, BA & company ran their asses off. Our run-pass ratio in the 2020 playoffs was 45.7% … almost 10% HIGHER than in the regular season. And yet, guess what; we ran 121 times in the playoffs for 490 rushing yards, 4.0 YPC. That’s actually a tad LESS than we averaged in the regular season.
But still, BA knew that don’t beat great teams by trying to pass on every down. Use the run to stay unpredictable; use it to set up the pass & vice versa; use it to CONTROL THE TOP. And we did that, in all but 1 game: the Packers game. Our run-pass ratio in that game was lower than in any of the other playoff games: 39.3%. And guess what again, that was the ONLY playoff game that we didn’t win the TOP in. That was also the only game where our PASSING OFFENSE had THREE INTs … and almost lost us the game.
We weren’t Super Bowl champs because of our passing. We won it because we used a more BALANCED attack, we controlled the clock, we had a lot more takeaways than giveaways, and we played great COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL. And oh ya, great defense. Just my opinion of course.
October 29th, 2022 at 3:23 pm
If it don’t work the first time, try it again and again.
October 29th, 2022 at 3:56 pm
Bowles is trying to keep the offense on the field longer but it is working against the offense
October 29th, 2022 at 4:08 pm
DR, please tell the entire story, 1 int led to points, the O scored 31 points, the D almost lost the game, the D gives up points ts the O scores points. The D played good in that game but still let up too many points late in the game. We can debate this all day but when you average 31 points a game including PO’s it takes a LOT of pressure off the D.
October 29th, 2022 at 4:42 pm
Deeez NATZ Says:
“The wrighting was on the wall”
———-
BUTT WAZ IT DOUGH ??
Jesus, speak fricking English, man.
October 29th, 2022 at 4:43 pm
@DefenseRules
Against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game our defense did a great job.
They sacked Rodgers 5 times and hit him 13 times. That’s the first problem our defense has this year. The Bucs 2022 defense, and specifically their front 4, doesn’t pressure the QB like their Super Bowl defense did.
All you want as a ball coach is for your defense to stop the other team’s offense and get you the ball.
When your defense causes an interception and a forced fumble against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the NFC Championship Game, giving your offense the ball, the defense’s job is done. If the offense fails to score after that and do their job that is not the fault of the defense.
That’s another problem our defense is having. That 2020 Bucs Super Bowl Championship Defense caused numerous turnovers against 3 future Hall of Fame QB’s. The 2022 Bucs defense can’t stop and cause turnovers against QB3 for the Carolina Panthers or QB2 for the Steelers.
October 29th, 2022 at 4:45 pm
Listnfrmafar … Apparently you missed the part that I wrote about ‘we controlled the clock, we had a lot more takeaways than giveaways, and we played great COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL.’ I think the words you’re looking for is that winning is always a TEAM EFFORT.
Oh BTW, in those playoffs the Bucs offense gave the ball away 4 times. THREE of those came in the Green Bay game, all in the 2nd half. Bucs defense gave up 1 TD on those, but held on the other 2. That same Bucs defense took the ball away 9 times in the playoffs, for a PLUS 5 TO Differential in just the playoffs. Bucs scored 123 points in the playoffs; offense scored 45 of those points (6 TDs & 1 FG) off of 7 of those TOs. the other 2 TOs were INTs that allowed our offense to close out the game. THAT’S what they call COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL.
October 29th, 2022 at 4:47 pm
BelleGladeBuc,
Other than our bad run offense & run defense,,,,,
To your point….. the SINGLE most baffling thing is this defense’s complete & utter inability to turn the ball over.
October 29th, 2022 at 4:56 pm
DR, I don’t deny the D played well in the PO’s especially against the Saints (Washington, ehh) but you have to admit 31 points allows a D the option to play more aggressive versus conservative.
October 29th, 2022 at 4:56 pm
BelleGladeBuc … I agree with you 100%. Our defense isn’t getting the pressure on the QB or the takeaways this season. I remember when the preseason started, everyone was bragging on how much better our pressure was gonna be because we added Hicks, and Vea was ready to explode & take a bigger leadership role. They even set a goal of 50 takeaways I believe. What a joke. A big part of our tackling problem IMO is that guys are focusing more on taking the ball away than they are getting the runner or receiver down on the ground.
Thus far this year (8 games) we have 9 takeaways, roughly 1 per game. Last year after 8 games we had 14 takeaways, so we’re down considerably. Our offense at this point had 10 giveaways, so we were PLUS 4 in TO Differential. This season we have 7 giveaways, for a PLUS 2 TO Differential. Not radically different, but still way behind where we wanted to be. Hard to excel at COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL playing like that.
October 29th, 2022 at 5:01 pm
Listnfrmafar … I say again, the Bucs offense scored 45 of their 123 points … well over one-third … off of TAKEAWAYS. Without those 9 takeaways, Bucs’ offense scored 78 points on their own in 4 games, less than 20 PPG. THAT’S why COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL is such an awesome thing.
October 29th, 2022 at 5:04 pm
If the Bucs are gonna run the ball more than they need to run it younger, White and Vaughn. Fournette isn’t twitchy enough or fast enough to work in this offense. His reaction speed is slower than White or Vaughn.
I just looked at salary cap hits and running back has to be the biggest waste of money for teams. First number is total value of contract, followed by guaranteed money left on the contract.
Ekekiel Elliott Cowboys: $90,000,000/$50,000,000
Alvin Kamara Saints: $75,000,000/$34,000,000
Christian McCafferty SF $64,000,000/$38,000,000
Dalvin Cook Vikings: $63,000,000/$28,000,000
Derrick Henry Titans: $50,000,000/$25,000,000
Joe Mixon Bengals: $48,000,000/$10,000,000
Aaron Jones Packers: $48,000,000/$13,000,000
Nick Chubb Browns: $36,000,000/$20,000,000
Saquan Barkley Giants: $31,000,000/$31,000,000
Austin Eckler Chargers: $24,000,000/$15,000,000
Leonard Fournette: $21,000,000/$12,000,000
Teams are so much better just drafting running backs every year with 4th and 5th round picks and rotating. Using a single high paid back doesn’t guarantee
success. Not a single one of these backs have played in a Super Bowl except for
the Bengals’ Joe Mixon.
October 29th, 2022 at 6:02 pm
A team must be able to run. But a team cannot IMPOSE a smashmouth running attack if it is not equipped to do it well. A running attack must be part of a smart coordinated offensive playbook, wielded by a masterful coordinator.
Bucs have none of this. Bowles and Leftwich are clueless.
Furthermore, I am sure they are treating these games, and this season, as a practice. Just put guys out there, especially the youngsters, and let them have reps. Just a long,multi-year practice. Let them figure it, and themselves, out. Don’t worry “we good”. “We’ll get there.” On it goes.
Forget any urgent all-in. It never was. Brady should not have come back, much less dump his marriage, for this.
October 29th, 2022 at 6:11 pm
John Riggins in his prime couldn’t run with this team, we simply are incapable of forcing the D linemen to move off their spots
October 29th, 2022 at 9:42 pm
You’re completely wrong Joe – the Bucs CAN run the ball, so long as it’s not obvious running situations. Personally, I wouldn’t care if they ran on exactly zero plays, you run through the air in 2022, but if people insist on running, just run when the other team doesn’t have 8 people stacked in the middle weighting on you. Someone, please look at the stats, what is the average when the Bucs run on 2nd down? I’m going to guess, it’s quite good. Why? Because the defense doesn’t have 8 people standing in the middle waiting on the run up the gut.
October 30th, 2022 at 1:49 am
Smart guy right there!! … Dumb ass!! They’re not known for their IQs
October 30th, 2022 at 7:54 am
We do need to run the ball more. If we can’t run the ball more we are taking awayBradys #1 strength which is play action pass.
October 30th, 2022 at 8:47 am
Simple. Ask Tim what he thinks will work.
October 31st, 2022 at 8:27 pm
White and Vaughn squeeze every yard out of each carry by hitting the hole quickly and getting low to finish. It’s hard if you are getting pressure from linemen pouring into the backfield, but it seems that White makes the best out of each carry. He never gets more than 3-5 plays and then he is subbed out. I would love to see him featured with a few more touches to see how he responds.