Cade Otton And Replacing Key Receivers
October 27th, 2024
Cade Otton showed Monday night he may have some dawg in him.
Joe thinks something significant was lost in the fog Monday night in the Bucs losing two of the best receivers in the game for the near future.
Like the rest of the locker room, Bucs tight end Cade Otton was gutted by the carnage.
“I’m sick about it,” Otton said, referring to Chris Godwin’s injury, which the elitist candyasses of BSPN refused to show on an instant replay.
(How can you pretend to “report” things from a football game when the second-biggest news event of the evening you try to bury and censor? Some journalism school these guys went to — if they even did at all. Whatever happened to letting the viewer decide if he or she wanted to watch the replay? Quit treating your viewers like kindergarteners!)
So what was lost in the carnage? Otton may be a better tight end than previously thought. Monday night, Otton caught 8 of his 10 targets for 100 yards, including his longest of 28 yards. Very good for a tight end Joe thought was, well, average.
What impressed Joe even more was the beating Otton took in some of those catches. That guy, in the words of Mike Ditka, had the snot knocked out of him.
Each time he bounced up like the Energizer bunny.
Joe was *very much* impressed as Joe never considered Otton a physical tight end.
One word jumped out at Joe to describe Otton’s performance and taking the hits: resilient.
Joe asked Otton after the game about how the team bounces back from such a curb-stomping and emotionally exhausting loss. Joe quoted other Bucs players to Otton as the cliché of the night was “next man up.”
Otton winced at that. He thought that was too individualistic.
“We all have to step up, collectively, just to win games,” Otton said in a very firm if not slightly agitated tone.
And Joe thinks Otton had a helluva point.
It’s almost irresponsible to believe Sterling Shepard or Jalen McMillan or Trey Palmer can replace either Evans or Godwin. That “next man” isn’t a future Hall of Famer or a Pro Bowl receiver. The Bucs just can’t sit back and expect Shepard or Palmer or McMillan to play like stars.
Everyone needs to pitch in and play better, not just two or three guys.
While Otton didn’t say it, one doesn’t need to be Bill Belichick to figure out the Bucs offense will be totally different for the time being. It has to be.
Perhaps part of that difference is leaning on Otton more? He showed Joe that he might be ready for a bigger workload.
October 27th, 2024 at 12:32 am
I think Otton has been ready for a bigger workload for 2 years. For some reason Baker doesn’t throw it to him until he had to. Look at what happened. Baker relied too much on Mike and Chris and his downfield looks rarely work. This will force Baker to look for 1 on 1s and just hit the open receivers. That’s what Bowles meant when he said that. This team has relied on talent at WR for years and its time to see schemed football. Coen can do it and I think we might be surprised at how well the offense still moves the ball.
It might take time because Baker has zero chemistry with McMillan and a tad more with Palmer. He will certainly target his friend Shepherd more.
Im ready for some Devin Culp seam routes too. He is the fastest TE in the league practically.
October 27th, 2024 at 12:50 am
JOE I’ve bin saying otton is better than pretty much all the fans are saying is he just average or he drops to many passes so on and so on. If Britt wasn’t starting then Otton would prob be the most hated player for whatever reason fans hate on him. Dude is durable as they come. Makes game winning catches is getting a little better at blocking and those catches against the ravens proved he’s got good hands. Dude to hit after hit after hit and still held on.
October 27th, 2024 at 12:58 am
I don’t think they were running plays specifically to get Otton open until Chris went down. I don’t ever remember seeing him wide open begging for Baker to hit him.
October 27th, 2024 at 1:20 am
I wish the defense could be totally different.
October 27th, 2024 at 1:54 am
He will be in my starting fantasy lineup. But I think it will be McMillan who will be the new wr1. Shep only got 2 or 3 targets last week.
October 27th, 2024 at 2:33 am
TE is not a feature of the McVay/Coen Offensive scheme, so Mayfield can’t target him regularly until they are in 2min drill. This was much the same in Canales scheme which prioritized Evans more heavily than the Slot (Godwin) or TE (Otten).
Mayfield favored TEs in CLE, which under Stefanski scheme are more used. This was one of the reasons OBJ hated it there and caused the ruckus.
Scheme and system determine who gets the ball and when. Without ME + CG, Coen will likely modify his playcalling to use the players he has left, and that includes the TE.
October 27th, 2024 at 2:42 am
“Otton may be a better tight end than we think.”
.
.
I can’t say definitively, but the few times I have keyed on Otton, it looked like he is blocking better, also.
October 27th, 2024 at 2:50 am
I was very impressed… keep it going big man
October 27th, 2024 at 5:13 am
It’s disappointing that a defensive-minded head coach is counting on his offense to bail out them out. Mistakes are being made and possibly even injuries because this team needs to put up 30-40 points a game. Last three games the Bucs have given up an average of 32 points. This team can still win with this offense, but they need to stop forcing them into shootouts.
October 27th, 2024 at 6:41 am
He was bailing Mayfield out. while his QB was throwing high fast hospital balls and kept taking huge hits and getting up. I was impressed with his toughness. Hopefully they can keep him healthy.
October 27th, 2024 at 6:58 am
I noticed that, too.
Especially the nasty hits he was taking and how he bounced right back up after each one.
Cade may never be an elite TE, but he’s certainly showed signs of being a solid offensive weapon a la Cam Brate, over the past couple of years.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he continues the solid play, as he’s most likely going to get thrust into a more prominent role for the rest of the season!
October 27th, 2024 at 7:11 am
Ok, I’m starting to see it now. ESPN rejected Joe’s employment application.
October 27th, 2024 at 7:59 am
My worries with Otton is inconsistency. He tends to bobble certain passes n does not know how to secure the ball. He has a history of fumbling. I liked his resilience in the Ravens game but I would like to see more of that game in and game out alone with a violent and nasty demeanor. If Coen has plans of improvising n getting creative with Evans n Godwin being out, then now is the time. How bout putting tightend Devin Culp in Evans position n let him use his 4.4 speed on the fly, n and as a former basketball player, use his jump ball skills in the red zone. Also, he’s been injured since the beginning of season, but second year wr Rakim Jarrett has hands of Godwin and is a diamond in the rough. Let him start. He navigated through the 49rs defense last year for good yardage. “Lets go crazy” Coen!
October 27th, 2024 at 8:11 am
I don’t know Joe, is that is emotional support dog with him on the plane?
October 27th, 2024 at 8:56 am
Curse of Gruden Says:
“Joe, is that is emotional support dog with him on the plane?”
.
.
LOL
No, the team let players bring their pets to New Orleans with them when they evacuated ahead of Milton.
October 27th, 2024 at 9:14 am
Bowles needs to spend more time making game plans for his defense. There are superstars on our defense and we still can’t stop anyone. That is coaching issues.
October 27th, 2024 at 9:50 am
Well, well, well, I figured Cade Otton would be sidelined per concussion protocol. Just like the blatant dirty hit putting CG14 on IR, Otton has weathered PLENTY of illegal/dirty hits in the last 2 games. He may be wearing that concussion helmet cos he’s no dummy. I notice the usual BS on here. Sure didn’t miss anything.
October 27th, 2024 at 10:40 am
I have been ragging on the Bucs and TE Otton for lack of production for several years. I have to admit I was AMAZED at Otton’s game last week. Perhaps I’ve underrated him. We’ll see this week.
October 27th, 2024 at 11:09 am
Every once in awhile we look and Otton is right there! Hope to keep seeing more of him today too.
October 27th, 2024 at 11:36 am
“Quit treating your viewers like kindergarteners!”
Same thing happens when a celebrity fires off an “inflammatory” tweet. Every website runs a story on it but won’t reprint the tweet so the reader can decide on the content.
October 27th, 2024 at 11:38 am
Yeah Roquan Smith went helmet to helmet on Otton like 3x in a row before his illegal hip drop that broke Godwins ankle.
Of course not a single play was flagged, because the officials are paid by Vegas to decide games and they couldn’t actually let the Bucs benefit from penalties that would have made the game closer.
It’s so cool the Goodell and the league have let officiating decide the outcome of the games. So much concern for player safety 🙄🙄 that we see blatant face mask penalties go uncalled during critical game moments every week.
October 27th, 2024 at 11:50 am
Ok Licht make the Devin Culp pick make sense