Less “Zone Plays” Helped Spring Blount
October 27th, 2010
Chatting away with fellow Jersey native Dave Moore on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Bucs center Jeremy Zuttah said the Bucs running game came alive Sunday behind changes along the offensive line.
Zuttah alluded to halftime adjustments born from reading the Rams’ defense, and Zuttah said a gameplan that included less zone blocking paid dividends.
“We just ran a few different types of plays. We’d been running a lot of zone plays, and we threw in some other stuff just to mix it up a little bit and I think it paid off,” Zuttah said.
Now Joe’s no expert on zone blocking, but Joe can see the Bucs have been using a lot of it with very little success. Joe can only assume the Bucs’ braintrust thinks the Jagodzinski way best suits the talent on the roster. But perhaps that’s changing. (Ahem, Bill Muir’s O-line in Kansas City leads the NFL’s No. 1 ranked running game.)
Host Dave Moore also asked Zuttah to name the vocal leaders, if any, in the locker room.
Zuttah responded by identifying Jeff Faine and Josh Freeman.
“I mean Free, from this year, just the way he’s trying to take command and he’ll look you dead in your eye,” Zuttah said. “Before that last two minute drill he said, “Guys, we’re going to put this ball in end zone.’ And, you know, you just believe after he looks you dead in the face and has no doubt. It’s puts a little of that no fear into you.”
Zuttah and Moore went on to talk about how they enjoy the MTV reality show Jersey Shore, which features the all out debauchery that has been the signature of the area for decades. This “Joe” is from Jersey and admits to, uh, participating in the late 80’s.
Joe doesn’t watch the show, but Joe is amazed the country is fascinated by sleazy dudes who want to do sleazy things to sleazy women who enjoy these sleazy acts. Well, maybe that’s not surprising.
October 27th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Blount is a slasher. A one cut and go type of guy. We should stay away from the zone blocking and stick with our strengths. Draft another RB to pair with him next year that can work well without zone blocking as well.
October 27th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Go Lightning!!! This is the best they have looked in years!!!
October 27th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
I wonder why Bill Muir couldn’t do it here in Tampa ? Did Chucky and Allen interfere too much ?
October 27th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
JOE! PLEASE TELL ME YOU SAW TONIGHT’S “SOUND FX” ON NFL NETWORK!
PLEASE POST THE CLIP ABOUT THE BUCS AGAINST THE RAMS!!!
FOR THE POOR BASTARDS THAT DON’T HAVE NFL NETWORK!!!
FREEMAN IS SOMETHIN’ ELSE…RAHEEM IMPRESSED ME EVEN MORE…
yes I know all caps is like yelling…It was that good…
October 27th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
This?
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-drive-of-the-week/09000d5d81ba35af/Drive-of-the-Week-Passing-the-Bucs
October 27th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
I agree with Jorge, that is a good break down. Hang on. because the Bucs will have their ups and downs, but I think they will grow to be a heck of a team. I grew up a Bills fan back in WNY and saw the team develop with Jim Kelly. I like Freeman better.
October 27th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Muir had the offensive line on the cusp of one of the best in the NFL when he was canned. He absolutely got the job done here.
In Muir’s first year, the offensive line sucked but by the end of the year, it was dominant and a big reason why the Bucs won the Super Bowl. Dude knows how to coach.
October 27th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
DING!
October 27th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
All I’m looking for is our offense to really be looking good by year’s end. I know our defense is hopeless this year, but as long as our offense is firing on all cylinders…we can work on defense next year with FA and the draft.
I don’t care what are record ends up being, the only way I’ll be disappointed with this season is if our offense doesn’t get better every week.
October 28th, 2010 at 12:13 am
Well every team in the league does some zone blocking so don’t expect it to disappear any time soon. I never really understood why they would have went to a primarily zone blocking scheme in the first place as I never saw guys like Joseph and Trueblood having quick enough lateral movement to be great at it. Keydrick Vincent either. Jeff Faine is a perfect type guy for zone blocking but Im not sure about most of the other guys. But If they keep running Blount they should be able to run just about whatever kind of running plays they want and have some success. He can run between the tackles, he has enough speed and moves to bounce it outside too.
October 28th, 2010 at 12:16 am
They should have scrapped the whole zone blocking thing last year. It’s just not what these guys do. I’m not saying they can’t, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. First, if you want big, nasty, mean O-linemen you DON’T run a zone blocking scheme. That’s for finesse guys. Also, I don’t think Caddy was ever meant to run in a zone scheme. Get the line off the ball and across the line of scrimmage, give Caddy a chance to see the field, and he’ll make it to the hole. That’s how he was meant to run. And I think Blount will also benefit from power blocking.
October 28th, 2010 at 12:51 am
Every team uses some zone blocking. The ten yard run by Caddie to pick up a huge first down on our last drive last week was a zone trap. It worked perfectly. If you don’t mix it up, you become predictable.
October 28th, 2010 at 7:52 am
Jdub,
Thanks for the link.
I like what you said about improvement, and I also think it’s OK to be optimistic about 10 wins. These Bucs may just do it.
October 28th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Bill Muir has turned Kansas City O-line around and seems to have them clicking for Charles, T Jones and Cassel!