Olson Talks Third Down, Explosiveness & More
September 6th, 2011
"It's time to be your best self, Olie."
Earnest Graham has won the starting third-down spot, so Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson said during a news conference today.
Olson said Graham taking on that role is not a big loss at fullback, if at all where Erik Lorig will start.
“We like the develoment of [Erik] Lorig. He provides a bigger body and more explosiveness,” Olson said. “Earnest was only playing fullback eight to 10 snaps per game.”
Olson went on to say Graham’s new role is no knock on Kregg Lumpkin or LeGarrette Blount. Olson emphasized that Blount is still a very young player.
For Joe, Graham can get the job done protecting Freeman — priority No. 1 — and Joe sees no reason why he can’t come close to duplicating Cadillac Williams’ stats as a third-down back. Though Joe would much rather see Cadillac running the draw play, which often was effective for the Bucs last year.
On the newly signed undrafted rookie tight end, Zack Pianalto, Olson said the Bucs “liked his size, athleticism and size” coming out of North Carolina and liked what their contacts with the Buffalo Bills had to say about him. Olson said the rookie is mature enough to be thrown into the fire.
While stats are for losers, Olson mentioned the Bucs were a top-10 team in explosive plays last season. Joe’s not sure how that is defined. But Joe knows the offensive line better start opening holes for Blount if that mark is to be duplicated.
September 6th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
G.O., Free and their offense are THE reason that this team was able to eak out 10 fortunate wins against depleted teams with 2nd, 3rd and rookie qbs.
September 6th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Hopefull the offense was holding back during pre-season…
September 6th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Earnest Graham isn’t as agile and shifty as Cadillac was. With Caddy as 3rd down back, his quickness helped him rack up a good number of yards when the defenses weren’t expecting run. I do not think we will be getting those surprise long runs from Graham anymore, the guy used to be good, he looks fat and slow these days. Still a good receiver and reliable short yardage runner with fumbling issues.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
Really, Thomas? How many times, roughly, do you think you have stated that EXACT same statement? Why don’t you do all of us a favor and only write something when you have some new material. Is your little pathetic life that bad? So much of your time is devoted to making everything about this team negative. Even when you attempt to be positive, you have to take a shot at the team. You need a woman really bad.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Yeah, and the Bucs weren’t depleted at all last year? Oh, and the 19 interceptions helped a little as well.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
That’s true that it was because of Freeman that we were able to EEK out wins against subpar opponents. You gotta learn to crawl before you can walk. That was just one of the stages of his development. He’s still one of the youngest QBs in the league (younger than Bradford, Sanchez, rookie starter Andy Dalton, one month older than Jake Locker, Tebow, etc) He’s already among the better QBs out there and he will only improve.
This team has improved not only in the additions the team has made, but the young players themselves have improved. Yes, the competition has improved as well, but that’s why they play the games.
Earnest may not be as agile as Williams was, but he also has a lot more power, much better hands, is a far better blocker, and is faster (yep, I said it, and it’s true). We will be improved in the 3rd down back role this year… addition by subtraction. Williams did well for us last season, but Graham is, and has always been better than Williams as a complete RB.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I just want to see the Bucs line up and blast people off the line when it’s 3rd and 1. If I had a nickel for every time G.O. called some BS pass play when you have a 6’6″ quarterback and 18 inches to go, I could retire.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
on a somewhat Bucs related note, Garrard was released today and Luke McCown was named the starter in Jax
September 6th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Really?
Good luck Luke!!!
September 6th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Why dont you all ignore Thomas? He has been quiet because no one is entertaining him…Keep it up. Ignore that clown, he knows nothing about anything. Thats the best way to run him off.
September 6th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Either everyone else is too timid to say it, or i’m the only one who noticed that Lorig sucks at fullback. He got stuffed at the line in preseason, not helping to make any holes for the rb. Having him at fb scares me waaay more than Graham as a 3rd down back
September 6th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Im sure Rah’s 9th ranked SCORING defense had nothing to do with our 10 wins….
September 6th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Tampa better get better play from the O Line
September 7th, 2011 at 2:24 am
Explosive plays are summed up as follows: Passes of 20+ yards and runs of 10+ yards. Last season the Bucs had 49 passes of 20 plus yards and 63 runs of 10 plus yards.
September 7th, 2011 at 5:03 am
I agree Lorig is not a plus to this team, he gets blownup at the line of scrimage because he stops moving his feet, he tries to push people instead of just plowing them. With his size he doesn’t need a lot of technique, just brute force. I think Blunt runs better without a lead blocker anyway, where the feild is spread out and the D needs more CB rather then them all bunched into the box. I also think Graham will have no problem on third and long situations, we don’t need 70yd runs we only need to move the sticks and wear out the opposing D. Nothing discourages a defense worse than long drives that eat alot of time, nobody likes to be bashed in the teeth for 8 min. Lets pound that Rock.
September 7th, 2011 at 7:26 am
This news is really good. He deserves this shot and I believe “Cool Hand” Luke can be a great starter.
I don’t expect it to last long though. Blaine Gabbert is the franchise guy there. But maybe Luke will do well enough for the Jags to get trade interest and Luke can start elsewhere.
It wasn’t because of Freeman. It was because all of the offense. Freeman was a key part of it, but what would he have done if he were still stuck with Clayton, Stovall and company?
And it makes sense that the offense got us there…since it was the offense that Morris and Dominick focused on building first.
The defense is probably a year away from being good as well. I think it’s unrealistic to expect greatness with three rookies up front. Even the great Warren Sapp took a year to get ready to fly.
I can’t disagree with much of this. I think you are right on the nose with Lorig.
As to Blount being better without a lead blocker…that I don’t agree with. Imagine if he had Lorenzo Neal (spelling?) there to block. We don’t really know if he would be better without a lead blocker…because we haven’t seen good lead blocking on this team in years.
September 7th, 2011 at 7:30 am
Also…I think the success of this team and whether they make it to the playoffs rests on the shoulders of the offensive line. Their horrible performance in preseason had best not be how they produce in hte regular season.
If they don’t kick it into high gear, we’ll have a lot of need to come from behind…at least until our younger defense is ready to shine.