Blount Let Freeman Get Clobbered
December 24th, 2012After leading the Bucs in rushing last week against the Saints, LeGarrette Blount didn’t get a carry yesterday. But he did march onto the field in the first half and promptly missed a block on Rams safety Quintin Mikell.
That led to Josh Freeman getting clobbered from his blind side and a fumble. (See photo)
Blount stayed in the game and made a good block on the next play and wasn’t heard from again.
Whiffing on blocks on your quarterback’s blind side can’t happen, but Joe still views Blount as an unused weapon.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of restricted free agent tender the Bucs slap on Blount when the season’s over. Clearly, the New Schiano Order doesn’t believe the NFL is a two-back league, so Joe can’t see a reason why the organization wouldn’t want Blount back next season. He’s an inexpensive luxury to warm the bench.
December 24th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Blount is gone. A million good RB’s in this draft…which means teams will be letting go veteran RB’s who can really help out the Bucs!!!!! and can block
December 24th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
LGB should be packaged and traded with Gosh!
December 24th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
You can not Blame Blount alone. There were 3 other deff players that he had to chose from that blitzed…even martin wiffed on several blocks yesterday!
December 24th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
The sad thing about Blount’s blocking struggles, is that he actually has such good potential to be a solid blocker. He is our biggest running back, if only he could get the technique down he would be one hell of a blocker.
December 24th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Hate the double standard this regime shows that the passed one did as well. Martin misses blocks and averages 2 yards a carry = feed the beast. Blount misses one block in his first action in weeks = benched. Until we get coaches that hold EVERYONE to the same standards, we’ll have these issues.
December 24th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Blount is garbage…what a waste, he should be able to run people over, instead he just dances around and looks clueless.
December 24th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
This comment was from a phony Joe. Please pick a new screen name. — Real Joe
December 24th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Playing devil’s advocate here, it is extremely difficult to come off the bench cold and look at a blitz like that. To be fair we need to get him into the game so he can get used to the quickness and pace of the game. Martin has missed blocks, DJ Ware has missed blocks so let’s be equal in our judgement. If Blount’s Agent hasn’t already found interest in him he should be fired.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Noticed Fisher hugging LGB during pregame warm-ups. Wonder if he’ll take him back.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
the way this organization has handled Blount pisses me off!! he is too damn talented to sit on the bench! i sometimes feel they did not always put the best players on the field. the 50-60 hard earned ypg that Doug has been getting may have been more if the Def. had to guess a little about who was getting the ball!! you need two running backs in this league, with Blount on the roster we have two of the best. w/o Blount…average, until Doug gets hurt.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
@ Tony what 1976buc said!!
December 24th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
@Tony: In case you haven’t noticed this is not a run people over league any more. You have 300 lb linemen, 260 lb linebackers and 230 lb db’s. Yes, Blount is a big back but he has the unique ability and athleticism to leap over people. Go to Youtube and look at some of the runs from past years. There is a coach in this league that remembers him running over one of his players on one play and completely jumping over him on the next! It might even be Jeff Fisher who said it was a huge mistake to place him on the Titans practice squad.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Yeah, I’d draft another kid or pick up a scrap heap RB. Blount is probably wanted on some other teams.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
The Bucs need to be deep in every position. The injury bug lives at One Buc Place. If Freeman was yanked out of the lineup for mistakes like Blount. The defense might get some rest.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
In Blount’s defense, it’s easy to confuse Josh Freeman with Scott Mitchell.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Blount is likely one of the next wave of players that Schiano says goodbye to after this season. I expect more sweeping changes to be made, but I still think Josh Freeman returns for year two of the Schiano System. We aren’t going to be able to trade him to Kansas City, not for the first overall pick.
I just wonder what Greg Schiano thinks about the QB situation, and as the losing streak continues, I have a feeling he might be pressing Mark Dominik to begin exploring other QB options, be it in free agency (where the picking is slim) or the draft (where the class is relatively weak). If Dominik were able to convince KC to part with their number one pick, it would have to be some kind of trade that involved Josh and our number one for KC number one and three or something like that. Freeman and Blount or another player likely to be relieved of his responsibilities as a ‘Buccaneer Man’ after this season won’t be enough.
I think Schiano might be itching to do something, but the key is not to overreact. Josh Freeman is more than likely going to return as the starter, so we have to hope that he can make great strides going into next season. I’m losing confidence in him each passing week, but I’m not ready to bury the guy. Not yet.
December 24th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
@Greg: I think Schiano will not have the opportunity to say by. Blount’s Agent should have been working on his next home the day after the draft last year.
December 24th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I think Blount was as fed up with Freeman as the rest of us and he just let Quintin Mikel in hoping Freeman would get banged up enough to get him out of the Game.
Bring in Alex Smith next year, trade Freeman and draft a QB to develope in the 3rd or 4th round next year unless Coach Schiano likes what he’s seen from the kid Adam Weber who’s been on the practice squad all season. The Bucs will be fine offensively with a QB that can manage the game and hit the short to intermediate throws. Freeman has to be around 50% on those kind of throws and he needs to be up around 75 – 80% to be successful.
December 24th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Blount can’t block!! Don’t use him that way. He can catch screens line up in the slot like he did in preseasson vs the Miami and he can run, So why not involve him more? Are we just trying to make him not worth anything so we can resign him cheap next year? There stupid for putting him in on that play to block, so if I am Freeman I would be complain to the coaches not Blount. They say it all the time he can’t block then why put him in.
December 24th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
With what Trindon Holiday does for the Broncos and what David Wilson does for the Giants, how stupid is it not having Michael Smith return kicks?
With Blount only averaging 1 carry a game, Michael Smith surely can handle that load in addition to returning kicks.
The other bozos have been returning for multiple games and come up with zilch. Over the course of the year, he could have had some big returns and maybe some big carries as well.
December 24th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
@1976
I completely agree. I’m willing to give Schiano a pass this year but the fact he refuses to use a Blount and Martin combination is infuriating. They give us the best chance to win instead of relying on Freeman’s arm which can NOT be trusted. Blount can’t block and he doesn’t run between tackles to well but the guy is a good running back on first or 2nd down. Him + Martin could of been a great backfield for us. Blount will be gone this off season I’m sure but dam what a wasted year.
December 24th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Blount will be playing in SB before Bucs even get close to the playoffs, kinda like Talib. Watch the Steelers, Packers, or Patriots snatch him up in a heartbeat.
December 24th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
If you sit a player as much as you have Blunt, and then think he can come off the bench at superspeed, it’s not gonna happen. For one, Blunt have showed that he is slow darting of the gate, he needs momentum to do his thing, so too much benching, not good. In reality, this coaching staff have not used him to his full capabilities, still don’t know why they even kept him for this long.
December 25th, 2012 at 12:35 am
Glad you mentioned the nice block on the next play. Maybe if he got more snaps… BTW Martin also gets beat from time to time.
December 25th, 2012 at 12:43 am
Wherever heroes, I’m drafting him for fantasy, and I’m afan for life.
December 25th, 2012 at 5:55 am
When you get four plays in four months what you expect.
December 25th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Must’ve hurt Joe to write about Blount messing up once again. Then again, in Joe’s mind it allows him to rail on Freeman some more because he cant always say, “But I talk about Blount when he sucks it up too”.