Positive Signs From RoJo
October 3rd, 2018
Dirk Koetter must be smiling.
Hey, it’s not all Mike Smith-is-killing-the-Bucs content from Joe — though it should be!
Thanks to the eagle eye of SiriusXM Radio producer and Bucs junkie Steven Cheah, he spotted a reason why second-round draft pick Ronald Jones will likely be a permanent fixture on the Bucs’ active roster.
This, however, has little to do with the rookie’s running ability.
Cheah is a great follow on Twitter (@CHEAH_SAY) because he likes to highlight stuff from Bucs All-22 tape that may escape those watching on TV. One thing Cheah documented from the Windy City Wipeout was the pass blocking of Jones.
Now we all know how much Dirk Koetter drools over running backs’ pass blocking. Joe is completely convinced Koetter values a running back’s pass blocking over his running ability.
(For the record, Joe has never devalued a running back’s blocking ability but Joe does place a higher value on a running back’s running ability. Yeah, Joe knows that’s strange.)
Well, Cheah found an example of RoJo doing a fine job pass blocking in his debut Sunday. RoJo roadblocks Bears first-round pick, linebacker Roquan Smith, which enabled America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, to complete a pass to Mike Evans.
Later, as you can see in Cheah’s timeline, RoJo didn’t fare well trying to block Khalil Mack one-on-one. Hell, there are veteran offensive linemen who have trouble blocking Mack one-on-one much less a rookie running back making his NFL debut. No demerits for that.
Koetter has often said he cannot blame running backs entering the draft for not being sharp in blocking because they rarely are asked to do that in college. Perhaps one reason why RoJo was inactive for the first three games is Koetter wanted to make sure RoJo was at least adequate in his blocking technique before he put him on the field for a game?
.@rojo was up for the challenge in pass pro. Here is stones 1st round LB Roquan Smith and allows Jameis to have the time to deliver to Mike Evans for 17 yards. He’ll be not only active, but on the field a lot with play like this. Great stuff from the young back #Bucsfilm2018wk4 pic.twitter.com/3qEnXdIgWw
— Steven Cheah (@CHEAH_SAY) October 3, 2018
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:06 pm
rojo looked pretty good i thought, short of the 1st drop.
who was that guy JW, crabby pattty throwin’ to?
oh yeah, Mike, I throw games to get back my QB, Evans.
DJAX has to be FUMING!!!!!
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:13 pm
Took dirk all this time to realize he needs game reps to get better but the only reason he played was a blowout, pathetic coaching on both sides
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:16 pm
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are working out former first round pick QB Paxton Lynch today.
yeah baby
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:17 pm
“199lber is taking important snaps from Barber. Nedd to sit Kenny Bell 2.0”
Kobe Faker
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:19 pm
And don’t look now but Vita Vea was throwing dudes around on a few plays. That guy is crazy strong and we should start him next to McCoy next week.
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:20 pm
Lynch sucks but he’s better than Winston right???
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:36 pm
Fake news the Bucs are working out lynch an you don’t know football if you think lynch is a better QB than #3 geez some ppl are just down right f**king stupid
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:37 pm
Kobe he was taking snaps away from Quizz. Not like they have been using Barber much at all anyways.
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:40 pm
I certainly think Winston is better but just saying what some of the posters here think.
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:45 pm
I never said he’s better than Jameis, FHITP, crabby patty, it wasn’t me, Winston.
It does say they are ready to move on from Winston though.
If A LOT of the fans can be happy to see the coaching staff get fired for JW to get another shot, why can I not be happy if the reverse is true?
Oh I know………shhhhhhhh though, right?
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:51 pm
Kobe, one little problem with that. And that’s the simple fact that during the regular season Barber hasn’t been doing anything good even close to consistently.
He’s only averaging 3 yards a carry. A whopping .01 yards more than Martin.
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Who is RoJo?
Are we talking about Ronald “butter fingers” Jones?
Also Robert- your schtick is so boring and transparent. Yawn.
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Robert, again with the stupid comment. No bringing in lynch means nothing to anyone but you. Lynch is awful. And bbn onobdy takes you seriously with your mike Evan’s conspiracy theories. Were not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you.
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:17 pm
last week
199lber had 10 carries,
Barber had 7 carries
“There is something wrong with this picture”
Kobe Faker
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:24 pm
@Kobe Faker
Again, Barber hasn’t done anything special this season. And I’m pretty we were down by 35 plus points while Jones was getting the majority of carries.
The guy was insanely good at USC, and is clearly much more physically talented, he just has to shake off some rookie jitters and become accustomed to the NFL game. And a game that we had no chance of winning was the perfect time to get him some experience.
Also in case you didn’t notice, we got torn up by a running back last Sunday who’s 5’6 179.
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:33 pm
And Kobe he isn’t 199… Thought you were smarter than that… Guess not.
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:34 pm
“Swifty, Use the mistaken purchase of #27 199lber as a tax write off…199lber will be out of the league in 3 years”
Kobe Faker
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Bust!
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:48 pm
Robert Winston ain’t going no where so don’t get your hopes up bro . Paxton Lynch is trash . Why do this fan base like trash players ?
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:51 pm
Ok that’s good. Now learn how to friggin CATCH!!
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:53 pm
He needs to learn how to catch the damn ball
October 3rd, 2018 at 2:20 pm
The only reason I could imagine to bring in Lynch would either be an injury, but I would assume the team is comfortable with Griffen as the 2 at this point, or maybe they are open to trading Fitz and would like to keep a 3rd qb on the roster. Lynch certainly didn’t live up to his draft status except for one afternoon in Tampa when he looked like a future Hall of famer.
October 3rd, 2018 at 2:53 pm
@Kobe Faker
Yeah well according to you “Grudog” was gonna be our HC this season, so you’re not exactly Nostradamus.
Some guys just take a while to adjust, for example, Jared Goff looked like a surefire bust in his rookie year, and now he looks like a perennial probowler. Hell judging by the combined performance of all the running backs we’ve had for the past 3 years, maybe the problem lies with the blocking scheme.
Regardless of their skill set or talent we haven’t had a running back average 4 or more yards a carry since 2015. Me personally I’m not willing to make a declaration about Jones’ entire career based on a few lackluster showings in his rookie year.
Also would like to mention that I was majorly pissed off that we drafted Ronald Jones over Derrius Guice and Kerryon Johnson on draft night. After taking a more in depth look at his college tape, I have every reason to believe that Rojo will eventually be a very, very good running back for us.
October 3rd, 2018 at 3:08 pm
Maybe, just maybe our coaches could’ve boosted this kid’s confidence, coached him up and found ways to maximize and play to his strengths… instead they gutted him and destroyed his confidence by emphasizing his weaknesses all training camp long and by having him inactive during the first 3 games of the seasons. There are a whole host of backs that can’t block or catch well as rookies- but they can RUN with the ball in their hands. That is too novel a concept for this staff…RUNNING the football.
October 3rd, 2018 at 3:16 pm
Dude this Robert guy is a junkie lol
October 3rd, 2018 at 3:16 pm
Can Paxton Lynch play cornerback? Cover a receiver?
NO?
Then why the hell do we bother working him out?
Being a fan of this team requires heavy consumption of strong whiskey
October 3rd, 2018 at 4:21 pm
We haven’t been running at all really with Fitz hot hand so it seems like all these guys are getting a lot less touches.
AND WHO CAN BLAME ANY OF OUR RB HAVING MAYBE ONE OF THE WORST STARTING RG IN THE NFL IN BENENOCH!!!
TOP RG ROUND 2 JASON!!!
October 3rd, 2018 at 4:25 pm
I smell a trade if we worked out lynch
October 3rd, 2018 at 4:27 pm
And benenoch is horrible. Evan Smith should be out there
October 3rd, 2018 at 5:08 pm
Getaclue
There’s this nasty kid from my alma mater Plant High School who’s a state wrestling champion and a top ranked prospect OL/DL 2019. Watched his highlights last night and they could put him in for Benenoch to better this line. That’s how sad it is. Go back to kindergarten Caleb.
October 3rd, 2018 at 5:18 pm
“This, however, has little to do with the rookie’s running ability.” – then I really don’t care, dudes a RUNNING back.
October 3rd, 2018 at 5:50 pm
Does Alvin Kamara stay in to block or does he go out and catch passes ala a receiver? I am asking for a friend of the coach…..
October 3rd, 2018 at 7:17 pm
So Martin was the problem in ’17.
And Barber looks like Martin from ’17.
At what point do we start to look at exceuse besides the RB?
October 3rd, 2018 at 7:25 pm
Licht is the problem letting hurt players amd terrible players be the one that are counted on, then sticking w barber and drafting this turd, hope he works out but 2018 rbs better be able to carch
October 3rd, 2018 at 9:42 pm
Not there yet Says:
October 3rd, 2018 at 12:13 pm
Took dirk all this time to realize he needs game reps to get better… ”
Or he was getting trained to pass block during that time.
October 3rd, 2018 at 10:02 pm
He can’t play DB. Or RB.
He should block. He can’t.
He sucks.