Backwards Run Game
December 9th, 2018
Bad sign for Bucs.
A couple of stats sound alarms in football.
One is when a cornerback is your leading tackler.
Another is when your quarterback is your leading rusher.
For the second game in a row, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, led the Bucs in rushing. Today he ran for 47 yards. Peyton Barber ran for 42 yards.
It’s one thing if your quarterback is Kyler Murray or Michael Vick, or even misplaced CFL quarterback Marcus Mariota. Jameis is none of those guys.
Hey, it is great that Jameis is able to scramble for positive yardage. But to expect your quarterback to consistently lead your team in rushing says a helluva lot more about your (sad) running game than it does Jameis’ skills.
But when your offensive line gets flagged for every violation known to man short of groping a cheerleader, what do you expect?
December 9th, 2018 at 6:09 pm
Bill Cowher for president of football operations and go from there
December 9th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
This is why Rojo cannot be evaluated behind this godawful Oline. These backs are lucky to get past the LOS. Joe might owe Dougie Fresh an apology, this oline cannot clock for anyone, including Jameis.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
Jameis sucked so much in the second half of the game with his inaccuracy
Jameis defines the word inconsistent
December 9th, 2018 at 6:13 pm
Team hasn’t done anything about this oline for about 10 years and Warhop is just as bad as Mike Smith if you can compare those positions.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:13 pm
Nobody is “expecting” jameis to be the leading rusher, joe.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:14 pm
no barber has no wheels pr vision he is just a 3 yards a carry kind of guy I hope he leaves with Dirt
December 9th, 2018 at 6:14 pm
The only player that crumbled worse than Winston was Barber. Totally failed their teams when they needed it most.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:15 pm
Don’t look now, but misplaced CFL QB Marcus Mariota is still in the playoff hunt. Can’t say the same for JayMiss Winnone.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:16 pm
How can anyone say the bucs hasn’t done anything with this O-line
They got Jensen
Drafted Smith
Signed Marpet
Drarted Kappa
……………the GM is trying…….atleast give him credit for that
December 9th, 2018 at 6:16 pm
Anthem this article is about the run game. Go back and watch how many passes came off the receivers’ hands. I will watch again later on game pass but I saw 2 bad throws from Jameis in the second half while watching live, the rest were catchable.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
Protect the football at all costs.
Don’t force the ball downfield.
Don’t try to make plays.
So there you! Win the turnover battle, take what is there, and expect your defense to hold them to 12.2points like it’s 2002.
So you get a game manager QB who doesn’t see anyone open, tucks the ball and runs if no one is open, or throws it away, or takes the sack, but what he doesn’t do is turn the ball over, because as we know from the Winston haters, it’s not about winning or losing the game, it’s about winning the TO column on the stat sheet!
December 9th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
ha ha ha ha
and everyone was dogging me when I was clamoring for the bucs to draft Mariotta………………..
……………………….interesting
December 9th, 2018 at 6:18 pm
I just watched the “highlights” of the game and to me this is totally obvious:
GMC needs to hit the road along with his offensive doppelganger Donovan Smith.
Both of them look clueless and show no killer instinct.
Watch DS’s moves. It would be hysterical if it was on an opposing team.
Softie, as per usual is most content engaging with the guy in front of him and has no awareness of where the play is going and refuses to play towards the ball. H seems to only want to win his matchup.
Not blaming them for today’s lose, but they both need to go.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:19 pm
NPRSageBoy Says:
December 9th, 2018 at 6:15 pm
Don’t look now, but misplaced CFL QB Marcus Mariota is still in the playoff hunt. Can’t say the same for JayMiss Winnone.
See this type of comment just cements you’re stupidity. Mariotta had a guy just rush for 200+ yards and four TDs while our leading tusher is our QB! Yet you are stupid enough to compare the two when it comes to wins and losses.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:19 pm
Was Mr. Magoo trying too hard when the season was on the line and he had the lead?
December 9th, 2018 at 6:19 pm
Rod,
Really sticking to that theme today huh?
December 9th, 2018 at 6:21 pm
Marcus Marriota is garbage. He wasn’t a turnover machine in college is one now. MM lovers??? Explain??
December 9th, 2018 at 6:22 pm
TheBucsAnthem Says:
December 9th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
ha ha ha ha
and everyone was dogging me when I was clamoring for the bucs to draft Mariotta………………..
……………………….interesting
Correct and we still are dogging you cause you’re still wrong. But you will never see it cause you don’t know what you’re watching. Man you are watching the wrong sport. Please do us all a favor and leave.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:27 pm
FIRE JASON LICHT (and Koetter too, of course)!!!
Draft Futility | Rounds 1 through 3:
2014
Rd 2: ASJ – BUST
Rd 3: C. Simms – Part time role player at best
**2 of 6 total picks still on roster (Evans & Simms/IR)
2015
Rd 1: Winston – #1 pick, still a question mark in year 4 (not all his fault)
Rd 2: D. Smith – Lazy, no fire, inconsistent
Rd 2: A. Marpet – Top Guard in the NFL?
**4 of 7 picks still on roster (including Kwon who also has question marks)
2016
Rd 1: Hargreaves – Giant question mark
Rd 2: N. Spence – BUST
Rd 2: Aguayo – Possibly the worst pick ever
**5 of 7 picks still on the roster (includes Benenoch who should be arrested)
2017
Rd 2: J. Evans – Question mark, defense isn’t missing him
**4 of 6 picks still on roster
2018
Rd 1: Vea – Meh…
Rd 2: R.Jones II – BUST
Rd 2: MJ Stewart – Nope
Rd 3: A. Cappa – Can’t beat out Benenoch
5 Draft Classes:
Picks in Premium Rounds (1 – 3): 18
Total Picks: 34
Decent Picks: 5 (Evans, Winston, Kwon, OJ & Godwin)
Unquestioned Difference Makers: 2 (Evans & OJ)
That’s TWO unquestioned difference makers in FIVE years and 34 draft picks.
Stats are certainly for losers.
Need we say more.
#lichtmyb*lls
December 9th, 2018 at 6:35 pm
Correction Rojo can’t be evaluated under this pathetic coaching staff
December 9th, 2018 at 6:36 pm
Ndog – say what you will, Marriota is still in the playoff hunt. All we have with JayMiss is the stench of defeat.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:36 pm
Dirk inherited a good rushing team. It’s gotten worse each year he has been here.
Anybody that believes he can fix it is just blowing candles and wishing on stars.
The proper HC can fix this and that’s what we need.
If you wanna add Licht to the blame list be my guest and replace him too.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:39 pm
The fact that this coaching staff does nothing but praise to D.Smith and then he goes out and is the absolute worst player on the field says it all.
There’s no way these idiots can stay. Not if they think this guy is a good player. Which they do.
He is a very bad foitball player. The proof is in the pudding.
December 9th, 2018 at 6:41 pm
Thought bucs had such a ‘Brady’s O line. BAH!!!!!
December 9th, 2018 at 6:44 pm
D. Smith looked like the worst LT in football today.
Why worry about durability. He guy is an absolute liability.
December 9th, 2018 at 8:08 pm
Jimmy,
The o line dirk had year 1, how many of those players are still playing today..
December 9th, 2018 at 8:19 pm
Marcus Mariota career qb rating 89.5 jameis winstons 87.3
December 9th, 2018 at 8:44 pm
Is it the visor?
December 9th, 2018 at 9:02 pm
Remember when they handed the ball to Barber inside the five? I would like to see the success percentage on that play.
December 9th, 2018 at 9:06 pm
Good teams run the ball.
December 9th, 2018 at 9:09 pm
If you were drafting running backs (not fantasy, real football) and you had to draft from the NFC South only, Barber might be the 8th back selected, no higher than 6th.
December 10th, 2018 at 1:36 am
Go get Josh McDaniels and a GM that doesn’t pick PAC 12 players
December 10th, 2018 at 2:40 am
Jameis is a misplaced family reunion cookout QB.
December 10th, 2018 at 3:12 am
bottom line, and no one is discussing it:
we were playing a step ahead of the saints, and brees was genuinely frustrated…then when santos missed the 2nd field goal, the bubble burst, the team lost steam, and subconsciously all the players heard that little voice in there head saying “not again johnny”…from that point on they were playing a step behind the saints for the rest of the game…that 2nd field goal completely drained this team of what they were building these past 2 and a half weeks…the missed kicks force them to mentally throw in the towel…and their bodies followed suit thereafter…this is a fragile group trying to turn the corner, and this lengthy ongoing kicking circus is eating the players up silently…every time a field goal is missed, they say to themselves “ok be supportive, next play, everything’s gonna be ok”…then they quietly plummet inside
December 10th, 2018 at 6:35 am
We need a star runningback please Barber is a backup, Rogers and Jones is garbage.
December 10th, 2018 at 6:48 am
@Adam—
Couldn’t agree more, albeit no NFL team can be successful without a solid running game. The OL, less Marpet, needs to follow Koetter out the door after the final game. Even though I agree with your take, it’s up to the head coach to coach away that mindset. We, the beleaguered fans, are granted the privilege of “oh no, not again.” The players should be above that and play header.
December 10th, 2018 at 6:50 am
Harder… #$&*@#$*g spellcheck
December 10th, 2018 at 7:23 am
On to Baltimore for another Jameis tryout. The Ravens will be a tough nut to crack at home and how about them Cowboys? If the offensive line couldn’t block the Saints, consider what the next 2 games will be like with Jameis running around. Those Cowboys have one of the better defenses in the league even though they didn’t play that welll in second half yesterday on defense but hey, what can you say about Jerry Jones after the Amari Cooper trade. Has Cooper not been the best receiver and game changer the NFL the last couple of weeks, I believe the answer is yes.
December 10th, 2018 at 7:28 am
Cooper vs Gruden, winner by a knockout! Jon your methods to motivate NFL players needs to change, its a different league than 2008, glad he took Davis’ for $100 million, maybe when the get to Las Vegas they’ll put out a better product but right now Oakland is one of the low points of the NFL. What a joke the league is about stadiums, Chargers playing on a soccer field and Raiders, once the kings of Oakland are now moving again. C’mon NFL show some money for these historic teams that need help building stadiums like Oakland and SD, its a travesty that those teams had to leave a 50 year history going all the way back to the AFL.
December 10th, 2018 at 7:55 am
Who needs a run-game when you have the #1 passing attack?! Right guys?!
You cannot win in this league with a one-sided offensive attack. See 5-8! It ain’t about going “back to 2002” Rod Munch. It’s about being able to keep defenses honest. The Saints adjusted and we had no answer because we are one-dimensional.
A QB’s best friend under siege is a run-game or the short-passing game. Apparently this theory is lost with the current coaching staff.
December 10th, 2018 at 9:07 am
Anybody saying Winston is to blame he was his back for half of the snaps in the 2nd half smh seriously do you guys even watch the same game? No oline no run game= no chance