More Derrick Ward Carries = More Bucs Wins?
May 23rd, 2010
There’s a reason why Bucs general manager Mark Dominik dropped a load of Team Glazer’s cash in the lap of Kardashian-chasing running back Derrick Ward last year:
Dominik wanted Ward to run the damn ball!
But the offensive sage that is offensive coordinator Greg Olson, for some reason, didn’t feed Ward the ball enough while running his Chucky-and-duck offense. Sensing that the more Ward got the ball the more the Bucs won, Raheem the Dream seems to sense that Ward’s production is tied to his job security.
More carries for Ward might equal more wins, which equals perhaps another couple of years for Raheem the Dream as the Bucs head coach. So Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times believes that Raheem the Dream wants Ward to get more carries.
“When we started to win games, he did get the ball more. Of course, you feel like you should give it to him even more. If I can get him the ball more this season, that’s usually going to result in more wins and more happy faces around here.”
Ward was a victim of Cadillac Williams’ re-emergence and mild success, something that ate into Ward’s opportunities. He rushed 114 times for 409 yards despite being one of the key additions in the ’09 offseason. Still, it’s more than fair to ask whether the Bucs could have made better use of Derrick Ward last season.
Joe knows via his sources that a very high-ranking Bucs official was peeved Ward didn’t get a high amount of carries last year. Something tells Joe that due to his contract and the belief that Ward’s success helped win a couple of games (Seattle and New Orleans in December), Ward will get the rock more often this fall.
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:53 am
Yes, it amused me how some fans were claiming this guy sucks and he’s a bust. I would always ask, ” How can you tell?? He never played…”
May 23rd, 2010 at 9:28 am
Ward was horrible in the spots he played. And many inside the organization are sick of his attitude. Guy is a cancer, we’ll be lucky to get anything for the guy in a trade..
FAIL JOE.. Kareem Huggins>Derrick Ward
May 23rd, 2010 at 9:35 am
Joe here,
Elijah Joyce – Sure, many in the organization were probably sickened by his apparent and sudden change in attitude last year. But that doesn’t mean that those in the organization don’t think he should have gotten a heck of a lot more carries, which is typically the case when there’s a lot of money invested in a free agent FAIL ELIJAH …
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:21 am
Ok, I’ll buy that. More carries for Ward (or any other RB for that matter) equates to more wins. Duh! If we are running the ball, that means we’re still in the game. It means we have a lead, are tied or at least close enough we still CAN run the ball. Was Ward horrible last year? I don’t know, he didn’t get in the game much. Was Caddy bad? Don’t know. How about EG? Who? Was he still on the team?
We played from behind in most every game last year. It changed the game plan from the 1st qtr on. So, here’s some statistics… our opponents (who were in the lead) ran the ball about 33 times per game. The Bucs ran the ball about 25 times per game. But about 4 of those carries per game were by the QB (obvious scrambles). That means the Bucs ran the ball about 21.5 times per game to our opponents 33.
What’s that tell you about our running game last year? Absolutely nothing, because we were playing from behind and abandoned our run game. We don’t know what we have for a run game yet, because we haven’t seen it. Get the attempts up to about 25 to 30 and we’ll talk about who we’ve got that’s good and who isn’t. Right now, any of the RBs we have could be pretty good.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:31 am
It’s not rocket science. Don’t go down by two scores nearly every game and all the RBs will get more carries. Better yet, get the lead.
Rnning stats are among the most misused stats in football. Teams don’t win because their RBs get more carries, RB get more carries when a team is winning.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:38 am
Give Huggins a chance. Not that Ward isn’t capable, but Huggins is younger and faster – let’s find out if he’s better.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:40 am
Ironically, the addition of McCoy and Price may help our running game (provided that they help eliminate the early scoring of our opponents)
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:50 am
More caries for Ward?
More any RB carries = less interceptions that Freeman throws.
I’m all for THAT!
May 23rd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
“when we started to win games”
Sir, your team only won three the entire season.
May 23rd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Eric — I am starting to feel bad for you
May 23rd, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Huggins>Ward
May 23rd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
@ Eric
“Sir, your team only won three the entire season.”
Let’s see… 3 is more than 0. Winning 1 is a start. He said “started to win games”… that is plural, so means more than 1, which 3 is. I don’t see why the negative comment. It’s not like he said “when we started DOMINATING THE LEAGUE”. He said “started winning games”. Yep, that’s what we did… starting with GB, we won A game, then won 2 more a few weeks later. A couple games in between were close, so yeah, we we started winning games (or at least keeping them competitive) the RBs got more carries. I see nothing wrong with that statement.
May 23rd, 2010 at 1:12 pm
All you people that say Ward is horrible are completely clueless! The guy wasn’t given a chance last year. 105 carries is nothing. The Bucs always had to abandon the running game because we were always losing in every game.
And don’t even get me started about this “attitude” crap. I haven’t heard Ward complain or speak out about anything! And even if he spoke out once, who cares?? Big deal! Get over it. I hear on ESPN everyday about an NFL player on another team speaking out about something and nobody takes so seriously like this team does. The other day he said he wants to have a great year and how he wants to be more of a leader. First AB is a cancer and now Ward is? I don’t believe any of it. Btw, I’m sick of how everybody tried to pull that crap with Antonio Bryant, when all he did was say speak out once about his situation and everybody took it so damn seriously.
I’m really getting tired of hearing about “Huggins.” It’s actually getting annoying. Alright, if the guy is so great, why didn’t he play a down last year?? You people are so hyped up on this guy for whatever reason. Another guy that I just hear “talk” about.
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Just to let you guys know, Ward always looked spectacular as a part time runner in NY. He did not here in Tampa. It might have more to do with our O-line. Ward as well did not seem to play with that fire he played with in NY. You look at the way Caddy runs and you can see he wants to gain more yards, you don’t see that from Ward.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
@HOFreeman
Cadillac got 211 carries last year and Ward only got 105. Cadillac had 823 yards rushing and Ward only had 409 yards. It’s pretty obvious!!!! Cadillac got twice the amount of carries he did, therefore getting twice the amount of yards he did! Ward is a good running back!! Same with Graham! We’ve got a good group of RB’s.
Ward was productive in New York because they used him good and they had a good offensive line along with a good passing attack. They weren’t always trailing and losing either so they were actually able to establish a running game.
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Elijah is an idiot…