Offense Still Searching For Identity

August 17th, 2012

It’s only halfway through the preseason schedule and no time for panic, but Josh Freeman still hasn’t completed a deep pass.

On the Buccaneers Radio Network pregame show today, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik reminded Bucs fans that offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan is a play-action guy and that throwing deep will be a big part of the Bucs’ offense.

Well, Josh Freeman finished the night 4-of-10 for 21 yards. Vincent Jackson’s evening was highlighted by a drop and an eight-yard, first-down grab on the opening drive.

Joe could see that receivers weren’t open for Freeman, but Joe also wasn’t liking opening the game with a barely sold play-action fake to LeGarrette Blount that didn’t fool anyone.

Sure, the Bucs will complete passes this season. But Joe would have liked to see more creativity in the offense tonight, and the Bucs stick to the power running game early. Unlike in Miami, the offense had no identity against Tennessee.

5 Responses to “Offense Still Searching For Identity”

  1. stimpy Says:

    Is anyone else worried here? I still see the same play from last year. Im not panicking, but is there a real improvment being shown? Was it the coaching staf or players that just sucked?

    Or is just pre-season jitters?

  2. Mr Lucky Says:

    Nope stimpy, the Bucs of 2012 are just like the Bucs of 2011 only the names have been changed to protect the innocent…

    What do you expect with no talent? But you’ll say, “[insert name here] has soooo much potential in practice.

    I’m soooooo tired of hearing that crap.

  3. Jim Says:

    The coaching staff needs to go back and look at Freemans qb rating in the shot gun vs under center. He needs the extra time to have plays develop. I know they want to be a running team first but we will see next week against the Pats, that it is possible to have a decent running game from the gun!

  4. Tristan Berry Says:

    I think there are certain plays that are so “standard” that every offense runs them. We saw some of those this week just as we saw a ton of them last year. Remember, there’s no game-planning yet, so we’re going to be running all of our plays vanilla without any adjustments to account for the opposing defense’s weaknesses. That’s not to say that I liked what I saw, but that’s where we are in the season.

    It also makes a difference that Schiano went to the #2s early while Munchak kept his starters in. Seems to me that Schiano wanted to see how well those currently slotted as backups fared against starters. Well, now we know.

  5. BucFan20 Says:

    During an interview with Chip Carter on Fox Sports the coach said they”DID” do some game planning for the Titans. Last week they did not do game planning. Looks like they did not do it well enough. Really the first string offensive line sucked. Had nothing to do with anything else. No holes for backs. To much pressure on Freeman. Most of it came from the same side as the last 2 years. Right side. Or up the middle.