Explaining The Meltdown
August 24th, 2019
Joe honestly believed things were better.
Yeah, after watching the first two preseason games, Joe actually thought the offensive line improved. Yes, really. Against a stout Pittsburgh defense, granted it was just one series, there were no significant protection issues and running backs had holes to run through. Big holes.
The second game at home against the Dolphins there were no issues, but it was the Dolphins. They stink.
But last night, wow. What a meltdown.
Well, Jenna Laine of ESPN decided to try to pin down why things went to hell last night. It almost sounds like this nightmare we all witnessed may not be a one-time thing.
Some context for the struggles we are seeing from the Bucs’ offensive line: Dirk Koetter used a lot of max protection, which helped a lot on those long-developing plays. Bruce Arians does not. More strain on the offensive line, but more options in the passing game. The has to come out though. The quarterback has to be decisive if this is the way they want to go. Against the Browns, and perhaps if it was a regular-season game where they didn’t have specific plays they wanted to see in game situations, they could have dinked and dunked more down the field (more screens to Chris Godwin, more slants to O.J. Howard).
America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, said two of the five (!) first-half sacks were on him. Today in his day-after presser, Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians didn’t exactly disagree.
The Bucs have two weeks to figure this jailbreak out. That’s not much time.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:36 pm
Bucs have known offensive line was an issue for years, but have chose not to address it.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:40 pm
Money Manziel for backup QB
With Mike Evans
August 24th, 2019 at 1:41 pm
Put Cappa (who never was a G) at RT, move the Earl of Watford to RG and actively watch the wire for help. Let Dotson play the backup swing tackle.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:47 pm
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 24th, 2019 at 1:51 pm
every year they going into the season gambling that bad and injured players will magically get it… you can do this with a small percentage of your roster hoping for lighting to strike but you can’t do it to an entire position group or you are going to pay the price. every year the bucs pay the price for their ridiculous gambles. There is NOT a single starting caliber offensive linemen on this roster and yes that includes the very very average marpet who would be a better backup than starter. Paying D smith looks dumber and dumber each day and I don’t give a crap who you put at right guard if that drive killing walking penalty machine dotson is on the field. you people trash the rg non stop but the RT is the worst player on the field for both teams week in and week out for over a decade.
glazers and licht have once again setup jameis to fail and be the fall guy for a minor league roster and franchise… jameis will be successful in the nfl. same idiots will be bad mouthing him while he’s collecting championships and bucs will continue to blaming others and hanging onto a a bunch of washed up has beens that have not won a damn thing in nearly two decades while collecting basement titles. it’s a buclife after all…
August 24th, 2019 at 1:52 pm
I’m far more concerned with down field accuracy issues. No one mentions how an inaccurate QB changes a defense because they can dare him to throw deep. Winston is effectively putting extra DBs on the field by now showing a threat of accurate deep balls.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:53 pm
There’s an oline problem across the NFL. You won’t find anything on the trash heap this year.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:53 pm
Not*
August 24th, 2019 at 1:56 pm
View from 132
hey brain surgeon explain to me how a quarterback can work on the deep ball if he has an oline that could not block a pop Warner defensive line ???? protection is key to the deep ball. of course jameis mechanics will go to hell if consistently has 2 seconds before he has a defender on him. use a little common sense dude… jameis is a victim of a piss poor franchise.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:01 pm
That is exactly one point Joe has continued to make for those people who jumped off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge with the cooked up notion the Bucs had the worst offensive line in 2018 ever seen in the western world. If the line was that garbage, how in the world did the Bucs have quarterbacks who could stand upright and lead the NFL in passing?
Last night showed what happens to quarterbacks who have no time to throw. That was certainly not the case last year, ergo, the line wasn’t nearly as bad as what the hysterical crowd wanted people to believe.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:04 pm
Never thought of that. COOL!
August 24th, 2019 at 2:06 pm
That’s right T REX, the word on the streets is there is an “offensive line crisis” in the NFL. Teams won’t be letting go of quality linemen anytime soon. Maybe a cap casualty will happen, but that cat will have the pick of teams to go to. Hopefully I am wrong and we can rebuild our line dumpster diving.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:10 pm
@Joe-
The criticisms of the O-line the last several years has been over their complete inability to run block. They’ve been pretty decent in pass protection. The run blocking has been, and continues to be the issue.
You know this.
Now last night they looked atrocious at both, but the Browns do have a very good d-line with pass rushers.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:10 pm
I guess now it makes sense why Jameis wanted to get up to 250 this year and add some extra padding. Same for Rojo.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:21 pm
“SCARY STATEMENT BELOW…READ WITH LICHT ON
Your GM doesnt think its that bad. He thinks its not the weakest part of the team. Your GM spent this years draft on the secondary
Your GM doesnt think the offensive line is the problem and the talent is there to fix it”
Kobe Faker
August 24th, 2019 at 2:22 pm
I have two big problems with Jameis play, he the one catchable Deep ball, but they usually look like the one that almost find a wide open Perriman 10 yards free of his DB 5 yards out of bounds. The other issue is that the ball never seems to come out in rhythm, maybe the play calls are different but last year with Fitz and yesterday with Griffen, they got the last step of the drop and the ball is coming out, with the wealth of talent we have in pass catchers the B’s all be Ed’s to get out and take the pressure off the o line.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Having the 2nd highest paid OL in the NFL you would think this wouldn’t be an issue. But what do I know ?
GO BUCS
August 24th, 2019 at 2:38 pm
Not sure why this is a surprise. Joe glad you have removed your head from the sand. Maybe we can pick up a a few guys after cuts happen.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:41 pm
This teams o line has sucked for a long time. #firelicht
August 24th, 2019 at 2:51 pm
Hey we have the right gm to fix it….. don’t we…
#worstgminfootball
August 24th, 2019 at 2:52 pm
That’s because last night was their first time against legitimate NFL DL talent.
Face it, that’s a 5 win QB killing offensive line.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Why all the panic, we’re 2-1!
August 24th, 2019 at 2:54 pm
The bottom line folks is that the glazers won’t foot the bill for a team that’s good across the board. They never have and they never will.
It’s too much player, coach and overhead payroll. There always going to tell their gm’s to look for corners to cut….and because the gm himself is a glazer hire he’ll make the wrong decisions every time
August 24th, 2019 at 2:55 pm
*They’re
August 24th, 2019 at 2:55 pm
It always seems like any time the Bucs get any positive media, they start to believe it and then think they’ve arrived and then they slack-off.
Take the O-line, after the first 2 pre-season games they were OK and got some positive remarks, especially Cappa. So what happens after all the feel good press?
Exhibit A: The Browns.
Bring in a loudspeaker and a continuous loop of Monken screaming “You choose to suck” and turn the volume up to 11.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:59 pm
This is like claiming the sun sets in the east.
How can you say this??? The Bucs haven’t addressed the line??? Bucs have two second round picks and fifth-highest paid center in the league.
If that is not addressing the line, then Joe has no clue what the definition of “addressing” means.
August 24th, 2019 at 3:03 pm
Relax, all is well with our O line. Cleveland’s D line is one of the best in th NFL if not the best. Our O line is healthy and ready to go. Clevelands D line is going to make a lot of offensive lines look awful this year.
August 24th, 2019 at 3:03 pm
This is why you play preseason football and don’t pull your starters after one series in the first two games.
In any case most of the problems, that I noticed, were all on Cappa, and mostly him not knowing what he should be doing. Cleveland was sending the house and it’s very doubtful the Bucs game planned for the game. Additionally the o-line did get better as the half went along, so it’s not like it was a disaster the entire night. Personally I’ve never been a fan of Cappa, he has the measurables of an UDFA and we took him in the 3rd round, but I’m hoping they’re seeing something in practice that makes them think he can start, and if last night was just him not knowing what he should be doing, or being slow to react, I’m more OK with that than if he was getting ran over (which I didn’t notice, but I was only watching the TV feed so I could have missed it).
Anyways Benenoch is always still around, and he started 16-games at guard last year on the NFL’s top passing offense…
August 24th, 2019 at 3:10 pm
Joe because the Bucs has no run game … all defenses need to do was pass defense … no reason for teams to blitz all the time on the Bucs … that’s why jameis had the numbers he had… if BA isn’t using max protection you will see the true jameis for what he’s worth in a NFL uniform … I guarantee it
August 24th, 2019 at 3:10 pm
Rod Munch Says:
August 24th, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Why all the panic, we’re 2-1!
————————–
Cos this blog is troll city. And if they’re not trolls, they’re stupes!
August 24th, 2019 at 3:18 pm
orlbucfan – It is amazing how overwhelmingly negative most of the commenters are, like why are they Bucs fans if they literally hate the team and everything the team does and add nothing to the conversation. I don’t care if someone doesn’t like a player so long as they can explain why and they’re not bores who sit around waiting to yell “SEE TOLD YA” when there’s one bad play. But the trolls are fun to mock and they’re easy to trigger, so they do serve some purpose in terms of entertainment value, at least for myself.
August 24th, 2019 at 3:24 pm
Where’s all the happy 10-6 talk? The “P” word talk? Does anyone really believe this is possibly an 8-8 team? I certainly hope it is, and I certainly hope the tooth fairy puts $100 under my pillow tonight too. However, neither is very likely.
August 24th, 2019 at 3:25 pm
meltdown!!!!
drama drama
Cleveland sucked too
Please underrwear football nobody is playing hard
Worry week 1
Thanks
August 24th, 2019 at 3:27 pm
Come on Joe. Your 1st line you believed things are better..Really? I didn’t. I still do not buy into the new hype. We are only better in the secondary. That’s it. One could argue our Defensive is much worse than last year. The offense will stay about the same though. LMAo because every here calls straight talkin either trollin or negative. Obviously, you guys have not been Buc fans for very long huh? Stay tuned..we just getting wound up. Who will the sacrificial lambs be this year for the angry masses in Buclife kingdom?
August 24th, 2019 at 3:28 pm
Jenna is right. That’s t why everyone says BA offense get your Qb killed. Why Jameis was beefing up in the off season. What I noticed was the line mainly Dodson kept rocking back before the snap tipping off every passing play. They eliminated that and the OL improved in the 2nd quarter. Jameis needs to take those open short crossers. His decision to throw that long pass on 3rd down was his only glaring mental mistake this preseason. Cappa will have some growing pains but I think he’ll be a solid G by mid season.
August 24th, 2019 at 3:29 pm
“Kobe Faker wants Taylor Swift concerts every sunday
I want to see that flat butt dance”
Kobe Faker
“Me-e-e, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
I’m the only one of me
Baby, that’s the fun of me
Eeh-eeh-eeh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
You’re the only one of you
Baby, that’s the fun of you
And I promise that nobody’s gonna love you like me-e-e”
Taylor Swift
August 24th, 2019 at 3:39 pm
Jeez, you fix one thing and something else breaks but I guess thats why you have preseason-you can work on things
August 24th, 2019 at 3:39 pm
Cappa was a lawn chair and did anyone see Dotson get RUN OVER by O. Vernon? Rojo looks like a faster/weaker Peyton Barber with no vision- both JAGs.
With all that being said I don’t believe there was much game planning that went into this game. I am not really that worried, just as I was not all that hyped, by what happens in a preseason game.
August 24th, 2019 at 3:42 pm
Addressing means drafting OLine every year- we haven’t and the past few have been projects not high picks from legit programs – we consistently change their position as well
Would love to see us invest first round collateral on the oline and quit over paying in FA
August 24th, 2019 at 3:44 pm
Alaskan Abdominal Snowman
I am not sure if dotson was ran over or just dropped and played dead…
August 24th, 2019 at 3:50 pm
The proof is in the pudding, poor run game, below average left tackle, over paid center, horrible right guard, old right tackle getting ran over. I dont care if they got alot of yards in the air during garbage time, our qb is getting manhandled and running for his life. They got no good olineman this off season, knowing the right side was suspect. And are in salary cap hell. I hope they prove me wrong.
August 24th, 2019 at 4:16 pm
The problem for us on deep passes is caused by the lack of a running game negating good play-action……Jameis has less time and is inaccurate…..he is also inaccurate on deep passes when he has time.
We need to move the chains…Jameis chose to throw it downfield instead of short for the first down…..that must stop.
August 24th, 2019 at 4:20 pm
Sarasota, you’re right … ‘The proof is in the pudding”. It’s really disappointing to hear so many excuses for what was a bad performance (it’s just preseason, we didn’t gameplan, yippee we’re 2-1, etc). Sorry, but that OLine got taken out to the woodshed last night. They got manhandled … period. And it would’ve cost us a regular season game, and potentially got our starting QB hurt. No excuses … they stunk it up.
And so did our S/Ts, resulting in terrible field position for our defense on at least a couple of drives. Poor coverage and poor punts for the most part. And a big part of that IMO was due to lousy protection fo the punter. No excuses … FIX IT, fast.
On the good news side our defense played fantastic, especially against a loaded Browns offense. Very stout against the run & our Secondary played lights-out IMO. DLine could’ve shown more ‘push’ admittedly, but I think that’ll improve markedly once Vea returns for the regular season. At least that’s the HOPE.
One last observation. Anyone expecting our defense to hold ‘the bad guys’ to 12 points a game better rethink the season. That’d be 192 pts on the season … 4 LESS than our #1 defense Super Bowl team, one of the greatest defenses of all time. This offense NEEDS to get its collective act together, and fast.
August 24th, 2019 at 4:21 pm
I am happy the OL did what they did (as long as Winston didn’t get hurt.)
I don’t think they are bad. They just have not been challenged by guys not on their team.
This gives coaches a golden opportunity to chew them out and take them down a peg, to underline what a poor effort causes.
Same with the Browns O-Line. Mayfield was also running for his life. I have not checked, but I suspect the same angst is being shared by Browns’ fans.
I’ll also say some time off will benefit the OL starter legs. The third game is when real fatigue begins to set in.
I’m not at all happy, but I’m not parking my car on the Skyway Bridge, either.
In football, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.
That said, Winston coulda used Evans and Brate. Just shows how big a piece of the O they are. And on the D side, they were stour against the Brows and even showed some spark of a pass rush. Can you imagine how a David or Vea will make them even stouter?
August 24th, 2019 at 4:25 pm
Wasting a second round pick on Bunting, instead of replacing Dotson was a big mistake. Moving up in the 3rd round for small school Cappa was a mistake. Giving the idiot in charge of all that a new contract was a mistake. Our passing yards last year came in garbage time with defenses playing prevent. Don’t let those passing stats fool you Joe. The Browns were a lot like the Bucs as far as futility the last few years. Dorsey has done a much better job of building a roster in less time then Licht has.
August 24th, 2019 at 4:44 pm
Last night gave a glimpse as to why Ben Rothelisberger earned his reputation as scrambler. He literally had to when Arians was calling the offensive shots in Pitt. Much like Lovie and Mike Smith’s defensive schemes, that sh!t doesn’t work anymore, so Arians had better get his head outta his rear end quick and go back to watching tape of the league leading offense that was in Tampa from last year to see how max protection actually works when you obviously need it.
August 24th, 2019 at 4:48 pm
Buc’s O line = Turnstile. In the immortal words of Mr. T: I pity the fool who plays QB/RB for this team.
August 24th, 2019 at 5:31 pm
“BYRON LEFTWICH WALKING AWAY WITH DISGUST
JABOO NOT RUNNING THE PLAYCALLERS PLAYS
For those that have not followed JW at FSU…
Jameis has numerous times not runned the play called for by the HC/playcaller
At FSU jimbo used to scream at JW asking him who the coach was and to run the damn play
I bellieve koetter had the similar frustration when JW would freelance and run a different play
ever see JW call a run play on the line and calloff the designed play? 99.9% it doesnt work
Kobe believes we had the disobedient Jaboo moment with my Leftfoot last night.
ladies and gents everyone knows Kobe is the ultimate JW homer but
JW still has mental decision making difficulties. JW process of making quick descions freelancing by himself is still WACK”
Kobe Faker
August 24th, 2019 at 5:31 pm
Just to be a voice of reason, I would like to remind people of a few things.
First, the offensive line knew they had issues. That’s why they requested more playing time. They could have bought into the hype, but they chose to expose the issues so they could be dealt with.
Second, it takes time and experience for a an offensive line to gel. It will come.
And finally, don’t forget the coaching staff. We have coaches who identify issues and teach to overcome them.
All is not lost. It’s early, especially for Cappa. Give it time.
Remember, it isn’t the preseason that matters…it is the post season.
August 24th, 2019 at 5:43 pm
This will be news to the Glazers since the team is in salary cap hell (as in the team can’t spend any more) and the Glazer family is paying for the largest coaching staff in the NFL.
Not sure how anyone can say with a straight face the Glazers don’t spend money. Waste money? Sure. Spend money? Yes they do.
August 24th, 2019 at 5:46 pm
But he is nasty! 🙄
August 24th, 2019 at 6:41 pm
FYI Joe.. J miss was a probowler ONCE. IF memory serves me right, as a REPLACEMENT. Not that impressive. Really gotta raise ur standards
August 24th, 2019 at 7:19 pm
Without M Evans, receivers weren’t getting open down field, but there were opportunities underneath which Jameis missed-
Most are underestimating Browns DLine – starting 4 averaged 9.5 sacks each last year. Yeah they need upgrades on OLine, but that D was fun to watch.
That was a defensive game for a change and Bucs won! Winning is most important- forget Koetter stats crap. Just give me wins!
August 24th, 2019 at 10:10 pm
Cappa is mean, and eats his boogers… GRRRR!!! MEAN!!!!!
August 25th, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Kobe Faker…Sorry but I’m afraid Licht is right. The OL is not the weakest part of the team. HE IS.
August 25th, 2019 at 5:50 pm
Bring in Kap. He’s served enough time in “time out” If does a good job then cool. If not he ain’t got nobody else to blame.