No Bridge Jumping For Chris Simms
September 15th, 2020
O-line observations.
Since most of Bucs fandom is wanting to holler about the Bucs offensive line in the wake of the embarrassing loss to start the season, Joe decided to offer up fresh takes on the favorite Bucs talking point.
Former Bucs quarterback Chris Simms, now of NBC Sports, reviewed the tape after watching the game in full and explained on his podcast “Unbuttoned” that the Bucs offensive line didn’t play that terribly.
Well, one element of the blocking that is.
“I do think that the offensive line, pass protection-wise, was probably better than I thought it was going to be,” Simms said.
Later in his breakdown, Simms hinted he thought at times park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback Tom Brady was a wee bit jumpy and rushed a handful of passes that had he waited a split second longer, Simms said he had guys (specifically foot-rubbing tight end Rob Gronkowski) wide open.
That was the good.
Now for the bad. Simms was revolted by the run blocking. Simms made it clear that when it came to run blocking, the Bucs’ offensive line, as a whole, got slapped around and had their lunch money stolen.
“The offensive line was pushed around in the run game,” Simms said. “I’m not shocked by that. The Buccaneers are not famous for their running attack. Now it is something I think they need to get better at. Especially with a quarterback who is not mobile.
“And if you want the play-action pass to work and Brady is so good at that, they are going to have to continue to knock their head on a wall there.”
That is a dead-on accurate observation there by Simms. Play-action will easily help out the pass game. But if teams don’t fear or respect the run, then play-action is just dancing to dance.
Just ask Jameis.
Joe will have many more observations from Simms about the game later. Just a tease: Anyone who tries to use the excuse the Bucs had a short preseason and it hurt the offense with no preseason games is totally full of it.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
Out-physicalled.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
I’m not particularly savvy with the rosters of the NFL as of late (call it apathy due to so many Bucs losses), but don’t the Saints have one of the better defensive lines in the league?
September 15th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
Just listened to Becht’s new game review podcast. He basically said Donovan Smith is the Jameis Winston if LTs. Too good to move on and will make plays that only top guys can while making a few bad plays here and there.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:59 pm
#americasLT
September 15th, 2020 at 1:03 pm
We’ve been talking about how putrid the run blocking has been on this team for yearrrrrrrs now. This sh!t ain’t nothing new. Now everyone can see with their own two eyes — just how bad this mess really is.
Way too much damn finesse.
September 15th, 2020 at 1:04 pm
Pretty fair observation. Throw in the fact that he almost never misses playing time, you can see why “football people” are not itching to run him off.
September 15th, 2020 at 1:29 pm
Football people will change their tune quick if Tommy gets hurt over his laze. But if ifs and buts were…yeah yeah yeah
September 15th, 2020 at 1:35 pm
You’r right Joe.
“Football People” – Were happy as hell Donovan Smith resigned.
To quote Cameron Jordan:
Hmm…Sounds like good eating to me.
September 15th, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Damn… Brady looks old.. And stiff
September 15th, 2020 at 1:47 pm
Bill Parcells: “Your best ability is your availability.”
Is Parcells a “football guy” Luv?
September 15th, 2020 at 1:57 pm
C’mon now Joe
If Jumbo Elliot had given Coach Parcells a half a$$ effort like Donovan Smith.
No matter how much he was “available” he won’t start.
Bill Parcells hated the fly by night players – who look great one game and terrible in others. He demanded consistency from his players.
September 15th, 2020 at 1:59 pm
No matter how much he was “available” he wouldn’t start.
If you’r playing like hawt garbage who gives a damn if you’r available.
September 15th, 2020 at 2:04 pm
Joe
Mental Toughness & Discipline
Game In – Game-Out…Season After Season consistency
Top Level work ethic – That showed up on the field. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
That’s what it took to be a “Parcells Guy”
September 15th, 2020 at 2:46 pm
For a first NFL game, Wirfs was pretty solid, even against a very experienced defensive front. In a couple of games, he and Cappa might make some run blocking happen, if the play calls are designed to make it work.
So far all I have seen is a WR being pulled in to allert the defense. They need some zone blocking.
I still think lining Auclair up as a fullback might be the best thing. Run it a screen a few times and then try a run or six.
September 15th, 2020 at 2:57 pm
The Saints coach said it best. Our defense owned the line of scrimmage. We need more players like Wirfs. For a rookie, he showed better then some of the vets.
September 15th, 2020 at 3:28 pm
As a Patriots fan, TB12 looked like he always does, especially on the first drive. Then he seemed to go out of sync…. A bit. I’m surprised he didn’t rely on Gronk for a safety net. Scott Miller is his new Edelman. And OJ Howard looked great!
September 15th, 2020 at 3:54 pm
OMG!!! The season is over. The Bucs suck. Brady is worthless. The OL is terrible. Rojo is crap. The coaches are the worst. Litch is a loser.
Guys, it’s one game. Chill out.
September 15th, 2020 at 4:10 pm
I agree sky pirates. One game. It’s funny, I look at the numbers and if you left off the score and turnovers you would’ve thought we won. Turnovers killed us. No doubt about it. But I’ve always been a brady fan, and if there’s anything to learn it’s that he hates losing games like this and will learn from it. He’s going to get better every week. And with how lousy the Carolina defense looked, I imagine a reckoning is coming for them in the form of brady. He plays lights out in the week after a loss.
September 15th, 2020 at 8:12 pm
Com on man, Donavan Smith is garbage without the top on it. He is a wussy. I watched the run play up the middle by RoJo where DSmith just stood there while the DE blew past him n he didn’t try even try to block the guy at all. It was the play where Ryan Jensen went after Cam Jordan for throwing a punch at RoJo. Please, I have no respect for DSmith. Am I the only one who have witness his lack of effort on multiple plays since 2015.
September 15th, 2020 at 8:29 pm
Dmatt, keep preaching it. Smith is smelly garbage. Terrible footwork and he just simply gives up on plays.
September 15th, 2020 at 9:00 pm
Another 7-9 season ahead….
September 15th, 2020 at 9:45 pm
I really have the continued myth that play action needs a running game to work. The numbers don’t support this. The only thing that makes play action not work is not calling it, which has been a huge problem for Leftwich. Brady for OC!
I also don’t agree with Simms’ assessment on our passing protection. It didn’t look good watching it live, and the analytics guys reported Brady under pressure on 1/3 of his passes, 8th worst in week 1. So yeah, Simms IS correct when he says Brady was rattled back there. We need to call plays that are quicker to develop, mixed in with more play action. BRADY FOR OC
September 15th, 2020 at 9:48 pm
Suddenly everyone realizes the run blocking sucks?
No chit.
We’ve been telling you that since Logan Mankins left.
September 15th, 2020 at 9:51 pm
Isn’t Donovan Smith the strongest guy on the team? What does that say about his play? And all RoJo is straight up the middle and that doesn’t work with a weak oline. Looked like Dirk’s brick wall run plays for Doug Martin and RoJo. Fournette needs to be bumped to #1 RB as soon as he’s able to.
September 16th, 2020 at 5:56 pm
I agree that donovan smith is just too inconsistent to play as a starter. yeah he always shows up and never gets injured but there may be a reason for that.
The Bucs O-line never seems to give their QB more than 1.5 seconds to get the ball off. What was their time for Brady? Too many hurries and hits by any standard. That is what kills the Bucs and their QBs every year.
Look how well the ex-panthers QB improved behind a real O-line. Dallas drafts O-line first and makes mediocre QB’s look like stars. We make star QB’s look mediocre. Front office failure?
Stupid penalties are the coaches fault, or so I have heard.
September 17th, 2020 at 9:03 pm
This team looks the worse ive ever seen a home opener since they drafed jameis winstom and marcus mariots put a whipping on us.. this team is bad.. prove me wrong please