Tony Romo Details How To Stop The Bucs
October 12th, 2021
Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich
Can the Bucs offense really be stopped?
That’s highly doubtful without a massive pash rush and/or injuries to the Bucs. But former quarterback and current CBS analyst Tony Romo says he has a plan.
After calling the Bucs-Dolphins game Sunday, Romo talked to CBS Sports HQ and was asked how he would slow the mighty Tampa Bay offense.
“You almost have to like invite them to run the ball. You have to shorten their possessions because if you get a 12-, 14-, 15-possession game, they’re going to outscore you,” Romo said.
“But if you can create a six-, seven-, eight-possession game, it’s not just you running the football, it’s you saying, ‘Run the ball, Tom. Here, see, you have numbers. It’s really inviting. Keep running it.'”
By “numbers,” Romo meant six-man fronts by a defense, essentially making rushing the Bucs’ smart call.
“Make’em have four third-downs on a drive that are 3rd-and-2, 3rd-and-6, and then get aggressive once and then they’ll overshoot it and then they have to kick a field goal or punt,” Romo said. “And that’s really what it’s about. It’s about not giving up the big-play touchdown, inviting the run.”
Romo went on to say red zone defense is the critical next component to slowing the Bucs, and then Romo laughed and it’s all not so easy.
But Romo is correct. An opponent must cut the Bucs’ possessions, and it’s not going to happen by the opponent leaning on its own running game. The Bucs’ run defense is too dominant to even attempt it.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:08 pm
Romo is absolutely right, this was what I predicted Belichick would attempt to do against the Bucs. Lighter packages, 6 to 8 men dropping back into coverage. It’s an engraved invitation to run the damn ball. It takes the ball out of Brady’s hands, encourages the Bucs to do something they’re not good at, and reduces the number of possessions within the game.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:10 pm
Who woulda thunk it.
Romo makes sense, and that is what the Bucs need to do to win is just keep throwing it.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:12 pm
Romo is unlistenable b/c he says “…..right?” at the end of every sentence like a con artist
October 12th, 2021 at 2:25 pm
The only problem is when you let us run…..we run well……the only way to beat our offense is to create turnovers….and we aren’t allowing that.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:29 pm
Another way to stop the Bucs is to grant pill-popping, Natty-Boh-binge-drinking, Rojo-peeved, Trask-bashing, meltdown-having, Monday-morning-quarterbacking, Ray Jay breaking-and-entering @Medicated Pete access to the field at halftime to slip some peaches and happy pills into the players’ Gatorade buckets.
But they won’t.
And the Bucs will continue to score.
#GoBucs #BeatPhilly
October 12th, 2021 at 2:31 pm
I still say they gotta bum rush TB. I mean lay him out and take the penalty if thats what it takes. I would hate to see it, but I see no other option.
Romo makes sense….he’s essentially saying wait for us to make a mistake. It could work, but it would still be a close game and we know TB is a closer.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:34 pm
We don’t run well. In fact, the Bucs are low third-quartile in the yards per carry measurement. If anything the yards per carry stat should be much higher as defenses are primed to defend the pass rather than the run against the Bucs.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:34 pm
Ironically enough this strategy could also spell downfall for the opponent if the bucs defense can get back on track. By forcing the bucs to run, if they run well your in a sticky situation as now you actually need to cover the run. This only works if they don’t run well, and since the reason they are running is because you play a scheme that gives them the advantage in the trenches, they could very well run extremely efficiently. Then you have to go back to covering the run and you get killed down field.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:34 pm
Romo is correct, and it’s why all the people saying we need to run the ball more don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s 2021, you use the short passing game as your run game. Also there is nothing more that Leftwich would desire than running up the gut not only one 1st down, but on 2nd and 3rd too, if he had his choice, this would be a 1.2yards up the middle and a cloud of dust offense.
We don’t need to run more, we need to be more creative WHEN we run.
Or we need to put Brady in shotgun and let him call the game from the field and do a hurry up offense, because when Brady ignores the moron Leftwich and goes to a hurry up, we move right down the field with no resistance.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:35 pm
Tony’s strategy only works if the opponent’s offense can efficiently score and not turn the ball over. Those are two big ‘ifs”.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:38 pm
Tom will see it then let you know what the deal is.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:39 pm
No problem. The way our backs have been running, we’ll still put up 45 points a game.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:41 pm
I actually agree with this for our defense. We need to play an extra DB and invite the other teams to run. NOBODY runs against us now. Just until we stop the bleeding on the back end.
October 12th, 2021 at 2:44 pm
Sounds BB’s plan, not Romo’s…
October 12th, 2021 at 3:09 pm
Or the opposition can focus all it’s attention on offense. Screens and quick passes leaves Bowles and his defense dazed and confused. Play to try to keep pace
October 12th, 2021 at 3:27 pm
PassingThru, I hear what you are saying but I think the Bucs are good at running the football when they have to be. I just look at the team status and currently the Bucs are 29th in the NFL in rushing attempts and 18th in yards per carry. They are 17th in rushing TDs as well. I think those numbers indicate that they are have a good running game when it’s used. When you have Evans, Godwin, Brown, and Gronk as receiving weapons (I still can’t believe I’m writing that) why would they run the ball more at this point? I’m not saying you are arguing this.
Exciting times!
October 12th, 2021 at 3:32 pm
Agree with Stu it sounds an awful lot like Bellichicks plan. Which I guess you gotta say worked…….but Brady didnt have his best game, our recievers dropped lots of passes and the rain played at least a small factor against us. Maybe Bills defense got our guys off their game but Id like to see us on a crisp day. Felt like we could have put up our usual 30+ if we were a little sharper.
I think its safe to say that we are one of the toughest offense in all of NFL history to stop. Thank Tom but ya gotta give a hat tip to Byron and Bruce as well.
October 12th, 2021 at 3:57 pm
That all sounds fine & dandy, and may look good on paper, (from Tony Romo)
But it looks like the only way to beat the Bucs offense, is if the Bucs offense has a bad game.
Bucs offense, are “bad to the bone” all of em. From O-line to skilled players.
And I don’t feel writing an article, on them, lol
The most points on scoreboard, still wins games. The most important stat.
All the other stats, are just “window dressing”
October 12th, 2021 at 3:59 pm
@Tony Romo … ‘You have to shorten their possessions because if you get a 12-, 14-, 15-possession game, they’re going to outscore you.’
Not buying it. I agree with SlyPirate. In the Bucs 5 games so far this season, here’s what we’ve done:
o Game 1: Bucs 13 drives (31 pts); Cowboys 13 drives (29 pts)
o Game 2: Bucs 12 drives (48 pts); Falcons 14 drives (25pts)
o Game 3: Bucs 10 drives (24 pts); Rams 10 drives (34 pts)
o Game 4: Bucs 11 drives (19 pts); Patriots 11 drives (17 pts)
o Game 5: Bucs 10 drives (45 pts); Dolphins 9 drives (17 pts)
In our most convincing win of the season (against the Dolphins), Bucs scored 45 pts in only 10 drives. In our only loss of the season (against the Rams) Bucs only scored 24 points, also in 10 drives.
The only team to beat us (the Rams) was a more BALANCED team (offense & defense) and thoroughly kicked our butts on both sides of the ball. IMO the game wasn’t even as close as the 10-point spread might make it seem. We got beaten up.
Interestingly, Bucs lost the TOP battle quite convincingly in the first 2 games (most possessions by both teams) yet won the game (we ran relatively little). We pretty much broke even in TOP in the Rams game despite running the most plays, but still lost (again ran relatively little). Then BA decided to run much more against the Pats & Dolphins and we really controlled the TOP (mostly because of our run game) & got the wins.
The real bottom line IMO is when we control the clock with a somewhat more balanced attack, this Bucs offense is really difficult to stop. It becomes a ‘Pick Your Poison’ type of attack.
The Rams beat us because they were more physical on BOTH sides of the ball. And that’s what it takes to beat the Bucs.
October 12th, 2021 at 4:02 pm
Room should know… he beat the crap out of the Bucs enough times in his career.
October 12th, 2021 at 4:04 pm
Romo is a talking head whose claim to fame is dating Brittany Spears before she boarded the crazy train; I don’t put much stock in his overinflated opinion
Having said that, Go Bucs! Kick some Philly butt.
Let’s go Brandon!
Peace, out
October 12th, 2021 at 4:19 pm
The poor ol’ Bucs, are barely 13-1 since the bye, last year.
Whatta good problem to have.
I think other teams would sign-up for that, lol
October 12th, 2021 at 4:33 pm
The Bucs offense is so good.
They could start Medicated Pete on the field somewhere, and still win!!
Well…. maybe not Medicated Pete. But prolly someone else.
October 12th, 2021 at 4:41 pm
This is a good time to establish that running game I’ve been calling for!
Feed RoJo the rock until he drops!
The team needs to establish tape that they can run the ball at will!
10 days to recover and step up their game going into the middle of the season!
October 12th, 2021 at 4:45 pm
Isn’t this a strategy our defensive coordinator should be using against opposing offenses too?
October 12th, 2021 at 4:46 pm
There’s some misreading into what Romo is saying. Romo is inferring that the reduced number of drives is the result of success, moving the chains and even scoring. He’s assuming that the Bucs run out lots of clock on long scoring drives that have a lot of running plays, ditto for the opposing team (a team crappy at the run wouldn’t try this strategy). In reality a large number of drives is attributable to two things: A quick-paced passing attack that scores using very little clock (Miami game), or a failed series of drives that die quickly, resulting in lots of punts (New England game) and few scores.
October 12th, 2021 at 5:04 pm
That’s a good pic of Byron.
I never noticed before, but he’s got really nice lips doesn’t he?
October 12th, 2021 at 5:14 pm
He annoys me at times but he is a pretty damn good analyst. He makes a pretty valid point there but I don’t really know if it would work.
If you put in 6 man fronts the Bucs will be able to run for 5 to 10 yards a pop all day. Add to that their quick hit wide receiver screen passes, which are essentially a running play, and the Bucs will thrive.
If that is a strategy, my guess is the defense loses patience before the offense and comes up and plays tight… And there goes Evans or Brown or Miller deep.
I think BL and Brady could be patient enough in that situation… Someone would have to hold BA back. LoL
October 12th, 2021 at 6:07 pm
Wow Romo regurgitating what Belichick did and calling it is analysis. Now you know why he did nothing in the NFL except got beat up. If a team has the ability to go up and down the field on an opponent, why would you put the brakes on? D just needs to figure out how to stop the underneath stuff and game OVA. I’m not going to research it but in the 5 games how punts have Bucs had? Maybe DR has that stat.
October 12th, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Bernard and Lenny do not mind at all. Dare them to rush it, and they will. Our line loves running down hill.
October 12th, 2021 at 6:41 pm
Number one, you can’t shorten the game by running yourself. Number two, A.B. scored on a shallow cross, not a long bomb. Number three, we can, and will run the ball down your throat, than play action on that beating you deep anyway. The plan is sound, but how many teams horses, can beat the horses we trot out?
October 12th, 2021 at 8:59 pm
Listnfrmafar … That one’s easy: 17 punts. Had 4 punts in each of the first 4 games, but only 1 in the drubbing of the Dolphins.
October 12th, 2021 at 9:02 pm
Hodad … One thing I think I’m noticing is that with Lenny out there the Bucs seem less ‘predictable’. He’s running really well IMO, he catches well, and haven’t really seen any problems with his blocking. Different story with either RoJo or Gio out there.
October 12th, 2021 at 9:25 pm
Of course, by the 4th quarter, your defense which has been living on the field is gasses and could not stop my grandmother.
October 13th, 2021 at 7:38 am
I actually think it’s the opposite. This offense breaks down when defenses make them play off schedule and out of structure. You have to stop the run, force them into unfavorable down/distance, and hope to god you’ve got a guy or two that can tee off on a pass rush bc that’s about the only thing you can do to reliably slow Tom down.
October 13th, 2021 at 10:15 am
What I loved most was hearing Romo talk about how you can stop the Bucs, but the Bucs go on to put up 45 points in that game. Classic.
October 13th, 2021 at 10:58 am
I remember Joe Judge saying “don’t worry about trying to beat Tom Brady. You must beat his weapons.”
October 14th, 2021 at 6:55 am
Why are Buc’s fans here, suggesting ways to beat the Buc’s ?