Running Game Finally Shows Up
November 13th, 2022
Persistence paid off today.
Sometimes it seemed one of three things would happen. Either Byron Leftwich was going to find a way to get the run game going; Leftwich was going to die; or, Leftwich was going to get fired.
When Leftwich — as predictable as a well-endowed, dirndl-wearing frauline getting hit on in a Munich beerhall — called for a first down run up the middle to start today’s game against the Seahawks in Germany, Joe nearly audibly groaned and fell back on his seat.
At least for one night, Leftwich seems to have it right. The Bucs ran for 161 yards and 105 of those came from Rachaad White.
Playoff Lenny (4.1 yards a carry) and White (4.8) kept the chains moving. It was a beautiful thing and the rest of the offense just fed off the running attack.
For one game, against a good team no less, Leftwich’s stubbornness paid off. If the Bucs’ run game continues to take it to defenses like it did today, this Bucs team should do damage down the road.
November 13th, 2022 at 2:51 pm
Looked very good today a well deserved rest get healed up for the stretch run.
November 13th, 2022 at 2:54 pm
Lefty was chicken fried today. Way to go Leftie. That is going to be a fun flight home.!!! Happy Bucs.
November 13th, 2022 at 2:55 pm
The second and long runs were nice to see. Those are cheap yards you have to have. They ran a ton of out of shotgun. at least that’s what I saw. If you keep defenses honest, Brady will do the rest. It’s as good as he’s looked all year, and the running game was a big reason why.
November 13th, 2022 at 2:59 pm
That was much better
November 13th, 2022 at 3:00 pm
You know when the game ends taking knees in the opponents red zone the Sluggo and Leftie prevailed…..congratulations to them.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Still seems like TB12 is not quite right, throwing behind Julio twice on crossing patterns, but better than earlier this season. Maybe now that the divorce is off the table he can re-focus on the task at hand. GO BUCS!
November 13th, 2022 at 3:04 pm
It feels like we won the super bowl today for some reason.
Anyone else catching those feels? Everything about this first game in Germany was amazing.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:06 pm
I saw one first down where there was an actual play action pass, I almost fell over.
Really, both of our lines out powered the Seahawks lines. That was the key to the game.
I hope they don’t forget how to do that over the bye. The rest of the season looks like cake if the lines can keep doing that.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:07 pm
Marked improvement with White and what a heady play going down when most would have tried to score.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:07 pm
But are we gonna talk about Lenny’s 0.0 QBR?!
November 13th, 2022 at 3:10 pm
Brady’s washed up and not very good. SMH.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
Week off … hopefully nobody makes the news
November 13th, 2022 at 3:13 pm
Wonder when Jensen returns
November 13th, 2022 at 3:15 pm
My reaction was much worse. But they actually called more end runs today which worked against the Cowboys in game one. Great time for a break.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:19 pm
The OL collectively played their best game today and we got all 3 RBs to contribute, can only be mad at that if we can’t call on those again to help shoulder the load. Good game by our offense, but it can be better.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:20 pm
Joe! Why is no one mentioning that White replaced Fournette in the starting lineup? Thats huge!
November 13th, 2022 at 3:23 pm
roughshod white
#RoughshodWhite
November 13th, 2022 at 3:31 pm
Def made offense more balanced. Godwin looked a bit better.. think maybe they also doubled Evans a lot more second half. He was quiet but everyone else benefited
November 13th, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Joe what was Leftwich cause of death? homicide? suicide? extreme frustration? yeah something was gonna break if something didn’t change.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:36 pm
honestly the run game was a pleasure to watch and it opened up play action as good as it has been all year good game for the bucs in many ways
November 13th, 2022 at 3:40 pm
His best play call was the fake screen to Julio. Of the games I’ve watched I hadn’t seen that play or simi.ar play called. Defenses had anticipated all these short, quick throws in previous 5-7 games
November 13th, 2022 at 3:48 pm
Jay, noticed that too. Seems like they’ve run that quick screen about 20 times. Good to see BL actually building on something. Brady had both Evans and Godwin wide open.
November 13th, 2022 at 3:52 pm
You play a bad Seattle run defense, now this dope is going to take this game as proof that his run up the middle on every first down offense, where your goal is to score 17 points a game, is the way to go.
November 13th, 2022 at 4:00 pm
No screens today = W
November 13th, 2022 at 4:03 pm
Brady, White, GODECKE’s REPLACEMENT, the receivers, donovan, all played a great game!
November 13th, 2022 at 4:30 pm
We ran well…..but the big difference was our passing…..most passes beyond the sticks…..only 2 passes to RBs & no passes to White.
November 13th, 2022 at 5:01 pm
Brady and the rest keep talking about “execution” and I get that. But after today’s performance I can’t help but wonder if the Bucs had lost their “want to”?
Execute? Want it more than the other guys? Call it what you wish but it’s the first time I’ve seen our OL absolutely win, dare I say dominate, the trenches.
What made the difference? The want to on the part of the OL?
November 13th, 2022 at 5:19 pm
Proves running back by committee work. Just about every team but the Bucs had been sharing the carries across RB’s, even ones with elite talent.
November 13th, 2022 at 5:42 pm
Chesapeake- Dude are you watching the same game? He missed two balls in the entire day both to the LB both great plays. Outside of that he was throwing dimes all day , Couple near misses to Godwin and Jones, a bad route and a holding call. He was immense he’s turned the season around for them with a minute left in the game last week versus the Rams you critiquing him today negatively is either trolling as a Brady hater in disguise or cluelessness, you pick
November 13th, 2022 at 6:41 pm
Brady looked sharper today. White was exciting to watch, finally some speed at rb. The defense was solid for three quarters, got a little shaky later. O line had its best game by far. Nice win that was needed big time. Oh ya, Otton is a stud. Feature him more please. Scotty has no hands, tries to catch the ball on his chest, lucky bounce saved his has and why jump off his feet just to catch a ball with his chest? Great speed, no hands.
November 13th, 2022 at 6:44 pm
Braden. I’m gonna talk about it. Wtfff stoopidwich. He tried to have Lenny throw the game away but bowles bailed him out for once. Holy S this guy can’t call a game to save his life. I guess he figured Lenny can’t run anymore maybe he can pass? The Bucs will never win one comfortably with him calling plays. Fire that clown
November 13th, 2022 at 7:01 pm
On a side note. Someone please tell Miller to stop jumping when he doesn’t need to. My grandson does the same thing playing catch with me. That was a walk in TD, if he stays on his feet. It’s almost like he fights to catch every pass.
November 13th, 2022 at 7:02 pm
The running game forces the opposing defense to change how it plays. As a result, pass protection gets better, and Brady starts to hold the ball longer to let the play develop.
Everything starts with the running game. Which means everything starts with the Offensive Line. If you can’t run defenses blitz and Brady gets antsy in the pocket and very risk-averse.
These threads are funny – because about half the people here have nothing to say beyond fire BL.
November 13th, 2022 at 7:17 pm
I may be imagining things but I think they ran a lot more with Brady under center today and were more effective than when they have been mostly running from the shot gun in previous games
I think I will rewatch to see.
November 13th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
The Bucs only scored 21 points. We still had a ton of 1st down runs for minimal gain and 3rd and longs. Yes, overall the run game statistics look better. But we are still putting ourselves in bad and unnecessary situations. We had two first down play action passes, both went for huge gains. Why the hell aren’t we doing that more often??? Instead we choose 0-2 yard HB dives. If our defense didn’t play so well today we would have gotten the L and we would all be talking again how bad Leftwich is. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that he is still a terrible play caller.
November 13th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Rod Munch – concerned about you man. It wasn’t perfect but today was a good win. Hope all is well. You’ve got support here.
Thanks for all that you do Joes!
November 13th, 2022 at 7:32 pm
this guy is a freaken moron, I’ve had it with his play calling!
November 13th, 2022 at 7:37 pm
Game-ball 1A goes to O-line. 1B goes to D-line. Everyone fed off the line play, and we saw the result.
What a great win! Not a 55-10 win or anything exotic, but we were dominant most of today, we were very competitive, and we wanted the win more than the other team.
Now the offense needs to figure out how to score another TD per game, and we’ll be just fine the rest of the way.
November 13th, 2022 at 8:34 pm
Chicago ran for 258 yards today and lost.
That’s because it’s 2022, and you don’t win by running the ball, you win by scoring points, and teams do that via the air.
November 13th, 2022 at 9:31 pm
Byron is paid to be right. Today he was. Let’s keep it going
November 14th, 2022 at 5:32 am
it was nice to see a good .running game. go bucs.
November 14th, 2022 at 7:11 am
Darden needs to be replaced. He has no clue when to fair catch, when to let it go. On top of that, it’s obvious he does not want to get hit like scotty miller.
November 14th, 2022 at 12:29 pm
Better execution is masking the fact that leftwich is still a terrible playcaller bucs win in spite of him rather than because of him.
November 14th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
Great that the running game have finally returned, and it’s like a rebirth of sorts, the BUCS have the players to turn their season around,and win the Super bowl, the Chiefs can’t beat them again, all they have to do is to find a player whose job is to harass The chief quarter back run with him Mahomes and keep him off balance and unsettled, and don’t let Mahomes run with the football he is good but can be contained, but the Bucs have to from start send a message to him also I don’t see any team that is built to really best the Bucs, but Tar Baby have to do a better coaching job
November 14th, 2022 at 1:26 pm
Happy the run game is back for the Bucs, they can win it all , they have been through it all and since the wife of Brady who never loved him is gone he will be more happy and win it all, how can a wife after so many years want her husband to stop playing football, and become a couch potato? Brady never told her to stop modelling, showing off her flesh for money, she became rich out of it, and don’t need Brady anymore , saying she our grow Brady, probably looking for a new man and wanted to get rid of Brady, but When Brady is ready he can get a better woman, one that the world don’t see her flesh between her legs
November 19th, 2022 at 3:57 am
BradentuckeyBuc Says:
November 13th, 2022 at 3:07 pm
But are we gonna talk about Lenny’s 0.0 QBR?!
SufferingSince76 Says:
November 13th, 2022 at 3:10 pm
Brady’s washed up and not very good. SMH
Now that is funny …I don’t care who you are… that is funny
November 19th, 2022 at 4:10 am
Tom looked comfortable in the pocket… really… for the first time all year.
Good running game helped with that, but the offensive line has been better. Thus giving Tom more confidence to go through his progressions. Finding Godwin, Evans, and now Julio…finally… for longer completions instead of those miserable short of the chains passes.