Replacing Playoff Lenny’s Catches
June 25th, 2023
“TB, I’ve got bills to pay. Can I be in your next dumb movie?”
Now this almost surprised Joe. When is the last time a Bucs running back was targeted in the passing game this often?
Last year the Bucs couldn’t run worth a damn. Worst in the NFL. That’s right, 32 out of 32. So no wonder they threw a lot. And the Bucs threw a lot to Playoff Lenny.
Would you believe (yes, Joe is channeling Maxwell Smart) Playoff Lenny had the third-most catches in the passing game last season of all NFL running backs? It’s true! Only Austin Ekeler and Christian McCaffrey had more. Playoff Lenny was targeted 73 times.
That’s a lot of aerial offense the Bucs have to replace, in theory. Is that why they got Chase Edmonds? Surely the Bucs didn’t sign Edmonds as a catalyst to recharge the run game. He only had 245 yards last year.
That’s camp meat production.
At least Rachaad White is good at catching the ball. Joe will have more about that later.
June 25th, 2023 at 11:57 am
Brady was desperate to dump the ball off…..way too many short passes……
I suspect Mayfield will not be doing that as much so a bit fewer throws to rbs….
June 25th, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Yes! Rachaad White is an excellent receiver, with soft hands.
I am excited to see how he will do in our new offense.
June 25th, 2023 at 12:12 pm
This just reminds of how inept Lefty & Brady were as a duo. Watching the Bucs offense last year was as bad as it gets. They missed it by that much!
June 25th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Joe has been spot on with his observations of last years offense. People complained about the increase in screens. The screens were an extension of the running game because we couldn’t run the ball! I compare our offense to the Chargers. Herbert had an incompetent OC, a bad OL, and no running game. The result was Herbert dumped it off of to Ekler because he had no time. Herbert has a cannon for arm and is pretty good outside of the pocket, and he couldn’t overcome a bad OL, and no complementary running game.
Justin Herbert stats last season: 4739 yards 25 TDs 10 INT QBR :58.2
Tom Brady stats last season. 4.623 25 Tds 9 INT QBR 90.5
Justin Herbert is a young guy with good secondary reaction skills
Tom Brady an older guy with limited pocket skills now.
Only one guy gets blamed for being a statue. So please continue to tell me how Brady being a statue was the primary blame for the season. Brady avoided many sacks with his quick release.
June 25th, 2023 at 1:00 pm
Who says the Bucs weren’t a horizontal attack last season pfft.
June 25th, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Maybe Durham, and Palmer, can catch 25 passes each, and any other of our young WR, TE, and RBs could add in 10 catches each. Done. We have also watched Playoff Lenny show his own issues with catching the ball. Good hands are difficult to replace.
But not much concern look at Charles Sims.
Roll with what we have, White, Vaughn, Edmunds, and hopefully Tucker. Laird and Brown are back to the practice squad. Cash greases a lot of wheels, and when you do not have much of any in your wallet you roll on the wheels you have. Cook, no Hunt Elliot no. Move forward with what we have. We have a good 3 RB room possibly 4 if Tucker is cleared to play. Great? Not yet seen any of that, but I do have high expectations of the new running scheme we are implementing with the RBs we have in-house.
GO!!!!!BUCS!!!!!
June 25th, 2023 at 1:18 pm
I suspect Baker will need a rb that can catch a lot of short passes when the opposing D takes away the middle and the long game. Little Baker gets happy feet and will need his third in the progression. RB receptions should go way up this year.
June 25th, 2023 at 1:39 pm
@Buc4ever. I agree Baker does have happy feet. He has the pocket presence of Helen Keller. He leaves a clean pocket too soon, and holds the ball too long. I’m not sold on Trask, but all we hear is about his deficiencies. Let’s talk more about Baker’s weaknesses. People make fun of Winston’s penchant for turnovers. Baker is a turnover machine. Baker has lead the league in turnovers the pass three seasons.
The hypocrisy of some fans is laughable. They say give Baker a
a good OL and a running game and he’ll succeed, but then they complain about last years offense and don’t put any blame on the OL and a lack of running game. So if Baker needs a good OL and running back to succeed. What did the QB need last year?
June 25th, 2023 at 2:02 pm
Typical whiny ignorant fans and media “experts” dumped on Lenny last year for not gaining a lot of yards running, while ignoring the fact that he was a big part of the passing game and led the entire team in yards gained. Sure he got a lot of dump off passes from Brady, but that is exactly what a good pass catching running back is supposed to do. He was second on the team in touchdowns scored on the Bucs, and first in first downs gained. With our non-functioning offensive line Brady was running for his life all last season. It was either dump off, take a sack (and shorten his season!), or throw it away,
How well either of our quarterbacks do is going to depend a lot on how well our O line plays this season. Bucs fans can hope there will be a big improvement, in which our running game will also improve a lot, and our quarterback will have more time to pass downfield as Brady had in 2020 and 2021.
June 25th, 2023 at 3:01 pm
What’s changed on your website in the last month that your articles no longer show correctly on my phone. Yours is the only website
June 25th, 2023 at 5:22 pm
No articles yet today about our Lord and Savior Baker Mayfield who has come to anoint us with 170 YPG?
The day is young my friends!
June 25th, 2023 at 6:27 pm
Joe do you view all of those dump-offs to Fournette last year as a positive?
June 25th, 2023 at 6:30 pm
If playoff Lenny is not signed yet, bring him back on the vet minimum or a little over. The man still has some shake and bake left in him.
June 25th, 2023 at 8:05 pm
The fact that Fournette had so many dump off catches wasn’t a good thing, it was a was a terrible offense that didnt come down to one thing but a combination of many things that made it awful.
June 26th, 2023 at 2:26 am
The kid can catch. Yes
And yes we tried to replace run production with Lenny and White catching the ball at or near the line of scrimmage. It really drove me nuts. It goes back to our offensive line not being able to protect Brady long enough for most anything else. And of course Leftnut.
Can’t run, can’t pass. What do you do? What we did was the quick, short passing game that after about week five everyone knew was coming.
Go Bucs!
June 26th, 2023 at 6:52 am
This is a joke right? Fournette got a stupid large contract to appease Brady. It was pitch and catch so TB could dump the ball in 1.5 seconds to stay upright. We all saw the play coming, just like we saw first and 10 run off tackles for no gain. Thankfully we got rid of Fournette as a pass catcher and no gain runner.
June 26th, 2023 at 8:34 am
Fournette was a good back, with an injured foot. We’ll miss him now that he’s gone. Did he ever fumble the football?
It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes home to the saints.
June 26th, 2023 at 10:36 am
I do not believe this stat matters or how to replace it.
The offensive coordinator, offensive scheme and quarterback have all changed. So it does not convert.