Time For A Run-Game Consultant

October 15th, 2023

“Mr. Glazer, we’ll get this right.”

How bad does it have to get for the Bucs to look in the mirror and get help for a Tampa Bay rushing attack that has been miserable through multiple coordinators, seasoned position coaches, experienced quarterbacks and, yes, behind a talented offensive line?

Hell, if Bucs corporate sponsorship sales were struggling for nearly a year and a half like the Bucs’ running game has been, Joe suspects Team Glazer would be demanding answers.

Joe isn’t demanding answers. Joe’s just demanding the Bucs address the issue immediately.

The run game coordinator is the same; that’s co-offensive line coach Harold Goodwin. He and co-offensive line coach Joe Gilbert have emptied their knowledge banks to first-time playcaller Dave Canales, who has praised their insight and teachings. Offensive guru/advisor Tom Moore, who was given a lifetime honor by the Hall of Fame this summer, is in the building for his fifth Bucs season.

Point fingers wherever you choose, but the run game is going nowhere. It’s neither creative nor effective. And it’s certainly fair to point a finger at the running backs scouting and evaluation by coaches.

No. 1 running Rachaad White’s career sample size is now over 200 carries. He’s not Peyton Barber.

Bucs running backs today finished with an abysmal 35 yards on 13 carries. That was below their league-worst season average and below the yards per carry allowed by the Lions entering today’s blowout loss.

With a bye week to fix the running game, the Bucs came up empty.

It’s time for the powers at One Buc Palace to acknowledge the collective failures and higher a run-game consultant to watch the last 24 Bucs games with fresh eyeballs. Help is desperately needed.

Or the Bucs can keep doing what they’re doing, which is the NFL equivalent of banging their head against a wall.

The Bucs lead the NFC South and have a real shot at a successful season as they transition out of the Tom Brady era. Joe sure would like to see what this offense would look like with, say, the 20th-ranked rushing attack versus the league’s worst. Joe thinks it would look a hell of a lot better.

Please don’t tell Joe there aren’t offensive minds out there who could figure out how to run effectively behind Tristan Wirfs and Matt Feiler.

25 Responses to “Time For A Run-Game Consultant”

  1. SlyPirate Says:

    32 TEAMS IN NFL. BUCS RANK 30 in OFFENSE
    Only two teams have scored less points than the Bucs. Time for a scoring consultant.

    “Canales for HC” can stop. 2 weeks to prep. Healthy team. Detroit has injuries and they’ve given up +20 points in all but one game. Dude is JV.

  2. optimisticbucsfan Says:

    Licht getting exposed…again

  3. Bucs13 Says:

    Joe, one on of Brady’s podcast this year, he emphasized the importance of an effective run game. He said the teams that run the ball effectively will win. Raved about the 49ers offense. Brady did not want to throw the ball 50x. He wanted some semblance of a run game.

  4. Old School Bucs Says:

    Joe I am convinced now. You are a clown. 1. You think the bucs have a real shot? At what? 2. Fix the run game? Pay me. I will tell you how. No wait. I will tell you for free. You have to have beasts that love to run block first. As I have been saying since last year, this oline sucks!!!! They are soft and only want to pass protect, which they are not very good at either. Back to have a real shot. No team has a
    real shot without a good defense. This team gets gashed with big plays at critical times going back to last year. This defense is always hurt and lives in the year Brady led them to their superbowl.

  5. K_bassuka Says:

    Time for a QB that make defenses pay when they load the box.

  6. David Kilmer Says:

    The offensive line at this point is simply not a run blocking team. The team also needs physical running backs. R White may be better suited as a 3rd down back. He is effective catching the ball in space, but not used enough. None the less, with this current offensive line, the best running back in the nfl would be pedestrian .
    Then again when you are behind 11 or more points in the 4th quarter and you are running the ball up the middle against a great run defense, you are asking to be handed your hag in your hand , which is exactly what happened.
    Final line, poor game calling poor execution.
    Soundly defeated

  7. Bee Says:

    35 yards on 13 carries between 2 RBs. Pathetic. Face it. This team probably needs to tank, shed some.players and salary and start over. The Eagles did it and look at them now. Oh….and we need to see what Trask can do before we draft a QB in the spring.

  8. TonySoprano Says:

    The major factors:

    1) Hainsey and Feiler. Aa the C, Hainsey should be leading that arrowhead or a pocket, but it’s always the opposite. The pocket implodes with him in the middle of the run game. As for Fieler, don’t let his size fool you. He’s a stiff in the run game. Mauch is off and on but at least shows promise for growth. It also seems like, schematically, often the linemen don’t know if they should stay on a block or move to the next level against LB, often ending up not blocking anyone effectively.

    2) Our TEs are terrible run blockers. They just get in the way and cause negative traffic at the line of scrimmage. Even Ko is a liability against D linemen. We might as well try to spread the D out instead of clogging lanes with these useless blockers.

    3) RBs are pretty terrible. None of them do anything especially well, much less are any of them well-rounded.

  9. Bucs13 Says:

    Wirfs said Brady would hold extra OL meetings to work on the run game.

  10. Miller5252 Says:

    No more Le’Veon Bell BS. Need a back that hits the hole like Rojo did. Rojo may have been a head case but he was a great change of pace from donut Lenny, and it worked. No more slowing down when you get the hand off and then hop around until you’re tackled. Just get a guy who goes all out when he gets the ball and wants to run over people.

  11. Bucs Guy Says:

    This is on the coaches — not the GM

  12. Bobby Says:

    Leonard is still available and out there. Why doesn’t Jason bring him back!!!???

  13. dalvincookrules Says:

    What good is a run game consultant when you have a couple RBs who wouldn’t be able to play for my old high school RIGHT NOW!

  14. dalvincookrules Says:

    it’s called TALENT, and the Glazers refuse to pay for it.

  15. rrsrq Says:

    I think Peyton Barber is available

  16. Posey99 Says:

    Where was Sean Tucker?

  17. Duane in Sanford Says:

    Hainsey is soft. He was soft all last season. Look at the end of every sorry run play- more times than not you will find him on the turf and facing the wrong direction. For my two coppers, I would recommend finding a way to regrown Jensen’s bum knee.

  18. RagingBrisket Says:

    Oline is getting their aases kicked in the trenches on virtually every rush down. Wake up. The oline cannot win up front. Our less than spectacular RBs would be serviceable behind most lines in this league. This line is not physical enough to move the men in front of them.

  19. Glass Half Full Guy Says:

    5 games in and I’ve seen absolutely nothing that tells me we’ve improved our run game. Canales can chirp about it all he wants but the dude is so far proving to be exactly what he is….an inexperienced l, low level coach who talks a good game but delivers nothing.

    Goodwin and Gilbert should have been shown the door with Leftwich. We may not have all-pros at every position on the line but they are all big, strong NFL-caliber linemen who, with the right coaching could be doing so much better and playing to their strengths not trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

    Just like last year. We have good players (for the most part) but bad coaches. Probably the best game they’ve played so far was against the Saints and that wasn’t one that I’d frame and hang on the wall.

    Canales has 12 more games to make a believer out of me. I would prefer to see it on the field than listen to his shtick behind a microphone. That got old before preseason ended.

    During the bye week, I ran a ton of stats comparing our offense through 4 games this year compared to last year. We may have been 2 – 2 last year and 3 – 1 this year but the wins look like a mirage when you compare numbers. Especially in the run game. Only one stat that stood out was Brady had 6 sacks (but still had the fewest at 22 by season’s end) and Baker only had 4. Our new “offensive guru” looks like a snake oil salesman so far to me.

  20. TURBO 808 Says:

    The team is too good not to address the RB position. We need to make a trade for a top tier RB (ahem King Henry).

    The loss could be a blessing in disguise? If baker hits Palmer maybe we pull off a win and think we can overcome our weak run game

  21. PewterStiffArm Says:

    Uh, it’s called getting a running back that has absolutely no fear of hitting daylight. A power runner that doesn’t tippy toe through the tulips. We didn’t upgrade and here we go. I know we were strapped for cash but come on, we don’t need a star just someone who knows how to negotiate obstacles.

  22. garro Says:

    Yes corporate America’s solution…Hire more management…

    Call BA! I don’t think he will tell you there needs to be another consultant. Better players and maybe a better coach or two.

    Go Bucs!

  23. doolnutts Says:

    The OL is solid in pass pro but I just dont see any open holes running. In numerous plays the RB would get the ball and run straight ahead into the back of an OL. Did anyone see that one play in particular our OL or TE got nearly completely blown up and White found a cut back for positive yards? And I am not even saying white is great or even good but even to your point Peyton Barber had holes. The OLD has dont a great job for being a mix of average but its not enough. We just simply need to upgrade in the draft. My 1st round pick would be another guard or an elite potential center if one is in the draft. Oddly enough over the years OL has been one of our greatest strengths and this might be the weakest line in the Jason Licht era. Mason, Joseph, Mankins, Jensen, Doston, Cappa etc anyone of these guys were better than what we have now outside of Wirfs.

  24. Hodad Says:

    doolnutts, you have the same problem as our RBs, they don’t see the holes opening up either! That doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

  25. Pewter Power Says:

    Chase Edmonds is going to be RB1 when he returns. It’s weird because he wasn’t having trouble hitting the holes white couldn’t find in preseason.

    Being demoted is probably the only thing to wake him up.