Charlie Heck Said Getting Thrown Into The Fire Is Part Of The NFL
September 19th, 2025
Roll with the punches.
For a while there Monday night, Joe was starting to feel back for Charlie Heck.
Think about it: The team has him practice (and play exclusively with the first-team offense) all through underwear football season, minicamp, training camp and worthless preseason.
Then, with maybe seven or eight practices before the regular season kicks off, sorry Charlie. You’re back on the bench.
Then minutes into the second game of the year Luke Goedeke goes down. Hey Charlie, we need you at right tackle. Like right now! And go shut down Will Anderson.
Talk about painting a guy in the corner. Heck didn’t play awful but he sure looked vulnerable at times. But man, the Bucs did this guy no favors.
So Joe asked Heck yesterday at One Buc Palace how difficult it was practicing at first-team left tackle for months and then all of a sudden, he’s benched right before the season and is now the Bucs’ right tackle for at least the next month.
Heck shrugged it off. Welcome to the NFL, he said.
“That’s the NFL for you,” Heck said. “You gotta be ready to go, especially if you’re in the back (of the depth chart) and roll. You know, whether that’s left or right tackle.
“So you’ve gotta go in there right tackle [if needed].”
Heck didn’t lose sight of the big picture.
“Glad we got the win,” Heck said.
It could have been worse. Remember the first game out last year when Goedeke got a concussion and Justin Skule, who is more naturally a left tackle, had to go against Aidan Hutchinson?
Yeah, that was pretty gross, wasn’t it? But Skule gradually got better to the point he didn’t embarrass himself at right tackle as part of a strong offense.
Joe thought Heck playing right tackle was better than Skule was in his first game there last season. At least the Danielle Hunter/Anderson combo didn’t completely curb stomp Heck.
September 19th, 2025 at 6:13 am
It was a Sh!t show!
September 19th, 2025 at 6:20 am
If he plays like he did Monday this week he will be out of work come next week.
September 19th, 2025 at 6:29 am
On the Egbuka TD he threw one of the better whip blocks I’ve ever seen. Don’t see those often. Illegal and dangerous. He hid it so well it wasn’t flagged. So he gets credit for that. I’ll bet his dad taught him that one when he was a kid. Go Heck!
September 19th, 2025 at 6:34 am
If we can go 2-2 in the next 4 weeks I will be okay. Once that 4 week stretch is over our Oline will inly be missing 1 starter.
September 19th, 2025 at 6:36 am
If he can’t get it done, someone else will get their shot. The NFL, not for long. We have guys, good coaches they have to make it work. We have Scott on the PS, a true center, bring him up Ben can slide back to guard. Klein, Haggard, Chukuma. Someone has to rise up, and grab a spot. Help should be on the way, Wirfs should be back soon.
September 19th, 2025 at 6:46 am
You put tha lime in the coconut and you drink ’em bode up.
RIP Harry Nielson.
Knuckle up Dan Feeny. Show up and show out.
September 19th, 2025 at 6:46 am
I don’t know about that, Joe. I saw him get spun around in a circle once, and there were several plays where he looked like he was on roller skates they pushed him back so fast. Heck makes me hecka nervous. But if any team in this league can pull off some wins with a “hey you, can you block?” offensive line, it’s the Bucs.
September 19th, 2025 at 6:58 am
Much easier to run block-so run the ball more.
September 19th, 2025 at 7:21 am
Resign Desmond Watson & MAKE HIM A TWO WAY PLAYER. HE CAN PLAY ON THE DL & OL.😁
September 19th, 2025 at 7:37 am
The good news is we know what the floor is for our RT situation until LG gets back, and we managed to win a game with him. If Heck is replaced it can only improve (or back to Heck / floor).
September 19th, 2025 at 7:38 am
Heck and Otton made the blocks to spring Rachaad on the winning td, i think he played good run blocking
September 19th, 2025 at 7:46 am
Skule got unfairly crucified after that Detroit game, in my opinion.
It was Aidan Hutchinson, after all.
And our coaching staff did nothing to adjust the game plan to give Skule some help, which would have also helped to keep our franchise quarterback on his feet.
Fair enough, we still won the game and adjusting the game plan may have meant a loss.
I see shades of the same thing happening here with Charlie.
Houston’s front 7 played a tough, physical game. They played as advertised and delivered on it.
Joe’s point about the merry-go-round Charlie’s gone through the past few weeks, and his response to it, are both spot on as far as I’m concerned.
Starters are starters and back-ups are back-ups for a reason.
Is there room for Charlie to improve? Sure. But, even Tristan would say he himself has room for improvement.
Skule got better with more snaps under his belt.
I’d like to see us give Charlie the same chance.
September 19th, 2025 at 7:51 am
charlie ‘too tall’ heck. gimme somebody stronger he gets bulled to easy. skule’s problem if i recall was the opposite, got blown by on the outside over and over.
September 19th, 2025 at 8:03 am
I have two silver quarters for whoever can guess the correct score to this weeks fixture!
September 19th, 2025 at 8:15 am
Waterboy: “I don’t know about that, Joe. I saw him get spun around in a circle once”
What Charlie did there was he pulled off the old “spin block”, not just anyone can do that.
September 19th, 2025 at 8:32 am
Heck wasnt that bad imo….i feel think he was very serviceable…..i think he’ll improve this week…
3-0!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
September 19th, 2025 at 8:36 am
the old “spin block”. Hehehehe!
September 19th, 2025 at 8:49 am
Something occurred to me during the game, WHO is making the line calls since Bredeson moved to center?
September 19th, 2025 at 8:53 am
Nothing was better than the Butt Block of Donald Penn during the 2011 disintegration that ended the Raheem era in Tampa.
September 19th, 2025 at 9:46 am
Joe … ‘But man, the Bucs did this guy no favors.’
The Bucs did him a HUGE favor: he made the 53-man roster. Backups are supposed to be versatile.
September 19th, 2025 at 9:46 am
Beeej, Bredeson is making the calls. I think joe mentioned that in an article somewhere.
September 19th, 2025 at 11:42 am
If they can make it to the Bye week 5-3 I’ll be happy (maybe). The Jets and Saints must win games because in between they have 4 very hard games with a decimated O-Line – Eagles, @Seahawks, 49ers, @Lions
The optimist in me thinks this is the time to be injured. Grind it out and get some wins because after the break they have a very easy schedule and should be healthy and getting better by the week as they gel
September 19th, 2025 at 11:45 am
After watching the game again, Heck did better than I thought in the pass game. It wasn’t great, they all need to step it up the next few weeks, but it was not too bad.
They were pretty good against the run against a very good Defensive front so that is reassuring.
September 19th, 2025 at 1:13 pm
Charlie has a really small head and a weak neck.
September 19th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Why can’t we bring a slew of linemen that didn’t get drafted from top colleges and try them out?? There has to be some hidden gems out there that got overlooked. How about from the USFL??
September 19th, 2025 at 3:38 pm
How about Bucs gets some luck on offense, everybody starts without a bunch of CRITICAL injuries, and we fans can actually see what we’ve got here? When is the last time THAT has happened?
September 19th, 2025 at 8:34 pm
@Ryan Smith
“If we can go 2-2 in the next 4 weeks I will be okay.”
I do not disagree but I want a little margin of error. The Jets are beatable. Let’s run it to 3-1 and see how it goes.
Vanessa
“Skule got unfairly crucified after that Detroit game, in my opinion.
It was Aidan Hutchinson, after all.”
That’s a great point! Sadly one of the hardest thing for sports fans is giving the other team any credit. They NEVER beat us..we just LOSE games. I disagree.
“they pay the guys on the other side too”
September 19th, 2025 at 11:40 pm
@stpetebucsfan
“they pay the guys on the other side too”
They certainly do, lol.