Lack Of Explosive Runs
June 21st, 2026
Rebuilding the run game.
Just looking at what the Bucs have done in the offseason, Joe believes this figure will improve, maybe significantly.
The Bucs simply were not a good running team last year. They ranked 21st in rushing yards (1,947) and were tied for 24th in yards per carry (4.1) with three other teams. The reasons for that are almost as long as the number of cold beers Joe sucks down on a hot, steamy Florida summer Saturday.
Injuries to the offensive line and Bucky Irving’s trashed shoulder are two main culprits.
So how have the Bucs addressed this? Well, new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson who has a track record for crafting a run game (not just with Bijan Robinson). Joe has a hunch Robinson’s predecessor Josh Grizzard didn’t know how to build a run game.
Then the Bucs went out and signed Kenneth Gainwell in free agency. That’s a major depth piece.
The downside to the Bucs retooling of the run game was Rachaad White left. Joe wasn’t a big White guy as far as a runner. But he averaged 4.3 yards per carry in each of the past two seasons, and he was often able to get tough short-yardage gains. Joe’s not sure the Bucs have a runner who could fill the role of a fullback, if needed.
Last year, per handicapper-turned-stathead Warren Sharp, the Bucs had 18 percent of their rushing attempts go for no yards, or negative yards. The Bucs cannot have that many again if they hope to contend for a division title.
Yes, even in the NFC South landfill.
June 21st, 2026 at 11:27 am
Happy Father’s Day. Let’s get hammered.
June 21st, 2026 at 11:48 am
I see the SB teams Seattle and New England did worse. My conclusion…this stat is just another stat.
A good run game produces a better pass game, produces more points! A good healthy O line plus better run schemes should help a lot!
June 21st, 2026 at 11:59 am
Joe, 2 practice squad guards and a practice squad tackle. It’s hard to have a running game with Amazon drivers blocking.
June 21st, 2026 at 12:09 pm
Same thing with explosive wide receivers
June 21st, 2026 at 12:22 pm
Atl had 17% and we have their OC.
June 21st, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Can you imagine how bad Atlanta’s percentage would have been if they didn’t play us.
June 21st, 2026 at 12:40 pm
Rob, yes but they also had 4.5 yard per carry on average, placing them 10th in the league on that front and 10th is a huge improvement over 24th
June 21st, 2026 at 12:43 pm
Yep. Thinking about it, that stat board concerning percentage of running plays gaining zero or less yards- I believe that’s the most useless stat I’ve ever seen. Wow. I agree with you Joe that it’d be nice to have a running back you could call a fullback. Maybe Ko could do it should Zac ever need one?
June 21st, 2026 at 2:00 pm
This doesn’t sound statistically significant. Almost Two-thirds of the teams are within +/— 3% points. Over 46% are +/— 2%. And team record/performance doesn’t look reasonably correlated. Simply not enough spread for this line of thinking to be meaningful.
June 21st, 2026 at 2:13 pm
Not to mention a porous defense last year that often kept the team behind, forcing the offense to throw the ball to keep up.
June 21st, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Sure seemed like more. How many for 1 yd. or 2 yds? How many on 1st down? Leftwich would be proud they used his scheme.
June 21st, 2026 at 3:28 pm
There’s some stat about % of runs (I think) making adequate gains based on the down. I’m probably not getting that quite right, but seemed like it might be a better metric.
June 21st, 2026 at 4:50 pm
The stats in the table reflect runs stuffs, not explosive plays or the lack there of.
That said, things got worse after Irving came back from injury when they almost completely stopped using White to run the ball.
Three particular games after Irving came back probably skewed the results.
In week 17 against the Dolphins, Irving was stuffed 5 times on 16 RB attempts – a rate of 31.3%
In week 14 against the Saints, Irving was stuffed 7 times and Tucker was stuffed 1 time on 22 RB attempts for a rate of 27.3%
In week 16 against the Panthers, on 16 RB attempts, Irving was stuffed 1 time, Tucker was stuffed 1 time, and White was stuffed 2 times – once running over LG and once running over RG for 25%. Really? Remember who was playing the guard positions at that point? Who called those plays?
While Irving racked up 24 run stuffs in the final 6 weeks, and Tucker racked up 6, those were the only 2 run stuffs for White in the last 6 weeks of the season.
Yes, there was a reason to make a change at OC.
June 21st, 2026 at 4:54 pm
The other thing that is not reflected above is the percentage of pass plays that ended in an effective loss of down either because of a sack, an incompletion, or a completion that lost yards or made no gain.
Just the incompletions alone put that number over 18%, and there was a distressing number of completions for zero or negative yards.
June 21st, 2026 at 6:15 pm
Gainwell,Fresh Bucky and Oline, NICE!
June 21st, 2026 at 6:22 pm
Can a cracker get a few SLOBBERKNOCKERS this season!
June 21st, 2026 at 10:13 pm
On Final Cut day before the Season opener there will likely be a dozen running backs released with more ability and potential than White. He was a disappointment from day one. But great USC backs like Marcus Allen and OJ are a thing of the past. Their program is junk and we drafted a junk back from there lol. Hopefully Licht learned from that. Get proven backs through free agency unless you go early with a Bijon guy. Most rookies get spanked in the NFL.
June 21st, 2026 at 11:29 pm
And how many offensive lineman did we start last year? Hard to run or pass behind 4th string lineman.. facts. They seemed to address most of the issues. Let’s hope we stay healthy. Go Bucs
June 21st, 2026 at 11:51 pm
Partly why we went out and got Zac Robinson. Wide zone is designed and when executed properly and consistently to broaden our chances at generating chunks runs. My hope is Robinson can integrate that and still keep the gap stuff to take advantage of pulling our OLmen.
We generated only 42 explosive runs, and I think about 9-10 of those were scrambles after pass plays broke down, so our RB really only generated about 30 runs >10 yards.
Sean Tuckers last year at ‘Cuse when he ran for almost 1,500 yards was primarily out of a wide zone scheme. Everything Tucker has flashed in his time with us supports that he can thrive in that system. Whether it be how he hits the hole, his ability to get north in the blink of an eye, and what I feel is homerun hitting speed.