“We Had A Little Confusion That Shouldn’t Have Been There”

October 9th, 2019

The head coach issues multiple takes

Bucco Bruce Arians evaluated his offensive line yesterday in a public forum.

And he sounded like a content man for what the unit delivered against the Saints. Perhaps he was being a bit reflective, knowing two of Sunday’s starters, Alex Cappa (broken arm) and Demar Dotson (hamstring & calf) won’t play this weekend in England.

“We had a little confusion that shouldn’t have been there when [the Saints] were walking around and doing some exotic things that we practiced, but it’s a little bit different game speed,” Arians said of the O-line on Buccaneers Radio. “But we settled down and did a pretty good job after that.”

Fielding another question about the offensive line, Arians added, “I thought the run game was very solid. You know, we had some spurts. We just didn’t convert enough third downs to get into a good rhythm on the running game.”

Arians gave credit to the Saints’ front, which is one of the best in the game. But Joe was a little troubled/confused by Arians comments.

The Bucs have a veteran offensive line, a veteran coaching staff and were facing a division opponent. So “confusion” is a bad look when you practiced for what you faced. Yeah, Joe knows that’s sports. Sometimes you screw up. But it still stinks coming from such a seasoned group.

As for the running game, Ronald Jones ranks 20th in the NFL at 4.6 yards per carry among running backs with 20 carries or more this season. Peyton Barber is far behind that, ranked 40th at 3.5 yards per carry (again, among backs with 20 or more carries). No matter how Arians wants to spin it, the Bucs don’t have a good running game by NFL standards.

That’s not Joe’s standard. That’s the NFL standard.

The Bucs rank tied for 21st in yards per rush, and they have not been explosive. Two carries for more than 20 yards is among the worst in the league. And one of those was a draw play to Ronald Jones on 1st-and-10 with the Giants in a prevent defense with 36 seconds left in the first half.

The wacky thing is that the Bucs run game is much improved from last season. Still, Joe would like to see more.

29 Responses to ““We Had A Little Confusion That Shouldn’t Have Been There””

  1. ChanEpic Says:

    I think we would all like to see more. As a ROJO detractor last season, he has impressed me this season. Last season was like a red shirt season for him.

  2. 813bucboi Says:

    saints are just a better team than us right now….no shame in that…they were 1 bad call away from playing in the SB….

    but CAR is not a better team than us right now….

    pass rush shows up, DBs will look better, offense will feed off the defense….we win…

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  3. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    #SAMEOLBUCS

  4. Bob in Valrico Says:

    Agree with ChanEpic
    ROJO has surprised and impressed. Most surprising to me is his improvement in the passing game. The good thing about Barber is that he will reduce the load on ROJO and possibly extend his career. Our last bell cow back
    had only 2 exceptional years.

  5. Defense Rules Says:

    Well, on the good news side the Bucs’ offense had 0 INTs & 0 lost fumbles. On the bad news side, they allowed Jameis to get sacked 6 times, allowed 8 QB Hits & 8 TFLs … a total of 22 faux pas. All of that in a TOTAL of only 59 offensive snaps. That’s a ‘failure rate’ of only 37%.

    Other than that, we punted well, six times actually. Gotta look on the positive side Joe.

  6. Senor Harry in Costa Rica Says:

    A little confusion? Weren’t we out scored like 20 to 3 at one point?

    The only confusion are those on the sideline calling plays

  7. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    ……if you guys thought last sunday was bad

    come this sunday, it will be a “BLOODY MASACURE FOR THESE BUTT PIRATES BLOKES”…….(said in an English accent

    ………Carolina is just licking their chops for the 2nd stringers on the right side

  8. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    ………the BUCS will lose this Sunday and we will be talking about the draft once again come November

    #SAMEOLBUCS

  9. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    …….Let’s see

    “Bad Jameis” showed up last Sunday and had TWO Interceptions that were called back…….stupid decision making once again

    We barely beat Carolina with all of our starters Healthy last time

    Cam was just bad that day missing about 10 passes…..that ain’t happening with this Allen kid

    ………………all Bucs fans a crazy if they think this is the same Ol Carolina team the BUCS faced before because they’re not

  10. ATrain Says:

    FREE

    ATRAIN

  11. Jean Lafitte Says:

    So maybe if we had signed Joe’s favorite CJ Anderson, or Jay Ajayi, or Tevin Coleman, Mark Ingram, we’d be better off? We maybe be broker but they would at least have better than a 4.6 yard average, right Joe?

  12. Defense Rules Says:

    BucsAnthem – So you believe that the Panthers will play much better as a team but the Bucs won’t? All depends on which Bucs team shows up IMO. If our offense plays like it did against the Rams, we can beat the Panthers. If we play like we did against the Saints, we’re toast.

  13. TOM Says:

    Excuses, excuses. Lets call a spade a spade. Dotson & Smith suck.

  14. Alanbucsfan Says:

    OLine was confused, MEvans was confused, Jameis was confused…
    Other than the 1 st drive in 3rd qtr, offense could do nothing- that’s why they lost- Saints’ D outplayed them.
    It’s 1 game, move on

  15. Pryda...Sec147 Says:

    We almost won that game a few mental errors on defense lost us this one not on Jaboo or the offense

  16. Waterboy Says:

    A first down is only 10 yards and by my calculations 3.5 x 3=10.5 and 4.6 x 3=13.8. That’s a first down every 3 carries. I’ll take that any day.

  17. Morgus the Magnificent Says:

    If the Bucs “are a better team than Carolina”….why doesn’t Las Vegas agree? Reality sucks.

  18. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Pryda-
    After the Bucs made it 24-17 with 5 min left in 3rd- next 3 posessions were
    3 and out, punt; sack, punt, 2 sacks punt… game over

  19. BigHog Says:

    Being more effective on third down will help, passing out of the run set will help, !being a little smarter with the blitz will help, and getting the tight ends involved will help and to have Bobo or Justin or Perriman step the hell up in the passing game! KEEP GRINDING TEAM BUCS!!!

  20. unbelievable Says:

    Wow.

    So this staff thinks the follows equals ‘pretty good’ playing:

    – 6 QB sacks
    – 8 QB hits
    – 8 TFL
    – 67 yards rushing

    So much for all that accountability talk. Bullchit Bruce is in midseason coach speak form.

  21. unbelievable Says:

    @DR – that 37% failure rate is apparently “pretty good” according to BA.

    Gonna be a long season if that’s the case….

  22. jmarkbuc Says:

    Mr. Accountability seems more like the old guy sitting on his front porch, waving his cane at the kids…”Get off my Lawn!”

    Accountability my a$$

  23. bucs4ya Says:

    Am I the only one that thinks the play calling needs to get more creative in design. If we have Mike at receiver Chris at receiver OJ in the slot Cam at TE and Rojo at running back. What is any defense going to do? Hit a few quick plays and then Mike and Chris will be wide open for a deep shot. Leftwich needs to start creating mismatches by play design.

  24. Buc1987 Says:

    DR…Anthem forgot the Rams game.

  25. Clean House Says:

    Joe, are they seasoned or weak and terrible with no depth like you said one article prior?

  26. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    @ Defense Rules

    I agree with what you’re saying…..but what alot people are not talking about was how much Bruce Arians got exposed against the Saints.

    The gameplan the Bruce Arians schemed against the saints was simply terrible and that led to the lost as well.

    Yes, players play but Bucco Bruce did not put our players in the best position to win……period.

    If they try to come out the same way against Carolina like the last time…..it’s not gonna work.

  27. Rod Munch Says:

    It’s still just gave 5 of the season in a new offense. Things have gone well since the 2nd half of the Carolina game, but this Saints defense also just completely shutdown the Cowboys who had been tearing up everything. Could just be an offweek, could be the Saints are that good, or it could just be early season issues. We will find out on Sunday.

  28. orlbucfan Says:

    This is the 6th game Bucs are playing and adjusting to (still another) head coaching regime. I HATE these Brit games. Why are the Bucs always the home team?? London, England costs us a home game? How about the Panthers? Every time we got to play one of these jokes, it’s always counted as a home game against the Bucs. BS. Glazers want to push Manchester United, move there. Sell the Bucs to a local group. Plenty of dough lives in central FL. Bucs win Sunday as the team slowly get on the same page with its coaches.

  29. Joe Says:

    Why are the Bucs always the home team?

    NFL rule: Want to host a Super Bowl? Gotta cough up a home game and go play in London.

    Bucs host the Super Bowl in February 2021.