Graham Barton Loved Going Smashmouth
October 26th, 2026
“Hey Ben, let’s go bludgeon Atlanta like we did Carolina.”
Man, the running attack from the Bucs yesterday a beautiful thing!
The Bucs cranked out 258 on 49 carries yesterday in a curb-stomping of the Stinking Panthers. It was beautiful. And those numbers included victory formation kneeldowns for negative yardage!
Even though Baker Mayfield only threw for 64 yards, it didn’t matter. The Bucs didn’t need him. They just slammed the ball down Carolina’s throats.
Somewhere, Woody Hayes must have been smiling.
Jenna Laine of ESPN caught up with center Graham Barton after the game and Barton couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Pounding a defense into submission with the run is a dream of most offensive linemen.
“Oh, it was awesome,” Barton said. “You know, that’s one of those games like you’ll never forget. We didn’t really have to throw the ball. We just kind of kept pounding the rock, pounding the rock.”
And Barton said that’s the goal: hammer the ball on the ground so well defenses no longer even want to try to make a tackle because they’re getting so beat up.
“That’s who we want to be, right?” Barton said. “Is it going to be like that every week? Probably not. But that’s our goal, right? That should be our goal to set the tone with the run, be able to stick with it, keep pounding efficient plays, explosives, and control the clock like that.”
And, Barton noted, the Bucs probably wouldn’t have been able to pummel Carolina if not for the Bucs defense playing lights out. A close gam would have meant a lot more throws, even with Baker Mayfield’s bum thumb.
Outside of the Bears, no one has come close this season to blowing up Carolina on the ground like the Bucs did. In Week 1, the Bears had 291 yards rushing. The Bucs had 258.
If the Bucs can run each week remotely close to what they did up at Carolina yesterday, this team can win a lot of games.
Listen to how fired up Graham Barton was for today’s effort by the O-line. “I think the most important thing is turning this momentum into a win next week too.” He was also really excited to see his grandfather right after his. He made the trip from New York to watch him play 🫶 pic.twitter.com/GlQtuN6TxN
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) October 26, 2026
October 26th, 2026 at 7:04 am
It was a thing of beauty. Watching those huge holes open up for Bucky and gang was awesome. I was wondering what had gotten into those guys.
October 26th, 2026 at 7:06 am
Way to go Bucs. Run the ball. I would also put in some direct snaps to Danuels on designed runs. Let Baker do pre snap reads and coach on the field.
October 26th, 2026 at 7:11 am
That was fun to watch. But, you know what’s ironic about cheering on the running game Jose? It’s that some people are often critical of Bowles when he talks about stopping the run being a priority. If we had gotten run on like that then you can likely take away three of those turnovers and quite a few points as well. So Bowles isn’t wrong. I don’t think he’s great at his job but his thinking is sound.
October 26th, 2026 at 7:29 am
Not likely to get holding penalties on run plays (I say “likely”)
October 26th, 2026 at 7:29 am
great win but you never ever know what your going to get with this team, put three wins together and then be secretly happier but shut up about playoffs they’ll fall on their face next week i can never trust the yucs, carolina didn’t show up yesterday they lost 30-0 to buffalo at home last year so stop celebrating one win 😂
October 26th, 2026 at 7:32 am
Panthers have a terrible run defense just like the cowboys and the bucs looked good in both it’s not an identity.
October 26th, 2026 at 7:49 am
Draft a REAL CENTER and move him to guard.
October 26th, 2026 at 7:55 am
Simple as it is, OC’s game plans are always designed to attack the other team’s defensive weakness! ZR did that against the Cowboys and Panthers but give the HC/DC some credit too! The defense and special teams forced turnovers impacted both games and both QBs were good managed the outcome. How the Bucs deal with the Falcons will set the standard for what the rest of the season has in store for all.
October 26th, 2026 at 8:25 am
Our Oline loves to run the ball.
You can often tell when they break the huddle, if it’s a pass or a run.
All offensive linemen prefer the aggressiveness of run blocking- where they fire out and attack the defensive line,
As opposed to getting attacked in pass blocking.
Who wouldn’t.
But our line is different.
They are really good at Run blocking. REALLY good.
But they suck at pass blocking.
So run.
We can win a lot of games running.
Fix the pass blocking this offseason.
And yeah, lose the next 2 games, we need to hold a fire sale.
But if the team is FINALLY PLAYING TO THEIR STRENGTHS- they have a chance to win the NFC South.
And that’s what I hope for every year. Playoffs, that hopefully lead to Super Bowls.
What kind of ahole roots for his team to lose?
October 26th, 2026 at 8:32 am
Now imagine playing like this since week 1.
October 26th, 2026 at 8:41 am
Barton had his best game at center in his career Sunday. Remember he was a LT in college and it sometimes takes time to adjust. He was dominant Sunday and hopefully the light has come on for Barton at center. This is the version the Bucs were hoping for.
The Panthers defense isn’t great but the do have a great DT in Brown and Barton dominated him.
October 26th, 2026 at 8:47 am
Im probably wrong, but this is first time I saw linemen pulling all season. How many TFL’s did the Panthers have vs how many the Steelers had the previous week? Just saying.
October 26th, 2026 at 9:45 am
“Im probably wrong, but this is first time I saw linemen pulling all season. How many TFL’s did the Panthers have vs how many the Steelers had the previous week?”
Nope we’ve been lightly seasoning the run game with trap runs all year long, just haven’t run them at the rate we did yesterday to where I think-Have to look at our explosive runs-every RB who touched the ball broke a long run off it.
Even the Tucker run, while it wasn’t a pulling linemen we brought Durham in motion from the backside to the play side and he’s the one that sealed off the lane that got Tucker loose for that long TD run.
Robinson called a little bit of everything yesterday, had some zone mixed in with some duo and probably the most gap runs we’ve seen in a long time.
October 26th, 2026 at 9:58 am
WBL. Our tight ends blocked their butts off yesterday, and you darn right a tight end whether in motion or not, can pull and trap block. Our tight ends did more pulling than our interior line yesterday. I’m not sure about that, but that’s what it looked like.
October 26th, 2026 at 10:34 am
Happy for Graham Barton and the OL! I was also very happy to see ALL 3 of our RBs have success today!! That’s gotta feel good to our OL knowing they helped spring all three to big runs today!
October 26th, 2026 at 10:56 am
This is proof that Robinson was a big part of the problem…it took Liam 3 games to realize zone runs weren’t these guys strength and adjusted with gap and power…Robinson’s adjustment has probably come too late.
October 26th, 2026 at 10:57 am
Winning games is not as important as most think. The other things matter.
October 26th, 2026 at 11:10 am
Tucker,aren’t decent teams supposed to beat ,the so called teams that don’t have a great defense/ offense?? Like 95% of the posters here ,Im totally missing your point!