At least the Buccaneers have a balanced attack. Hang the banner.
The Eagles game has left a sour taste in my mouth. The Bucs were pretty much dominated in every facet. Though the defense tried in the first half, the onslaught was too much, and they couldn’t stop D’Andre Swift to save their lives. It was bad, but this is against a really exceptional opponent. Despite my doom and gloom from last night, I really think the Buccaneers can recover from this. However, that all starts with the run game.
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Todd Bowles and Dave Canales insist that this is a run first team. Ok, fair enough, I can accept that. Oh wait, I just looked at our rushing stats. 2.8 ypc?!!!! That is abysmal. You cannot run the football if that is what you are putting out. And there is a lot of blame to go around.
Rachaad White is not inspiring a lot of confidence that he is the future. Against the Vikings, he should’ve worn a fedora and fingerless gloves with the amount of dancing he did in the backfield. And that showed in this game. Even Bowles called him out for trying too hard to get the big play instead of hitting the holes given to him. He is averaging 3.1 ypc. That makes me want to barf. White has shown promise, but if I was him, I would be worried about keeping his roster spot come next season.
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Now, I know I just criticized White for doing his best MJ impression for two games, but I would stay in the backfield as long as possible considering his o-line is doing shit all to open lanes for him. Swift had holes the size of the Grand Canyon while a mouse couldn’t slip through ours. I actually thought it looked ok in pass protection (ok given the whole of Georgia was on the other side), but run blocking was non existent. Out of all the linemen, the one I am most surprised that has looked utterly outmatched is Robert Hainsey. He was fine last season, but he looked lost today, especially in the run. Again, I understand the competition the line was facing, but there is no excuse for what the run game.
However, if any blame could be redirected from the line, it would be Dave “Leftwich” Canales insisting to run it up the middle every single first down. This was the shit that drove fans insane with Leftwich, and Canales is just doing it again.
Let me throw some numbers at you. You won’t like them, but you’ll get them anyway. Shoutout to Josh Queipo for making my head explode. They averaged 2.3 ypc when they ran it on first down. They averaged 9.4 passing on first down. And he kept running it on first down!! And that run which resulted in a safety. What in the actual fuck was the logic there? You run it up the middle on the most obvious run play when the o-line is weakest in the middle? Yes, he is a first time playcaller, but that is inexcusable. I would take Matt Canada and his fifty jet sweeps if it meant getting more than three yards on first down.
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So, who is most to blame for the run game woes? The answer is yes. I would say the least amount of blame can be placed on White, but at a certain point, you have to break one tackle in a game, and our running backs can’t do that. That being said, even Marshawn Lynch can’t run through a brick wall, which is what the Buccaneers were facing. Canales needs to adjust and understand that what he was doing will not work against teams with an actual defense. I don’t anticipate good things happening if we constantly shoot ourselves in the foot on offense.
This article was used with permission from cannoncrunch.wordpress.com.
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