It's week three in the NFL and nobody quite knows who anybody really is, yet. That includes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Through two weeks so far, we've seen them have mixed results on both sides of the ball, while still maintaining a rather physical style for the most part. Heading into this Sunday's matchup with the Denver Broncos at home, against a second rookie quarterback in three weeks, the Buccaneers have a chance to answer a few questions about who they really are...
One of which is,
Can the Buccaneers truly run the Ball?
The Buccaneers running game has been an up and down affair to this point in the season. While facing a stout Washington Commanders run defense, the Bucs offense was able to establish a decent start to their season on the ground with 112 rushing yards as a team. While Running Backs Rachaad White and Bucky Irving rushed for 31 and 62 yards respectfully, they were able to keep the offense "balanced" for the most part between the run and the pass. However, too often the Washington defense was able to penetrate into the backfield and blow up running plays before they could even begin, especially along the interior of the Buccaneer offensive line. There were three separate runs with breakdowns that led to losses of four yards each, which kept the team's per-carry average down at 3.7 yards, but both Bucky Irving and Rachaad White also had at least one explosive run (10-plus yards). And on a back-breaking 91-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, the Bucs ran the ball on nine of 12 plays. This mixed set of results is to be expected in the first couple weeks of an NFL season when a team has made the changes the Bucs have on that side of the ball and along that unit; Rookie Center Graham Barton was playing his first game not only as an NFL player, but as a Center, having not played that position since his Freshman year at Duke, newly added Left Guard Ben Bredeson joined the team in the offseason as a Free Agent signing, and Liam Coen was calling his first game as the Buccaneers new Offensive Coordinator and implementing his "new" offense and run-game. With all those factors at play, Tampa Bay did a fairly decent job in it's opening week against real live tackling and bullets, which left fans believing the back-to-back seasons of having the NFL's worst rushing attack were behind us finally. You could tell after one week, that Liam Coen clearly wants a reliable rushing attack to be part of the Buccaneers' offensive identity.
"It's really important," he said. "Continuity, chemistry, confidence to say, 'Okay, we've got to be able to run the football. They know we're going to run it and we've got to run it.' To put together a drive that, a little bit, broke their will in a way, towards the end of that game, was important for just our identity, where we're trying to go with this thing. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but we ate up the clock and we went down and scored a touchdown and Baker got pretty selfish and wanted to throw a touchdown to Mike [Evans] at the end."
Against one of the best defensive fronts, and run-stopping units in the NFL, the Detroit Lions quickly reminded Liam and the Bucs how difficult it really is to run the ball in this league against them. Against those Lions, the Bucs were only able to manage a putrid 70 yards in the ground game, with the leader being Quarterback Baker Mayfield, with 34 yards rushing, including his career-long 11 yard Touchdown on the ground. By the way, that is NOT ideal. While the Buccaneers were forced to play this game without their starting (and absolute STUD) Right Tackle Luke Goedeke, it was to be expected that they'd struggle not only in pass protection but of course along the run-game. Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson had three sacks in the first quarter and was all over the Buccaneers backfield all afternoon. He was a literal menace with the struggling backup swing Tackle Skule facing him on most snaps. Running Back Rachaad White could only manage 18 yards on the ground when facing the Lions physical defensive front, while Bucky Irving didn't add much more with his 22 yards on seven carries. That total of seventeen hand-offs in the running game is NOT what Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen wants as it relates to his team's offensive balance, but he was able to adjust his offense to avoid wasting downs running the ball just for the sake of running the ball (ahem, "Dime-Piece Dave!).
“We tried chipping him and tried to do a lot of things,” Bowles said on Lions' Aidan Hutchinson. “He made our life miserable.”
In week three against a Denver Broncos defense that hasn't gotten much love throughout the media, the Buccaneers have a chance to re-establish that physical run-game and play-style along the Offensive Line. While Offensive Tackle Luke Goedeke's play-status is still uncertain as of now, and will need to clear concussion protocol after missing the Week 2 win over Detroit, the Bucs could still be heading into this Sunday without their entire starting Offensive Line, again. The Broncos come to Tampa with the 9th ranked Total Defense (allowing 277.5 yards allowed per game), 10th ranked Scoring Defense (19.5 points allowed per game) and 4th ranked Passing Defense (134 passing yards allowed per game), but have struggled in stopping the run, ranked 23rd overall, allowing 143.5 rushing yards per game over the first two weeks of the season. Getting Rachaad White and Bucky Irving going should be the game-plan and would make a huge difference in the Bucs ability to move the ball as well as convert Third Downs this Sunday, getting the offense back on track. Liam Coen was able to utilize a lot of motion and "eye-candy" in the week one matchup with the Washington Commanders on both passing and running plays, but was more limited in that capacity in Detroit because of the aforementioned menace on the Lions defensive front. The Broncos have a similar menace in the making...
"He is a really good player," noted Coen. "I actually recruited him a little bit … I have a ton of respect for him. [He is] active, uses his hands extremely well and we have to do a great job when we cover him up. The other thing that he does extremely well that I think he gets taken for granted is his batted passes. He has one of the highest amounts of tipped and batted passes in the NFL over the past three years and we have got to stay locked on him. We have to drive him, we have to chop him with hands and we have to use a ton of different techniques to use in our toolbox to get his hands down in the pass game, while also [getting] removal of him in the run game."
Who's that? Denver's Zach Allen. In week two, Allen led all interior defensive linemen with nine pressures and ranked second with a 26.9% pass rush win rate, according to Pro Football Focus. After signing a lucrative contract during the Broncos' 2023 offseason, Allen has continued to excel in 2024. He notched a sack against the Steelers last week and has emerged as one of the NFL's top interior pass rushers. Known for his urgency and sharp play recognition, Allen disrupts passing lanes with a powerful bull rush and the ability to shed blocks quickly. The Buccaneers will need to make containing him a key focus on Sunday.
Liam Coen stressed the importance of "getting the run game back on track" against the Broncos, and he mentioned that the crowd noise at Ford Field threw off their rhythm against the Lions. He pointed out some miscommunication up front, as the Lions threw a variety of run looks at them, causing a few missed plays. Rachaad White, the team's go-to back, tweaked his groin in Detroit but managed to practice in a limited role on Wednesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, Bucky Irving, the change-of-pace runner, brings impressive balance and can make defenders miss with slick lateral cuts, especially in the mid- or outside zone. With a nasty spin move and a powerful downhill burst, he'll be ready to jump-start the run game in Week Three.
While the Broncos have struggled in stopping the run, the Bucs will need to make sure they know (and block) Broncos LB Alex Singleton, the Broncos' leading tackler. Singleton finished third in the entire NFL last year with 175 tackles, so he clearly has a nose for the football. Alex Singleton has been a tackling machine so far again, leading the team through two games with 20 stops, and 16 of those have come on running plays. He's sharp at reading plays and finishing tackles, so expect him to be all over the field trying to keep Tampa's ground game in check.
If the Buccaneers want to establish themselves as a true playoff contender and eventual Super Bowl contender (as I believe their talent is proving they are), they'll need to be able to run the ball whenever they want to. The playoffs will be against the best of the best, and the more physical teams who are able to impose their will are usually the teams who make deep playoff and championship runs. Establishing that run and that physical will this Sunday against a lesser opponent in the Denver Broncos will help answer that question, and make the offensive identity of this 2024 Buccaneers team much clearer.
The Broncos run-defense should be exactly "what the doctor ordered."
When: Sunday, September 22
Where: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL)
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: FOX – Tim Brando (Play by Play), Matt Millen (Analyst), Sarah Kustok (Reporter)
Bucs Radio: 98Rock – Gene Deckerhoff (Play by Play), Dave Moore (Color), T.J. Rives (Reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente – Carlos Bohorquez (Play by Play), Martín Gramática (Analyst)
It's week three in the NFL and nobody quite knows who anybody really is, yet. That includes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Through two weeks so far, we've seen them have mixed results on both sides of the ball, while still maintaining a rather physical style for the most part. Heading into this Sunday's matchup with the Denver Broncos at home, against a second rookie quarterback in three weeks, the Buccaneers have a chance to answer a few questions about who they really are...
One of which is,
Can the Buccaneers truly run the Ball?
The Buccaneers running game has been an up and down affair to this point in the season. While facing a stout Washington Commanders run defense, the Bucs offense was able to establish a decent start to their season on the ground with 112 rushing yards as a team. While Running Backs Rachaad White and Bucky Irving rushed for 31 and 62 yards respectfully, they were able to keep the offense "balanced" for the most part between the run and the pass. However, too often the Washington defense was able to penetrate into the backfield and blow up running plays before they could even begin, especially along the interior of the Buccaneer offensive line. There were three separate runs with breakdowns that led to losses of four yards each, which kept the team's per-carry average down at 3.7 yards, but both Bucky Irving and Rachaad White also had at least one explosive run (10-plus yards). And on a back-breaking 91-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, the Bucs ran the ball on nine of 12 plays. This mixed set of results is to be expected in the first couple weeks of an NFL season when a team has made the changes the Bucs have on that side of the ball and along that unit; Rookie Center Graham Barton was playing his first game not only as an NFL player, but as a Center, having not played that position since his Freshman year at Duke, newly added Left Guard Ben Bredeson joined the team in the offseason as a Free Agent signing, and Liam Coen was calling his first game as the Buccaneers new Offensive Coordinator and implementing his "new" offense and run-game. With all those factors at play, Tampa Bay did a fairly decent job in it's opening week against real live tackling and bullets, which left fans believing the back-to-back seasons of having the NFL's worst rushing attack were behind us finally. You could tell after one week, that Liam Coen clearly wants a reliable rushing attack to be part of the Buccaneers' offensive identity.
"It's really important," he said. "Continuity, chemistry, confidence to say, 'Okay, we've got to be able to run the football. They know we're going to run it and we've got to run it.' To put together a drive that, a little bit, broke their will in a way, towards the end of that game, was important for just our identity, where we're trying to go with this thing. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but we ate up the clock and we went down and scored a touchdown and Baker got pretty selfish and wanted to throw a touchdown to Mike [Evans] at the end."
Against one of the best defensive fronts, and run-stopping units in the NFL, the Detroit Lions quickly reminded Liam and the Bucs how difficult it really is to run the ball in this league against them. Against those Lions, the Bucs were only able to manage a putrid 70 yards in the ground game, with the leader being Quarterback Baker Mayfield, with 34 yards rushing, including his career-long 11 yard Touchdown on the ground. By the way, that is NOT ideal. While the Buccaneers were forced to play this game without their starting (and absolute STUD) Right Tackle Luke Goedeke, it was to be expected that they'd struggle not only in pass protection but of course along the run-game. Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson had three sacks in the first quarter and was all over the Buccaneers backfield all afternoon. He was a literal menace with the struggling backup swing Tackle Skule facing him on most snaps. Running Back Rachaad White could only manage 18 yards on the ground when facing the Lions physical defensive front, while Bucky Irving didn't add much more with his 22 yards on seven carries. That total of seventeen hand-offs in the running game is NOT what Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen wants as it relates to his team's offensive balance, but he was able to adjust his offense to avoid wasting downs running the ball just for the sake of running the ball (ahem, "Dime-Piece Dave!).
“We tried chipping him and tried to do a lot of things,” Bowles said on Lions' Aidan Hutchinson. “He made our life miserable.”
In week three against a Denver Broncos defense that hasn't gotten much love throughout the media, the Buccaneers have a chance to re-establish that physical run-game and play-style along the Offensive Line. While Offensive Tackle Luke Goedeke's play-status is still uncertain as of now, and will need to clear concussion protocol after missing the Week 2 win over Detroit, the Bucs could still be heading into this Sunday without their entire starting Offensive Line, again. The Broncos come to Tampa with the 9th ranked Total Defense (allowing 277.5 yards allowed per game), 10th ranked Scoring Defense (19.5 points allowed per game) and 4th ranked Passing Defense (134 passing yards allowed per game), but have struggled in stopping the run, ranked 23rd overall, allowing 143.5 rushing yards per game over the first two weeks of the season. Getting Rachaad White and Bucky Irving going should be the game-plan and would make a huge difference in the Bucs ability to move the ball as well as convert Third Downs this Sunday, getting the offense back on track. Liam Coen was able to utilize a lot of motion and "eye-candy" in the week one matchup with the Washington Commanders on both passing and running plays, but was more limited in that capacity in Detroit because of the aforementioned menace on the Lions defensive front. The Broncos have a similar menace in the making...
"He is a really good player," noted Coen. "I actually recruited him a little bit … I have a ton of respect for him. [He is] active, uses his hands extremely well and we have to do a great job when we cover him up. The other thing that he does extremely well that I think he gets taken for granted is his batted passes. He has one of the highest amounts of tipped and batted passes in the NFL over the past three years and we have got to stay locked on him. We have to drive him, we have to chop him with hands and we have to use a ton of different techniques to use in our toolbox to get his hands down in the pass game, while also [getting] removal of him in the run game."
Who's that? Denver's Zach Allen. In week two, Allen led all interior defensive linemen with nine pressures and ranked second with a 26.9% pass rush win rate, according to Pro Football Focus. After signing a lucrative contract during the Broncos' 2023 offseason, Allen has continued to excel in 2024. He notched a sack against the Steelers last week and has emerged as one of the NFL's top interior pass rushers. Known for his urgency and sharp play recognition, Allen disrupts passing lanes with a powerful bull rush and the ability to shed blocks quickly. The Buccaneers will need to make containing him a key focus on Sunday.
Liam Coen stressed the importance of "getting the run game back on track" against the Broncos, and he mentioned that the crowd noise at Ford Field threw off their rhythm against the Lions. He pointed out some miscommunication up front, as the Lions threw a variety of run looks at them, causing a few missed plays. Rachaad White, the team's go-to back, tweaked his groin in Detroit but managed to practice in a limited role on Wednesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, Bucky Irving, the change-of-pace runner, brings impressive balance and can make defenders miss with slick lateral cuts, especially in the mid- or outside zone. With a nasty spin move and a powerful downhill burst, he'll be ready to jump-start the run game in Week Three.
While the Broncos have struggled in stopping the run, the Bucs will need to make sure they know (and block) Broncos LB Alex Singleton, the Broncos' leading tackler. Singleton finished third in the entire NFL last year with 175 tackles, so he clearly has a nose for the football. Alex Singleton has been a tackling machine so far again, leading the team through two games with 20 stops, and 16 of those have come on running plays. He's sharp at reading plays and finishing tackles, so expect him to be all over the field trying to keep Tampa's ground game in check.
If the Buccaneers want to establish themselves as a true playoff contender and eventual Super Bowl contender (as I believe their talent is proving they are), they'll need to be able to run the ball whenever they want to. The playoffs will be against the best of the best, and the more physical teams who are able to impose their will are usually the teams who make deep playoff and championship runs. Establishing that run and that physical will this Sunday against a lesser opponent in the Denver Broncos will help answer that question, and make the offensive identity of this 2024 Buccaneers team much clearer.
The Broncos run-defense should be exactly "what the doctor ordered."
When: Sunday, September 22
Where: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL)
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: FOX – Tim Brando (Play by Play), Matt Millen (Analyst), Sarah Kustok (Reporter)
Bucs Radio: 98Rock – Gene Deckerhoff (Play by Play), Dave Moore (Color), T.J. Rives (Reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente – Carlos Bohorquez (Play by Play), Martín Gramática (Analyst)
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