Before the Bucs left on their four day mini-vacation, head coach Greg Schiano said the offensive line would see an old face at a new position.

“This week because we don’t have an opponent, we’ve done some different things.” Schiano said. “We’ve tried to move Blood around a little bit because I told you, I love his competiveness, I love his fight, his desire. So we’ve moved him around a little bit, take a look at him at different spots, we’ll see. You know I think when you lose a guy like Davin (Joseph) you have to really work to figure out what’s the best way to fill in – I won’t say replace, because I don’t think anybody is going to replace [him] he’s an All-Pro player, but how do you fill in for him.”

Filling in for Joseph has been Ted Larsen, who as struggled on the right, particularly in the run game. Larsen also has allowed sacks and racked up crucial penalties – including a false start on a two-point conversion attempt against the Redskins that moved the Bucs from the two-yard line to the seven. Josh Freeman threw an incomplete pass to Mike Williams, preventing the Bucs from tying Washington after a two-yard LeGarrette Blount touchdown run.

On Schiano’s Bucs, mistakes aren’t taken lightly, which may have prompted the first-year NFL head coach to look at other options. Those options involve bringing Trueblood, who lost his starting job at right tackle to Demar Dotson in the beginning of the season, over to right guard.

Schiano explained there are other options available if the 6-8 Trueblood doesn’t pan out on the interior, but points out his height won’t have anything to do with it.

“It’s done,” Schiano said. “There [are] guys in our division that are doing it. So, it can be done. It’s a matter of – are you willing to do the things it takes to get the job done. I know he is, can he is the question, and we’ll figure that out. But Ted (Larsen)’s in the mix still and Cody Wallace and Jamon Meredith, so there’s a bunch of guys and we’ll figure it out.”

Figuring it out has been the hard part. Since Joseph’s injury on August 24th against New England, the right side of the line has been the one of the weakest links on the offense, despite Dotson exceeding expectations at right tackle. Aside from a minimal amount of false start and holding penalties, Jeremy Zuttah has played well at center, with Zuttah a clear beneficiary of having All-Pro Carl Nicks to his left.

That only leaves one spot remaining, right guard. As Schiano put it Monday, that spot has been a huge question mark for the Bucs through the first quarter of the season and is the position the coaching staff is focusing on the most.

“Well just that – the right guard spot.” Schiano said. “We are moving a few guys through there and as we talked about last week. We will probably evaluate that some over this Tuesday the players day off. Then try to kind of lock into something. Maybe one or two guys at the right guard. That has been the position that has kind of been up in the air.”

Trueblood left the practice fields at One Buc with a stomach virus Monday, something that did not affect Schiano’s decision when it came to moving the tackle inside. Schiano said a few players were not feeling well and the only change would have been to possibly not practice in full pads.

“Well, I mean it didn’t come up till real late in the morning.” Schiano said. “Otherwise we probably maybe would not have put pads on. Maybe change the day we put pads, but that’s the way it goes.”

Nicks, who played left tackle at Nebraska before being moved to guard by the Saints as a rookie said in open locker room that he isn’t worried about Trueblood moving over. 

“Well I played left tackle in college, which was a long time ago.” Nicks said. “It was a little hard, but True’s a good athlete, he can probably do it. So I’m curious to see how that works out.”

From his locker, Nicks talked about some of the differences Trueblood should expect with the transition. 

“Everything happens a lot faster.” Nicks said. “When you’re sitting at tackle, you’re kind of kicking back, kind of waiting. When you’re a guard, it’s happening right now – in your face - and they’re a lot bigger too.”

Schiano has said continuously that he makes moves that will make the Bucs better and help the team win. 

At guard, Trueblood, a solid run blocker, could very well help the Bucs win. Getting the running game established has been a must for Tampa Bay, and so far it just hasn’t come to fruition.  According to Nicks, it’s not just one position that needs to improve, it’s the entire team. 

“I think everybody’s got to play better.” Nicks said. “Everybody has to get better. There’s always room for improvement. Even if we have 1,000 yards every game, there’s always room for improvement.”

The Bucs have shown a tremendous amount of improvement from where they were a year ago, but another notch in the win column would be the biggest sign of a franchise turnaround.  Hopefully, the Bucs can take advantage of Kansas City’s questionable QB situation and 21st run defense and get the ball rolling in the right direction.