Grinding The Tape has been re-titled Bucs Film Study.

That was a fun game, wasn’t it? If you are a Bucs fan you probably chased Saturday night’s loss in Tennessee with a whole case of Pirate Republic beer. I know it was a meaningless preseason game. But that doesn’t mean it was a meaningless preseason game you want to remember. The offense was putrid. Tampa Bay punter Jake Camarda generated more than twice the yardage of the team’s offense. Therefore, you might surmise that everyone involved with said offense was pretty terrible.

But you would be wrong! Ke’Shawn Vaughn had a good game. Deven Thompkins made a couple of difficult catches. But fans were less concerned with those players.

Most eyes were on the offensive line. Specifically, the interior of the line. After all, that group sported multiple players vying for a couple of key jobs on the Bucs starting unit come week one in Dallas. Robert Hainsey, Nick Leverett, Aaron Stinnie, and Luke Goedeke have been locked in a four-man battle for two starting spots since Ryan Jensen went down on day two of camp with a serious knee injury.

Tampa Bay’s coaches have previously said that they would like to have defined the starters following the Colts game in order to allow the starting line a couple of weeks to coalesce. That meant this Titans game was a big deal for these four players. What does the tape say about these players? Did anyone stand out? Let’s take a look.

Robert Hainsey Put A Stamp On The Center Position

To answer that last question, yes. Hainsey stood out to me quite a bit. The guy looks ready to compete against NFL starting defenses. Now for context I will include Hainsey’s and every other players’ Pro Football Focus grade for the game. PFF shouldn’t be taken as gospel. But as I have stated time and time again, they are the most reliable publicly available grading tool out there. You find me a better one and I’ll gladly use it. Until then, they are the top dog in this space. Hainsey posted an overall game grade of 51.0, with a 79.4 pass blocking grade and a 43.8 run blocking mark.

The pass blocking grade is impressive, while the run blocking and overall grades are below average. Now I agree with PFF in that Hainsey had a better night in pass protection than he did in creating space in the run game, I just don’t agree with where they landed on the latter two. Now let’s see if I can show you what I mean. Now Hainsey only had a total of 19 snaps in the game so there isn’t a ton of tape to watch on him. But the lack of snaps shows you the Bucs themselves believe he has won the starting job already.

Winning One-On-One

Here Hainsey squares off against Titans DL Teair Tart. Watch as Hainsey leads Tart off with a double-hand swipe to negate Tart’s initial punch. While he is hand-fighting, Hainsey keeps a wide base and mirrors Tart’s outside path through the pocket. His slightly open stance allows him to easily shift if Tart tries to counter to the inside. And counter Tart does! Eventually he tries to shift back inside, but Hainsey ain’t having it. By the time this happens Hainsey has established a grip on Tart. And he uses that grip and good footwork to easily mirror and eventually throw Tart to the side.

Handling Stunts

This might be my favorite clip from the Bucs’ line play Saturday night. Hainsey jumps out of his stance with speed and intent. His first mission is to read whether either of the linebackers are going to be blitzing the “A” gap. Once he establishes that is not the case, he starts to look for work. He quickly realizes that Titans defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand has crashed down the line trying to occupy both left guard Luke Goedeke and left tackle Josh Wells. Hainsey knows this means that outside linebacker Bud Dupree is literally right around the corner trying to loop back inside off of the stunt. Hainsey decides to do his best Diamond Rio impression and meet Dupree in the middle. Pass rush negated.

Run Blocking

As I stated earlier, Hainsey was a better pass blocker than run on Saturday night. But he wasn’t as bad as that PFF grade would lead you to believe. I had him with a win on 71% of his run blocks vs 100% of his pass block. His wins weren’t dominant. He isn’t the second coming of Trent Williams (but who is?). But Hainsey was sound and effective.

Here he shows good get-off, firing off the line. He then gets a good punch on Naquon Jones, moving him across the field. As Hainsey sees the linebacker try to shoot running back Leonard Fournette’s preferred gap, he and Goedeke seamlessly shift down and wash both the linebacker and Jones down. This allows Fournette to use his vision to cut back and drive up-field for a 10-yard gain.

Ladies and gentlemen, the man is ready for Dallas.

Luke Goedeke Had More Good Than Bad

I made this claim on Twitter and well, let’s just say some are still skeptical. Goedeke earned a 49.2 PFF grade for the game. According to the grading site the Bucs guard also showed well in pass protection (69.0 grade) while struggling in the run game (43.6 grade). Watching the tape on Goedeke it was a tale of two quarters. Through the first four drives I had him winning on 18 of 19 reps.

But then Goedeke seemed to compound a couple of mistakes and finished the game with four losses including two big penalties in his last 11 snaps. Those hurt and will certainly tank a PFF grade because it’s not just a loss on the play that prevents a positive play. It actively pushes the play backwards. 

He’s Got To Work On Hand Placement

You can see it clear as day. The linebacker Goedeke is trying to engage shifts his weight to Goedeke’s left and he isn’t quick enough to stay on him. So, Goedeke grabs for whatever he can and ends up with an obvious hold. Here’s the thing. You are blocking a man five yards up field. If this guy affects the play, your offense won. This hold negated an 8-yard run.

This was an issue noted by draft scouts when Goedeke came out of college. Dane Brugler noted as a weakness in his write-up on Goedeke for The Athletic “grabby mitts (three holding penalties on tapes studied)”. This is something that will need to be cleaned up but should be very coachable.

Can Be A Beast In The Run Game

Remember that run block clip for Hainsey above? Let’s revisit it, but turn our eyes to the Bucs left guard, shall we?

Goedecke fires off the line with explosiveness and gets his left arm out to punch the defensive end. This slows the defender down enough to allow Wells to cut block him and create the lane that Fournette eventually uses. But Goedeke isn’t done. Remember he is going to help Hainsey wash the nose tackle down. And wash him down he does. He gets a good push into Jones’ side, adjusts to the spin back well and drives him into the ground.

Everyone Loves A Good One-On-One

Alright, so a common theme with Goedeke is that he can lose his anchor early. And I think this may be where people see an issue with his game. And I won’t shy away from it. There are times where he loses leverage early and gets pushed back. Again, I will refer you to Dane Brugler’s scouting profile. “Needs to grow roots quicker to establish his anchor vs. bull rushers.”

But it’s his recovery that I think people can miss at times. He can re-anchor like nobody’s business. Watch this.

Going against Tart, he loses initially and gets driven back. But he keeps good technique and eventually is able to anchor down and stop Tart’s forward progress before giving it back to Tart and almost body-slamming him at the end. It’s often times not how you start, but how you finish.

Athleticism On Display

You may or not know this, but Goedeke started college as a tight end. And you can see the athleticism he has as a former tight end in the way he can move off the line. He is explosive firing out in the run game, whether it be to get to the second level, or like on this next clip to get across the line to seal a block and create a lane.

With a quick first step Goedeke is able to move effortlessly across the Bucs line to seal the edge rusher. He uses his considerable strength to initially stop the defender in his tracks. Goedeke then muscles the man backwards. Again, his hands are outside the defender’s chest, so he has to watch out for holding penalties by keeping his hands inside.

Leverett Had A Good Game As Well

In a now growing trend, Bucs Swiss-army-knife lineman Nick Leverett also had a better day in pass protection than run blocking. Leverett posted an overall PFF grade of 63.3, with an 81.3 pass blocking mark and a 58.5 run blocking grade.

The PFF Grade Doesn’t Lie About His Pass Protection

I charted Leverett with wins on 18 of 20 pass-blocking reps. PFF has him for 21 reps with no pressures allowed. Unfortunately, All22 is missing a play that I couldn’t chart. But any way you slice it he had a strong performance.

Leverett receives the pass off from left guard John Molchon with aplomb. He uses good leverage and a strong base to cut off the pass rush with ease.

Struggles With Technique Which Leads To Ugly Losses

You can see Leverett (the Bucs center) lose leverage rather quickly after engaging the defensive tackle. This allows the defender to one-arm Leverett before tossing him to the side. I consulted with an expert on this rep as well as the next one and he summed up Leverett as a guy who has good raw strength, but poor technique will often negate it.

Here Leverett’s inability to maintain leverage allows the defensive tackle to work across his face and make the stop on the running back. This is despite Leverett maintaining engagement the entire time.

Works His Double Teams Well

Leverett isn’t a complete liability in the run game. In the Bucs’ duo system, the offensive line will often combo block a single defender to drive him out of his gap and create a lane for the running back. Leverett works well on these plays that allow his mean streak to really shine. Here’s a great example.

Leverett makes the initial block. Once Bucs right guard Brandon Walton joins him you see Leverett work the defender back, blocking through the whistle trying to drive his man into the ground. This type of demeanor is what endears him to his teammates, the organization, and fans. It’s impossible to coach and you love to have it.

Aaron Stinnie

Unfortunately, Stinnie is out for the season after getting Ke’Shawn Vaughn tackled into the back of his left knee. I’ll withhold analysis since he is no longer in the competition, but suffice to say Stinnie had a good game overall. I hope he recovers fully and returns to the team next year.

My Thoughts

I think I was pretty clear at the top that I think Hainsey has cemented himself as the starting center. Many fans are worried about pressure up the middle, and I get it. But I think this guy is ready to deliver average to above-average line play this season.

As for the left guard position, I will stick my flag in the Goedeke camp. Both he and Leverett are bound to deliver inconsistent play at times. But I think Goedeke shows a more consistent understanding of leverage, a more athletic profile, and a higher ceiling. For those reasons, plus Leverett’s versatility I think Goedeke should be the starter come September 11. He just needs to anchor faster and keep the hands inside.

BONUS

Not involved in the competition for the interior at all, Bucs developmental left tackle Dylan Cook had himself a really good day overall against the Titans. He won nine of 10 reps overall (full disclosure: the 10th was a strip sack he allowed to basically end the Bucs offense’s night). But his wins were good, so I thought I would share a couple!