Homework on Jeff Tedford

Play Call TendenciesHis play-calling is alien to me. Jeff likes to spread the field and run some finesse plays. His offense does feature a lot of screens and outside runs, so the offensive line is going to need to be quick. I fear our line, as it is currently built, may be a liability under the new scheme and I expect we will target some new lineman, in either or perhaps both the draft and free agency. I expect that Demar Dotson should do well with this offense. This new offense won't feature as much carries for Doug Martin, but he'll still see a lot of touches. He may be used similarly to how Matt Forte was used in Chicago, but I'm not saying that because Lovie is the head coach now. It just seems Tedford features his backs in the passing game. I am on record now and since he was drafted, of being a fan of Erik Lorig. He's a quality fullback, but looking at this offense, I don't feel confident he will be a part of it. It looks like Jeff likes to use his fullback quite a bit in the passing game and I haven't seen enough progress from Erik the past few seasons in the passing game to give me the confidence he'll do well under the new scheme. I would like to see the team keep Erik, which looks to potentially be void of power personnel, but he may be on the bubble if the team feels they can find someone who provides a better fit.Something I thought was interesting was the layout of the formations, specifically out of the gun. He'll throw 3 or 4 receivers on one side and overload it quite a bit. I saw a little bit of the pistol formation, but I don't expect to see it in the professional league. Also, he'd feature shotgun with two backs to the quarterbacks side very frequently, sometimes both backs on the same side as opposed to being on each side of the quarterback. His offense seems to have some wrinkles that could fit well for an H-back type of player.PlayactionThe playfakes always seem variable on how the opposing teams respect the back. With a Marshawn Lynch, a defense would stay home for example. Sully did a great job utilizing play fakes in Tampa, I think this is going to get scaled back in Tedford's offense. This is one where the jury is out if this will be positive or not. If you play fake all the time, it is less effective. If you don't do it enough, you may find yourself on the wrong end of a third and long and also at the bottom of the league for 20+ yard plays.AudiblesThis one is a bit harder to decipher. I basically looked for moments where the quarterback looked over to the sideline and made a drastic change to the play. In about 6% of the plays, I could see the quarterbacks checking with Tedford to see what needed to be adjusted. Professionally, I would expect that Mike is going to make these adjustments on the field and not look over to Tedford. Another reason why this is important to note, is the overall temp of the game. In Tedford's offense, I frequently saw them approaching the LOS with about 15-20 seconds, which is plenty of time to make pre-snap reads and get the ball off. In Sullivan's offense, it was much more down-tempo, the team would get to the line. I hope to see less delay of game penalties with this new offense, it looks that way based on what I've seen.MotionI really like seeing an offense utilize motion, perhaps I was spoiled as a fan under Jon Gruden. Putting a receiver in motion can do a number of things and create matchup advantages for an offense. I watch teams like Green Bay and New Orleans utilize this appropriately and it works great. The concept, by putting a receiver in motion you hope to see a defender trailing the motion man. This identifies, generally, a man coverage defense. If no defender is trailing, this lets the quarterback know there may be a zone defense. You also create the opportunity to give a receiver momentum or catch a defense off-balance for a finesse run to the outside. Under Sullivan, I would see Vincent Jackson do a slight motion inside frequently. He generally wouldn't go across the field, so a defender, even in man-coverage could mask that he may giving a zone look because he could tell Vincent was not crossing. This made Glennon's reads presumably more difficult. I think Tedford, being a QB guru will utilize a little more motion than Sully did. In my samples, I didn't see Tedford utilizing motion on his runs but maybe once, a good defense may pick up on that if it becomes a habit and tip their hat to a potential pass play. He needs to be consistent and balanced with plays utilizing motion, unless of course motion isn't by design, in which case, I hope Mike or whomever is our signal caller, is taught to use it more effectively.Personnel Grouping31% - 1125% - 2018% - 2113% - 105% - 124% - 004% - 01So what does this all mean? Well, basically what it means is that Tedford, at least in college chose not to run a power offense, taking note of the lack of three tight end packages. I would not rule out him using 3 tight ends in a formation professionally, but I think it may be scarce, whereas we were more accustomed to this with Sullivan. To Tedford, having a fullback out there was a power formation. I expect the Buccaneers to carry 3 tight ends under Tedford, as opposed to 4 as some teams have in the past. Generally, he runs an empty set when his team is trailing, in my samples, I didn't see much of this early on. The goal packages I was viewing featured two backs and one tight end or two backs and three wide.The Quarterback PositionIt's funny, I supported the team drafting Mike Glennon and wished we would get him last season. Now that we have him, I find that I'm concerned he may not be the #1 guy. Still, it is important to note some things when you look at Glennon and how he may work under the new system. Tedford has coached a lot of quarterbacks. Look at the names: Akili Smith, Trent Dilfer, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller, Aaron Rodgers. A bunch of quarterbacks with howitzers for arms. When you look at it, it becomes clear, arm strength is a quality that Tedford is very high on. Even less successful quarterbacks in his systems could put the ball down the field well. This is something Glennon can definitely do. A lot of these guys have a little more than just functional mobility, which is where some concerns may come in for Mike. In watching his offense, I see a lot of sprintouts and rollouts, and I just dont see Glennon making enough throws on the move to be the total package Jeff may be looking for. The biggest quality Tedford is going to look for is football IQ. He needs a quarterback who will dedicate himself to the team, study the playbook, and put the time in. Fortunately for him, Josh Freeman is not his team's starting quarterback. I think Mike Glennon is a student of the game and this very well may be his highest quality. Word is, Jeff's playbook is quite massive and he is going to want a guy who can recite it to him in alphabetical order.The team may choose to draft a quarterback, and looking at a guy that everyone is excited about, Johnny Manziel, I just don't see a perfect marriage. Johnny can put the football down the field, but I don't see the firepower I've seen from his previous marriages. The mobility is awesome and would do well, but another concern would be how Manziel's head would be in the game. If you're investing a pick in the top 10 on a quarterback, having one out of three probably isn't going to cut it. Teddy Bridgewater would be perfect, if he could fall to the Buccaneers or we traded up, but that is highly unlikely unless Beatles123 can spread a rumor that he is shooting up heroin. If Derek Carr falls to round 2, and the team hasn't made a move, I would expect the Buccaneers would take a good long look at him. Tedford had success with his brother previously. I don't like a fit with A.J. McCarron, he's a good prospect but I just don't see him doing well in this offense. One guy I've been keeping an eye on, is Blake Bortles. If he is available, the team may go after him for his physical skill set. My concern, is his football IQ and I'm sure Tedford and the team's scouts will interview him to get to know him better. Some of the turnovers I see are bad, really bad.If it were me, making the call today. The safe move in my eyes, would be to stick with Glennon and build the trenches with the first pick. The best fit for this offense via the draft would be to either trade up and get Bridgewater or wait in hopes that Bortles will be there. The combine hasn't occurred yet, so I expect some players will rise and fall, but Bortles shouldn't have any problems with the combine. I like Johnny Football as much as anyone, and I'll cheer if he's the guy at #7, but I just think Johnny is going to do what Johnny is going to do, regardless of what offense he goes to and the track record for these kind of players isn't particularly high. He would certainly sell some jerseys and put fans in the seats though. The biggest element to the draft is the one we may never see, how the player interviews. I look forward to watching, if for only a minute, Gruden's short interviews with the prospects. I also wouldn't rule out an offensive lineman in round 1. We've invested a lot of money in our offensive line over the past five seasons, but an argument can be made that it has amounted to nothing but dead cap space. I know, you're probably thinking, yuck, an offensive lineman. Truth be told, the performance of this line is really going to be put to the test this season and that if we roll with the dice we've got, we might be picking high again.