All-Twenty Tuesday: Bucs Best Usage

In this portion of the Cover 3 this week, I’m going to go over a handful of plays I believe point out optimum usage for certain players, as we set the table for on the previous page.

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I don’t think talent was ever in question with Ronald Jones II. Just pop on his junior year tape at USC and you’ll see why the Bucs drafted him in the second round. But just as was the case at USC, it took some time for RoJo to really feel comfortable in his role. He had 987 yards and 1,082 yards in his first two seasons with the Trojans, but it wasn’t until that junior season that he really took off with over 1,500 yards.

Plays like the one above show me that such was the case with Jones in the NFL – he needed time. The 2018 RoJo would’ve gone down at the goal line on that play. I have no doubt in my mind. Instead, in 2019, he bounced off the tackle and not only did he get into the end zone, he didn’t give the defender the satisfaction of thinking his hit even phased Jones at all.

It’s the confidence within Jones in 2019 that is allowing him to unlock his abilities, something that is clearly making him the most valuable back on the team.

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Though I figured success in the run game would come around with Jones, it’s not always a 1:1 projection to see such improvement in the other areas of playing running back (blocking and pass catching). Jones is improving as a blocker, but he still has some work to do when it comes to recognition of incoming defenders and blitz pick up after the snap (chemistry with the offensive line). However, when catching the ball out of the backfield, Jones looks like a new man this season.

I’m not sure how much of an exaggeration this was, but we were told that Jones barely even knew the proper way to catch a football when he first arrived in Tampa Bay. You could see the results of that in last season’s stats and in the team’s lack of trust for him in the passing game in 2018. This season he looks so much more comfortable. He’s even selling those screen passes like a vet.

In the run game and pass game, Jones is Tampa Bay’s best bet, and they should get him as much action as they can for the remainder of the year.

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Now let’s get into a little bit of O.J. Howard.

The Bucs actually used Howard quite a bit in his first game back since tweaking his hamstring three weeks ago. Howard was second on the team in targets with seven, in which he hauled in four catches for 46 yards and a touchdown against Arizona.

The play above was an early catch from Howard against the Cardinals, and it showed just how tough of a match-up he is when he’s on-on-one in man coverage. Arizona was in a Cover 2 man deployment. Winston’s eyes immediately went to the left at the snap, which meant Mike Evans in the slot was his primary read. When it was clear Evans was bottled up, Winston turned back across to Howard as his second read. The timing of this play worked with the progression of the routes, as it took Howard the same amount of time to break free and gain separation as it did for Winston to move off of Evans.

There is something I want to note here, though. Howard doesn’t have the best agility, and because of that, changing direction and asking him to stop-and-start can hurt his separation from defenders. Maybe not on this exactly play, but why don’t the Bucs run more drag routes with Howard right across the line of scrimmage? There’s no way a linebacker can keep up with him if you keep Howard’s momentum going in one direction.

I feel like I don’t see enough of that. It would make the most out of the type of athlete Howard is (not all athletes are the same) and would give Winston some shorter check down passes instead of everything being 7+ yards or more.

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The play above is a good example of what happens when you allow Howard to keep his momentum in one direction.

Howard is a seam specialist with how quickly he can get out of his stance and up the field. In the first half of the season, we didn’t really see Howard convert tough contact catches. He certainly did on that one.

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I’ve pointed out before ways in which I believe Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich still needs to grow as an offensive coordinator. Feeling the flow of the game and certain in-game adjustments were two of them. But Leftwich is green as a full-time play caller and so, like the Bucs young secondary, he needs experience to grow. To Leftwich’s credit, I did see something in the game on Sunday that caught my eye in a good way when it came to play calling and adjustments.

In the play above, on third-and-9, the Bucs were lined up in what appeared to be a double stacked formation with two wide receivers groupings showing one receiver on top of the other. However, at the snap, Howard broke off the line and into the flat giving the stack on the right side the characteristics of a bunch set instead. This was a really cool wrinkle that caught the Cardinals off guard in their off coverage (they were playing off to compensate for the blitz they were throwing at the pocket). They didn’t have the numbers to cover it.

Though the pass was batted down, it would have likely been a success due to the set up.

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Later in the game, after watching how Arizona played the Bucs right around the 10-yard line before, Leftwich isolated Howard against off coverage on the boundary side of the field (the side with less coverage help) for an easy score. That’s an in-game adjustment I can tip my cap to.

In closing: Feed RoJo; use Howard.