FAB 3. Rewind Week 10 – Fast Forward Week 11

Not having open locker room at One Buccaneer Place and restricted media access to players this year due to COVID-19 has forced me to do less feature segments on players and more analysis on the games. So I’m using the Fab 3 section – called Rewind – Fast Forward – to share some observations from the Bucs’ last game as well as my analysis in previewing the next one. Enjoy.

REWIND: Week 10 at Carolina Panthers

• The Bucs made the right move in sliding center Ryan Jensen to left guard in place of Joe Haeg and inserting A.Q. Shipley at center in last week’s 46-23 win at Carolina. Not only did the Bucs rush for 210 yards, including 192 from Ronald Jones II, but they only surrendered one sack.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and the O-line – Photo by: USA Today

“Exactly what we brought him in for – to have a veteran guy that the quarterback would be comfortable with calling out the fronts, calling out the MIKE linebacker and identifications,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said. “[It was good] having Ryan [Jensen] on the left side to make sure, too. To have two veteran guys in there – I thought our communication was outstanding on the offensive line in that ballgame.”

• As well as Jensen and Shipley played in the lineup due to the change predicated on Ali Marpet’s absence, Arians said he can’t wait to get Marpet back.

“It’s just until Ali gets back because he’s been playing fantastic,” Arians said. “We do not want to hurry him back – I want to make sure he’s well.

“He’s still in the protocol. Some minor stuff, but he’ll have individual workouts with the trainers while the rest of the guys are taking off. We’ll see if we can get through this and get him through the protocol.”

Bucs QB Tom Brady and the O-line – Photo by: USA Today

• Bucs right tackle Tristan Wirfs said the offensive line had to rebound from a terrible outing against the Saints on Sunday Night Football in the team’s 38-3 humbling defeat.

“Up front for us, everything starts with the offensive line so we [had] to be better,” Wirfs said. “You can’t win a ballgame with a showing like that from us. I think that was the focus – everything starts up front. It kind of sucked [because] we only ran the ball four times last week, but that’s the situation we put ourselves in. Coming back this week and getting to run the ball like we did, that felt very nice.”

• For a closer look at some Bucs film about how exactly Tampa Bay’s offensive line dominated in the running game and out-schemed Carolina, check out Jon Ledyard’s Bucs Briefing: Tampa Bay’s Run Game Awakens column.

FAST FORWARD: Week 11 vs. Los Angeles Rams

Rams TE Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee – Photo by: USA Today

• The Rams have two very good, athletic pass-catching tight ends in Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett that the Bucs need to contend with. Higbee has great size at 6-foot-6, 255 pounds and has 23 catches for 296 yards (12.9 avg.) and three touchdowns. Everett, a former second-round pick, has good speed at 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, has 22 receptions for 255 yards (11.6 avg.) and one touchdown this year.

The Bucs typically put strong safety Jordan Whitehead on opposing teams’ tight end, but will have to use another defender, possibly linebacker Lavonte David to match up with the Rams’ other tight end. Don’t be surprised to see Tampa Bay actually use zone coverage when the Rams come out in 12 personnel (two tight end sets).

• The Rams are one of the more heavy play-action teams in the NFL, but interestingly, Jared Goff doesn’t use play-action to take shots down the field. Instead, he usually throws underneath to wide receivers, tight ends and running backs that are usually open 5-10 yards off the line of scrimmage. It’s a way of using misdirection to get weapons open quickly and to get the ball out of Goff’s hand fast.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

• Credit Arians for trying to mix things up with the practice schedule to try to get the Bucs to play better at night. Tampa Bay played poorly in losses on Thursday Night Football to Chicago and on Sunday Night Football to New Orleans, and in a narrow win on Monday Night Football to the New York Giants. The Bucs will practice at night on Friday and Saturday in preparation for the Monday Night Football game at home against the Los Angeles Rams.

“We’ve got to try something because we’ve had really, really poor starts in night ballgames,” Arians said. “We’re going to try practicing at that game time [on] Friday and Saturday night [and] do some more stuff, actually, Monday morning than we’ve been doing. We’ve got to try something, so luckily we have an indoor facility and we can work at night. We’re going to do that and hopefully get a better result to start a ballgame at night.

“I think the teams that are in prime time year in and year out [are successful]. We haven’t been one of those teams, so we’re learning about that. We have a couple players who were – A.B. (Antonio Brown), Tom [Brady] and a few other guys have been in a ton of prime time games. The rest of the ball club – you have to learn how to play then because it does ratchet up a little bit. The speed of the game – it’s a playoff atmosphere, really. I think that’s part of it. But, I don’t see anybody doing [anything] differently [on] offense, defense [or] special teams than they would in a normal ballgame.”

• This Rams team is different from the one that lost at home to the Bucs, 55-40, last year. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has been replaced by 37-year old Brandon Staley, who is a disciple of Vic Fangio and worked under him in Chicago. When asked what jumped out about L.A.’s defense, which is No. 2 in scoring defense at 18.6 points allowed per game, Arians said “the players.”

Rams DTs Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers – Photo by: USA Today

“The players haven’t changed much [but] the scheme is totally different,” Arians said. “You’ve still got [Michael] Brockers, Aaron Donald and all those guys. [Leonard] Floyd is playing [well] for them [and] Jalen [Ramsey] is a big addition to the secondary. They’re pretty much a zone-coverage team with Jalen playing some man-to-man in zone principles. He gives them flexibility to do a lot of different things defensively. They have a lot of five-man pressures and they’re very tough to block.”

How about Sean McVay’s Rams offense?

“I think it’s the collective,” Arians said. “They have a lot of eye candy – they try to disrupt guys’ eyes on defense and break down their discipline with all the different motions and things they do formationally [with] quick snaps to just try to break down your discipline defensively. All that motion, when they run the football, that offense is something special. If we can shut down the run like we did out there last year and get them in a 50-pass game, I like our chances.”