After taking a step forward in last week’s win over the Bears, the Bucs’ run game looked more like the dead-last unit it was last year in Monday night’s 25-11 loss to the defending NFC champion Eagles.

Bucs RB Rachaad White Photo by: USA Today

Tampa Bay ran the ball 17 times for 41 yards, averaging 2.4 yards per carry. The longest run of the game was a 12-yarder by Rachaad White, though that didn’t come until later in the game. White ran 14 times for 38 yards – a 2.7-yard average – and was dropped for a safety in the second half. Meanwhile, rookie Sean Tucker ran twice for one yard and quarterback Baker Mayfield had one rush attempt for two yards.

Compare that to the Eagles’ rushing attack – which put up 201 yards on 40 attempts (5.0 avg.) – and you see a major reason for the time of possession discrepancy in Monday’s game – 38:55-21:05.

So, what were head coach Todd Bowles’ thoughts on the Bucs’ run game against the Eagles?

“We didn’t have one,” Bowles said. “We’re not gonna sit here and sugarcoat anything. We own what we have.”

When asked whether it’s the running backs or the offensive line who were at fault, Bowles was clear that everyone needs to take responsibility.

“It’s on everybody,” Bowles said. “They made some plays, give them some credit. We’ve got to block ’em better. We didn’t do a good job on first down overall, whether we ran it or threw it. We did not do a good job on first down on either side of the ball, and they stayed in third-and-short when they were on offense and we stayed in third-and-long when we were on offense.”

Bowles is right. The Bucs need to block better, and Rachaad White needs to run it better. The team’s first-down success was nonexistent, especially on run plays.

Tampa Bay ran eight times on first down, going for just nine yards. The offense also had five runs for negative yardage in the game. Philadelphia’s defensive front is one of the league’s top units and the Eagles have the No. 1 run defense in the NFL, but even with that taken into account, it was a hideous showing by the Buccaneers rushing attack.

Todd Bowles And Bucs Want To Run The Ball Better In 2023

Bucs RB Rachaad White Photo by: USA Today

For Todd Bowles, one of the more frustrating aspects of the Bucs’ 2022 offense was its inability (and sometimes refusal) to run the ball. Tampa Bay’s rushing offense was ranked No. 32 out of 32 teams last year, and it forced Tom Brady to throw the ball 733 times. Because of that, Bowles went ahead and fired offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and replaced him with Dave Canales.

Canales shares Bowles’ philosophy in a lot of ways, and a commitment to running the ball well is a big principle.

“I think it’s just volume,” Canales said in August. “What happens is, contact balance, contact adaption – if I run this way 10 times and the tackler keeps coming from inside out to the left, I have a plan for how to make him miss, how to break that tackle. Whereas, if you only run it twice, you don’t get the same feel. Just by sheer volume, our running backs in Seattle learned how to make those extra yards on different run types. We’re going to run it, so they’ll get really good at that. We’ll grow from there.”

The Bucs didn’t run the ball well in Week 1 against the Vikings, totaling just 73 yards on 33 carries – a 2.2 yards per carry average. Despite the apparent lack of progress, Canales was still pleased with the way the rushing attack looked.

Bucs OC Dave Canales and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think that’s where we define it differently. For us, run efficiency is four yards or better,” Canales said. “Our goal is 50% – we were 52% efficiency in the run game. So, I’m fired up about that. I don’t think we had any negative runs – we might have had maybe one. We had one negative run. The goal is zero negative runs, but it’s not uncommon in a zone scheme to have three or four. I come out of it – we’re sitting there as a staff saying 52% efficiency guys.

“That means we blocked everything right. That means we got the running back started. Now is where the volume, the experience, Rachaad [White] getting those runs, seeing where those second-level voids are, Sean [Tucker], Chase [Edmonds] – really being able to like make it happen after the first level. I was excited about it. Then, to just be able to get into a four-minute mode and run it, throw it a little bit and then run it again at the end to take over the time of possession. I thought the run game was fine.”

The run game was better against the Bears, but it certainly wasn’t fine against the Eagles. It’s something Canales and the offense will have to get together and figure out – soon. The Bucs are averaging 78 yards per game on the ground, which is 1.1 yards better than their average from a year ago. It’s early, but it’s something Todd Bowles will want fixed in short order.