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Our OLs rush blocking never has been great after Doug Martin’s prime years pre-2016.
By then we had always talent (or potential talent) on our wide receivers and weve never really focused on running the ball. We only ran to set up play action which worked when we won the Superbowl in 2020.
different players
Im not gonna lie but Fournette is the biggest name I recall at RB for the bucs over the past few years. So I do think overall dominant talent at the position hasn't exactly been over the top
Ownership plays a larger role in team attitude/identity than people think.
I'm curious if Jordan Mailata is the Wilt Chamberlain of Samoan ancestry with his incredible blend of size and athleticism, because if more teams could find someone like that, everyone's run game would be much better.
Well the past two years we've had a complete donut for a HC
And from 2019-2022 we had a complete muppet of an OC that couldn't design a run other than "run up the middle"
Years before that was just a lack of talent in general
Their OL is built to pass protect, not run block.
They used up all their carries on James Wilder in 1984.
The last two years it has been bad interior blocking combined with poor play design/run timing. That's pretty consistent throughout Tampa's recent history.
Jason Licht is on board with the “running game is not that important in modern NFL” style of management. We look for pass protection first in o-lineman and he rarely invests much into the RB position. He drafted Ronald Jones in the 2nd round but otherwise it’s usually mid round guys he picks up and throws back there for RB. We only picked up Fournette because Brady wanted him and we honestly got lucky with how he became available too.
Long story short they had people running “fuck it chuck it” offenses for several years, always seem to have at least one major flaw on the o line, and have focused more picks/FAs on the passing game instead.