Some things are starting to clear up for Joe after watching the Bucs’ second worthless preseason game on Saturday night.
The biggest thing is that the backup offensive linemen cannot pass block to save their lives. Or, more importantly, they cannot pass block to save the life of their quarterback.
Even Chucky, the Bucs’ Super Bowl-winning coach, who as a broadcaster is loathe to be critical of players, was both frustrated and exasperated by the Bucs’ inability to pass block for backup quarterback Jake Browning.
At one point, Chucky wanted Browning to “get in the grill” of his offensive linemen and unload on them for getting him beat to a pulp.
“If I’m Jake Browning, I’m not happy,” Chucky said. In fact, late in the second quarter, Chucky wondered if the Bucs weren’t better off with Jalon Daniels in the game only because at least Daniels could run out of trouble.
For those who read Joe’s daily practice notes from training camp, Joe regularly saw both Chris Braswell and David Walker in the backfield. At one point, Joe wondered if maybe the Bucs’ backup offensive line was any good and that is why Braswell (!) and Walker were having their way in practice each day.
Well, Joe thinks we all learned tonight why Braswell was doing so well. He was going up against the Bucs backups. And the backups, as demonstrated tonight, flat out cannot pass block.
Pray that the starting-five up front stay healthy. Because if one or two of them go down, so too will Baker Mayfield and 2026 might just be a repeat of 2025.