It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
The Bucs’ heralded offensive line was supposed to be healthy and enforcing its will with a playcaller who knew how to scheme things up.
If your scoring at home, the Bucs have two first-round draft picks on their starting O-line. They also have two second-round picks and a solid veteran in Ben Bredeson. Everyone is 28 or younger and the whole crew has played a bunch of games together.
These guys are supposed to be a glass-eating, nail-spitting bunch of angry workers defending the home turf. They’re not.
Today against a smothering Vikings pass defense, the Bucs needed to move the chains on the ground. Or they at least needed a quality day on the ground.
Instead, Bucs running backs took 18 carries and netted just 42 yards, not even 2 1/2 yards per carry. The longest scamper was an eight-yarder from Bucky Irving.
Yeah, Minnesota has a good defense, but it’s not that good to hold the Bucs to that rough of a day. The loss to the Vikings today was a back-and-forth game. The Bucs didn’t have to stray from the run game as much as they did, but perhaps Robinson felt he didn’t have much choice.