Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 4 Observations from Week 1 loss to 49ers
Penalties once again destroyed multiple Buccaneer opportunities
The Bucs lost three potential touchdowns to penalties on Sunday, including two Cameron Brate touchdown receptions that were negated by holding penalties on right tackle Demar Dotson. Even though the 49ers had more penalties with 11, the Bucs still had eight of them for 87 yards, the same amount of yardage San Francisco had.
It seemed like for every good thing the Buccaneers did, a penalty or turnover negated it. It was much of the same thing we have seen from the Bucs the past few years. Arians and the coaching staff need to figure this out — and quickly too. Winning football teams don’t beat themselves this badly.
Ronald Jones II showed why he was a second round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft
RoJo playing well today. Nice little shimmy leads to a Bucs' first down. #SFvsTB
— Jordan Llanes (@llanesjordan) September 8, 2019
Ronald Jones II (a.k.a. RoJo) had quite a game on Sunday. He ran the ball 13 times for 75 yards, averaging 5.8 yards a carry, and also had an 18-yard reception. A few times in Week 1, I typed out tweets like the one above.
In years past, the Buccaneers’ offense has been very pass heavy because they haven’t had a true threat at running back. Jones was drafted in the second round last year to change that. However, after dealing with injuries and being in ex-head coach Dirk Koetter’s doghouse for most of last year, RoJo had a forgettable rookie season.
Seeing him play like this against the 49ers was highly encouraging. If he can continue this pace, it looks like the Bucs may finally have the franchise back they’ve lacked since the days of Warrick Dunn.