National Football League

Bucs RB Blount working to become every-down back

Published Sep. 13, 2011 1:04 a.m. ET

foxsports

LeGarrette Blount was as surprised as anyone that he spent most of the second half of Tampa Bay's season-opening loss on the bench instead of trying to help the Buccaneers wear down Detroit's defense.

A 1,000-yard rusher a year ago as an undrafted rookie free agent, Blount was limited to 15 yards on just five attempts during Sunday's 27-20 loss to the Lions. He carried one time for 2 yards after halftime, even though the Bucs only trailed by a touchdown until the middle of the third quarter.

In hindsight Monday, coach Raheem Morris second-guessed his decision to use the team's two-minute offense for the entire second-half, saying he probably should have stuck with a game plan that called for Blount to be the primary ball carrier.

The 247-pound running backrushed for 110 yards in a loss to Detroit late last season. He's still learning the club's pass protection schemes, though, so he's rarely on the field when the Bucs are in hurry-up mode or obvious passing situations.

''You have to respect the coach's call. You've got to do what they tell you,'' Blount said. ''They felt the need to run the two-minute offense the entire second-half. We didn't run the ball much the first half. It's up to them.''

An improved Detroit defense held the Bucs to 56 yards rushing, and the Lions offense did its part to shut down Blount, too, by dominating time of possession until the fourth quarter.

Up two touchdowns after putting together five scoring drives of at least 70 yards, Detroit spent much of the fourth quarter running the ball exclusively to try to exhaust the clock.

The Bucs led 10-6 early, thanks to Aqib Talib's interception return for a touchdown and a long kickoff return that set up a field goal on Tampa Bay's first possession.

But Josh Freeman couldn't get the offense into the end zone until less than two minutes remained, raising the question of whether team might have been better off sticking with its regular offense and using Blount more.

The Bucs finished with 313 yards total offense, however 185 of that came in the fourth quarter after Detroit basically shut its offense down.

''That's not how we want to win games,'' Morris conceded about the no-huddle attack. ''We want to win games with Blount bludgeoning you for 130 yards and being efficient (in the passing game). When we go to the two-minute offense, you take Blount out of the game.

''Maybe as a coach I went too early to the two-minute offense. But I wanted to get something generated, give Free some confidence and get all those guys going,'' the coach added. ''It worked to the standpoint that we were able to get back in the game, but maybe I went into it a little bit early. ... That's on me.''

The Bucs defense shared some of the responsibility for the offense's slow start.

Detroit outgained the Bucs 147 yards to 4 in the opening quarter, running 24 plays to Tampa Bay's six. The Lions had the ball for 22 minutes of the opening half, which was one of the reasons Morris felt it was necessary to do something to change the tempo of the game, even though the score was still relatively close.

Earnest Graham, who gained 13 yards on six attempts, becomes the primary ball carrier in the two-minute. He also had a team-leading eight pass receptions for 58 yards.

''We had like 23 plays in the first half. ... When you're not on the field, it's really tough to sit for eight or nine minutes - that's clock time, that's not real time; real time it's like a half-hour, 40 minutes and you're not even on the field,'' Freeman said. ''It's tough to really establish something.''

Matthew Stafford's second TD pass to Calvin Johnson put the Lions up 27-13 midway through the fourth quarter. The Bucs offense dominated time of possession from that point on, but had difficulty finishing drives.

''We were moving the ball, moving the chains. I felt our comfort level was higher, all-around as an offense in the two-minute mode with the no huddle and keeping the defense off balance,'' Freeman said.

''It doesn't really bode well for LeGarrette, but at the same time when he was locked in, he was ready to go whenever we needed him,'' the Bucs quarterback added. ''The game just didn't go as we planned. That's what it came down to.''

Morris and offensive coordinator Greg Olson said Blount continues to work hard in practice, trying to become more involved in the passing game and two-minute offense.

Blount feels he's progressing.

''I feel like I am. Then again, they're not comfortable enough with me running it,'' the second-year pro said, adding that no one told him specifically what he needs to improve on to become an every-down back.

''They just told me to keep working at it, that they don't completely trust me in the passing game 100 percent, So they go with a guy like Earnest who knows the entire offense. ... I'm disappointed in the loss, but we have 15 more weeks. There are a lot of things we need to improve on and that we can correct.''