O.J. Howard: What does his return mean for the Buccaneers?
By Ian O'Reilly
This is where O.J. Howard takes an A- offense to an A++.
With Howard back on the field, teams have an impossible task. Howard was getting high praise from the coaching staff at the beginning of the year for his improvement in blocking, and his route running. He looked like a complete tight end.
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He runs a 4.5 forty time at 6 feet 6 inches and 250 pounds! Lord help these linebackers now that he’s learned proper technique. His early production with Tomy Brady being brand new to the offense was encouraging too. As the second tight end on the depth chart, he had 146 yards and two touchdowns in three and a half games.
When They’ve got two guys like Howard and Gronk out there blocking like linemen and catching like receivers, teams are in a real bind defensively. Do defenses crowd the box and get beat by Gronk and Howard as receiving threats, or over the top by Evans or Miller while they block? Do they leave a lighter box in case the Bucs throw and get mollywhopped by 260-pound freight trains letting Ronald Jones through the line with a head of steam? The Bucs are at their absolute scariest when in their two tight end sets.
Luckily for the Bucs, and unfortunately for everyone else in the league, it looks like they’re about to get an extra boost to an already scary offense.