If you’ve seen LeGarrette Blount run for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year, you can tell why he got into fights during college and training camp. The pudgy back runs with a bruising, physical style and like the defense stole his lunch money.
Blount’s path to the NFL was well-chronicled — a fight after Oregon’s season-opening loss to Boise State that involved Blount punching Byron Hout (and going after a teammate), resulted in him getting suspended nearly the entire season. The highly-publicized incident caused LeGarrette’s draft stock to plummet to the point where he went undrafted.
The Tennessee Titans signed Blount as an undrafted free agent and brought him into camp. Blount got into a fight during training camp but that didn’t seem to be an issue for Jeff Fisher and the coaching staff. Tennessee elected to keep just Chris Johnson and Javon Ringer on the roster and placed Blount on waivers, likely hoping they would sign him to their practice squad. Unfortunately for Tennessee, Tampa Bay wisely picked Blount up off waivers just before the season began.
Blount needed some time to learn the playbook with his new team and he struggled with pass protection early on. After accumulating just 10 carries the first six games of the year, Blount saw extensive action against the Rams in week 7. He ran for 72 yards on 11 carries, good for an average of 6.5 yards per attempt. The bulky running back truly took off the following week with 120 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns against the Cardinals. Two weeks later, LeGarrette got it rolling again with 91 yards on 19 carries against the Panthers. A six-play 87-yard drive in the second quarter is where Blount showed his talents.
LeGarrette had runs of 12, 24, 3, 17, and 17 on the drive which culminated in a cork screw dive into the end zone by Blount. His last four runs were consecutive and Carolina simply could not stop the big, bruising back. Blount was stuffed many times for short gains or no gain on subsequent carries, but much like Brandon Jacobs a few years ago, you can tell that defenses don’t like tackling the physical man. When you have 250 or more pounds of anger coming at you, it tends to be intimidating. Blount’s aggressive play has certainly been effective in the NFL and he has emerged as a true feature back for the Bucs.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Margaret Bowles
