Leonard Fournette goes from passport fiasco to rushing TD in Germany

Leonard Fournette was able to score a one-yard touchdown in Germany after almost missing the trip due to a late passport arrival.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into their Sunday game in Germany against the Seattle Seahawks with one of the worst running games of the Super Bowl era.

The Bucs’ rushing attack this season has been as bad as we’ve seen in the Super Bowl era, and it more resembles the rockfight run games we saw in the NFL’s Paleolithic era than anything you’d expect in the present day.

Through their first nine games of the 2022 season, the Bucs have run for 546 yards. That’s the worst total of the Super Bowl era, though the 2022 Los Angeles Rams are right behind them in second place with 547. That represents a massive dropoff from other historically futile rushing attacks. The 1982 San Francisco 49ers ranked third-worst with 740 rushing yards, and that was in a strike year with just nine games. Same with the 1982 Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, and Cincinnati Bengals.

However! There is now good news for the Bucs and their fans. Through the first half, that awful Tampa Bay run game has actually been on point. The Bucs have given reps to both Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White, and it’s definitely working. Tampa Bay ran the ball 19 times for 74 yards by the time the first half was near over, and the last run play was this one-yard touchdown from Fournette with 4:31 left in the first half.

An impressive recovery for Fournette, given that he almost missed the game entirely. Per Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, Fournette’s replacement passport arrived by mail just hours before the Bucs were set to depart for their trip.

That touchdown put the Bucs up, 14-0.