Has The Coaching Regressed?
November 6th, 2011
Joe doesn’t want to hear the argument that the Bucs don’t have enough talent. Joe’s far more concerned with what the coaches are doing with the talent they have.
That’s coaching — getting the most out of your roster.
Joe can’t imagine there are any Bucs fans that think the Bucs are playing their best football, or anywhere close to it. This team is not better than last year’s bunch.
Joe sees Greg Olson unable to get any kind of identity on offense and dial up what’s necessary to get his offense in a rhythm to start a game. Joe would love to get a look at that pregame “script.” (If Joe sees that sinful Arrellious Benn end-around one more time, he’s going to punch a wall.) Olson’s offense was ranked 10th in the NFL for the second half of the 2010 season. Where did it go?
Looking at Raheem Morris, the defensive coordinator, Joe sees a guy that simply hasn’t figured out how to consistently craft a pass rush, stop big plays and get the most out of his emerging stars on defense. The stats are so bad they’re not lying. The Bucs are on pace for fewer sacks than they had last year (24 total), and the team is near the cellar in many defensive categories.
Raheem the head coach has a team committing all kinds penalties. And the guy hasn’t found a way to get his team to play with a sense of urgency from the opening whistle, which, to be perfectly honest, is the head coach’s primary job — to get guys to play for him.
Joe’s seeing a team that has regressed on both sides of the ball, and given the youth on the team and the relative continuity on the roster, Joe’s having a hard time not laying blame on the coaching staff.
November 6th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
I agree 100 % JOE…The team should be have a real game plan and be DISCIPLINED…The talent is there.
November 6th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES
November 6th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
I dont think that you can regress from non-existent, but to your general point that the coaching is BAD right now – I and we all should agree.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
I worry about Olson; he shows clear signs of mental illness. He is unable to learn or adapt, has delusions of grandiosity and an inflated sense of his own intelligence. I don’t know about firing, but a move from the community to have him committed for as long as it takes to help him would be welcome.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
FIRE OLSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!! if we see no change then i hate to say it but then
mayb raheems got to go
November 6th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Olsen sucks. Blount was averaging 5.5 ypc and only got 13 carries. Johnson in at QB at a critical 3rd down? Passing on 3rd and 4th and short? Olsen ought to be fired for that stinker of a game.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Olson needs to go. I’m sick of seeing Blount not get used, especially on 3rd downs. Can he really be worse than Lumpkin? I’m sick of the predictable playcalling. Innovative to Olson is running a designed QB run with the backup QB on 3rd and 4. Oh and don’t forget the end-around to Benn at least once a game. Ugh…
And I really hate to even say this, but if the team continues to play like this and we don’t finish with more than 7-8 wins, Raheems time may be up. It really seems like there is a lack of discipline with this team and that can only fall on one person.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
Everyone kept denying that the easy schedule we had last year was the reason we went 10-6. Well, it sure looks like the reason now!
But still I agree with Joe, we’re not better at all this year.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
I was wondering who the ‘fire someone’ monkeys were going to pile on this year. Last year it was Rudd. Looks like Olsen this time.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:17 pm
^ Firing Ruud has turned out pretty well.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Why did the acting DC play zone the 1st half, when man-to-man press coverage worked so well 3 weeks ago? Where was the blitzes and up-front pressure from the D-Line that worked so well 3 weeks ago? Why couldn’t the OC use 3 WR sets to attack the loss of NO CBs, when John Lynch kept yelling the fact that NO only had 2 CBs available to play? You decide if coaching is a factor contributing to the loss!
November 6th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Truth is, there were only four people responsible for the offensive success last year: Freeman, Winslow, Blount, Williams. Teams have figured out how to neutralize Winslow & Williams, and they’ve figured out that to limit Freeman you keep him from rolling out or scrambling by taking away his running lanes. Force him to pass from the pocket as much as humanly possible. This formula has been used by almost every team this year, to great success.
The only one they can’t really stop is Blount. But Olson has helped by doing that for our opponents. They don’t even have to try that hard because he’s not getting more than about 12-15 carries a game.
Now that teams are familiar with how to slow down our four main offensive skill players, the coaching has been exposed. Olson is a very mediocre, at best, offensive coordinator. His offense is not adaptable and that’s on the coaching. Teams have been using the same game plan for weeks now. Has Olson changed things up? Not really, no. And that’s what needs to change.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
I’ve stuck up for Raheem since the begining, but based off of what I’ve seen my team turn into the last few weeks, I can no longer do it. What I saw today, and really the last few games, is a completely disfunctional team and a Head Coach that looks totally defeated on the sideline. Raheem appears to have lost this team. The penalties are a direct corrolation of coaching.
I really don’t even want to go into the job, or lack there of, that Greg Olson has done. Olson has enough talent at the skill positions on offense to do pretty much anything he wants, but he just doesn’t know how to use it or refuses to alter his scheme to take advantage. I may be wrong, but I don’t think I saw a sungle shot down field today and I don’t even think there were any plays designed to go deep. Part of this is our O-Line doesn’t give Freman any time, but still, in order to get the defense away from the line of scrimmage you have to take at least a couple shots down there.
Either way, this may be one of the last games I watch this year. The duck and goose hunting is about to pick up here in Iowa and I think I would enjoy my time a lot more freezing my ass off in a layout blind in the middle of a corn field than watching a sloppy as hell football game played.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
I think both coaches are good. That said, we need great. The talent is there. Link and dunk offense doesn’t cut it. We take NO shots down field. You can’t tell me the Saints wr’s are collectively better than ours and they pass the hell out of the ball…and it goes beyond the Brees factor…its play calling. Foster is good, the other lb’s are not.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Olson should definantly be fired. The only reason why his offense was ranked 10th last year is because of who we were playing against. Who the f***k brings in a backup qb on 3rd n 4 with momentum finally starting to swing? He sucks its like he thought he was out thinking everyone like no one would know what was coming with that play. O and the benn end around is a thing of beauty. Why no 3 step drops to get free into rhythm? or quick slants to williams? or Freeman no huddle? Or blount on 3rd down? Raheem has a pretty young D and im sorry but Miller should be cut today his play made me want to throw my tv. Hard to dial up anything when your d has black miller and s jones playing in key positions.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
I’ve been a Raheem supporter as well all along, but I’m done today. The coaching issues really came to the fore. This was his signature game, I’m afraid.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
4-4 and 26th ranked defense says it hasn’t worked out that great.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I think we could point out half a dozen factors in that before we even discussed MLB.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Great post. Nothing else needs to be said, Joe.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
The Glazer boys arent gonna make any coaching changes. Maybe OC.
Otherwise, they are gonna be quite content with the lowest payroll in the league for players and coaching staff.
Charade will continue through 2012.
besides, who the hell any good would come here with the Glazers approach? Think Cowher would come coach when the prized FA pick up was the freaking punter? Not likely.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
I don’t want Dominik & the Glazers to give up on Raheem until at least the end of the 2012 season. The reason for this is that he’s so young and inexperienced that it will take time for him to find his “game” as a head coach. It would royally suck to let him go too soon and he goes somewhere else and becomes another Belichick in his second stint as a head coach. Everyone thought BB was a flop after his initial stint in Cleveland but it turned out that they just didn’t stick with him long enough. It can be painful, but you can’t give up too soon…especially when you’re talking about a young head coach who’s on his first run. We need to wait until January 2013 to make a final determination on Raheem Morris.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
BTW: preseason some of you major homers were ranting about this team
13-3 and setting a franchise record for sacks due to our now dominant D Line.
Well we are on a pace to finish with fewer sacks and wins than last year. Hawaiian? Anyone else?
November 6th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
As I expected sheep are gonna wallow till 2013………………….
November 6th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
I think that you are largely correct, except if there are 30k fans in the seats for the second half of the season and the remaining corp sponsors start leaving or threatening to leave, something may happen.
I think the Texans will be favored in Tampa next week. Andre should play, then the Champs – hello 4-6. Ouch
November 6th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Raheem is a good motivator and connects well with his players but he is just not a very intelligent guy. He spouts out the same awkward talking points and strange self-created euphamisms. Things don’t improve because he does not have the mental capacity…not his fault he was just born that way. Dungy and Gruden had a real football acumen…Rah just is a good teammate.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Comparing Rah and Bill Bellichick?
Someone call the Baker act folks……………………immediate intervention necessary.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Just to recap, Belichick had a 37-45 record in Cleveland over the course of five seasons. If Raheem is given the same length of time he wouldn’t be considered on the hot seat until the 2013 season and wouldn’t be fired until at least January 2014.
One headline in 1995 read, “Bill Belichick’s five-year reign of error is over.” Do we really want to cut Raheem short just because of emotional shortsightedness, only to see him find success elsewhere?
No, we don’t.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
FLBoyInDallas:
Uuummm… the Browns made the playoffs with Belicheat.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Eric…you are an idiot, plain and simple. BB went 37-45 during his time with the Browns, and one of the headlines when he was fired said, “Bill Belichick’s five-year reign of error is over.”
Remember that? Of course not, because morons are forever destined to repeat the mistakes of the past because they are too stupid to separate themselves from their emotional shortsightedness.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
Joe…of course they did. Give Raheem five years like they gave BB and he will have a single playoff appearance, too. Big deal.
November 6th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Does anyone else think that the Glazer’s jumped the gun when jumping Morris from CB coach to Head coach?
I really think Morris is a talented coach. He has the gifts and skills to motivate and get the best out of players, but what he seems to lack is a solid defensive scheme. I think the lack of having a D. Cor. experience is the cause of this. He is learning to become a Def. coordinator and a head coach at the same time.
He’s a talented coach but I doubt John Madden could do it all in today’s football.
…
With all of that said, I’m no football expert but I do wonder if a change up on the offensive coordinator position will do well at the end of the year. Morris should go meet with his good buddy Tomlin from Pittsburgh and see how they run offense over there. We do have better version of the same type of QB as they do.
I do think the biggest obstacle our team shows is a lack of maturity, experience and depth. My personal hope was to see the team make the playoffs this year, but not much expectation beyond that. I think with 1-2 more solid offseasons that we COULD have the personnel and experience to be scary elite. Much like Green Bay or New Orleans was 3+ years ago.
In other words, I hope this year that we can make the playoffs but don’t expect it. Next year, I expect the playoffs and hope for more. The following year, I expect the sky 🙂
November 6th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Joe…got a couple BB posts stuck in the chute for some reason.
November 6th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
watching this game was a disgrace. It was disgusting to see the “turmoil” which i will call it ,going on in this game. The cameras made it a point to constantly show this nonsense going on with freeman, winslow, parker, blount, etc…This is getting so f@#$ing ridiculous that heads need to roll. It all comes down to coaching, if morris cant keep his team in check then he needs to go ,along with all the douche#$@s on this team as well. Seeing winslow slap parkers hand down in this game was just plain FUC%*&g ridicilous(hope you all caught that). I may be way off base here with all my fellow readers here but i hope you guys see it also. Im not even getting into the SLOW start bulls^%t either cause we all know that is apparently not getting addressed.
November 6th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
I literally laughed out loud when I read what flboyindallas said about raheem finding success somewhere else. Raheem is a joke, 10-6 last year was a fluke thanks to the nfc west, even I was fooled,, but after today i have come to my senses.
November 6th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
“Joe sees a guy that simply hasn’t figured out how to consistently craft a pass rush, stop big plays and get the most out of his emerging stars on defense”
Not much left!
November 6th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
You can’t regress from SUCK! The players over-achieved against a weak schedule last year. They are what they are…as is the coaching staff. This team has enough talent that they should be better than this…at least more disciplined. Color me disgusted!
November 6th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
The GLAZERS need to bring Cowher to Tampa. The bucs will lose the majority of the remaining games, and Raheem is going to be out of a job. Or demoted to D-Coordinator. Cowher will set this ship in the right direction. GO BUCS!
November 6th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
LOL I think this is too funny because some of have been saying this since the beginning of the season. Thomas ur a jerk but we can coexist on this point because if the Bucs best showing is this after a bye week I’m not watching them anymore to save my blood pressure. Bucs are spiralling and I mean fast. Better shape up or heads could roll…
November 6th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
If the season continues as is, with no sign of improvement, then someone’s going to lose their job at season’s end. My guess is Olson at this point. However, as we’ve seen the last couple seasons, the Bucs under Raheem have the capacity to rise up and finish the season better than they started. I wouldn’t write off a 9-7 record just yet.
November 6th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
As bad as it was, the Bucs played about the same game they’ve been playing. They lost because the Saints didn’t throw the game away with boneheaded trick plays or poor clock management at the end of the game as they did the last two times they played. Young players – young coaches – trying to live on emotion will only take a team so far. Remember Chucky?
November 6th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Flboy: where have you been? Two seasons ago they were 3-13. You mean they rose up to 3-13 from 0-7? Wow really?
Last year we finished 3rd in our division (with a gift easy schedule) and lost the most important game of the season at home against the Lions with their 3rd string qb playing – rising up?
There is no rising up anywhere. This team has talent which allows them to win when the other team has an off-game, like the first Saints game. However, if our opponent plays average or better, we lose because they are more prepared and disciplined.
I know you guys desperately wanted a no experience excitable young guy to be a head coaching success. I want eternal life and no taxes – we both are nit going to get what we want.
Cut your losses now or soon. FYI Flboy: it is laughable for you to compare rah to bellichick, one of the GOATS. He did win a playoff game in Cleveland in year 3 buddy. He resigned when the team was moving to Baltimore.
November 6th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
I thought 9-7 would be a good year. Didn’t see today’s game but by the sound of it there was enough blame to go around. There will be a time when Raheem will realize the buddy-buddy with players only goes so far. The players will realize that the coaches can only do so much, that they must take a lot of the blame as well. I only hope they reach that point together. Arguing on the sidelines is not a good sign but we’ve seen that type of behavior on good teams as well. I’d like to see more discipline. From the coaches in assuming the full responsibility of their roles, from the players in staying focused the entire game. On another note, glad I didn’t see that end around…never liked that play because it generally produces little offense in the NFL. I would have blown my top at that play.
November 6th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Thomas 2.2, hate to say it, but it looks like you were right. Tampa is nowhere near the dominant team many of us thought we were going to be.
I do not think it is ALL Coaching either. It appears to me, as it appeared when Gruden was still here, we just are not as good talent wise, as other teams.
It appears Mark Dominick put together a decent team, talent wise.
The problem is our opponents put together even better ones!
Remember, we HAD a 10 and 6 team last year, but what did we do ? Tampa replaced BOTH the Offensive and Defensive line coaches from a 10 and 6 team!
Then, we still stayed put, and took McCoy, instead of trading down a few spots, where we could have had Terrence Cody, a REAL run stopper AND additional draft picks.
The talent difference between Suh and McCoy is huge, and he can’t stay healthy.
Even when he was in there, the Saints line was blowing him 5 yards off the ball, as they were doing to the rest of our so called “dominant linemen”
Foster was badly burned by Brees on the 4th quarter QB draw, and Freeman missed several passes and blocks.
He also missed several chances to tuck and run.
I agree Thomas, it looks like it is going to get very ugly for Tampa the rest of the season.
Already, Bucs tickets are as cheap and easy to get in Tampa as a Cuban Sandwich.
This team is a mess.
Tampa had 2 weeks to prepare for the Saints, did they look prepared ?
Glazers will HAVE to do something, because Fans are bailing on them fast.
Jeff Fisher, where are you ? Tampa is a nice town Jeff 🙂
November 6th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
bring back chunky and monte kiffin lol
November 7th, 2011 at 10:18 am
we had a flukey type year last year, and i think this is what we are. very average to below. No playmakers. Boring ass football. Hard to watch. Found myself watching other games.
November 7th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Easy answer! No dicipline! These players have no dicipline and no direction. Raheem is a good coach (D-coach), not head coach. Greg Olson “Sucks”! His play calling is just plain ugly! I do think that we might be looking at a serious coaching issue or issues and the players need some one who will tell them what to do not ask them what they like to do. If this is not fixed before the end of the season, I do not see any reason why we would not look to the likes of Bill Cower.