Did Fleck’s Distractions Affect The Bucs?
December 18th, 2012
The Bucs will miss hands-on, high-energy, demanding P.J. Fleck next season, but did they miss part of what he offers recently?
Maybe it’s coincidence, but the Bucs’ receiving game has been struggling and it started right around the time wide receiver coach P.J. Fleck clearly was in the heat of a job search and subsequently was named head coach of Western Michigan University yesterday.
Joe also has learned that Fleck’s wife went into labor yesterday. Congratulations, Mr. Fleck.
But those two scenarios above are major distractions, and given how greatly hands-on and influential Fleck was, and the emerging “miscommunication” issues between receivers and Josh Freeman, Joe can’t help but wonder if Fleck’s distractions led to trouble on the field.
Bucs fans seemingly saw something like this go down with Monte Kiffin, when — and it was Joe’s first major scoop — Kiffin was being shopped by son Lane Kiffin as part of a package coaching deal to various universities. Subsequently, Monte Kiffin made it known he was leaving the Bucs late in the 2008 season, and the Bucs defense quickly imploded into something not seen since the Sam Wyche era.
Joe’s not blaming Fleck for anything, just searching for possible answers as to what radically transformed the Bucs offense into a subpar unit.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
BJ Fleck was ALWAYS mounting players & coaches (i was worried about THAT)
December 18th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
wow, i see what you did there. sexual innuendo and homophobia. so glad THAT’s what you’re worried about.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
No.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Lol is that what you believe Joe?
December 18th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Yea….let’s blame it in that….everyone in ?
December 18th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Negative ghost rider
December 18th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
@Lurker <—- your name says it all
December 18th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
You think Fleck “distracted” Freeman from accurately placing a ball 5-10 yards down field with some touch on it? Nope!
December 18th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
The transformation of the Bucs Offense into a subpar unit solely rests on the shoulders of “Captn. Inconsistency” aka Freeman.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
The only mis-communication there has been the past couple of weeks is the receivers asked Freeman to throw it so they could catch it, and Freeman thought they said “throw it where I can’t catch it”! PJ Fleck interviewing or going to Lamaze classes is not the reason for the Bucs sucking.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Here is the problem:
Fleck is a 1 and done coach with the Bucs. It makes it appear he is jumping ship for a reason, so players will talk privately and question what is going on. It is a distraction.
Now fast forward a month or so and expect there to be a coaching change with the ST and maybe DB coaches and\or related assistants.
I’m hoping our team can stay focused.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Any position coach would be one and done if given a head coaching opportunity. There’s no conspiracy here. Move along.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
yes, i lurk in the background watching idiotic postings.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Don’t offer this up as an excuse for Freeman.
It has nothing to do with miscommunication and everything to do with Josh not very good.
He has flashes of brilliance surrounded by long periods of awful play and even then the good is largely down to the wideouts making great plays.
People can give us all that he’s only 24 garbage, so what, Matthew Stafford is actually younger than him and he’s not holding his team back.
Josh can’t use age as a reason for sucking when you have younger rookies coming in like Luck, Griffin, Wilson outplaying him along with others who are mere months older like Dalton. Fact is age has nothing to do with it he just isn’t very good. Josh has all the physical tools but he simply doesn’t have the mental ones, there has been zero improvement in decision making over his 3.5 years starting, throw in his attitude against the Saints (throwing Rivers like tantrums when HE commited turnovers), the “I feel I’m playing better than” ever type comments we get after he has bad games and it’s like he thinks he’s IT and the struggles are elsewhere.
December 18th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Listen, the offense has only been the problem this past week and it certainly wasn’t the only problem. We scored enough points to win the majority of our games if we had any defensive CB’s that could cover. The Giants, Redskins, Falcons and Eagles are all games I lay on the defense. If we win those games
we’re not even having this conversation right now.
December 18th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
SteveK,
Who said this? And how long ago was this guy in love with Freeman?
“Both of Freeman’s throws to V-Jax were $$MONEY$$$!
I hope someone can ask Boomer Esaison how crow tastes?”
December 18th, 2012 at 3:38 pm
When I saw the Fleck report, the first I thought of too was Mont Kiffin. What this does show though is that Fleck wasnt committed to Schiano. Did his family ever move down here or did they stay in Wisconsin? Thats probably an indicator.
December 18th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Buc Fan South,
Wisconsin? Fleck was with Schiano at Rutgers the previous couple of seasons. You may be thinking of the OL coach who I think came from there. As far as commitment, i think position coaches make around $150K and I’m thinking he’ll make at least 3 times that at WMU, so money does funny things to commitments.
December 18th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Bring back Ike Hilliard. 3’rd and Ike, and we suck on 3’rd down, big time.
December 18th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Fleck who??? A receivers coach who can’t even honor a one year commitment to a team should never draw comparisons to Monte Kiffin or a professional coach…he’s a job hopper….he used his relationship with Schiano at Rutgers to gain a higher position based on the money…….when he looks back on his career and when others look at his resume, he will be viewed as a job hopper. Nothing more to it than that.
December 18th, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Are we really in a position where losing Fleck is a big deal? Like Vincent Jackson never did anything in the league before fleck. Or Williams?
Please.
Does Benn still play for the Bucs?