Greg Schiano’s Offseason
January 2nd, 2013
It didn’t take more than but a few seconds before Bucs coach Greg Schiano said in his end-of-season press conference that he was going to begin a thorough and rigorous exam of his organization and if changes need to be made, they will.
This will come as good news to one Bucs fan from Australia who tried to lobby “The Professor,” John Clayton of ESPN, that Schiano needs to be jettisoned by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
Q: I’m a big Bucs fan, and I was interested to see where you see our team? While I can understand no mention of Greg Schiano in your hot seat article, I found this season to be frustrating. The defense has been terrible.
Adam in Melbourne, Australia
A: The finish to the season has been bad for Schiano and the Bucs. They looked like a tired team. They were close to becoming the first team in NFL history to allow 300 passing yards per game. But change the coach? Not happening. He signed a five-year contract, and any coach who gets a contract that long gets to at least the fourth year. Schiano inherited a defense that lacked talent. He’s got to build that back in the draft. His first mission was to establish discipline, and that was accomplished. The long contract keeps him off the hot seat.
Let Joe correct Mr. Australia. The defense was not terrible. The run defense was dynamite, the best in the NFL. The pass defense was horrific and Joe has gone on record that a head should roll as a result (only when a team finishes 15-1 can it excuse a miserable pass defense like the Bucs had this year).
This will be an important offseason for Greg Schiano. Joe is convinced there will be a second player purge as Schiano identifies who really is a Buccaneer Man after a season full of both game and practice tape.
Just a hunch, but Joe believes the Bucs could have a very, very different look on defense. The defensive line has two free agents. Quincy Black is anything but a sure thing to return from injury this fall. The Bucs very well could have three new starters in the secondary if Ronde Barber retires.
And all of those decisions will have Schiano’s fingerprints all over them.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:19 pm
Is it possible they had the best run defense BECAUSE they had the worst pass defense, seems to make perfect sense to me
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:43 pm
There’s no doubt that the horrific pass defense helped the run defense statistically. Why would teams spend an entire game banging there head against a wall when they could just drop back and throw for 300 yards with their eyes closed? But this doesn’t minimize their dominance against the run. When you lead the league in stuffs and YPC, you’re doing a good job.
As for Mr. Australia… Hmmmm, what kind of IDIOT would suggest dismissing a head coach after one season? I mean, if the whole picture was pathetic, I could see it, but there were many areas of improvement this year and the suggestion that Schiano should go has got to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard out of the mouth of a Bucs fan, ever.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:04 pm
We lead the league in tackles for a loss. That means when teams ran we were in their backfield a lot of which teams where trying to fool us into thinking they were going to pass. So lets give credit where it is due and criticism where it ia due.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:12 pm
I have no doubt that Coach Schiano is the right man for the job here. You cant turn over an entire roster in one off season and the roster he inherited was short on talent. The culture here has changed and now the inmates no longer run the asylum. Now they need to weed out more space takers and bring in more talent through the draft and free agency. Have to remember that this was a team that wasnt suppose to even sniff the playoffs anyway, and when the injury bug hit it really hurt. So 7 wins this year shows real progress and now I see promise and potential where before there was disappointment and depression and nobody cared about being their best self.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:34 pm
Adam from Melbourne has no idea. Take it from a real bucs fan in Queensland Australia-this bloke knows nothing. Schiano’s defence has no doubt had its serious issues in the secondary but I would say look at the positives. Roy Miller has transformed from a journeyman into a stud run blocker for example and one could argue that he is thriving in the new schiano order culture. Tidy up that secondary. I like Jarius Byrd from Buf at FS if he is still available come free agency. Add in a decent FA corner and another good draft later, the bucs D could well again be a force. How about we call Adam from Melbourne ‘Mr Victoria’? Thats the State is resides in. I don’t want to be tarred with his brush just because I’m in the same continent.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:58 pm
Take it easy, gotta make these offseason fantasies last…….
Better space em out a little.
Save some euphoria for Dominik’s draft.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:15 pm
Purge every single cornerback on the roster; that’ll be a good start. Ronde is welcomed back if he wants to return, but everyone else needs to go. Starting from scratch can’t be any worse than what our secondary did this season.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:45 pm
This was the 4th year of this rebuild and they should have been involved in the Super Bowl tournament. Stalin purged his team constantly and almost lost Mother Russia.
My brother annulled his marriage after 3 days. Best decision of his life.
Gruden was fired in the 1st year of his contract. Best decision of his life. Schiano does a couple things well. He is a capable special teams coach and he has successfully taught ball security skills to the players except Gosh, the coach killer.
Completely selling out to the run on defense does a couple dubious things. It makes your pass defense especially porous and statistically legendary. In a bad way.
It also skews offensive statistics because the other team scores so quickly and abundantly that the Buc’s offense has a lot more soft opportunities. Don’t be so excited when your team scores 35 points when the defense gives up 45 a game.
Then you have the Raphael’s of the world who brag about the offensive stats when the other team is playing a soft prevent defense most of the time.
I would suggest a close look at 32 year old Dwight Freeney, he might be the next Simeon Rice. He might be a bargain because he’s coming off a bad year where he battled an ankle injury and never fit into the Colt’s new 3-4 defense. He might also like to finish his career on a grass field.
With DF playing RDE even GMC might sniff double digit sacks. Take a flyer on Rod Marinelli as a DL coach.
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:05 am
For those fans that HAD to comment that the run defense was great BECAUSE the pass defense was awful, the Bucs also led the NFL in limiting opponent’s yards per carry.at 3.5. Yards per carry are the true measure of how effective a rush defense is and the Bucs led by .1 over the 2nd place team and was one of only 6 teams in the league to limit their opponents to less than 4.0 yards per rush.
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:11 am
Miguel, Freeney is done. How can he be another Simeon Rice? Rice’s career wasn’t running on fumers like Freeney’s is. When he came to the Bucs he was 27 years old, a full 5 years younger than Freeney, and unlike Freeney, he wasn’t damaged goods. He hasn’t even been a standout pass rusher since 2010 and he’s never been even average against the run.
If the Bucs want to get involved in the free agency market for a defensive end, the Bengals Michael Johnson is the closest thing to Simeon Rice. He is a physical monster that is just coming into his own. Connor Barwin and Cliff Avril are two other DEs that have been productive, are explosive, and are still young. Paul Kruger might not be in the other 3 players’ class as a pass rusher, but he could play DE on passing downs, and be the starting Sam on running downs.
There are tons of better options than Freeney, re-signing Michael Bennett would be one.
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:31 am
Like I’ve said many times, if you’re on ESPN asking the Crypt Keeper about the Bucs, you’re far from being a real Bucs fan.
January 3rd, 2013 at 1:30 am
^^^pretty much^^^
January 3rd, 2013 at 2:25 am
Run defense prospered at the detriment of the pass defense. Hopefully that more due to talent than scheme, as I do not expect the scheme to change much.
January 3rd, 2013 at 2:28 am
Regardless of how good the run defense was, the defense overall was horrible.
January 3rd, 2013 at 8:20 am
@Snook, that is hilarious!
January 3rd, 2013 at 10:28 am
Totally agree with that assessment Joe. If they can get a stud pass rusher in the draft they will be in great shape on the line (provided they keep Bennett) but a lot depends on who falls in the draft and who we sign in the offseason.
In fact a lot of pundits even pick Banks to fall to the 2nd round due to his play falling off the last month.
Get a good corner or 2 but don’t overpay for anyone (wright’s signing was moronic) a lot of that depends on what is out there too. Of the current free agents only Brent Grimes, Tracey Porter and Derek Cox would be good choices. DRC is OK too but the other 3 are the best of the lot. Excited about the offseason glad the Glazers are opening up their pocket-books.
Finally draft importance should be Corner/D-Line then depth along O-line starting at tackle, maybe a tight end and finally an accurate, smart QB who performs well under pressure.
GO BUCS !!!
January 3rd, 2013 at 1:46 pm
So Miguel is calling someone else (Raphael) out? Some how Miguel ‘The Biggest Troll on JBF’ is annoyed by Raphael ‘Mr. Optimistic 2.2’?
This can only mean one thing… Miguel actually BELIEVES that he has influence and is not just trolling for fun… he feels he has to defend his anti-Schiano/Freeman position against Raphael’s pro-Schiano/Freeman position.
About the Bucs defense/offense debate. I like Schiano and what he has done. But it is absolutely a fact that the strong run defense for the 2012 Bucs caused the pass defense to be so horrible.
Think to the 2011 Bucs… Raheem sold out the run with 3-man fronts, just so he could put 8 DBs on the field in the ultra-prevent. Only problem was that Raheem’s defense led to a 15th or so ranked pass defense, while the rush defense was last or second to last.
We need a better pass rush 1st and then better DBs 2nd. Actually, make that 1a and 1b… we need both really.
I would also like to have a top rated LB added to the mix. I wish we could draft a Patrick Willis type of LB this year. That would really help solidify that middle. 1st round LBs are usually the safest pick in the NFL.
LB, CB, DE, CB, FS… would be a nice draft.