Turnover Teacher Lovie Has Educated Students
January 13th, 2014
Greg Schiano and Lovie Smith do have something in common. Both were fired after seasons in which their defenses did an incredible job forcing turnovers.
Lovie’s Bears led the NFL in turnovers in 2012. Last season, Schiano’s Buccaneer Men were third in the league.
Humble Lovie did very little boasting when he was introduced to media and fans last week at One Buc Palace.
But Lovie did flash pride about his Chicago defenses on a few occasions. Why? Because they took away the football like nobody else, he claimed.
Here’s a snippet of a Lovie address, as transcribed by Buccaneers.com:
“… but with our system of single-gap football, passing downs being able to mix in a little bit of Cover-Two, but for us the thing that dictates whether you win or lose each week the most will be turnover ratio. As you look at our time in Chicago from 2004 and on, on the defensive side, we took the ball away more than any team around – that didn’t just happen by chance. It’ll be the way that we practiced it and the mindset that we’ll have for our players. [I] don’t know exactly what all went on this past year, I just know that we’re here now and we’re going to evaluate of course the scheme, but more the personnel.”
It’s true that Lovie’s Bears teams did a great job forcing turnovers. They finished top-six in the NFL during six of Lovie’s nine seasons as head coach. Joe just doubts Lovie’s emphasis on turnovers is going to represent much of an impact to the returning members of the Bucs defense. Schiano had all kinds of daily focus on turnovers,and was successful in that area.
Turnover ratios (giveaways vs. takeaways) was another bizarre feature of Schiano’s Bucs. They were great at protecting and seizing the football but couldn’t win games, which is a rare combination in the NFL. It was an indicator of the ineptitude of the Bucs coaching staff and the impotence of the offense.
Lovie may not be an offensive mind, but he’s still a strong overall NFL head coach. Joe looks forward to watching games in which the Bucs don’t get routinely outcoached.
January 13th, 2014 at 2:24 pm
I’m looking forward to games where we are, you know, actually coached.
January 13th, 2014 at 2:25 pm
^^Maybe I should say, ‘like an NFL team’..?
Come on Tedford, pulling for you.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
Amen to that, bucfanjeff.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:53 pm
You can force all the turnovers you want, but if your offense does nothing with those turnovers then they mean very little.
January 13th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
Hell, I’d be willing to bet that team with the lowest amount of turnovers forced had more points off turnovers than our team who is one of the best at forcing turnovers. Just so damn frustrating. Its why our defensive players looked so desperate to score when they forced a turnover because the knew if our offense got on the field it would be for nothing.fix the damn offense please.
January 13th, 2014 at 4:33 pm
A perfect example of why a quality offense and scoring are important and needed.
I hope Lovie has come to understand this during his year off and addresses the O-Line and gets an upgrade over Tiquan Underwood.
January 13th, 2014 at 4:58 pm
A stronger pass rush will net even more turnovers from this team…and…yes, it would be good to have an offense that could take advantage….
January 13th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
They did a good job building a good young squad on defense. I don’t blame the pass rushers for the bad numbers completely. I mostly blame it on Bill Sheridan. Didn’t like that guy from day one. And you noticed after he let the D-line run wild and we had a couple good weeks of getting pressure….good ol’ bill went right back to his stupid stunts every snap. I’m not too worried about our defensive roster exempt that I think Bowers is a complete bust. Now we need to get the offense clicking. I am SURE Tedford will let the organization which Qb he wants out of this draft and why. If that happens then we will be in good shape. Mike williams is a good receiver but not worth the money he is being paid. I would like to see us get another big powerful receiver and a slot guy or maybe put Mike williams in the slot and see how he does there. That would be nice to see.
January 13th, 2014 at 6:21 pm
I want the bucs to draft Aaron Murray in the 4th round I believe he is a diamond in the rough. Let him ride the bench this upcoming season learn all he can. Everybody is gonna think I’m nuts but but the bucs should sign Josh Freeman back this off season to compete with Mike Glennon in Training camp. Think about he is a no risk but possible high reward signing, maybe Lovie and Tedford can revitalize Josh. As far as upside he is only 25 yrs old and still very talented just needs to clean up his off the field issues. Then sign either Michael Bennett or Jared Allen or Julius peppers in free agency. Give penn and joeseph another chance this season. Draft Sammy Watkins at 7th overall and draft a guard in second round. Sign Tillman and Hester and sign a tight end. Draft another offensive lineman in the 5th and draft another quarterback in the 6th.
January 13th, 2014 at 6:45 pm
For the first time since 2008 this team has a head coach that actually knows what he’s talking about.
That’s got to make a huge difference.
January 13th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
Honestly, we came into last year with a bad oline. I pointed it our last April, but was told by many that our oline was great.
When the Bucs draft finished last year I felt like it was the worse draft ever. But as the season went on it turned out to probably be the best in Bucs history, since 100% of the picks were hits.
I cannot complain that the Bucs had a bad oline, because they did so well in the last two drafts. Lovie will have to address the oline instead.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:26 pm
@ Rob in Tampa
per: Josh Freeman.
There is almost no way that Lovie (not to mention the Glazers) would allow him back into One Buc Place. I doubt that there is a single player who line up with him. He blew up, burned, and buried his bridge back to Tampa.
I agree with Tampabaybucfan that a priority view of the D-line will give the offense more chances (Even a blind squirrel finds a nut). And when the defense is taking the ball out of the opposing teams’ hands (turnover or on ‘downs’), it means less scoring and therefore less pressure on the Buc offense. First day pick(s) and/or FA, the Bucs need to address help for McCoy.
January 14th, 2014 at 1:34 am
If I remember they owe the jets their thrid round pick? Depending on what they bring in for free agents they’ll take a QB, fast reciever, Lb and offensive linemen (prob 2 of them if they’re smart)..
January 14th, 2014 at 2:12 am
I see the Lovie signing free agents to help the defense and drafting players for the offense. I am hoping for Sammy Watkins at #7 (hopefully he’s there). Then I a am hoping for them to bolster the OL in round two and a QB in round 4. We HAVE talent on offense just need a slot WR (Sammy) and a revamped OL especially a replacement for Nicks. The only thing for sure is a proven pass rusher via FA is an absolute MUST!! Give Glennon another shot with Tedford. Hopefully we can get back to the gold ole days where the defense just asks for 17 points from the offense. With that said here’s to getting Brooks and Lynch and Dungy in the HOF. il be there!!
January 14th, 2014 at 1:18 pm
I hope Lovie hires Derrick Brooks.
Dom should never be forgiven for the way he cut #55.
It should have been done differently.
By the way, Schiano doomed himself when he got on Sapp’s bad side.