Lovie: Bucs QBs A Strength
March 31st, 2014
Bucs QBs are a strength, including Josh McCown, Lovie says.
It’s March and nearly April. In the NFL calendar, there are four seasons: preseason, regular season and postseason. The fourth? That’s this time of the year. The season of smoke.
Teams, readying for the draft, are as willing to blow smoke or erect smokescreens as much as anything. It’s both understandable, and frustrating. Joe hopes Lovie Smith was involved in major smoke-blowing and public support for his players when he went on record to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune saying, well, Bucs quarterbacks are a team strength.
Smith might stand alone with his opinion. At the very least, he figures to be in the minority. But he bases his judgment on the faith he has not only in projected starter Josh McCown but in projected backup Mike Glennon.
“I have evaluated Josh quite a bit, and (he is) a 34-year-old guy who doesn’t have a lot of wear and tear on his body and he’s a very good athlete,’’ Smith said. “He won’t get the credit for being the athlete that he is.
“I mean, he brings mobility to the position. And he makes good decisions. So when we went looking for a quarterback, I (said), ‘Who is available that I think can help us win football games,’ and what Josh displayed last year was that.’’
No, Joe isn’t convinced (yet) the Bucs do not have the fourth-best quarterback in the four-team NFC South. And we all know what kind of a steep hill that is to overcome.
(Will sober people just knock off the nonsense about the Seahawks! Last Joe checked, the Seahawks didn’t exactly have Dieter Brock starting at quarterback).
Now Joe is willing to hope Josh McCown is the Bucs’ version of Rich Gannon, a late bloomer. But as Bobby Knight infamously stated, “hope” is a dirty four-letter word. If Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford can work the same magic in the NFL as he did for his college quarterbacks, then McCown could very well lead the Bucs to a turnaround.
Time will tell. The May draft seems like a year away right now on baseball’s true opening day. The regular season feels like a decade away.
March 31st, 2014 at 7:13 am
Looks like we have the 4th and 5th best qbs in the division.
March 31st, 2014 at 7:22 am
Either way we need some better receiving options.
March 31st, 2014 at 7:25 am
For a coach who had Rex Grossman take him to the Superbowl, I can see where he thinks he’s struck gold with McCown & Glennon.
This is all pre-draft talk…The strategy could be to downplay the need for a QB, therefore keeping Minn or Tenn from feeling the need to trade up.
Or, he could be preparing fans for his decision not to select a QB at 7.
March 31st, 2014 at 7:31 am
Or he could be refraining from speaking negatively about his employees.
March 31st, 2014 at 7:35 am
Your wife is the most beautiful woman in the world, that is, until you marry the next one! Everybody understands coachspeak, It’s part of the game!
March 31st, 2014 at 8:06 am
MG8 is Gold.
March 31st, 2014 at 8:09 am
Mccown = mediocrity
March 31st, 2014 at 8:16 am
The Franchise QB holy grail. It’s like picking the winning loto ticket. QB are probably the hardest position to decipher because talent on the oline, wr and rb can truly affect the way your qb needs to play. Playcalling can affect too. Team defense will influence the outcome too. Clock management, etc…
Draft Clowney, give other teams hell with Johnson, McCoy, McDonald, Clowney who will all 4 be locked up for at least 4 years after GMC extension. Let LVD roam behind this line and watch if we need a so called Franchise QB.
March 31st, 2014 at 8:49 am
Yeah, the draft and season seem a long way off, however there is nothing truer than time just flies by. So hurry up and wait.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:14 am
Lovie also gushed over JF after his pro day. Great arm, mobility and tape I believe he said.
Of course he also said Revis was a big part of his plans for the defense.
So, who knows.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:14 am
Can either McCown or Glennon “pull”?
Did they pull in college?
The answer is “No. Not like JFF.”
This is BS, or at least I hope it is.
We have a chance to trade up to get Johnny
and L&L are spouting crap like this?
Deep at QB? Puh-leeze.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:22 am
Have to love it…when Lovie says something positive about McCown being a “strength”, it is a “smokescreen”. When he says something about Johnny, he is really in love with the guy and we want to draft him. Might I suggest that the situation is reversed in one case and overstated in the other….he don’t love either of them and both are smokescreens.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:26 am
There’s a lot of smoke bellowing from NFL front offices this time of year. I expect the Bucs to draft QB at some point in this years draft. The only way this doesn’t happen is if Tedford told Lovie he can work with the current QBs, or if Lovie told Tedford he has to work with the current QBs. It’s anybody’s guess.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:30 am
The notion that a team is doomed to failure in the NFL without a top 10 qb has been vastly oversold.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:44 am
The Johnny Fooseball charade is starting to look a lot like the Mo Claibourne campaign.
Whille Trent Richardson and Tavon Austin have not performed great in the NFL, yet, I was right about them being drafted early, as they are/were tremendous prospects.
We passed on Mo Claibourne, and we will pass on Johnny Fooseball.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:51 am
Can they pull??? What?
JF is the ugliest sob I have seen. He only pulls because he is a famous QB in Texas, that beat Alabama.
March 31st, 2014 at 10:10 am
If Tim Tebow and Christian Ponder can get there teams to the playoffs then I have faith that Glennon and McCown plus a good defense can too.
March 31st, 2014 at 10:31 am
Favre, Elway, Warner, Brady, Big Ben, Manning and Manning, Rodgers, Brees, Montana, Aikman, Young etc. (or for the ancient among us folks like Staubach, Bradshaw, Stabler, etc)
All exceptional or great SB winning QB’s
Johnson, Wilson, Dilfer, Flacco, Hostetler SB winning QB’s not so great
Great QB might not be essential, but it sure improves the teams odds of winning it all. Much harder mountain to climb without one.
March 31st, 2014 at 10:41 am
lol 237, if that didn’t scream “jealousy” I don’t know what does.
March 31st, 2014 at 10:51 am
Mpmalloy,
You know you’re jealous and scared of MG8 and Josh becausethey didn’t need to win a Heisman or beat Alabama to pull like a champ in college.
March 31st, 2014 at 11:12 am
Josh McCown is probably going to get a season or career ending injury so he can keep his money. If he doesn’t, he will suck anyway.
Mike Glennon will either be good or not, and if he is not, everyone here will wish we had another solid option.
Anyone that wants D. Jackson will complin later thaaat the Bucs brought in the guy knowing he would be suspended.
Anyone thinking Josh McCown can maintain a fast tempo, dep passing offense is blind.
March 31st, 2014 at 11:19 am
“Mike Glennon will either be good or not”
@Bonzai,
With predictions like that, I bet you’re never wrong.
March 31st, 2014 at 11:55 am
“…MG8 is Gold…”
Fool’s Gold…
I hope Lovie is blowing smoke. With the draft position we have, if Tedford is such a QB guru, why not nab a great WB prospect in the draft and develop him? ala, Aaron Rogers behind Farve
March 31st, 2014 at 12:22 pm
Quarterback will be a strength if the Bucs draft Johnny Football.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:37 pm
The point Joe is that there’s not just a single formula to win. Chicago (under Lovie) proved that. And Eli Manning’s numbers are hardly elite, but he’s got one more Super Bowl win than his best-qb-season-ever brother.
In fact, if all you do is mirror the same formula as the three other teams in your division, then you should expect to win the division only just once every four years. That’s not acceptable to me. You need to have a strategy that effectively counters them, and that’s an elite defense.
March 31st, 2014 at 3:03 pm
I’m on the edge either way, take a QB in the first which would be exciting or don’t and let’s see what we have at the position while taking the BPA at any other position. I just don’t want a QB after the 2nd, why take another Mike Glennon when we already have Mike Glennon. Either take a kid in the first or possibly the second because he fell if he’s the man but don’t take another project. Use the mid to late round picks to add depth where we need it. If we took Johnny Football it would be fun either way, watch him do his crazy stunts and succeed or do his crazy stunts and fail miserably while the defense props us up and still wins us 10 games (according to Lovie). Still have a month to go, smh.
March 31st, 2014 at 3:36 pm
The people who constantly have to call Manziel names……you’re just showing your immaturity. There’s so much jealousy of him on here. Lol!
April 1st, 2014 at 12:17 am
Draft Manziel in the 2nd round.