Total Personnel Consensus At One Buc Palace
June 30th, 2014
Lovie Smith is enjoying quite a honeymoon.
NFL pundits rave about his offseason moves. Bucs fans are fired up. And, per Bucs general manager Jason Licht, it seems every personnel man and coach at One Buc Palace are engaging in daily group hugs, high-fives and Amens.
Earlier this month, Licht explained.
Speaking to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, Licht was asked what his “best takeaway” was from the 2014 offseason
“Just the fact that players that we acquired in free agency and the draft, it was a coup that they were all players that the coaching side, the scouting side, Lovie, myself, we were all on the same page. And they were all players that we all wanted to target,” Licht said. “And as you know, when everybody’s on the same page, it decreases the likelihood that player will be a bust, you know at least increases the chance that they’ll all make it.”
It’s hard to believe that every football man at One Buc Palace was fully on board with every offseason move, but Joe does believe Licht. If nothing else, this is a great sign that Lovie, Licht, the coaches and scouting staff are in unison. That certainly bodes well.
Joe never got that vibe from former rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and his unions with Greg Schiano and Raheem Morris.
Hell, right of the gate, the Raheem-Dominik era launched with controversy surrounding the cutting of Derrick Brooks in favor of his replacement, fragile safety Jermaine Phillips, who had never played linebacker before.
In later years, for example, Raheem made it clear he wanted leaders Cadillac Williams and Barrett Ruud back for the 2011 season, and Raheem was denied after posting a 10-6 record in 2010. Schiano and Dominik? Well, they got along great, but that doesn’t mean they agreed completely on matters of personnel. They didn’t, and they never claimed to.
The new vibe at One Buc sure feels great now. But feel-good stuff never won anything.
If the Bucs can rush the passer and average significantly more than the 5.2 points they averaged last year in the second half of games, then Joe will be happy. Josh McCown, Clinton McDonald and Michael Johnson should help.
June 30th, 2014 at 11:10 am
I totally agree with your last statement JOE, but remember even you prognosticated at best they would be a .500 team. I know the the team boast that they will do great this year, but really, what do we expect them to say? If they show effort and make games close, I for one won’t go berserk calling for everyones head. This regime has to last more than 2 stinkin’ years.
Joe has yet to “prognosticate” the 2014 season. –Joe
June 30th, 2014 at 11:11 am
There’s always uniformity when everything is going right. If things go wrong, go back and ask them how agreeable they are.
June 30th, 2014 at 11:13 am
Something like 9 Sundays until the first real game?i seriously can’t take this any more.
June 30th, 2014 at 11:39 am
I’ve never seen the Tampa 2 work without a good MLB with pure instincts for the position. I hope I’m wrong about Foster.
June 30th, 2014 at 11:40 am
Who wouldn’t be happy with the draft they just had…well…unless you were hoping for Johnny Money Phone
June 30th, 2014 at 12:21 pm
BFFL Says
“I’ve never seen the Tampa 2 work without a good MLB with pure instincts for the position. I hope I’m wrong about Foster.”
Foster was is a slow developer, but that doesn’t mean he is going to be bad. It’s possible that it wasn’t that he could not call plays, but that David was just better at it. He has pretty good instincts.
It is also possible that his play calling did not develop because from lack of use due to coaching.
I see your point, but the original Tampa 2 had several playcallers on defense. Brooks, Sapp, Rice, and of course the MLBs all worked together on calling defensive plays. That’s what makes a good Tampa 2 work.
A strong MLB is always a plus though.
June 30th, 2014 at 12:23 pm
Also, keep in mind that both Raheem and Schiano required a lot of help on passing defense. More than usual because there was a weakness there.
This will be the first time Mason Foster can focus on just MLB duties so he can develop those instincts. Still, he has gotten better each year.
June 30th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Luther Says
“Who wouldn’t be happy with the draft they just had…well…unless you were hoping for Johnny Money…”
I disagreed with Joe on Johnny, but I DID want a QB in the first round. I wanted Carr. Not at first though. At first I judged him because of his brother. But I decided to take an honest look at him. The guy is going to be good, assuming he gets an average or better oline.
June 30th, 2014 at 12:29 pm
My apologies JOE. It was 2013 you predicted .500. My bad. So what is your prediction for this year?
June 30th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
It’s all fun and games right now. Until the losing starts.
June 30th, 2014 at 1:18 pm
BREAKING NEWS: We are not going to the Super Bowl but we just took a giant step foward to not throwing beer bottles and switching channels on sunday. I mean in the Second half how painful was it to watch?? Now we are at 1997 all over again. We are on out way to 2002 and another Super Bowl. I just am so excitied (tebow) excitied to enjoy the ride once again….
June 30th, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
June 30th, 2014 at 12:21 pm
BFFL Says
“I’ve never seen the Tampa 2 work without a good MLB with pure instincts for the position. I hope I’m wrong about Foster.”
Foster was is a slow developer, but that doesn’t mean he is going to be bad. It’s possible that it wasn’t that he could not call plays, but that David was just better at it. He has pretty good instincts.
It is also possible that his play calling did not develop because from lack of use due to coaching.
I see your point, but the original Tampa 2 had several playcallers on defense. Brooks, Sapp, Rice, and of course the MLBs all worked together on calling defensive plays. That’s what makes a good Tampa 2 work.
A strong MLB is always a plus though.
———————
To take it a step further, I’ve never seen it work with a MLB that doesn’t run well. Mason Foster is a decent athlete, but certainly not the kind of athlete you want or even covet to play MLB in the T-2.
June 30th, 2014 at 2:13 pm
Biff really??? Why the negative?
June 30th, 2014 at 2:24 pm
Well, so much for being positive guys! How about this, let’s all sit back and enjoy the ride. Time will tell on how well Foster or McCown or Johnson etc. will play.
June 30th, 2014 at 3:12 pm
It’s hard to believe everyone was on board with Cousins. I don’t see what he brings to the table that would stand out among all the coaches and admin. I really look forward to being wrong here. Maybe he’s just an insurance policy until he can be replaced with better. Maybe he’s better than his past performance. Time will tell.
June 30th, 2014 at 4:02 pm
Looking back on it, Raheem did D. Brooks a favor by cutting him.
June 30th, 2014 at 4:46 pm
I hope we see more press coverage against the saints and high powered offenses this season. Brees just picks apart zone coverage when played the entire game. I hope Lovie mixes it up with Frazier .
June 30th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
I forgot all about that bold experiment with putting Jermain Phillips at LB, exactly one year after Brook’s hof level of play at the same position for years, I mean what were they thinking…or smoking? lol. Brooks had to of been shaking his head in disbelief!
June 30th, 2014 at 7:26 pm
I think when the Glazers promoted Dominik internally from it’s ranks into the GM position, it was their mandate to him to release all it’s aging veteran players and go youngrier. I know it all happened under Dominik’s first year, but I think it’s a little premature to say he made that unpopular fan decision on his own.
June 30th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Sort of. Dominik made the calls (though he did not hire Raheem). Glazers backed him on the unpopular moves. Team Glazer’s lone edict was draft a quarterback, and he complied (Josh Freeman).
July 1st, 2014 at 12:45 am
Buccaneer Bonsai and Biff are right about Foster. He is not ideal for a T-2 MLB, and especially at 230 pounds. However he has the ideal skill set for SLB that he played in college to the point Lindy’s Draft Magazine when he was drafted called him the top OLB in his draft class. But he would need to be at his normal playing weight of 245 pounds to play there. Dungy’s defense with the Bucs and Colts under Frazier always were vulnerable to strong running teams. Lovie solved that problem with Urlacher in Chicago. Now perhaps he brought in the 245 pound MLB from the Patriots who can cover the seam with his speed to take over that position when Foster fails to stop Stewart and Company in the first game, and that explains why Mad Max at 260 pounds was passed over in the draft. We’ll see. He could have had the Urlacher clone and started Foster at SLB.
July 1st, 2014 at 11:04 am
Mason foster is a really good linebacker mlb and slb, he had 3 pucks last year and returned 2 I think which is more than Barrett Rudd ever did. she man asked him to put on weight but now he is lighter and faster. He’s come a long in that weak defense and is approaching a contact year. He’ll play hard