Vincent Jackson Paints A Revealing Picture
July 12th, 2014
Thankfully, Vincent Jackson is way better at catching footballs than he is giving interesting quotes to media.
Jackson, when he feels like chatting, does a masterful job of always finding ways of saying his team — past and present — is great and working hard, his teammates are great, coaches are great. You get the idea.
So Joe found it quite noteworthy when Jackson took the local WHFS-FM airwaves yesterday and said the Buccaneers are way ahead of where they were at this point last offseason.
That made Joe check the audio again. Last year at this time, the Bucs were coming off having the 9th-ranked offense in the NFL, with a returning coordinators and a veteran quarterback.
But, yes, that’s what Jackson said. “I feel like we’re way ahead of the learning curve. You know, we had a great spring. The guys are clicking together. I feel like we’re way ahead of the curve from where we were this time, you know, the last couple of years. So that’s exciting.”
Take your pick: This either sheds a horrendous light on the Greg Schiano regime or illustrates how Lovie Smith truly knows how to run and manage an NFL football team, or both.
July 12th, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Or it illustrates the professionalism and drive of josh McCown over Josh Freeman.
Or D: All of the above.
July 12th, 2014 at 1:13 pm
I’d go the Freeman take on this one
July 12th, 2014 at 1:14 pm
If we can win early games in the season it could get interesting
July 12th, 2014 at 1:15 pm
Or it could just be more lip service. Who knows. If he’s being honest which I have no reason to doubt then this is great news regardless of the “why” question.
July 12th, 2014 at 1:17 pm
I look at it like this…. Freeman got cut by NYG basically because he set everybody up wrong in practice. I don’t need much more then that
July 12th, 2014 at 1:27 pm
I vote for “both”. We can debate whether removing the negatives represented by Schiano, Freeman, and inept coordinators is the largest contributing reason.
Or whether the positive impact from L&L and Josh McCown have made the biggest difference.
At the end of the day I don’t really care which. I’m just happy to see us make so much progress.
July 12th, 2014 at 2:05 pm
That’s just stupid!!! Freeman lining up guys wrong in an offense he was trying to learn is much different than being in year 2 of the same offense where he was the 10th ranked passer. Schiano was responsible he was the head coach and he hired the staff he set the losing culture. Whether you think bad of Freeman or not the offense was better in year one than year to plus we had a more accurate quarterback. The offense ranked dead last but what tells the story is either Freeman was a better quarterback or schiano and crew are the worst staff in history to tweak their offense and make it worse. If you think Glennon is a better quarterback that only leaves schiano to blame
July 12th, 2014 at 2:18 pm
Joe, do you not remember what was going on this exact time last year. Wasn’t the “Franchise” QB missing from his own football camp, and Vincent in an emergency was called in for a stand in for Freeman’s football camp.
To even mention Schiano in this is laughable. You would save everyone a lot of time if you just write an article of what was not schiano fault ( In Joe’s mind).
July 12th, 2014 at 2:24 pm
I seem to remember Vincent Jackson saying Freeman was one of the top QBs in this league his first year as a Buc.
July 12th, 2014 at 2:28 pm
Its not that they tweaked the offense, Its just that defenses had a years worth of film to study our offense and were able to effectively shut us down. I’m surprised that nobody has pointed this out yet, but the same thing happened with Greg Olson. Both Olson and Sully were largely successful in there first year because nobody knew what we were going to throw at them, but once defenses studied there tendencies both were unable to adapt. The truly good offensive coordinators can adapt and evolve their offenses depending on how they are being defended.
It leads me to believe that Tedford will also be largely successful in his first season, but the key is can also be successful in year 2 and so on.
July 12th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Just toeing the company line.. What do we expect him to say? I don’t think he was intentionally saying they weren’t prepared individually, it’s just appears things are more harmonious this year without the constant distractions, and I think it is allowing the players to settle in and mesh as a team. It seems everyone is moving in the same direction without certain players taking sides, and trying to cross streams. Like Penn’s little public tirade over Freeman’s release, and players publicly questioning their head coach’s decisions, and procedures. The media planted the seed of distrust in the very beginning, as they systematically tore Schiano down in the court of public opinion. and the players bought into that mistrust.
July 12th, 2014 at 2:48 pm
All the top teams have the same freakin offense only losing teams consistently change coordinators but everyone one tweaks in the off season, the guy and his staff sucked which is why the front office was revamped from top to bottom including our college and pro scouts. Honestly I could have simply used the saints as an example, same offense but still hard to stop hmmm I wonder why that is
You’ll see the difference coaching makes in about a month. D line hasn’t changed that much, could have kept Michael Bennett and roy Miller and he wouldn’t have had to use lack of pass rush as an excuse. You’ll see the difference between going out and overpaying for injured has been stars and developing young talent
July 12th, 2014 at 3:14 pm
I may be mistaken here, but it seems like Schiano wanted everyone to know he was in charge, which diminished the effect of some of the team’s leaders (those few we had/have.)
Now with Lovie, I think his pragmatism and general calmness might be giving more room for guys like Jackson, McCown, Dietrich-Smith, Goldson, and McCoy to be a little more vocal in their leadership style. As a result, the team has been able to gel a little bit more with each other without having to worry about Lord Commander Schiano breathing over their shoulder
July 12th, 2014 at 3:20 pm
Just bcuz Vjax vouched for josh freeman doesn’t mean he’s not a credible opinion… When Vjax came here, Jfree was one of the best young QB’S in the game with limitless potential & ability. Then, Jfree got addicted to Adderall & started dealing with the strong & opposite side-effects of that drug. His ability to focus & process information plummeted, taking his ability to QB with it.
July 12th, 2014 at 4:04 pm
I think that anyone who believes Josh Freeman was a bad QB and Vjax covered for him likes to lay more blame on Freeman than he deserves – IN ORDER to give their favorite QB more credit than he deserves.
Those points cancel each other out and I end up staring into the face of someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
@joe – interesting point. Vjax actually coming out and saying the offense may be ahead of the curve IS noteworthy. Maybe because the offense will incorporate a lot of what many of the players played in college?
…of course, the skeptic in me says: of course they’re ahead of the curve, that means it’s so simple they all got it prior to TC ! The skeptic is trying to make me believe this means the rest of the Not For Long league will figure it out just as fast (if not faster)…
Since this is the time of year to have hope in all things new and Buccaneer – I am muzzling the skeptic.
Nice Bl-article….
July 12th, 2014 at 4:12 pm
I’d say McCown is more grateful for his 2nd chance in the NFL than Freeman was over the last 2 years, so the freeman argument has credibility. Lovie over Schiano is by far the most impactful change in the locker room. Anyone that is arguing for schianos defense must have a short memory. I remember the first play of every game for 2 years was a run up the middle. Remember those trick plays he started doing in his 2nd year? I think he ran a flea flicker play. It worked if I remember right lol but my point is any coach that runs trick plays on a consistent basis is going to be below average at best.
July 12th, 2014 at 4:23 pm
Hmmm… one constant here. Glennon was the backup last year, and is a backup this year. So, seems to me he wasn’t the cause of where they were last year or credited with where they are this year. Guess we gotta say Freeman/Schiano were the issue last year and McCown/Lovie get the credit this year. Actually, I expected that to be the case. Glennon was a rookie last year, so (even as Schiano’s “favored” son) couldn’t do much either way. And this year he’s not the favored son, been relegated as backup and has no influence one way or other. Here’s hoping McCown just needed more than spot duty as backup to prove he’s ready to start in this league rather than “had a 5 game fluke” last year.
July 12th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
McCown took the time to get all his players together when he first got the playbook and helped everyone master it and get on the same page. He has been a great leader and Lovie gets great Kudos for bringing McCown’s veteran leadership skills here instead of relying on Glennon.
July 12th, 2014 at 6:48 pm
if freeman were all whit he would still have a job,
July 12th, 2014 at 11:40 pm
The article I read said Freeman was signed to start in NY if Manning injury lingered into next season and he was released because Manning was ahead of schedule in his recovery.
Please give a link to where you read Freeman was released because he couldn’t line the team up correctly otherwise everyone will know you are just embellishing or just making stuff up.
July 13th, 2014 at 1:59 am
I respect your position Stang, but if Freeman had anything to offer don’t you think he would have been offered a backup position at least?
July 13th, 2014 at 8:55 am
I don’t think it’s Lovie, Joe, I think it is McCown. This time last year, Freeman was leading the charge. It showed on opening day.
July 13th, 2014 at 2:59 pm
buc4lyfe Says:
July 12th, 2014 at 2:05 pm
That’s just stupid!!! Freeman lining up guys wrong in an offense he was trying to learn is much different than being in year 2 of the same offense where he was the 10th ranked passer. Schiano was responsible he was the head coach and he hired the staff he set the losing culture. Whether you think bad of Freeman or not the offense was better in year one than year to plus we had a more accurate quarterback. The offense ranked dead last but what tells the story is either Freeman was a better quarterback or schiano and crew are the worst staff in history to tweak their offense and make it worse. If you think Glennon is a better quarterback that only leaves schiano to blame
——————-
This makes sense. Kind of like my argument about how Freeman, in his first season in a new offense, threw for 4000+, a bunch of TDs, and won seven games despite being backed by a historically bad defense… while the Glennon led offense (year two for all players other than Glennon, was last in the league and only won 3 games despite having a middle of pack defense and being among the league leaders in +/- turnover differential.
July 13th, 2014 at 3:45 pm
@brandon
are you trying to compare a rookie Qb with a Qb in his fourth year?
July 14th, 2014 at 11:30 am
Vincent Jackson is just saying what he believe’s and I have no reason not to believe him. He is just as good of a man off the field as he is on the field. I’ve never heard anyone call him a liar so if that is what he believe’s then that is what it is. So as a BUCCANEERS fan I will believe him and be very happy about it.
This is a good thing.
” GO BUCCANEERS “
July 14th, 2014 at 1:23 pm
Jesus, in every single article there is a shot at Greg Schiano. Talk about whipping a dead horse. I find it amazing that the media has placed 100% of the blame at the feet of Schiano. What are they going to do when the Bucs suck this year? Who are we going to blame? We know it will not be McCoy because he is obviously the best football player to have ever lived /s. And we know it will not be Lovie because he is our Savior. I am going to enjoy watching the media scramble to find a villain this year.
As for Vjax saying that they are way ahead of the learning curve than they were the past two years, you really have to be biased to read anything negative about Schiano in that statement. Any unbiased person would read it and recognize that is something that Vjax says every year and is the simple progression that someone in the third year of being with a team would say. It has nothing to do with Schiano. I would think that Vjax would be man enough to say it straight forward instead of giving some encrypted crap that could be interpreted a million different ways.