Lovie Miffed At “Source”
September 12th, 2014
Lovie Smith was not fond of an unsourced USA Today item that spoke ill of Doug Martin.
Joe can’t say he knows Lovie Smith after not quite nine months on the job. Joe chatted 1-on-1 with the head coach a few times and he seems to personify the word “gentleman” because he seems to be a gentle man.
But talking to a person for a total of possibly 45 minutes doesn’t reveal everything. What Joe can say is Lovie is about as even-keeled as they come. Nothing seems to get him too worked up. Nothing seems to get him jumping up and down or chest-bumping people.
Yesterday, however, Joe noticed Lovie in perhaps his most animated form. He was both upset and seemingly ready to bust out laughing over a report from Steve Gallo of USA Today‘s “The Huddle,” which inferred Bucs running back Doug Martin may be falling out of favor with Lovie.
I’ve confirmed via an un-named source that Doug Martin was benched due to missing blitz pickups, not due to a knee injury. #NFL
— Steve Gallo (@SteveGalloNFL) September 11, 2014
Lovie was asked about this report and Lovie seemed to be jolted alive by it, and not in a good way.
“First off, there was a report?” Lovie bluntly asked, voice slightly raised. “Who was the report[er]? Who is that guy? Who? Who is that? Who is that? Who is he? So any of you guys know him? I don’t either. So how would he know anything about what I did during the game? I don’t know the guy. I haven’t talked to him. No truth to that at all. Doug Martin hurt his knee, and we took him out. He was able to come back a little bit to try to get himself ready to play the rest of the game. That is the only reason we took him out.
“So, you know, these guys — another ‘sources said.’ I need to meet that ‘Sources Says To’ guy. I don’t know anything about it. Put your name behind it or I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know anything about this guy. No.”
Joe’s not sure if this question ruined Lovie’s day or not but it was one of his shortest press conferences Joe can remember at a brisk 5:38. It’s not unusual for Lovie to talk with reporters for 20 minutes.
Just to reiterate: No, Lovie said Doug Martin was pulled because of an injury to his knee and for no other reason. After discussing the phantom source, Lovie spoke candidly if not forcefully about how important Martin is to the Bucs offense.
To hear more of Lovie, click the arrow below. Audio courtesy of Joe’s friends at WDAE-AM 620.
September 12th, 2014 at 6:16 am
Unnamed sources are BS. I remember when Joe used to go off on Pewter Report for using “unnamed sources.”
September 12th, 2014 at 6:24 am
An unamed source told me the unamed source was Shaun King!!!
“Shaun King, one of two Buc Quarterbacks that lost a NFC Championship Game when his defense gave up 11 or fewer points.”
September 12th, 2014 at 6:45 am
Wow lovie sounded pissed
September 12th, 2014 at 6:55 am
But he also missed at least one blitz pick up off the top of my head.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:05 am
Doug Martin has had two good games since we drafted him, TWO. Most games he is barely serviceable and has generally been the second best RB on the team. When Simms is healthy he will phase Martin out, most likely next year. Martin will never rush for a thousand yards in his NFL career again.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:19 am
Like most so called experts, despite whether their their names are Adam Shefter or Jay Glazer when they get their “sources”, you can flip a coin on whether they are right or wrong. Some people are trying to make a name for themselves in the business. Whether they are credible or not is subject to internet message board debate.
An unnamed source told me the sun will rise tomorrow…
September 12th, 2014 at 7:20 am
I saw Doug miss some blocks with my own eyes, we have also know Lovie to tell a small white lie or two so….. Don’t know what to believe here.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:21 am
Gotbucs, get out of here with that nonsense.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:28 am
The writing was put on the wall in the third round of the draft. Now the writing is all over the wall just waiting for people to read it. No one wants to read it though.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:33 am
Dumbest statement of the season goes to gotbbucs. Way to set the bar low buddy.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:36 am
To invoke the use of an unnamed source is only a cover to qualify a lie as being the truth. I don’t blame the Coach for getting upset. In fact if you listen further, after his first scolding, Ira Kaufman starts off another question as “Lovie, a source …” , and I thought for sure Lovie was going to come unglued. It wasn’t long after Ira’s question that Lovie ended the conference, and rightfully so.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:52 am
I can’t stop lol’ing @ Gotbucs, In his rookie year he had nearly 2,000 total yards. Adrian Peterson was the only RB who had more yards rec/rushing, He had 10 games of at least 100 yards total offense and 12 total TD’s.
And even though he wasn’t having the greatest season last year he stil had almost 500 yards rushing in 6 1/2 games in a putrid offense that was in total dissaray.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:53 am
Gotbbucs
I also think Martin is an average RB. Just like Rainey. You all can blame the OL for his inability to run the ball but we need a tougher, stronger back who can turn a 1 yard gain into a 3-4 yards only by pushing the pile. Right now Doug bangs the butt of the OL, get tossed backward by a LB and the play dies. Martin has incredible speed cuts but if he can’t get the initial lane he’s useless. At least Rainey has some ok lateral cuts to find daylight.
Let’s face it, the only RB we have that had some consistency last year, even with the crappy line is Mike James but for whatever reason they don’t play him near enough.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:56 am
Maybe he should channel some of his “pissiness” on to the play of hs QB and some of his defensive players.
September 12th, 2014 at 7:57 am
@ d-money – Stats and logic don’t matter to people like that. They simply pick a player to hate and blame for the team’s woes and their hatred grows with each loss. And now we have an injured 3rd round rookie RB so obviously Doug Martin will never have a useful role with this team ever again and Lovie can’t wait to replace him. /sarcasm
September 12th, 2014 at 7:57 am
Is this the same ‘un-named source’ that told ‘someone’ the Bucs were for sale?
September 12th, 2014 at 7:58 am
So I’m guessing ‘gotbbucs’ didn’t draft Doug Martin on his Fantasy Football Team, eh? Did he cost you your fantasy season last year? Does that extra ‘B’ in your screen name stand for bitter? lol
September 12th, 2014 at 8:00 am
my sources say he was put on the bench because Light was about to trade Martin to the Ravens for a third round draft pick!
September 12th, 2014 at 8:05 am
Pains me to say it, Doug Martin is starting look like Michael Clayton. Good rookie year, a lot of injuries and underachieving to follow.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:08 am
“The problem with quotes on Twitter and the Internet, is that you can never truly verify their authenticity” – Abraham Lincoln
September 12th, 2014 at 8:10 am
Oar,
I can confirm your statement. I was there in the crown when Lincoln said that!!
September 12th, 2014 at 8:11 am
“a lot of injuries” – can anyone make a statement on this site without massively exaggerating?
September 12th, 2014 at 8:19 am
RealityCheck Says:
September 12th, 2014 at 8:11 am
“a lot of injuries” – can anyone make a statement on this site without massively exaggerating?
he has played 23 games out of 48. what would you call it!
September 12th, 2014 at 8:23 am
@The_Bucs_Realist…I can’t tell if you’re trolling or being serious?
September 12th, 2014 at 8:29 am
@Realist
You math is a little off. 23 out of 33 possible games.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:34 am
The Lovie doth protest too much, methinks.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:39 am
Louis that was the best part. He responded to a comment about exaggerating on the site by exaggerating the number of games by almost a full season!
And I would call missing 10 games having 1 major injury in your career that made you miss 10 games (not “a lot of injuries”). The savior Charles Sims will have missed almost that amount of time before he takes his first NFL regular season snap. Hopefully, both of them can share the load at the end of the season.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:40 am
snook Says
“Unnamed sources are BS.”
I agree.
But you just know other media guys will say, “It is being reported…” and fans like Realist will bring this up as a fact at sometime in the future to make a point, hoping we will forget it was not true.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:44 am
I wouldn’t mind signing Rice if the NFL was not railroading him by suspending twice for the same incident. Rice is getting a bum deal.
I don’t agree with what he did, but in comparison to what other players have done, it was minor. Heck, Michael Pittman had multiple such incidents and never suffered like Rice is for just one.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:50 am
Is james healthy yet? He’s the best rb on the roster
September 12th, 2014 at 8:58 am
Dougillac Martin is an average back. Ppl don’t want to see it but I’m sure they will start by week 10 when dougillac has a 3.2 ypc average. His vision has been horrible the last two years. Dougillac should be happy Charles Sims got hurt because he’s going to be taking his spot sooner then later.
September 12th, 2014 at 9:03 am
Wait, it sounds like you guys are talking about Martin not being that good but that can’t be true because you are the same people that were saying that we wasted the Sims pick when we should have gotten a lineman. I mean, it would make sense if the coach looked at tape and figured out that Martin wasn’t as good as he’s billed and he needed to upgrade but that can’t be the case because the great football minds on JBF are clearly a few steps ahead of the coaching staff, management and ownership, just ask them.
September 12th, 2014 at 9:10 am
I’ve stuck with this losing Bucs team, I’ll stick with Martin’s running ability too.
September 12th, 2014 at 9:20 am
he wiffed on some pretty big blocks! couldn’t blame lovie if he was benched.
September 12th, 2014 at 9:21 am
Not saying how good or bad he is but I dont think he is the answer.
September 12th, 2014 at 9:33 am
@knucknbuc – You must be another football prophet that can predict the future. Predictions are fun because if you’re right you can brag about it, but if you’re wrong you get to pretend you never said it. You talk about “the last two years” as if there are more to compare them to. He’s only been in the league 2 years!
Just rushing:
Year 1 – 1,454/4.6 average
Year 2 – 456/3.6 average through 6 games
And this is all while everyone has consistently complained about the Bucs having an underachieving, if not poor, offensive line. You can think he’s average all day long, but saying things like “his vision has been horrible” is just stupid. Nothing supports that.
September 12th, 2014 at 9:41 am
@reality and louis
you guys were right, math was off and i counted this years games in total. Not to say he will stay healthy all year.
September 12th, 2014 at 10:07 am
Wait; the article inferred? The writer of the article may have inferred things and then wrote about them, but the article can’t infer, only imply…..I thought Joe was a former print journalist?
September 12th, 2014 at 10:24 am
Not to be mean but Martin would have a hard time breaking into the Carolina top 3 backs. All of this guys played appreciably harder than he has for quite a while
September 12th, 2014 at 11:19 am
It is well documented that Lovie has personality conflicts with players and coaches alike. The gentle Giant persona is a ruse. Fall out of his favor and you are finished. Check into how many players he benched/dumped in Chicago. How many OC’s and DC’s he let go……..
September 12th, 2014 at 11:30 am
Sh!t on me all you want, it’s right there on the field every game. He is a very poor man’s Ray Rice and even Rice only had one or two really good years and that was mostly because he was a good reciever, which Martin is not.
I have no vendetta towards Martin and I dont play fantasy football for the smart a$$ that said that. They had to cater the offense to Martin his rookie year and slow the handoffs down because he couldn’t process what he was seeing fast enough. Go back and watch some highlights if you dont belive it.
If im wrong I will happily eat my words because it sucks big time having a back that only rips off big runs when the moon and the stars align perfectly.
September 12th, 2014 at 11:31 am
Dayum.
September 12th, 2014 at 11:57 am
@gotbucs. +1. These ppl will come around to dougillac Martin it takes a while to see the light sometime. We didn’t draft a rb in the third round to be a backup his whole career. Lovie didn’t start all this talk of dougillac being a bellcow until after Sims was hurt. Lovie isn’t married to any of These players on this roster other then the ones he’s bought in.
September 12th, 2014 at 1:23 pm
Let me just say this…I am now checking Bucs sites less than previously because of the media being out of control the last few years. Even JBF is losing me to other things these days.
I skip lots of content, visit only briefly a couple times a day and check no other websites at all any more.
So these “controversies” the media keeps manufacturing are actually not bringing this reader in…they are chasing me away.
Mainly because we can no longer TRUST what we hear or read. Most of it is guesswork or made up. Very little actual news.
September 12th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Martin is fine he just needs a competent Offensive coordinator. Just think how many division championships – conference championships and maybe a Super Bowl or 2 if you all wouldn’t have run off Jon Gruden !!!! you all as in Fans/Joe/Commish/DumbDumb/620wdae/98.7TheFan Be careful what you wish for….. Also Licht needs to override Lover and go with Mike Cannon. See Joe Flacco, See Matt Ryan = Mike Cannon
September 12th, 2014 at 1:38 pm
“…Lovie spoke candidly if not forcefully about how important Martin is to the Bucs offense.”
just like when lovie spoke lovingly of revis and how important revis was to the defense.
September 12th, 2014 at 1:48 pm
@buccaneerbanzai
rice deserves what he is getting…he is not getting a bum deal.
times are achangin’. so if pittman was not punished severely should not mean rice get a pass or leniency.
September 12th, 2014 at 8:50 pm
Here we go again, the Doug Martin is just a average back bull crap. Average backs dont almost have 2000 combined yards in one season, it just doesnt happen. The reason Doug isnt breaking any runs is we have no threat at QB. Teams are loading the box and even peterson would have trouble in this situation. If you remember Martins rookie year ,Freeman had a great year making the defenses play honest. So give Martin a break he cant do it all by himself, he is one of our best players get off his back!!!!!!