Bucs Defense Tanks Again
November 10th, 2014
Joe has made a point over the past couple of weeks that the Bucs defense improved and maybe turned a corner. To quote Lee Corso, “Not so fast.”
Yes, holding the Vikings to 13 points in four quarters was a good thing. And in the loss to the Browns, it was not the defense that caved in so much as the not-so-special teams.
Well, Joe has to take some of that defensive praise back. Yesterday was the fifth time this season the Bucs had a lead in the fourth quarter and gagged the game away. The Bucs lead the NFL is having a Mucinex defense, coughing up five fourth-quarter leads.
This coming from Lovie Smith’s defense on a team Gerald McCoy called perhaps the most undisciplined outfit he has ever played with. And mind you GMC played on teams coached by Raheem Morris and featured the likes of tasered Geno Hayes, pistol-whipping, granny-hassling, cabbie-slugging Aqib Talib, reality TV star Dezmon Briscoe, mental Josh Freeman and wheelie-popping, Vaseline-friendly Sgt. Winslow, in addition to bong-friendly Tanard Jackson, King of Turds Jerramy Stevens and serial loafers Sean Jones and Albert Haynesworth.
And those Bucs teams were better than what Lovie has marched onto the field on NFL Sundays.
November 10th, 2014 at 6:20 am
Yeah, the defense has been the biggest disappointment out of a disappointing season. Even the fans in Tampa have pretty much given up hope on this team ever being competitive, they don’t even show up for the games. I am traveling to Florida in December, I was going to attend the game against the Saints, but I don’t want to waste money to see my team get throttled.
November 10th, 2014 at 6:23 am
Not sure lovie isn’t doing a great job with the D. This unit has some talent sprinkled in but still lacks play makers. Look at the Bears D since lovie left.
November 10th, 2014 at 7:03 am
OY VEY !!!!
November 10th, 2014 at 7:29 am
Too many first downs are just given to the opposition by penalties. They get a stop on 3rd and here comes a flag and a fresh set of downs. How many stupid penalties have we seen committed by the Bucs that should have stopped a drive, especially early in games? Seems to be another players turn to play spoiler every game too. That 3 point attempt in the red zone in Cleveland last week was a back breaker, and it happens every single game.
November 10th, 2014 at 7:32 am
3rd down is more or less a green light for other offenses to get first downs. Saw it several times, 3rd and 6 or 3rd and 3 and you have the defender 9 or 6 yards off the ball. Mark Barron was right, this defense is soft and passive.
November 10th, 2014 at 7:32 am
The unfortunate part of all of it is it’s the quality players on the field that are called on to answer for the shortcomings of the players who are continually screwing up. Let’s get Garrett Gilkey or Will Gholston in front of the media and have them answer for why they can’t seem to stay on their side of the ball before the snap. There’s really no excuse for having a virtually silent stadium (because nobody is there) and an offensive lineman getting a false start. You know what the count is. What in the world are you thinking.
Lovie said it in his post game interview, the fact that we have those fourth quarter leads says that we have the talent to compete in this league. It’s poor execution and a lack of character that has put us at 1-8.
November 10th, 2014 at 7:51 am
It is almost like they want to fail…. No matter what the Bucs call on D it does not get the job done; the one time in crunch time they did get a stop (Pittsburgh week 4), they were rewarded with a win. And judging by the egg Pittsburgh laid vs the Jets yesterday it is safe to say while the Steelers are more talented than bad teams like the Jets and Bucs; they occasionally suck real bad which is why the Bucs have 1 win and the Jets 2 (curious if the Raiders could beat the Bucs… but thankfully the Oakland upset of the Jets will halp the Bucs get 1st pick of qb…)….
November 10th, 2014 at 7:57 am
Well Lovie cut the best player on our team because he’s too stupid to play another defense other than the Tampa 2 which doesn’t work in today’s NFL. Besides the only thing we should be focused on is drafting Jameis Winston. With the Jets winning yesterday the only teams standing in our way are the Raiders & Jacksonville both of which have quarterbacks. Of course they could trade the pick so let’s hope Jacksonville can win one more and Oakland can win 2 games so Jameis will be right in front of us. Of course that assumes that Lovie has enough intelligent to make the pick which highly doubtful. Hopefully the Glazers have enough intelligent to fire Lovie.
November 10th, 2014 at 8:27 am
If Winston has any sense he will tell the Bucs not to draft him, do a Bo Jackson on them. Winston coming here would be putting the cart before the horse. Too many more crucial needs.
November 10th, 2014 at 8:30 am
@Buccfan37 – apples and oranges. Bo told them not to draft him because the owner was a racist and he didn’t want to play for him. No player is going to say, “don’t draft me because you’re bad and I can’t save you”. Every player, especially a QB that’s projected at the top of the draft, thinks that he would be able to save the franchise
November 10th, 2014 at 8:58 am
Let’s see, you have not one but two defensive minded guys who were head coaches in the NFC North, Lovie and Frazier and they still can’t come up with a defense between them.
Pitiful!!
November 10th, 2014 at 9:01 am
Did’nt one of the Manning brothers tell a team not to draft him or was it somebody earlier that refused to play for a certain team?
November 10th, 2014 at 9:02 am
Eli wouldn’t play for San Diego. I’d call that a much more appropriate comparison
November 10th, 2014 at 9:04 am
Well said Tom! lol
November 10th, 2014 at 9:13 am
This team needs an enema.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:14 am
Joe
It has to be the coaching because they are the ones that select who is going to play each week and they keep picking the Ghost, Bowers, and their cast of can’ts while nothing ever happens to the idiots doing the penalties.
Please ask each Defensive coach starting with the DC, then Hardy, then the DB coach, and the line coach what is going on and what are they doing about it.
I have to admit that special teams was special except for the punter, there has to be a better one on the street.
Play calling was just dismal. It would sure be nice to have a QB that could release the ball fast.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:28 am
Patrick in VA… John Elway also refused to play for the Colts. I think Bo Jackson refused the Bucs because they stunk.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:31 am
@ Patrick in VA
Your statement is incorrect. Bo Jackson spurned the Bucs because they lied to him about a ‘visit’ to Tampa, and it cost him his senior year of baseball eligibility. He and his college baseball coach have both said the same thing.
I doubt, seriously, if another player would ever do that again. They can’t go back to college, and unless traded, they will have to sit out of football for a whole year. It cost Bo a LOT of money. He was the first pick of the draft(Buccaneers) and would have commanded a large contract. He ended up being a seventh round(183rd) pick, the next year, and his contract was nowhere near what it could have been.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:31 am
@37 – Didn’t know about the Elway thing. All I know about the situation with Jackson is what I’ve seen in the documentaries and read about because I was in diapers at the time that it happened. Everything I’ve known about the situation was that he said he didn’t want to play for Culverhouse because he was a racist. I would imagine that them being bad made it a lot easier for him to make the decision though
November 10th, 2014 at 9:35 am
@Hawk – If that was the case then I stand corrected on the facts surrounding the situation but I stand by the overarching sentiment of a player refusing to play for a team simply because they aren’t good. If a player feels spurned by the team and doesn’t want to play for that organization then that’s one thing but to suggest that a player would ask not to be drafted by a team just doesn’t strike me as something that an elite athlete would do. Especially one that would be as highly adulated in the state as a Florida State product would be.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:35 am
The Colts were smart and immediately traded Elway, rather than take a chance on him sitting out, or coming to camp angry. If a player doesn’t want to be there, you don’t want him there either.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:47 am
Patrick in VA Said,
“…but to suggest that a player would ask not to be drafted by a team just doesn’t strike me as something that an elite athlete would do.”
Why not? They are no different than you or I. An ‘elite’ athlete is undoubtedly a fierce competitor. Wouldn’t he want to be on a team that competes at the highest level? If I were coming out of college as an ‘elite’ player, as much as I’d love to play for my hometown team, I’d REALLY love to play for a Super Bowl contender. I don’t think that I would ‘tell’ a team not to draft me, but I’m not everyone. Remember, some of these ‘elite’ college players believe they rule the world.
November 10th, 2014 at 9:50 am
Mel Tucker went to Chicago and decided to use the old Lovie defense with a few tweaks but basically same defense
You can see what that did last night, 55-12 drumming by the pack
It hasn’t worked yet in Tampa either
I really question if it is going to work here eventually
I am slowly becoming less confident in it to be truthful
November 10th, 2014 at 10:00 am
@Hawk – I see what you’re saying about wanting to go to a team that is already a competitor. My take on it is that an elite athlete would have the mentality of an RGIII or an Andrew Luck where they want to take on the load of rebuilding with them as the centerpiece.
Also, let’s not discount the amount of sway that the price tag that comes along with that high pick. Super Bowl rings are a lot more important to veteran players that don’t have them. To a rookie 22-23 year old just coming in, they’re going to want a huge paycheck
November 10th, 2014 at 10:35 am
@ Patrick in VA
Strangely enough, I think we are both right. There are players who believe (right or wrong) they can ‘make’ a team into a contender. Others want the ‘sure thing’.
I can remember Marino telling Bradshaw that he would trade ALL of his records for a ‘ring’.
November 10th, 2014 at 11:11 am
Just goes to show that Rob Marenelli was the key coach of the Tampa Two and not Smith or Frazier…. Look at the Dallas D…..these 2 Bozos haven’t a clue….don’t lay the smack about last years Dallas Defense…. It was NO where bad as this Bucs D…..
November 10th, 2014 at 11:17 am
Lovie had great defenses in Chicago. It wasn’t all Marenelli.
November 10th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Those teams were better than this team? Those teams were blown out EVERY single week…this team is competitive in all but 2 games. You can’t compare the two
November 10th, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Brandon, on his knees felating Lovie, one of the few consistents of this season (besides the team being consistently worse than last year)
November 10th, 2014 at 1:29 pm
It was Marinelli and Joe Barry….Lovie has NEVER done ANYTHING without those guys. Tomlin has the “smarts” to delegate to greats like Dick Lebeau and the great OC’s they’ve had in Pitt….Lovie does NOT have the “smarts”, IMO, to realize he needs help, and though he coached in the great defenses of past, it was NOT him who made them great, it was a collective effort, including Rod, Joe Barry, Marrinelli, Kiffin, Tomlin, Morris, Dungy, and riding the coattails was Lovie “Rex is my QB” Smith.
November 10th, 2014 at 1:57 pm
@ Brandon & bucrightoff
You’re both wrong. Seasons are gauged by wins/losses, not how competitive/non-competitive they were. Both teams were/are at 1-8. Neither is better/worse than the other. The only thing that’s different is that we (fans AND players) were fed a lot of hope this year.
November 10th, 2014 at 2:09 pm
Actually I’m right. The Bucs lost their first 8 games last year by a combined 68 points. They lost this year to Atlanta and Baltimore by 73. 3 of the first 4 losses last year they had leads with 2 mintues or less, twice losing at the gun with a lead And in 3 of the first 8 games they lost this way). This year they’ve only lost at the gun once, and only had leads in the last 2 minutes twice.
Brandon just hates Schiano and is on his knees for Lovie. He’s either Lovie’s wife, Licht or someone close to Lovie. But this season is unquestionably worse, every neutral observer says so. Take the bias out and how can anyone say it’s better?
November 10th, 2014 at 8:50 pm
Lovie’s a moron and a pathological liar.
C’mon folks. Lovie is not a pathological liar. –Joe