THE OPTIMIST: McCown II Will Improve
November 6th, 2014
In these unsettled times of devastating Bucs losses, constant change and growing pains, Joe thought it would be wise to bring back THE OPTIMIST.
THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the Buccaneers goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.
THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t. … Of course, THE OPTIMIST’s opinions are his alone and are not influenced by Joe.
The Mike Glennon experiment is over; He is obviously NOT the future of the Bucs, other than holding a clipboard and being an excellent backup option.
So what does that mean?
Are the Bucs going to start winning and ruin their chance to draft high next year? That may happen, but remember Josh McCown is under contract for next year. If the Bucs draft a QB for the future, then he will need to be mentored. Which current QB do you want mentoring the future star?
This team needs to win now, and at the risk of losing out on a high draft pick, winning six of the last eight games would have Tampa Bay in a frenzy with fans unwilling to wait for the start of next season, much less the draft.
But have we seen signs that McCown will perform as a winner, versus what he did in September?
Consider the following:
1) Mike Evans has developed into a real threat: Vincent Jackson is hardly the Bucs’ No.1 any more. If he is, then he needs to start playing like it. Evans is catching everything thrown to him, and McCown is far more accurate than Glennon. Plus, having Evans and Jackson playing NFL caliber ball is more like what McCown had last year in Chicago.
2) Marcus Arroyo has a better grasp on the offensive play calling: We have no idea where the Bucs thinking was back in Weeks 1 through 3. They probably felt Jeff Tedford was right around the corner from coming back. Now Tedford is gone and Arroyo is more comfortable calling plays, and that will show through McCown’s veteran experience.
3) O-Line is somewhat jelled: Not sure how much of an impact this will have, but the line play Sunday was improved from past weeks. McCown is more able to scramble around, extend plays, and pick up first downs rather than run out of bounds one yard shy of them.
We should see a better version of McCown on Sunday — and that should mean victory.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:08 pm
You really have to be a true optimist when you keep regurgitating the same crap each and every week only to get the same results. A loss. Tune in next week when the optimist chimes in again about how the Bucs “should” win again. Wash, rinse, and repeat.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:09 pm
It’s the fans fault Lovie sucks!
November 6th, 2014 at 12:09 pm
The players on the team know Glennon is the better option to win Right Now.
Seeing how Lovie Yanked Glennon, this sends the message to the team that we are playing not for Wins but for Jameis Winston.
No matter how bad Josh McCown plays I don’t see him getting benched.
Because of this I see the Defense and the Receivers giving up on the season.
We will lose the rest of our games, because our coach and owners want to lose.
Winners win and losers lose in this league.
Even if we get Winston we will lose.
You play to win the game.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Joe, are you taking applications yet for a new “The Pessimist”?
November 6th, 2014 at 12:11 pm
You should change the name of this article to the “0.24ist”. As in your BAC needs to be 0.24 to possibly believe any of this.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:13 pm
Joe, The only talk around work is too think of the most horrible thing you would watch or do, before you watch another Bucs game, Some of the winners were. Watch 3 straight WNBA games in a row and have thanksgiving alone with Steve D the afternoon radio guy.
Please do a poll of this!!!
November 6th, 2014 at 12:14 pm
lightningbuc…if so I nominate a 3 pronged writing staff of DallasBuc, you, and The Buc Realist.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:14 pm
@bucrightoff – Now that made Joe laugh. Thanks. For any DUI questions, visit http://HillsboroughDefense.com
November 6th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
The Buc Realist…ah ha ha ha Thanksgiving dinner alone with Steve….ah ha ha ha ha ha HA!
November 6th, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Something I’m sort of skeptical about: McCown is being propped up as a great mentor for our future young QB that we bring in next year but it really doesn’t look like his mentoring did much to help Glennon out this year. Maybe this offseason should see the jettison of both our current QBs and we could bring in someone like Orton to be the bridge/mentor for our recently acquired QB
November 6th, 2014 at 12:21 pm
ROFLMFAO This guy is as clueless as laid-back Lovie.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:21 pm
@ Realist – What about thanksgiving dinner w/ Steve where he’s breaking down the WNBA games with you? If there’s anything worse than a WNBA game it’s analysis of the games
November 6th, 2014 at 12:22 pm
@Realist I can’t even come back to this thread without cracking up now…
November 6th, 2014 at 12:23 pm
Mccown has thrown TWICE as many Interceptions as Touchdowns.
Let me Repeat that.
McCown has Thrown TWICE as many Interceptions as Touchdowns.
IF you look at McCown’s History he has 6 years where he threw more INT’s than Touchdowns in a season.
Lovie Sucks
November 6th, 2014 at 12:28 pm
Mccown
Week 1,2,3
22-35 183y 2td 2ints
16-21 179y 0td 1int
5-12 58y. 0td 1int (pick 6)
November 6th, 2014 at 12:31 pm
bucrealist,
This turkey’s dry “as far as that’s concerned”.
“As far as that’s concerned” please pass the gravy.
“As far as that’s concerned” – white or dark meat?
November 6th, 2014 at 12:31 pm
I don’t believe the Bucs are tanking for the highest pick they can get in the next draft. I just think that as a team they just suck. I’m also not optimistic with the supposed improvement that it will produce any wins from here to the finish. By starting McCown, Lovie is out to prove he made the right decision to bring him in as the starter. I don’t care if they lose them all the rest of the season. That will make the draft a QB crowd happy and give them new hope. That’s optimism.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Mike Evans caught 7 of 11 target vs Cleveland and 4 of 7 vs minn. Not sure he’s “catching everything thrown his way”. He’s dropped some basic passes.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
@Lightningbuc – Steve D has secret sources that tell him the white meat is better and if you say otherwise you’ll be screamed at until he kicks you out, as far as that’s concerned
November 6th, 2014 at 12:39 pm
lightningbuc ….Ha ha ha ha STOP it! You guys are bringing me to tears!
November 6th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
Patrick,
I’m sure he does…I just hope it’s not the same source that said a sale of the Bucs to Eddie DeBartolo was imminent about 12 years ago.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
58% completion rate vs 63%.
I wouldn’t consider that “far more accurate than glennon” especially with 4ints in 68 attempts and a pick 6 vs 6ints in 203 attempts. 1 of glennon’s int mike Evans fell to the ground.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
5 million for McC? He only got paid 1.7 mil last year. you could upgrade 10 spots by 1/2 million dollars. Do you think that would help upgrade this teams depth? Replacing offensive weapons with unproven rookies was pretty dumb. when I see a team draft Oline in first round I know they are serious. the revolving door at KR/PR is a joke. EP had better stats last than anyone they have brought in. When Thigpen was EPs age he was putting up bad stats in Canada not top ten return man in NFL. Lovie=Con man hope you are enjoying his last con retirement fund home.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:44 pm
@lightning – Steve was considering his audience. FL is a retirement destination. 12 years is a drop in the bucket for most folks that listen to AM radio.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:44 pm
Quarterback A:
Comp%: 57.6, TD: 10, INT: 6, Y/A: 7.0, Rating: 83.3
Quarterback B:
Comp%: 63.2, TD: 2, INT: 4, Y/A: 6.2, Rating: 65.8
So, which one would you start?
November 6th, 2014 at 12:46 pm
Of the teams we’ve played, only 3 have winning records. We’ve shown that we’re the worst of the worst. I don’t doubt that we’ll steal some games, but even mentioning the possibility of going 6 out of 8 at this point is crazy town.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
D-Rome
10td to 6ints
Vs
2tds to 4ints
Uhm, they both suck but I’ll take to guy with more tds than ints. Call me crazy.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
Reality
Oddly enough glennon beat the team with the best record, go figure. Big thanks to Todd Haley for sucking. The other loses I have to put that on the defense. Browns, minn, Saints we had the lead in the 4th but gave up the booty. Atl and Ravens blow outs of historical proportions.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:11 pm
I’ll buy #1 and #3 but Marcus Arroyo getting a grasp of the offensive play calling????? Dude #2 is a real “deuce” if ya know what I mean;) Yeah, Arroyo did an adequate for the first half of the Browns game and then WTF happened???? He makes an adjustment that takes away the one weapon that moved the ball and kept the Browns off of the field: Rainey and the run game and then Lovie kind of threw him under the bus with his “yeah we should’ve run more in the second half” comment…. But you are the Optimist so I guess 2 out of 3 ain’t bad man. We could only wish the Bucs could get 2 out of 3 of the Offense/Defense and Special Teams units running well on any given Sunday and right now I would take winning one out of every 3 games as that would be an improvement over 1-7…..
November 6th, 2014 at 1:16 pm
BUCS WILL BEAT THE FALCONS ON SUNDAY!!!
November 6th, 2014 at 1:30 pm
Ppl forget how mccown could even move the ball thru the air also it got to a point were he would just scramble at least Glennon would air it out
November 6th, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Im with u on that 1 bucsfan4lyfe. We win on Sunday.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:42 pm
It’s kinda crazy to write off Vincent Jackson. We have garbage at quarterback and i’ll buy glennon and mccown being the problem allday over vjacks…..he dropped plenty of balls every year since he came but still gets over a 1000 years a season but you gotta have someone unafraid to thrown his way
November 6th, 2014 at 2:52 pm
Right on Optimist, good points all.
We’ll see if McCown has what it takes. If he can’t do better than Glennon within a couple games then he’s a bust and move on. At least then we’ll know.
I think Jackson will do way better with McCown back throwing the ball, just a hunch. We’ll see.
November 6th, 2014 at 4:56 pm
If McCown finds himself having to scramble, we won’t be screaming at him in frustration for going out of bounds short of the 1st down, or heaven forbid, behind the line of scrimmage. I’m hopeful to see improvement Sunday against Atlanta on all sides of the ball. Many players who were noticeably absent in the 1st Atlanta game are returning, and should make a difference. A win will go a long way towards improving fans’ outlook for this team.
November 6th, 2014 at 6:40 pm
The stats put up by the two QBs this year are irrelevant: as is the art of reading a topic sentence.
The sampling of Josh mcCown’s work is skewed by the parameters mentioned in the article. With combination of Arroyo having a better feel of the offense, the maturation of Mike Evans and ever so slight improvement of the offensive line.
The Bucs need to win more than they need to develop M. Glennon.
November 7th, 2014 at 12:51 am
Bucstop
So what you’re saying is that from the blowout in ATL to the win in Pitt the the following week the team got better? And you think McCown can win 6 of the last 8 games? How much do you get paid for these articles and how can I get some of that? I’ll write about the time I saw Bigfoot and Elvis at the hard rock, it will be entertaining. “Optimist” is a stretch its more like delusional. At least you know how to read and write a topic sentence, good for you.
November 7th, 2014 at 7:42 am
@DB55 – I would side with Bucstop and say that the team has gotten better in that span of time. True, they need to polish their game still and they need to learn to finish games, but you can see them thinking a lot less and playing a lot faster on defense than they have in the past. Nobody said anything about 6 wins. Doubt we get there. What I want to see is marked improvement across the board so that we can go in to next year with a large portion of the team that remains having a solid grasp of the nuance of the defense. Our receiving group and rookie RB will have game time under their belts and a full offseason to train and we’ll have an offense that is getting used to the new playbook but not necessarily each other.
They’re not a good team. Let’s not get caught up acting as though that’s what is being said. They’re pretty bad right now actually. But if you take your hate blinders off you can see the signs of improvement and signs that there is potential for better things to come.
November 7th, 2014 at 10:33 am
@VA
My bad brother. You know I’m stupid! I read this paragraph and must have misunderstood. Plus what I gather is that he’s saying mccown will play better bc the team around him has improved, obviously I must be wrong. Thanks for educating me man.
“This team needs to win now, and at the risk of losing out on a high draft pick, winning six of the last eight games would have Tampa Bay in a frenzy with fans unwilling to wait for the start of next season, much less the draft.”
November 7th, 2014 at 10:41 am
@DB55 – My apologies, I thought you were referencing bucstop’s post, since you mentioned him by name at the beginning of your post.