Did Jeff Tedford Have A “Control” Issue?
December 23rd, 2014
Peter King of theMMQB.com adds intrigue to the Jeff Tedford mystery
Yes, Bucs fandom was buzzing last week after former offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford accepted a head coaching job with the BC Lions of the CFL.
In his introductory press conference, Tedford said he had been “good to go for a couple of months.”
It’s clear some folks at One Buc Palace think Tedford tanked on the Bucs.
Yesterday, when asked about Tedford, Bucs coach Lovie Smith, who hired Tedford, gave a terse no-answer answer claiming he doesn’t talk about coaches on other teams.
If one is to believe the typings of Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-listening, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, distrust escalated between Tedford and Lovie during the days of Tedford’s recovery from having coronary artery stents implanted.
TEDFORD AND TAMPA. I know the Bucs are not relevant right now, but I was wondering if you had any insight about what happened between Lovie Smith and Jeff Tedford? The offense has really been nonexistent this year after so much promise at the beginning of the season. I know Tedford had heart surgery and was released from his contract at the beginning of the month, but he now is a head coach in the CFL and Lovie seems to want to avoid all questions about the situation. Did their relationship sour that quickly or is there more to the story?
—Matt, Willard, Ohio
I heard there was nothing really nefarious about the split. Tedford was ready to coach, and he wasn’t sure that he was going to have the kind of control over the Tampa offense he felt he needed to have after missing most of this year. At the same time, college jobs and this CFL jobs were coming open. He knew that if he waited until January to make some sort of determination on his future with Smith that the coaching merry-go-round might have stopped spinning and left him jobless for 2015. What I don’t know is whether he was offered to be the offensive coordinator with Tampa Bay in 2015 or not. And I also don’t know if the Bucs simply lost faith in Tedford to stay healthy for a full season, having seen the havoc that happened this year when they had to piece together the offense on the fly. I think it came down to the fact that both sides felt it was better that he move on.
Well, let’s take the premise that Tedford wasn’t going to have the same power he had previously when he was healthy enough to resume his duties. Uh, the offensive was humming so swimmingly, why fix something that wasn’t broken?
Whoops. Things were broken.
If Tedford was healthy enough to bounce back in October, then why on earth wasn’t he handed his powers back? The Bucs were (and still are) terrible offensively.
If King’s information is to be believed, Tedford wanted to come back but was not met with open arms. This just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to Joe, unless Lovie was so hacked off at Tedford he didn’t want him to come back.
Something doesn’t add up here.
December 23rd, 2014 at 8:51 am
I totally agree why would Lovie being sound of mind think that Tedfords invovlement would do anything but help? Surely he didnt get smitten with Arroyo enough to think that he in his first NFL gig could be both Offensive Coordinator and QB coach??? Lovie made some huge miscalculations which led to this train wreck of an offense. Now if he drafts Mariota or Winston all will be forgiven but if he for some reason passes and tries to stock draft picks and then goes after another “veteran”free agent hack like McKown we are in for more brutal offense. This has to end now.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:02 am
It adds up perfectly. Starting McCown over Glennon, Tedford being healthy for 2 months and not coming back. Playing not to lose. You name it. The tanking of the season has been in full effect when they restarted McCown. So Tedford coming back would possibly have gotten more wins and derailed the plans. I’m guessing the breakup was mutual. The Bucs need the the number 1 pick and Tedford needed a less stressful job. But all the asinine decisions have been made to get this top pick and the team is one loss away.
One thing is for sure, I think Lovie needs to stay 3 years to really turn things around but he can’t have another year like this one. Especially with the decisions being made on and off the field. They have to hit home runs in the draft and free agency. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:03 am
Even after hiring Mike Martz and supposedly giving him full controll of the Bears offense, Lovie still would override Martz’s play calling….I’m sure word gets around.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:04 am
Does anything about this sub-standard Lovie Smith staff make any sense to Joe(s)????
Clueless head coach equals sub-standard staff…..anyone who thinks any offensive coordinator worth his salt will want to join Lovie’s staff, is as clueless as Lovie…
Schiano had a hard time attracting any coaching talent and Lovie has the same problem…..perception is he could be gone after next year if this entire mess isn’t cleaned up big time….
You’ve heard of coach killers, Lovie is an O-Coordinator killer…….
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:06 am
This guy doesn’t learn his lessons. I feel like you could kick him in the nuts every time and hed still do this crap. Enjoy being fired in a yr lovie. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:07 am
This whole season can be summed up by the last line…
Something doesn’t add up here.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:11 am
I get it. I mean, if he’s already having health issues, it’s a lot of faith to bring him back in and turn the whole thing over to him again. If he gets back in the weeds and has another ailment or just decides he doesn’t have the gas in the tank anymore then it could’ve been thrown further into disarray. I know, it’s really bad so further into disarray is hard to imagine but I can see what the thought process was in just deciding to move on. Since they weren’t going to bring him back next year then it wouldn’t be in Tedford’s best interest to finish the season with us, even if he could have. He needed to look out for his career and if he let the openings that were there pass by him then, like Joe said, he may have been out in the cold for another year after that year off he spent with Lovie in Chicago. After a certain number of years out of football you become obsolete.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:15 am
He’s got a quitting issue.
What a pos this guy is.
I hope he fails at everything.
What a loser and a quitter.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:17 am
Going to be VERY telling on who we get in here as OC. No GOOD OC in their right mind is going to want to come in here if “offensive juggernaut” Lovie Howell is going to screw with their offensive game plan(s). Chudzinski sure is not.
If “Chud” does come in here, I am willing to bet that Winston will be our pick.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:20 am
I like lovie (even though I wanted Zimmer) but you wouldve think he learned his lesson in the super bowl where Dungy had Manning and he trotted out Rex Grossman lol. Once they decided not to kick to Hester anymore that was all she wrote. He really thinks he doesn’t need an offense and it’s become disturbing
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:21 am
This entry, full of suppositions, will bring the Lovie haters out like a pack of buzzards to a gut wagon.
The key to the story though is Tedford was already thinking about looking for another job when he was ready to come back. And let’s not forget, Tedford said he was ready to come back on a “part time” basis.
Last time I checked, there were no part time OC coordinators on any NFL staff.
This guy is a bad tool. Getting a CFL job that pays a third of what an NFL OC coordinator makes isn’t exactly an upwardly mobile career move.
Those, by the way, are facts, not suppositions.
Also Flmkie, Mike Martz is a major headache with a huge ego who believes he alone was responsible for the Rams Super Bowl win. He also badgers players tirelessly.
If you don’t believe me, listen to Kurt Warner talk about him.
Anyway, I don’t think Martz is in the NFL now is he. Could these be the reasons why.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:22 am
Kings response makes no sense, we wanted Arroyo over Tedford?
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:22 am
@Scotty – i don’t think that them not handing the control over to Tedford was necessarily because Lovie wanted to have control over it so much as they just didn’t want to take them completely away from the system that Arroyo had patched together just to revert back to the system that the team had data dumped since Tedford left. Having to relearn terminology and schemes midweek is not a great approach. The fact that Lovie doesn’t influence whether we run the ball or not when we haven’t run all game tells me that he’s not meddling in the offense. I don’t think it’ll be an issue at all next year with a new OC
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:24 am
The Glazers need to take a strong hand in the hiring of the new OC…..they need to let Lovie know that he has another year…..if…..and I mean if…..he gives the OC complete control of the offense.
The Glazers need to hire someone qualified to take Lovie’s job….Lovie needs to feel the heat. If we have the number one pick that will be a real plus toward finding the right coach.
Who we select will speak volumes.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:38 am
Why would Lovie give up any control at all? He gets $20 million no matter what he does. He will rightfully dare the Glazers to fire him if they want to take control or force him to do anything. But once Lovie was given full control that was that. The Glazers should have hired a GM first and then a coach.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:40 am
@Armando
Teford wanted to come back but Lovie wouldn’ hand over the offense back to him. Why is that? because he’s stubborn and thinks he doesn’t need an offense in this league to win. His mentor Dungy (same philisophy) inherited a great qb and offense and won a super bowl while defeating him in the process. What part didn’t you comprehend?
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:42 am
I 99.9% sure that the next offensive coordinator won’t work out as well.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:49 am
As I posted yesterday
There’s a pattern here,
Inefficient offense
The Bears offense under Smith has been stagnant and unimaginative. They have only finished in the top 20 in total offense in his nine seasons once. That was 15th in 2006, their lone Super Bowl appearance in the Smith era. They have four top five appearances in scoring under Smith, but those number have always been boosted by the emphasis on the defense producing turnovers and points. Many have criticized the turnover of the offensive coordinators and Smith’s conservative approach offensively.
Rotating coordinators
The Bears have had four offensive and three defensive coordinators during the Smith era. The defense, which is overseen by Smith has been one of the best in the NFL since his arrival in 2004.
His Offensive coordinators have been:
• Terry Shea (2004),
• Ron Turner (2005-09),
• Mike Martz (2010-11)
• Mike Tice (2012).
• Jeff Tedford/ Marcus Arroyo ←
Only the 2006 season can be deemed a success offensively for the Bears during the Smith Era. They finished 15th in yards that season and second in points scored. That was the only time since 2004 the Bears have finished above 23rd in total offense. The changing systems offensively have hurt any continuity the Bears have had. In six of Smith’s nine seasons (including 2012), the Bears have finished in the bottom quarter of the NFL in total offense.
2014 Bucs
Scored 257 points (17.1/g), that’s 28th out of 32 teams in the NFL.
December 23rd, 2014 at 9:53 am
Lovie: The Grinch Who Stole Tampa Bay’s Christmas……..and he’ll do it again next year…..
Simple as that……
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:06 am
History of Disastrous Offensive Line Play
The Bears had been in the top six for most sacks allowed in each of the last three seasons under Lovie Smith. The Bears repeatedly drafted offensive lineman in an attempt to get to productive results out of the offensive line. After drafting the injury prone Chris Williams at guard in 2008, the Bears had to let him go earlier this season due to more injuries and ineffectiveness. That was after moving him inside to guard.
They seemingly brought in free agents after free agent, that didn’t worked out…. in attempt to patch up their terrible O-Line . (sounds familiar?) . Nothing they did worked out under Lovie-Da Bears went into off-season, after off-season needing to find help on the offensive line through the draft and in free agency.
Once again does Any of this Sound Familiar?
And the sad thing Lovie hasn’t changed….just listen.
Lovie Smith-Doesn’t believe in offensive line continuity
Per Mr. Smith
Aug 29th 2014
Lovie: “It’s been talked an awful lot about “the offensive line, they have to play together’’,’’ Smith said. “I don’t buy that at all. I think you get the best possible guys you can, and you make moves when you have to.’’
Wait what? Did Lovie really say he doesn’t believe in the notion- that an offensive line needs time to jell or build continuity. And that right there is the reason he’s never had a functional offense. That’s our head coach…smh
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:10 am
Martz is a supreme pain in the ass, but he was also the architect of the Greatest Show on Turf, Vermil didn’t design that offense, Martz did, and as for Warner, he should thank his lucky stars that he’s still not stocking shelves at the local Safeway, that offense and that OC made him the player he was and gave him the career he had.
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:15 am
Love hired Mike Martz-And then traded away their best receiver-TE Greg Olsen. Because the role of the traditional tight end is minimized a Mike Martz ran offense..smh
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:24 am
But see a lot of us seen this coming during the PRESEASON
and told us “Don’t overreact”
In the immortal words of Dennis Green…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPmQC86oIzY
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:31 am
@ ddneast
I don’t think anyone (or most anyone anyway) HATE Lovie but are rather underwhelmed by an experienced NFL HC who inherits a roster with some established pro bowl talwnt as well as some young guys who have showed a lot of promise and takes said team from 4-12 to worse. Top it all off with making a bad offense look even worse and a middle of the road defense look worse. It’s nothing personal it’s just as simple as that.
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:39 am
Tampabaybucfan makes a good point.
Hire a head coach and install him as offensive coordinator. Eventually lovedork will be shamed into retiring and we can move right along. There are many ways that the owners can take power away from that idiot. Lets just say lovedork stays and doesn’t draft a qb but stockpiles more draft picks (which would be the smart move as we are not ready for a new qb) the fan base would be upset and we could see paid attendance in the order of 35000. So 30000 empty seats at $100.00 average is $3 million a game not to mention parking and concessions and buccaneer clothing.
Math is simple the $20 million you need to pay lovedork is recouped in a single year.
Answer is simple dump his ass and hire an offense minded head coach. That is today’s NFL. Chicago dumped him just like tampa dumped dungy for an offensive mind. It was a bad hire in the first place as we already had a decent defense but no offense.
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:44 am
This is still my opinion of what occurred.
Hawk Says:
December 17th, 2014 at 11:07 am
– “What happened, in the end, we will likely never know. *My* guess is that by the time he was feeling good enough to go back to work, the season (in Lovie’s eyes) was lost. If Lovie allowed Tedford to take control of the offense, and the Bucs still floundered, under McCown and this O-line, then Lovie would have no ‘excuse’ for the Glazers about this highly touted offense. By keeping Tedford ‘sick’ until it was way too late, Lovie has his MRSA/Freeman excuse. Being a first year HC, it might get him another year. He can argue that even with Tedford out, the Bucs were *this* close to winning 8 (or more) games and hoisting the division title.
I wish Tedford well, but, IMO, he has already done very well… he’s out of this mess.”–
We don’t even know if the offense would have been any better with Tedford running it. There is NO doubt, in my mind, that Tedford and his QB coach (Arroyo) worked together before the season began, during camp, and even after Tedford went down. Arroyo was running Tedford’s offense the way Tedford expected, unless LOVIE disagreed.
If Tedford’s offense tears up the CFL, you can bet he will get another opportunity to work in the NFL again.
@ Patrick in VA
Terminology and plays did NOT change. That would have amounted to the same as bringing in a new OC. Arroyo spent the off season learning Tedford’s offense. Why would he change? He has never been an OC, so it’s not like he has his own offensive game plan.
Tedford would have had a list of plays for each down/distance/situation (time left in qtr/half/game/score/etc). Arroyo made his own (or Lovie’s) decision as to when to call each play.
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:49 am
Yes lovie was pissed at tedford for having heart surgery joe that makes complete sense. You have a sight not based on insight but based on guessing and speculation, people take little boys and pieces of morning and put together a complete nonsensical story. Peter King said he heard, which probably told to him by someone else who heard and as usual he doesn’t know for sure but it’s in the media so it must be true I guess
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:58 am
I HAVE A LOT FRIENDS THAT ARE SEASON TICKET HOLDERS MOSTLY COUPLES,AND WE ALL DRIVE TO TAMPA GAMES BUT IF LOVIE SMITH
IS BACK NEXT SEASON AROUND 38 TO 40 PEOPLE THAT HOLDS TICKETS ,**( WILL NOT BE A TICKET HOLDER )**NEXT SEASON , SIMPLE AS THAT !!!!!!!
December 23rd, 2014 at 11:07 am
@Can’t fix it – False. These empty threats are just silly. Just like the guy that says that if they don’t draft Winston then his distro list of FSU fans will jump ship. Not true. And if it is true then you should probably just go anyway. You can’t try to hold a team hostage to cater to your whims. Either support the team or don’t. Why don’t you just threaten movie theaters if they show movies you don’t like as well.
December 23rd, 2014 at 11:11 am
@Hawk – that very well may be the case. I’m not sure what’s going on there at OBP any more than anyone else here. If your scenario is true, why would we need the OC to be there at all then? Why couldn’t he just put together the collection of if-then scenarios and he could just hang out at home on Sundays. I would imagine that that would be the case for most OCs actually, if that were the case. I feel like there’s a lot more that goes in to it than that, but I’m speculating like everyone else.
December 23rd, 2014 at 12:01 pm
@luvmybucs- agree I think this pinhead has issues with its all about me! and look at me! and control freak maybe.
December 23rd, 2014 at 12:13 pm
The reason you can’t go without an OC is what we are seeing. You can have the greatest ‘Xs’ and ‘Os’ drawn up, but if you don’t know when to use them…
In chess, both players start with the identical pieces, but ONE player knows how to strategically use them.
Arroyo calls a run on 2nd and short. Gruden would call a ‘post’ off of play-action.
December 23rd, 2014 at 12:24 pm
When a boss says “no comment” it usually an HR issue. Why would Lovie not want his oc back? Insubordination perhaps? Idk, don’t care, doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve got my popcorn in hand to see what brilliant decisions Lovie has in store for this off season.
December 23rd, 2014 at 1:28 pm
I’ve always supported the Bucs, but hiring Lovie was a boneheaded move. This team needed an offensive minded head coach, not a defensive position coach without a clue about offense. This move single handedly plunged the Bucs into long lasting mediocrity. Support Lovie to your hearts content, you must accept the everlasting losing.
December 23rd, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Tedford knew returning (and presumably failing) would be career suicide and so he and Lovie agreed to part ways and implement Mission Tank. It’s that simple. Tedford now gets zero points off his career for this catastrophe. I wish him only the best in the future.
December 23rd, 2014 at 1:58 pm
“If King’s information is to be believed, Tedford wanted to come back but was not met with open arms. This just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to Joe, unless Lovie was so hacked off at Tedford he didn’t want him to come back.” – Joe
That’s not what I read.
But if that is the case, then maybe it was because Lovie realizes he needs an experienced OC and staff to build a real offense.
I said it before the season started…they were not keeping the offense a secret to keep it from people, they were covering the fact that Tedford did not have a complete playbook.
Remember how we heard stories of McCown going over it with him, telling him what might work and what would not? That was a clue that Tedford could not make the transition to Pro Football.
CFL will give him a chance to make a transition under easier circumstances.
December 23rd, 2014 at 2:02 pm
Well there you go. Like I’ve said Lovie is Dungy ball. Period. What’s more curious is that the national Media is more plugged into One Buc Place than local media. This makes locals look like 3rd stringers.
December 23rd, 2014 at 3:34 pm
Bit*ch and moan all you want but lovie will be here next season lol
So suck it you know nothing about football losers.
Everyone just want to fire everyone but never states a plan.
Which means your all stupid as the crap that comes out of my a*s
As if they should be in the Super Bowl after one season.
Just a bunch of idiots in here and its a crying shame that you breathe the same air as I do.
December 23rd, 2014 at 3:38 pm
It’s hilarious to hear you total losers say how nobody with the bucs can evaluate talent as if any of you have any idea other than what color underwear your gonna wear today.
Every analyst in the world praised the bucs for their moves. Well a lot didn’t work out and that’s just life. Maybe should have kept maybe one or two of the bums they let go.
And now all you fu*k tards come in here and act like you knew all along this would happen lmao. Most of you were happy about the moves they made.
Just go suck a d*ck you bunch of homos
December 23rd, 2014 at 5:11 pm
Glad to,see,you agree with me Flmike. Never said he didn”t design the offense.
December 23rd, 2014 at 5:15 pm
It’s actually a good thing Martz had someone like warner dedicate to and improving his game. A lot of players would have told him to go do sometching to himself, but Warner was hungry enough he put up with the harassment he didn’t deserve.
These are the reasons Martz isn’t in I the NFL nowadays.
December 23rd, 2014 at 5:21 pm
Nice posts Kevin, couldn’t agree with you more.
Also, for all you morons out here defending Tedford and saying Love wanted to control the offense it just shows how stupid you are.
Love is not a micro manager. He hires coaches to do their jobs and lets them tdo,it. That is a well known fact, not supposition or rumors which is what most of you morons deal in.
December 23rd, 2014 at 7:04 pm
ddneast Says:
–“Love is not a micro manager. He hires coaches to do their jobs and lets them tdo,it.”–
So true.
The proof is when Lovie said (on more than one occasion), “We should not have abandoned the run”.
If Lovie was running the offense, he would have had a different excuse for the pathetic offensive output.
December 23rd, 2014 at 7:45 pm
All signs point to Lovie. Lovie could have welcomed Tedford back, he didn’t. Lovie could have hired someone to replace Tedford, he didn’t. Lovie watched his offense flail week after week. Lovie reportedly insisted on total control over personnel before signing on as HC. If you don’t like the offense, it’s on Love. Simple as that.
December 23rd, 2014 at 10:50 pm
Screw this team. Theyre hopeless…
December 24th, 2014 at 12:00 am
straight up coward….