Quit Watch Extends To Bucs Coaches
December 8th, 2014
Joe warned and explained Thursday that fans should be on the lookout for quitters among their beloved Buccaneers.
Joe never imagined that this quit watch would extend to the coaching staff.
Every darn week, multiple times, Lovie Smith talks about how his Bucs will be committed to the running game. He talks about how important it is, and how running is — and will be — his team’s identity.
Yet nearly every week Lovie laments the fact his team got away from the running game. Does he not realize he’s the head coach and can control such things?
No NFC team runs the ball less than the Bucs, which average 21.4 carries a game. In Detroit, Tampa Bay turned to hand the ball off just 10 times. Ten! Josh McCown dropped back to pass nearly 50 times. Fifty!
After the game, Lovie, naturally, talked about how the Bucs regrettably weren’t committed to the running game.
Joe will assume de facto offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo has quit on Lovie and is going to call whatever he feels like calling, or Joe will assume Lovie has quit on the offense, failing to assert his control. What other explanation could there be?
Josh McCown-led offenses don’t survive that kind of imbalance. Every sane football mind knew that before kickoff. So why let a great defense pin its ears back?
Yes, Arroyo is overmatched. And McCown needed to check to more runs. But the team belongs to Lovie. Offensive failures like abandoning the running game are on the head coach.
For those keeping score, the Bucs ran the ball more last year, 26.2 carries per game, with a higher yards-per-carry average, 3.8 versus 3.7.
December 8th, 2014 at 8:03 am
I don’t understand at all. Martin was getting it done early, and then we just never went back to him.
Also, I hope to never, ever see Sims in a blocking role again. He’s just terrible at it.
December 8th, 2014 at 8:07 am
Lions have the best run defense in the NFL might be a bit of a factor. Charles Sims with 5 carries for -4 yards is another because the line is really crappy too.
December 8th, 2014 at 8:26 am
I think we saw the Bucs being legitimately scared of the Lions run D. They wanted to use short passes and screens as a run game because they didn’t believe in their run blocking or their backs against the opposition. We all know what playing scared football gets you
December 8th, 2014 at 8:28 am
Our run blocking is terrible- and Detroit Defense is #1 in the league against the run. Also, later in the game we were down by multiple scores and had to throw to have any chance of coming back. Its not that big of a mystery Joe and certainly doesn’t mean that coaches are “quitting”.
December 8th, 2014 at 8:33 am
I put any blame on Marcus Arroyo, being that he was thrown into this equation, but how about the OL Coach? Don’t he teach the OL how to block & open holes for the running backs? If this doesn’t fall on the OL Coach, this brings us back to the HC who thought our OL wasn’t good enough last year and made worse this year!
December 8th, 2014 at 8:34 am
I don’t put any blame on Marcus Arroyo!
December 8th, 2014 at 8:42 am
The sad part about Arroyo is that likely in a few years with another Offense line coach, another head coach, and a different line he could turn out to be a real good coach- probably for some other team the way things go around here.
December 8th, 2014 at 8:47 am
We keep talking about the mental mistakes the coaches are making. I’m giving Lovie one more year, but this is ridiculous. He’s the head coach for crying out loud! Start managing your team better!
December 8th, 2014 at 8:48 am
This simply gives L&L a nice patsy to hang the blame on and deflect it from themselves. O’Dea will probably also be made an example of in a few weeks when the pink slips start coming out….
December 8th, 2014 at 8:49 am
This whole thing is a collosal failure starting with the HC. There is a disconnect, what he’s saying is not showing on the field.
December 8th, 2014 at 8:55 am
Committing to running only is relevant if ‘it’s working’. We cannot run (pass either, I realize) so, of course they are abandoning the run.
Committed to ‘winning’ should be the highest priority.
December 8th, 2014 at 9:18 am
Hahaha guys relax drink some beer this is the best thing that could happen we are going to get a QB com draft time a real live young QB so happy I could cry
December 8th, 2014 at 9:19 am
just when you give joe credit he goes and writes something idiotic. yes this is the national football league joe but it’s still a job and arroyo still has to go work somewhere else and you can see quit on tape so why would he run the rest of his career with the fact remaining that he could still go work on his offensive coordinator somewhere on the college level…what a simpleminded post, all this coaches that should get the hook this offseason have to go work somewhere else…damn joe your imagination so basic and it’s obvious your running out of things to write about…I know no one is waiting for the start of a new year more than you because you have mailed it in also
December 8th, 2014 at 9:22 am
The run game has been a disappearing acting for weeks now and it is a mystery. I can understand going up against Detroit the best run defense in the league but this is becoming a trend. Doug Martin looks like he is ripping of some good runs then nothing more to him. Josh McCown is not good enough to win the game on his own without some sort of run game. Just frustrating the coaches don’t see this or execute it when most fans sitting on their couches at home realize this ineptitude.
December 8th, 2014 at 9:44 am
The worst team in the league is always playing catch-up, so it makes sense that they run less. Nobody quit; we just have a weak program.
December 8th, 2014 at 10:06 am
So Lovie just may go after Gurley with our first….(after trading down a little).
Hmm, I dont know, I’d love to have him….maybe trade down, go O line first and hope to move up and grab Gurley before someone else maybe?
I think with some O line help, we have some serious contenders at RB already, especially with Rainey! But I could see Lovie going after Gurley.
December 8th, 2014 at 10:07 am
enjoy dungeys overrated tree
December 8th, 2014 at 10:08 am
IT STARTS UP FRONT, POOR JUDGEMENT OF COACHES ,GLASERS FAULT.POOR JUDGEMENT OF TALENT COACHES FAULT, THE COACHES DIS MENTAL A TEAM THAT WAS A LOT BETTER LAST YEAR THAN THIS YEAR, AND THE PLAYERS DON’T HAVE FAITH IN THERE COACHES AND PLAYERS WILL GIVE UP ON THE SYSTEM AND HERE YOU HAVE IT A 2-11 TEAM, LOVIE CAN NOT BE TRUSTED WITH DAFTING PLAYERS AND FREE AGENTS NEXT YEAR BECAUSE LOOK WHAT HE DONE TO THIS TEAM THIS YEAR, **DESTROYED IT ** ……. THIS TEAM WILL BE THE SAME NEXT YEAR AS THIS YEAR IF HE IS STILL THE COACH…….I WILL SAY IF LOVIE IS THE COACH NEXT YEAR 4-12 AT THE MOST*******
December 8th, 2014 at 10:22 am
I’ve read the phrase so much that I’m beginning to think that “Through no fault of his own” is actually part of Marcus Arroyo’s name.
December 8th, 2014 at 10:34 am
If men have achieved pro sport status or coaching of pro sports, to include the salaries paid… then who are lowly sports comment providers to call these professionals quitters?
Surely they didn’t something in life that required perseverance when you slime amounted to latching onto a 2-11 NFL team’s sports gossip page, leaving comments of judgement… yet you have done nothing with your lives to judge such professionals.
December 8th, 2014 at 10:35 am
*did
December 8th, 2014 at 10:36 am
okay, i have a new theory. the plan was always to tank for a top 3 pick. Evan Deitrich Smith and Anthony Collins were brought in to ensure we always got in our own way on offense, and josh mccown was brought in and paid $5 million to be a tackling dummy for the final year of his career. Oh, and the Tedford thing was pre-planned, just to make extra sure the offense couldn’t get things going while the defense was settling into the Tampa 2.
December 8th, 2014 at 11:52 am
Well the way some of you on this site tell it, Lovie really did turn this 4-12 division contender and playoff bound team into the worst ever in NFL history.
December 8th, 2014 at 1:01 pm
@newbucsfan, the sad reality is that last year’s roster and coach minus the josh freeman\MRSA black hole might have actually marched to a division title against the slate of garbage we’ve faced this year. that is not an endorsement of schiano, just a sad reflection on the direction this team has taken
December 8th, 2014 at 1:31 pm
You don’t run the ball when you’re behind by two touchdowns.
December 8th, 2014 at 2:42 pm
WITH THE FIRST PICK ! IN THE 2015 NFL DRAFT BUCS SHOULD SELECT A COACH AND A STAFF!
December 8th, 2014 at 11:23 pm
Who cares what Detroit was ranked in run defense…IT WAS WORKING WHEN WE RAN IT WITH DOUG!
Then we stopped..
My theory:
The ol’ QB coa…err…OC saw his oline getting pistol whipped all day as they dropped into past coverage and thought the same thing would happen if they ran in the second half….call me crazy, but offensive linemen get their mojo from establishing a run game…you put them on their heels in pass coverage 50 times a (with no confidence too btw) and you’re going to have the same results always.
Case in point. The whole offensive side of the coaching point is scared. One hand doesn’t know what the other is doing neither. Bush league.
December 9th, 2014 at 12:38 am
I remember when Mike Shula was the OC here for the Bucs. His play calling was putrid! Greg Olson’s wasn’t much better!
The offensive play calling of this year’s team, while not as predictive of run up the middle 3 times and punt and pray for a defensive touchdown of the Buc’s D-glory days, seems to be drawn in the dirt with bottle caps and twigs in the huddle.