Quit Watch In Full Force
December 4th, 2014
Key Buccaneers seem extra impressed by how their team is working in December — amidst a toilet flush of a season.
Consider the following:
Yesterday, Lovie Smith closed his press conference opening statement by announcing the Bucs had a “good spirited practice for a 2-10 team.”
Gerald McCoy hopped on his Total Access radio show last night on WDAE-AM 620 and said the Bucs might have exceeded his expectations for a December afternoon.
“You know, for it to be Week 14, it was a high-octane, physical practice,” McCoy said. “A lot of competing going on in practice today. We didn’t get to watch much of the tape after practice, but as far as competition wise, it was a very competitive day.”
Josh McCown also hopped on the Total Access airwaves Tuesday and spoke about how he’s been on several bad teams and knows how things often look behind the scenes when a team is out of the playoff chase. But McCown said the these Bucs might as well be 10-2.
The players’ off day Tuesday had lots of guys in the building lifting weights, talking football, getting treatment, studying film and more, McCown said, and that extra effort and attitude doesn’t match the record.
“I’ll say this, because I’ve been a few situations like this when you’re towards the end of the year and you’re not feeling successful and your record doesn’t show it. You walk around our building, as far as players, as far as when I walk past players, and it doesn’t feel that way,” McCown said. “And it’s a hats off to the guys in the locker room and it’s a hats off to the leadership we have. There is a lot of resolve with these guys. You know, I walked by a couple of our guys [Tuesday], team leaders type guys. I remember thinking after talking to them, ‘Man, you would think we’re 10-2.'”
Yes, it’s the time of year when players, fans and coaches must keep a keen eye out for quitters — guys who take games, plays or practices off.
Don’t think players mail it in? Consider this quote from Mr. Derrick Brooks.
December 4th, 2014 at 10:06 am
The soured fans can say what they want, and they will. This team competes and HAS NOT quit which is far more than can be said with Raheem and Schiano. These last four fgames will tall a lot about this team. Raheem was blown out in his last four of a bad season and Schiano was blown out in three of four in another bad season.
December 4th, 2014 at 10:17 am
Brandon, Lovie might win 50% fewer games than Raheem or Schiano’s worst season. The Bucs might finish with their worst record in 28 years. The point is to win the games. Are you gonna be on here next year if they’re 4-8 at this point saying “They haven’t quit, and they’re getting better?”. You strike me as someone with exceptionally low standards.
And here’s the rub Brandon: If you say they haven’t quit, you have to say they’re very poorly coached. If teams that quit on Schiano and Raheem won twice as many games as this team might, poor coaching can be the only reason.
December 4th, 2014 at 10:47 am
Lack of an OC is the reason. Keep positive Brandon.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:04 am
anyone defending this team or even being optimistic has a questionable intelligence level. not naming names……
December 4th, 2014 at 11:16 am
Sad…when trying as hard as they can ,playing and coaching,…..looks like quitting…..
December 4th, 2014 at 11:25 am
Brandon has a point, they did not get run 52-0 last week by a 5 win team like the Raiders….. Bucs did let a 5 win ATL team put 56 up in week 3 but the defense actually has improved; too bad Tedford quit on the team and the Glazer: L&L trust had no options but to use Arroyo as OC with no advisors being brought in ala Sciano bringing Butch Davis in…. Maybe they’d have around 5 wins as well if they had a OC to actually develop a gameplan and then the fans would not be so ready to can Lovie though it does look like his and Licht’s talent evaluation needs to be evaluated by the Glazers before they move onto year 2. In fact the Glazers should force Lovie to do some things to save the dwindling fan and season ticket base: hire a real OC (not a Mike Tice) and draft a franchise QB early would be a good start.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:25 am
Lovie Smith has 8 grandchildren. Perhaps one of them is named Brandon.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:33 am
So its going to be a shock to the players when they get blown out this week?
I am expecting a 21 point defeat.
If I was the NFL I would not schedule the Bucs for any Night time games next year.
Same thing with the Jags and Raiders.
Loser teams should not be rewarded with national games.
Last weeks game against the Ravens/Chargers and Pat/Packers was real football.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:42 am
Keep dreaming McCown, practice might look like a 10-2 team, but reality speaks much louder. This team must be slow learners and under achievers. Save your rah rah enthusiasm for the game. Oh yeah, that’s reality.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:43 am
Lovie has had 5 OCs in 10 years, exactly 1 time a Lovie offense has been in the top half of the league, with 9 appearances in the bottom third of the league.
Why do people think Tedford, or whatever OC Lovie hires next, would have made some stunning difference? 9 years of available evidence strong suggests otherwise. This is Lovieball folks, 17-14, 21-17 wins are the new normal around here. People expecting a halfway decent offense need to re-evaluate their expectations.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:48 am
jo_mama: the Giants, Jets and Deadskins do not deserve prietime either but ya know they’ll each get at least 2 games if not more…. Hell the skins are worse than the Bucs but I bet that a Philly or Dallas game vs DC will be primetime simply for the ratings; same thing goes for the 2 NY teams…… Bucs, Titans, Jags and Raiders should join the other 3 above mentioned in getting a primetime ban in 2015 but it won’t happen as the NFL wants the NY?DC markets on national tv….
December 4th, 2014 at 11:50 am
The players may not have quit but a lot of the fans sure have.
December 4th, 2014 at 11:56 am
Thursday Night Football means every team in the league gets 1 primetime game.
December 4th, 2014 at 12:45 pm
McCown may have been on losers before but he wasn’t the starting QB that caused a number of the losses all by himself. If it had a leader as head coach, they would be something else, but they don’t have one.
December 4th, 2014 at 12:45 pm
They all missed the part where “we are building for next year”. Trust the Biff, it’s coming!
We here lot’s of words about how upbeat the practices and locker room is. My question is this. Why so many stupid penalties and mistakes every single Sunday?
This team hasn’t even won one, zip, nada, home game this year. Most teams have the 12th man in the stands. No?
Lovie said all the roster changes were necessary because 4-12 is a bad football team.
2-14 is worse.
Nice job Coach.
December 4th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Nowadays, rather than be observant and belive in obvious truths, people are determined to think that the truth is whatever they want it to be. You can spend all day trying to convince yourself that the sky is purple and eventually you won’t have to try very hard because you’ll really start to believe that the sky IS purple! (Despite the FACT it’s obviously not)
Lovie Smith, ladies and gentlemen, IS in fact, Lovie Smith. He is not some cerebral genius or coaching mastermind with an unquestionable resume of supporting achievement. What he IS, clearly, as supporting FACTS support, a mediocre at best coach with glaring flaws and failures he stubbornly refuses to address time after time after time.
Those of you that support the “we need to stop the revolving door of coaches” ideal just because it sounds good on paper need to think a little further into the future. Yes, yes, YES we need stability. Without question we do. However, if you bring in a guy with these known tendencies to fail in certain areas with hopes that the nostalgic ties to your franchise put him and your team over the top – and he proves to you that “he is what we thought he was,” step up, hold yourself accountable, admit to the fans you made a mistake and that you will not settle for mediocrity, and move on. Away from a mediocre coach and a helluva run on sentence.
He will get us better. We will almost certainly improve our record next year. But we will still have Lovie Smith, and Lovie Smith will still be, in fact, Lovie Smith. He’ll be the same guy with a better team he can poorly coach and cost them important games instead of meaningless ones. There is no argument.
December 4th, 2014 at 2:07 pm
Robert 9 Says:
December 4th, 2014 at 11:04 am
anyone defending this team or even being optimistic has a questionable intelligence level. not naming names……
_____________________________________________________________
I am optimistic about this team and I can assure you that I do not have a questionable intelligence level. I’m sorry that you are so upset about your own questionable intelligence level.
December 4th, 2014 at 2:13 pm
well said walter, the glazers were in such a hurry to hire this man, all because the analysts and espn and such were clamoring of what a great fit he would be here in tampa. they crumbled under pressure from the fans and media outlets, such as radio and billboards to get rid of shiano, they should have waited another year in my opinion, shiano had to purge this team of all the malcontents and the train wreck of jfro and I think he still had the better team, the seemed to me as more competitive, and certainly had more fire under schiano. oh well this is about lovie, and I do think he is a poor coach who lacks vision, and passion(emotion) and discipline, not to count his player evaluations. and this team is a pure reflection of their head coach!
December 4th, 2014 at 2:53 pm
walter white – most accurate post I have ever read on these pages. I can’t wait to read all apologists, creative mathematicians and madden GM’s break out all the excuses. blame and creative formulas why facts and reality do not matter.
Remember everyone when you miss on a coach or 1st draft pick that is a 3 to 5 year recovery period. Even if Lovie improves the team next two seasons he will never win a super bowl with his stubborn ways and archaic philosophy.
If all else Fails Blame Dominick!
December 4th, 2014 at 3:11 pm
“walter white – most accurate post I have ever read on these pages. ”
to bad the Joes or anyone of the Tampa Bay area professional journalist covering the Bucs….CAN NOT…or more importantly WILL NOT….
Shame on them….
December 4th, 2014 at 5:37 pm
@Walter White
Thank you for the Great Post Sir!
December 4th, 2014 at 5:51 pm
Rasta
There is no such thing as Professional Journalism. Especially at the small town local level like Tampa. I’ve unfortunately had to play golf with several of the so called local media at different charity events and each and every time I am at an event like that I just laugh. Media in Tampa is like a little school girl clique. small fish in a small ponds… facts and tough questions are irrelevant. Plus any swinging D..K with wordpress site is now a journalist. Just like every waitress in Hollywood is an actress…
December 4th, 2014 at 6:11 pm
Any loss had with a deficit greater than six points is a step backwards from this point on. We have to draw a line somewhere.
December 4th, 2014 at 6:34 pm
Gee. I thought most of them quit in September