“It Won’t Help”
June 1st, 2015
Another national voice buries the Bucs in the basement
Joe will never forget the night the Bucs drafted “America’s Quarterback,” signal-caller Jameis Winston. In a conference call with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club as Jameis was in his Alabama hometown, Jameis rejoiced over having Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, both 6-5, as his new targets.
“TWO OF THEM!” Jameis bellowed with glee.
Well, to read today’s words from pickpocket-thwarting, 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, Evans and Jackson could be 6-9 and young Jameis will still struggle.
King picked the Bucs as the 29th-best team in his power rankings and believes, outside of Evans and Jackson, Jameis has nothing to work with.
29. Tampa Bay (2-14). Jameis Winston will get thrown to the wolves without a good offensive line, and the Bucs also lack a running back. It won’t help having two studs at receiver if Winston doesn’t have time to find them.
That’s difficult to argue against. The Bucs basically have no running game, thus, a whole lot of pressure is being put on an offensive line that was a flat out embarrassment last year.
While rookies Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet may turn out to be effective players, the team is putting a boatload of pressure on those guys to at least play to an average level right away, so Jameis isn’t crippled.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:04 am
Wow, A lot has changed since last year. I guess the “talented” roster that dominick has left the bucs has been universally exposed!
Its year 7 and the rebuild continues!!!
June 1st, 2015 at 10:06 am
No running back? Is this man an idiot or just plain lazy? Martin, Simms, Rainy, and James and we have no backs? Any of them could start for most teams.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:13 am
Sorry, but if the Bucs have another 2-14 season the Glazers should give some serious thought to ending the Lovie Smith experiment. Yes constant turnover at HC sets a team back more often than not, but 2-14 two years in a row after two full seasons to implementing your scheme, drafting your players, and signing your FA’s would be pathetic.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:19 am
Rainey, maybe. Sadly, he is in Lovie’s doghouse.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:25 am
This team has been a joke for over a decade… We haven’t earned enough respect and don’t deserve to be ranked any higher… Our rookie QB will struggle at times and our line is a big question mark…
My expectations are low for this year but I’m hopeful we will show improvement and see positive development of our young players… I bet we will lose a bunch of real close games… 6 wins – 10 loses…
June 1st, 2015 at 10:26 am
If Martin was traded I would bet my house he would start immediately for the team that got him. You think the Patriots would’t want him over Blount?
June 1st, 2015 at 10:27 am
@mac 6 wins is a great year for this team!
June 1st, 2015 at 10:29 am
@ Jim
We have a good quantity of RBs… However we dont have any quality RBs…
June 1st, 2015 at 10:32 am
@ Jim
I agree… I am hopeful for improvement and perhaps I’m being too optimistic but looking at the schedule I can make a strong case for 6 wins…
June 1st, 2015 at 10:32 am
The line will be a question mark, but worst case scenario they are forced into a situation like last year and have to grab a vet near the end of TC to plug in due to injury or ineffectiveness of the rookies. I tend to think Smith will make the transition better initially based on talent/motivation. Sophomore year for him might be a different story for the same reason.
@Jim Blount has been better than Martin the past two years. Look it up, it’s not close. If Martin returns to his rookie form, then we have different story, but he’s got to prove it first.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:40 am
Having a QB coach for a offensive coordinator can mess up your plan a lot. FFS, Charles Sims was running instead of catching until the end of the season.
This offensive line will be the most questionable part of the team. I don’t care who’s behind Evans or Vjacks. If Freeman made a winning record with Sammie Straughter, Dezmon Briscoe, Preston Parker, Mike Williams and Jamies can do the same. But we need the line to do their part.
My optimism level is on the down low because of the line, time will tell.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:42 am
Any team drafting a QB in the top 5, by definition, stinks. I’m not sure Peter King broke any new ground here.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:42 am
Not many picked the Bolts vs. the mighty Rangers either.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:42 am
Rainey is the best back on this team.
June 1st, 2015 at 10:54 am
I do not agree with King’s assessment and ranking. But I do not mind.
Until the Bucs begin to WIN on the field, they will be doubted.
Now, we have talked, and talked and talked about the changes.
1. Better QB play. Yes…he is a rookie. But even as a rookie, I expect better play from this position.
2. OL. Yes we got rid of the two legged turnstiles. But here we find out how much was the bad OL play due to bad QB and bad coaching.
3. OC. The lack of a legit OC showed last year. But again how much of a difference will there be?
We hope Jamies is the QB of our dreams, we hope the OL can keep him standing upright and we hope the play calling and coaching will produce an offense that can score points.
That’s allot of “HOPE” in there.
Everything stated on this website and others is pure speculation, including expectations. And for some, past results will factor in their future predictions and the fact is, the Bucs stunk up the joint last year.
But we can HOPE and PRAY that maybe this year…..things change. It’s May….I dont care who your NFL team is…..you can still dream of your team hoisting the Lambardi Trophy.
July – we get to see the team in pads hitting
Aug – we start to see them perform
Sept – we start to see them play for real
Oct – we start to realise if the team is for real or not
Nov – we find out if the team is playing for the post season or pride
Dec – if the team is in the hunt to play in January…season was a success, if we are talking about who the team will get with their next top 10 #1 draft pick….it was a failure.
June 1st, 2015 at 11:04 am
So here’s my theory. If glennon and mclown can get vjax and evans over 1k each. Then Winston should absolutely be able to. If arroyo can get the offense to have 2 1k yard receivers then koetter should easily be able to. Even though we have 2 rookies on the line, the should be much better then what we had last year. And if not, we still had 2 1k yard receivers with last years horrible o line. Koetter can actually scheme around deficiencies and Winston actually has the skills necessary to achieve what the OC wants.
The line should block better because of koetter
The RBs should be at least a little better because of the (slightly) improved line
Our wrs will actually have a real QB throwing the ball.
10+wins
June 1st, 2015 at 11:15 am
This prediction is understandable, but I dont see another 2-14 year on the horizon. King was all over Lovies stuff last year, so I guess he playing it safe this year.
Jameis ans Koetter will make the entire offense better. That includes the o line. Finally, the offense will try to keep up with the defense. And even our defense will benefit. T
June 1st, 2015 at 11:21 am
Everyone (including Peter King) has lots of opinions in May and June. They get refined a tad in July and August, but reality is that no one at this point can accurately predict how well our Bucs team will develop over the next 3 months.
Right now we’ve got lots of potential, significantly more than we had last year. Now it’s up to the Bucs coaches to turn that potential into performance on the field.
My money’s on Lovie and his staff to do just that. Personally I’d be happy with an 6-10 season this year, but if INDYbucsfan turns out to be right (10+ wins) I’d be ecstatic.
June 1st, 2015 at 11:23 am
Mclown n collins are gone so don’t worry about a 2-14 record or even a 6-10 record. We’ll get 9 wins minimum!!!
The oline is better already without coliins. Now we need to move EDS from center and we’re in the playoffs!!!!
June 1st, 2015 at 12:01 pm
If Koetter can get ATL a top 10 offense with a bad line I think he can make the Bucs offense into a top 15 offense with what they have here. As long as they stay healthy.
Koetter also has to overcome Lovie’s ineptitude.
June 1st, 2015 at 12:13 pm
No running backs? D Martin not good enough? Apparently, Dirk Koetter, a far more experience offensive mind than any of us, disagrees. I’ll default to a real Offensive Coordinator.
June 1st, 2015 at 12:16 pm
I too have heard a lot of negative chit about our team from national media “experts”. Maybe I am a “homer”, but I am not buying it.
Currently we are undefeated, and we look pretty decent, at least on paper, compared to last year.
The main criticism I hear about Tampa’s last draft, is our left tackle Smith.
June 1st, 2015 at 12:22 pm
america’s qb, tom brady, can do well without an oline but needs underinflated balls. he is that good.
jameis christ? we’ll find out how he likes his balls. maybe ’87 already knows?
June 1st, 2015 at 12:37 pm
these writers always step on their own claymore with their stupid comment in early june. your basically saying that because of last year he wont have time to throw as if Collins and cousins are still on the roster, we drafted two rookie lineman you know nothing about because you haven’t seen them play. he killed us more than the teams he had ranked below us
June 1st, 2015 at 12:49 pm
Hard to know what anyone truly is when they didn’t have a real offensive coordinator last year
June 1st, 2015 at 12:50 pm
It’s always interesting to read old news about this team. It’s much easier than actually doing analysis. King is clueless.
June 1st, 2015 at 2:13 pm
Not a huge supporter of #3…but I am pretty certain we will be better this year….If we look good and go 6 dash 10….that will be a step forward. #3 hopefully will prove me wrong….this year will be a learning curve…and our offensive line still sucks…so he may not get a fair shake….getting excited for the season to start.
June 1st, 2015 at 4:28 pm
@Jim you started drinking a little early didn’t you pal? lol
Martin has and always be an average RB. We screwed the pooch when we waisted a #1 on him. Heck we screw the pooch by drafting any RB #1 these days. They are a dime a dozen!
June 1st, 2015 at 7:43 pm
I can’t wait to hear how Joe spins it when Jameis doesn’t have twice as many TDs as INTs with an improved O-line and Receiving core! LOL! Sounds like the groundwork for excuse making to me!
June 2nd, 2015 at 1:26 am
Team sport: It may comes as no surprise but it will start with the online. Tampa gave up 52 sacks last year. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers cannot survive 52 sacks. Better Oline should translate to a better running game.
Nothing helps a Qb as a good running game.
June 2nd, 2015 at 8:06 pm
I’m with King on this one, he’s right. NOT having an offensive line and a stable of “also rans” at RB – is the initial and MAIN reason for my not wanting to draft Jameis Winston.
Now that we’re committed to a drop-back passer – you’re at least a year away from seeing any significant improvement. That’s because you can’t rush building an offensive line – not when you do NOT have a legit left tackle.
As @joe said on the 620am broadcast earlier today: “my expectation for improvement is to triple the number of wins from 2014…” (paraphrased). That’s a reasonable expectation – which will be asking a LOT from this offense considering the STARTING OFFENSIVE LINE will be filled with the same mix of journeymen and developmental guys paired with aging vets and rookies…protecting our brand new, still in the box, 1st overall QB (…pretty much the SAME line that protected Josh McCown and Napoleon Dynamite LAST season.
I think 4-12 to 6-10 is what you should reasonably look for – we could be pleasantly surprised if the right tackle guard we drafted to play LT – outplays the grades the NFL execs put on him…but that has yet to be proven.
Hence – chill out Jameis fanboys: not even @joe is a TRUE believer.