It Is Just One Game
September 16th, 2015
Jameis wasted little time Sunday breaking down film. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
A lot of fans scoffed when Lovie Smith aid it was just one game, after his defense was pistol-whipped (again) Sunday, this time by a rookie quarterback making his NFL debut.
Lovie was right. It is just one loss in the first game of the season.
Most would give Lovie a pass because he was right, and there is never a reason to jump off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge after losing on opening day. Hell, the Bucs won the Super Bowl after losing the first game of the season — at home — in Chucky’s debut as head coach.
But in Lovie’s short, underwhelming tenure with the Bucs, Sunday’s beatdown was a very, very, very bad loss.
And like it is crazy to give up on a season after one loss, it is even more insane to write an obituary of a quarterback following his very first start.
Vicent Verhei of FootballOutsiders.com had a graph of quarterbacks who either lit up their opponents in their first games, or shat the bed in their first games. There are a helluva lot of garbage quarterbacks who had better debuts than America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston. And excellent quarterbacks had worse debuts than Jameis.
In short, it is horribly premature to guess how Jameis’ career will turn out.
Joe likes Jameis’ attitude. NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci said he texted Jameis at 1:30 a.m. after the loss to the Titans. And what was Jameis doing? Clubbing? Pounding beers to try to rinse away the memory of the previous day’s loss?
Nope. He was studying film.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:06 am
That wasn’t a loss. That was an absolute embarrassment of a game.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:07 am
@Joe
stop wasting time with the 4 people that have already claimed the end of the Qb’s career!!! ( even though most did it with MG8’s Career!!!)
The rest of Buc Nation (97%) are done with the Bucs with the current Head Coach. The one who keeps t fielding a very uninspired team!!! Most fans in their heart expected a loss last Sunday. But that Beat down was beyond unacceptable!!!
That debacle will have lasting ramifications!!!!!
September 16th, 2015 at 9:11 am
UGH, DEFEND WINSTON TO DEATH…STUDY ALL HE WANTS…IF HE DOESNT HAVE “IT” AND HAS CLOWN FEE, STUDY DOESNT MATTER…”simple as that”…
…Titans QB coach on Earth’s QB Mariota > “as smart a football player as I’ve been around”…
September 16th, 2015 at 9:12 am
*FEET
September 16th, 2015 at 9:13 am
I wasn’t a Winston supporter due to the terrible decisions he made on and off the field. He seemed like he needed more time to percolate in college. But I’m not ready to write him off. He made a few dumb mistakes and looked confused in the season opener, but hey he’s a rookie. However, there was absolutely no excuse for the pathetic defense we were subjected to. We had all of these expectations that they were supposed to be the highlight of the team. GMC, our happy-go-lucky smiling leader assured everyone all offseason that they would be the engine of the team. I sure as hell hope not.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:16 am
I’m done talking about the loss
We’ll see if they play with any fire this sunday
If not…..let the hot seat get hotter for Lovie
September 16th, 2015 at 9:20 am
Just wait on it.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:24 am
First off this loss isn’t on Winston. Anyone who thought he would be perfect was insane or thought he was playing our defense.
The issue with this its just one game BS is that this team plays with no ungency. Its always a maybe we will win next week. Teams need to play each week like its a must win, then move on to next week. This team played like they were already moving on to next week.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:25 am
One of three historic embarrassments in only 17 contests under the leadership of Incompetent Lovie Smith. Stop trying to minimize the impact of this game and what us fans are experiencing. The outrage is not an overreaction. It is entirely justified. The only media goons that are not holding Lovie Smith responsible have personal relationships with the man and therefore an illegitimate media relationship with the audience they serve.
Stop it.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:28 am
when my girlfriend text me after midnight asking what i’m doing… I typically respond (especially when I’m out)… Hey, just replying to some emails for work.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:29 am
The only thing I changed about Jameis after Sunday was the low end of the interceptions he’ll throw this year. Had it at 20 minimum, now looks like 25 minimum. Can’t judge any QB on a Lovie Smith team, it’s truly not fair to the QB, I don’t think a single QB of his has had anything other than a bottom 5 offensive line.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:31 am
For not being NFL ready and not wanting to be the 1st pick in the draft, and not being a true leader… I really thought Marcus Mariotta looked good especially when you consider his weapons are below average.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:35 am
It’s amazing to me that Winston isn’t the reason for our loss. He owes Lovie and our defense a debt of gratitude for bailing him out.
And….what do you expect a head coach to say differently?
Yes…we got our a$$ kicked…and I expect that to happen next week and the week after….we were horrible because I am a bad coach and our players aren’t any good. I’m going to get paid no matter what so who cares. We don’t need to sell tickets because of the TV money.
I’m just happy to make Buc Realist’s day by us playing exactly how he predicted.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:37 am
Yea…last Sunday has nothing to do with Fameis Porky!! Sunday’s loss was all on Lovie Smith! Lovie had no game plan for a rookie QB…Lovie made absolutely zero adjustments at halftime, and Lovie demonstrated his unique abilility to take a good roster of players and to inspire them to underachieve…fail to play with passion and fire, and basically, have many in the media stating this is on the players…not the coaches.
Besides…Lovie said it clearly…He is only 1 game out of first place…He is only 1 game out of playoff contention!! Stop picking on Lovie…it was only 1 game.
Oh by the way….we should really be concerned that Fameis Porky’s ability to seek endorsements was greatly diminished due to his assaulting that student at FSU…we at least until the Federal Judge threw that part of his suit out the window!! What endoresements…the 2 left feet shoe company?
Okay…time to look forward! The next game will be better!! After all the comparisons of JW to Brett Farve, Peyton Manning, and other QB’s first games…Drew Brees should not be any match!
Playoffs!!!! Playoffs!!!!
September 16th, 2015 at 9:37 am
It is premature to determine how Jameis’ Bucs career will turn out.
But it is not premature to determine how Lovie’s Bucs career will turn out.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:39 am
its only 1 game for Jameis.
But it’s 17 for Loser Lovie, and this defense and team still looks ill prepared
September 16th, 2015 at 9:40 am
Unfortunately, it’s not just one games, it’s a continuation of what fans saw last year and we will continue it until there at least appears to be consistent improvement, not just one game, he!!, they will probably beat the Saints, but don’t come back and lay an egg, the next two games. I still believe if this ship don’t start turning the right way, ship Lovie, bring up Frazier as the interim, after the season go after Pats OC, Josh McDaniel who can tell Jameis, this is what Tom Brady does, sometimes second time around is better, just didn’t happen for Lovie
September 16th, 2015 at 9:42 am
Lets call a Spade a Spade. or maybe in this case its a f*****ing shovel.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:49 am
Lovie should get a job directing traffic, good for business. That would give paramedics, doctors and trauma specialists all the work they can handle.
September 16th, 2015 at 9:56 am
I think Winston will be a good NFL QB. But Mariota will be a great one. Did you see the huge differences on the field? So obvious. Why can’t we ever get a QB like Marcus? Who does our draft scouting?
September 16th, 2015 at 10:00 am
It’s sad to see a good kid working for a soulless organization like team Glazer.
AUDIT THE BUCS!!
September 16th, 2015 at 10:09 am
If it wasn’t for last year’s 2-14…if it wasn’t for the manner in which we lost, horribly unprepared, AGAIN, nobody would be heading for the bridge. But there is a pattern here. I defended Lovie all the way up until this game. I’d still be defending him if we had played even OK and still lost, or perhaps had even played poorly, but we didn’t play poorly, we absolutely, unequivocally were HORRIBLE!!! The WORST performance I recall seeing in a long time from the Bucs even during a 30-101 run!!! No excuses for Lovie!
Excuses for #3. We all get that QB’s develop at different rates and #3 may yet develop into a “franchise QB”. He has all the intangibles in spades, and he has a cannon for an arm which sometimes can thread the needle and sometimes misses by a country mile. This brings back shades of another nightmare we had..JFRO!!!
And so conceding that QB’s need time…and that expectations were clearly too high…he’s no freaking savior…I’m certainly willing to give him time. But only one or two more starts before he continues his education from the bench. I want to win and at some point this is soooo unfair to Glennon that it’s vomit inducing. IF Lovie can’t get his defense together then there’s no point in benching Fameis…we’re doomed to lose anyway..all Fameis does is add to the margin of the other team’s victory.
Now it’s time to be honest and wipe the manure from our eyes.
If you are not concerned about the following I just don’t understand.
The memes of the draft debate on this blog and throughout all of Tampa media including sports talk radio was that Fameis was CLEARLY superior to MM on the field and the only reason he wasn’t a slam dunk #1 was off field crap. On the field there was supposed to be no debate.
Those opposed to Fameis…not just here but in NATIONAL…media…pointed out he was a turnover machine! They pointed out he stared down receivers. The excuse presented here was his lack of quality targets only one WR and a great TE…as if that wasn’t enough.
The JW antagonists pointed out he was always a slow starter setting up all those miracle 4th Q comebacks. They pointed to a long throwing motion, slow release which combined with NFL caliber DB’s would allow them to pick him all day long. He could have very easily had four ints…only luck or poor Titan play prevented two of them.
He had two fumbles which luckily for him he fell on turning them into sacks which AGAIN gave him and excuse of pointing to the OL when the stats came out.
He is painfully slow!!! His 40 time at the combine would have been slow for an OL. He is awkward with horrid footwork…possible excuse his bad ankle.
He’s an atrocious ball handler…two botched handoffs…getting him to the fundamental level of just handing off is going to be a challenge much less having him learn any kind of faking.
These are not just something that happened Sunday. He has a HISTORY of throwing picks and staring down receivers. Perhaps he doesn’t see the defenders?
And so yes…Fameis needs waaaay more time before we pass final judgement.
But he has a history already and if you’re not very, very concerned after all those FACTUAL flaws were on display again on Saturday that’s on you Joe not those of us who are simply pointing out that we were mislead…not by just you guys but by the ENTIRE Tampa media and a majority of national pundits.
Apparently football “experts” have no imagination. Because Fameis played in a
“pro style” offense that automatically made him the better choice and “NFL ready” Forget that one QB was clearly far, far more athletic, had achieved the same success in college…oh but that was the system not MM. Just like Sunday MM did not really look that good throwing that tight spiral into a tiny window of three defenders in the end zone…no MM was still “learning” how to take a snap from center…what a freaking athletic challege..of huddling a team…oh another real challenge.
I haven’t given up on #3 yet. I am the blog optimist. But I don’t have manure covered eyes and I now can see what had been pointed out here..not by me by the way…I drank the kool aid and was distracted by the off field stuff…I honestly thought this was a no brainer decision if it was just based on on the field. I’ve already conceded to Tmax,Dallas, and Realist that I was wrong about Lovie. I hope I don’t have to concede that I was wrong about Fameis being the easy pick if it was just on field considerations.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:20 am
I was a Mariota supporter….primarily because of Winston’s off-field risk.
I never put a great deal of stock in the “NFL ready” issue.
What is ironic is that Winston has behaved perfectly thus far….and Marcus is apparently very NFL ready.
I am a Winston supporter because I am a Buc fan…he is our QB….he’s a 21 year old rookie and he’s the best shot we have of winning again.
We need to fix the defense…..develop the 0line and have just a bit of patience with Winston…..
September 16th, 2015 at 10:29 am
Until Winston gets his footwork problems fixed he’s going to continue to have issues. It’s paramount they work on that in the next offseason. Too late for it this year, but he’s tripping all over himself back there and it shows.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:32 am
Who cares if he studies film he will continue to make bad decisions, he will still have horrible footwork, he will still have issues handling the ball off. You Winston lovers need to face it he is what he is and coaching won’t fix that. The bucs drafted a bust at #1.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:35 am
@TBBF
Agree with your post except the last sentence.
have just a bit of patience with Winston…..
Bit of patience? I think it’s going to require a spitload of patience. Having said that there are many, many things in Fameis favor in terms of getting plenty of patience…Lovie will be the focus of all the fan hate..as he should be..that will let Fameis play without getting the blame…two rookies on the OL…we hear that whine already..Sunday was the OL’s fault…and FSU…he’s the local kid and he has a GREAT personality! He’s going to get MORE than a fair chance and about 1000% more of a chance than MG8.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:46 am
We have a saying in europe about soccer which is ” it’s better to loose one time 5 – 0 than five time 1 – 0″ And it’s basicilly true.
But here, I don’t see how it could apply because I can’t see how we are going to turn that around !
Even if the offense improves from last week, we need our defense to put a bit of pressure, raise their hands, tackle properly without too many penalties, intercepting one pass if possible, …
The Saints doesn’t seem to have a terryfing offense and an impressive defense but they still are better than us.
It will perhaps not be 35 – 7 at Hafltim but the 42 points will not be fare at the end.
September 16th, 2015 at 10:50 am
Mariota is not NFL ready, he has yet to face a real NFL defense. Anyone can pick apart Lovie’s basic Tampa 2, the simplest reads he will have all year.
September 16th, 2015 at 11:00 am
If Winston is americas qb, then why is Mariota the one on the cover of sports illustrated.
September 16th, 2015 at 11:05 am
That game was a total seal-clubbing.
And why run the “Tampa 2” when you KNOW you don’t have a pass rush?
I read where Ronde Barber claimed the heart of the T2 was rerouting WR’s off the line, and he complained that the 5 yard windo was too tight, they used to bbet away with a 7 yard chuck.
While that, no doubt, is a key component, isn’t a soolid pass rush by just 4 DL the REAL guts of it? And isn’t that the #1 deficit last and this season?
So without said rush, and in light of the tight 5 yard chuck window, WHT THE HELL does Lovie stick to it?
September 16th, 2015 at 11:08 am
America’s Quarterback, Marcus Mariota, was just named AFC Offensive Player Of The Week. Imagine that
September 16th, 2015 at 11:16 am
St. Pete glad you see the light! Marcus after a TD thanks his linemen first and then the person who caught the TD! At Oregon when he ran a TD, he would hand the ball to the ref like LaDainian use to!
Marcus is a class act, never thinks about himself, never wants to talk about himself. He is about the team and about winning! He is and was better on and off the field than Shameis! Worst decision ever was passing on him!
September 16th, 2015 at 11:25 am
What will be the excuses when Brees seal-clubs the Bucs, and JaMarcus Winston once again plays like crap?
September 16th, 2015 at 11:26 am
We need to keep Sterling Moore @ nickel back and on the field full time with Levante & Kwon as the LBs. Permanent Prevent……or we will die by the pass.
September 16th, 2015 at 11:37 am
Yeah just one game do it again love and you might be released.How about moving GMC to the end and have Melton and Mcdonald inside to create a pass rush something don’t be afraid of throwing the red flag
September 16th, 2015 at 11:44 am
Lovie is garbage. No. 3 will set this franchise back decades. Tampa will be the laughing stock of the NFL for 1-2 more years because of Lovie and 2-6 more years because of No 3. No free agents will sign with Tampa. Players will play out their rookie contracts and then bail. The free agents/end of contract drafted players we do sign will have to be overpaid, and then probably won’t perform. There is a precedent for this. It all started in 2007 with an overhyped #1 pick for the Oakland Raiders.
September 16th, 2015 at 11:59 am
The only hope is that the New Regime trades Shameis to Montreal for the rights to Michael Sam! Because that’s all anyone will offer for a 300 pound QB!
Brett Hundley had a flawless preseason. Maybe the new GM can trade Cannon and Michael James to Green Bay for Hundley. Hundley is a class act just like Marcus. Smart on and off the field.
St. Pete glad you left the dark side and have come over to the good guys!
September 16th, 2015 at 12:22 pm
Watch FSU highlights on Youtube. Winston never had a problem with footwork while in college. For those of you that think he has a problem with footwork it never showed up at the combine either. I have no idea where’s it’s coming from. Like I said yesterday, perhaps someone is doing a little too much tinkering with their new toy. Watch some of his drop backs in college, never stumbled and bumbled. Never.
September 16th, 2015 at 12:26 pm
Ernest T. Bass Says:
“Marcus is a class act, never thinks about himself, never wants to talk about himself.”
Sounds a lot like Jameis as well.
September 16th, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Dear Joe,
I will continue to remind you…it is NOT one game. It’s 17 GAMES. this team looks woefully unprepared week in and week out.
The Falcons on national TV?
Joe Flacco’s 3-step drop?
Derek Anderson Twice????
600+ days since a home win??
This is not a fluke. This is a pattern of ineptitude.
September 16th, 2015 at 12:55 pm
87
Hope you are right about the footwork. Perhaps it’s his ankle.
September 16th, 2015 at 1:06 pm
Mariota is not NFL ready, he has yet to face a real NFL defense.
Two thoughts….if MM finished the entire season playing the way he did on Sunday and gets NFL player of the year it won’t matter!!! He is not our QB!!
#3 is our QB and he is the only QB I care about. Whether MM is great or horrible has NOTHING to do with OUR QB other than insecure people who get their ego’s full saying I told you MM was the pick. It doesn’t matter!!! We did not pick him!
I suspect some people here do not get the old adage about not making your own furniture look better by chopping up your neighbors.
We may have been crushed…we MAY have picked the 2nd best QB..only time will tell. In the meantime we can still have a little class.
It’s getting really weary hearing that despite a college career that was outstanding..Heisman Trophy and a shot at the title…MM had nothing to do with that. It was ALL Chip Kelly’s SYSTEM!! Bullhockey!!! He’ll have trouble taking the snap under center because he’s a spread QB. What a total sack of manure. He won’t be able to huddle up a team….as if getting guys into a huddle and relaying a play is brain surgery.
The kid has done nothing but WIN!!! The beatdown he put on us IS just ONE game. And the Buc’s defense probably did make him look better than he might be. But he played well. He made some tight throws…kept his poise and oh BTW he didn’t seem to struggle with the snap from under center or conducting a freaking huddle. Ranking on MM does not make #3 look any better.
We really, really need to worry about our team at this point and forget the other teams and players. Calling them lucky does not change the scoreboard.
September 16th, 2015 at 1:31 pm
1. Replace Lovie with Koetter…now! So he can get comfortable.
2. Sit Jameis and play Glennon for the next 4-6 games (up until the trade deadline), while JW contiues to learn, practice and improve. Then trade Glennon.
3. Bring in the best young Deffensive Coordinator you can get at the end of the season.
4. Get rid of the missfits, has beens, and screw ups on our offensive and defensive lines.
5. Trade GMC for a 2016 first round pick. Trade VJax for a 3rd round pick. DRAFT WISELY! Stock pile good young O-line and D-line players in the draft and FA.
6. Return to competitiveness in 2016!
If the Bucs do this, things WILL get better….not this year….but things will get better starting next season. Or we can stay on the course we are already on and continue to listen to excuses for the next 15 games!