Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
September 28th, 2015
Just when it looked like the Bucs would turn the corner, beat a bad team on the road (again) and have the first winning record since the first year of the Greg Schiano administration, the Bucs vomited all over themselves.
Inability to get a consistent pass rush (the excuses are just about over), high school quality kicking, which cost the Bucs 10 points alone (the difference in the loss), and so many dropped passes Joe swears the ball was poisoned with the Ebola virus, added up to an ugly loss to a bad team.
The Bucs had a win held on a silver platter in front of their faces, and then they had a bad case of acid reflux.
It was almost like the team was/is scared to win. Remember, last week the Bucs did their absolute best to lose, only the Saints outdid the Bucs in mistakes, and the Bucs escaped the Superdome with a too-close win.
The only thing impressing Joe is the progression of America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston, and the rookies on the offensive line. And, yes, Kwon Alexander.
And yet the Bucs continue to lose.
Did anyone notice that the feared front of the Texans, J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Vince Wilfork, did not register a sack? Who would have thunk that?
Joe doesn’t know what to write. It is the same old thing we’ve been seeing for over a year. Only difference is promising rookies that Bucs general manager Jason Licht found. Four to be exact, this year alone. Yet the losing (and losing to bad teams) continues.
Bucs co-chairman Bryan Glazer stated for the record he is looking for “a growing year.” He understands this is not a playoff team. But what is the threshold for growth? Is it just for the rookies to develop? The second-year players? Is there a win-total benchmark? What happens if with a last-place schedule, the Bucs are, say, 4-12, and continue to cower from wins like they did Sunday?
Joe assumes only a Glazer knows.
Joe is getting flack on Twitter for being too hard on Lovie Smith and the inference is Joe is trying to run Lovie. That is patently inaccurate. If there is a coaching change, it will be because of the bed Lovie himself made. Joe writes about what is happening; not transactions Joe pulled the trigger on.
Lovie needs to start winning games, especially against loser teams like the Texans.
Lovie is 3-16 with the Bucs and coached a team that was dead last in the NFL; rarely do coaches survive such a season. Lovie likes to talk about the many one-score games his team lost last year. This year, the Bucs got blown out by Tennessee and lost a two-score game to Houston. So where is the improvement?
Again, the previous paragraph isn’t something Joe dreamed in a drunken haze. Go ahead and look up the facts for yourself, if you are suspicious.
Offensive Line Quietly Getting Better
Joe spoke with guard Logan Mankins after the game. He was peeved at the loss and blamed himself and his fellow offensive linemen for not getting the job done, specifically in the run game.
But you know what? Doug Martin may be a bit overrated and damnit, the Texans have a stout defense. Oh, and Joe repeats, no official sacks by a star-laden defensive front. If Team Glazer is looking for “growth,” might they look at the offensive line? Joe thinks that is a feather in their cap. It is only going to get better.
Jameis Continues To Grow
Look, since when is a rookie quarterback supposed to complete every pass? That’s just nonsense. Jameis had a nice game. He also was victimized by so, so, so many drops it was shameful.
After the game, long-time Houston football writer and one of the most respected scribes in the business, John McClain, could be overheard telling the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, that he was very impressed with Jameis.
There again is growth. Joe’s pretty confident the Bucs hit a bullseye on the quarterback of the future.
Peeved Vets
Joe will write about this later, but for the first time in a long time, veteran players, especially veterans who made their bones with successful teams, are beginning to call out Bucs teammates, maybe not by name, but as a whole.
Mankins used a foul word that cannot be repeated on airwaves, which rhymes with “witty” to describe the offensive play of the Bucs. Clinton McDonald went on a thoughtful, yet heartfelt rant to Joe about how the defense isn’t getting the job done. Again, more on that later.
Finally, it seems the veterans who have winning resumes are fed up. Hopefully, the message will get through. We shall see.
So what happens now? Will the Bucs find a new kicker? Lovie was adamant that won’t happen. Easy to say that after a frustrating loss. What happens when the smoke clears?
Perhaps Mike Evans, the main culprit in dropped passes yesterday, was just rusty from his hamstring? It’s plausible. But you know what, if Evans and Vincent Jackson want to be considered elite, well, elite players don’t gag on so many catchable balls.
Up next is the Stinking Panthers, undefeated Joe might add. At home at the Den of Depression. The Escape from New Orleans doesn’t look so much like a statement game, but a will of survival. If the Bucs are looking for a franchise-turning-the-corner win, doing that at home against Cam Newton and company would be a nice start.
Around the NFL:
Seahawks: Actually clobbered the Bears worse than Joe can remember any team getting clobbered. One gruesome stat lines was that each Bears possession ended in a punt. Every one! No field goal attempts. No going for it on fourth down. Each possession ended with a punt. Joe has no words to describe how frightful that is.
Giants: A win is a win, and Eli just wins, but that game against the Redskins was one of the more painful ones Joe has watched. Joe finally had to shut it off in the second half. Just couldn’t tolerate it any longer.
Bengals: All Andy Dalton does is win. Throws for 383 yards and three touchdown and beats the Crows on the road. Stud.
Stinking Panthers: In a one-score game with the hapless, Brees-less Saints, it was all Cam Newton, who threw for over 300 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
Raiders: So whatdoyouknow? Josh McClown loses a game. Shocking, right? To the rotten Raiders no less. Derek Carr outdueled McClown.
Dixie Chicks: Atlanta is on an absolute roll and is undefeated after three weeks with wins over Philly and Dallas. Joe is pretty sure no one saw that coming before the season. Julio Jones went crazy with two touchdowns and 164 yards receiving.
Vikings: Adrian Peterson carried the Vikes in a nice win over the Chargers. Peterson had 126 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Patriots: Tom Brady, yawn. Bill Belicheat, yawn.
Eagles: The lynch mob in Philly has put its pitchforks down. The Eagles won. Ryan Matthews ran for 108 yards and a score to lead Chip Kelly’s heroes.
Steelers: Well, at least Mark Barron is good for something: He can blow out quarterbacks’ knees and kill teams’ Super Bowl hopes. The stiff was responsible for blowing out Carson Palmer’s knee last year, and yesterday, he got Ben Roethlisberger. Luckily, Big Ben is expected back in no more than six weeks.
Colts: Andrew Luck bounced back with a pair of touchdowns and built a big enough lead to withstand a Tennessee rally.
Cardinals: Arizona is on fire! Carson Palmer throws for over 300 yards and the defense picks off Colin Kaepernick four times.
Bills: Rex Ryan’s charges destroyed Miami yesterday, and the South Florida locals are screaming for Joe Philbin’s head.
Broncos: Peyton Manning yada, yada, yada… Man that was a boring game last night.
Non-NFL Thoughts
* Joe is in an absolute state of depression. The Redbirds’ best pitcher is shut down for the season with a “tight shoulder.” General manager John Mozeliak said of shutting down Carlos Martinez, in so many words, that there are more important things like a World Series, like his career. Pardon Joe if he wants to throw a chair. No, you play for a World Series. If Martinez is not experiencing pain, and he can and wants to throw, he should throw. A run at a World Series is anything but a given. Sounds just like the nonsense about the Nats shutting down Stephen Strasburg. The Nats gagged in the playoffs and haven’t sniffed a World Series since. Joe is so depressed, he doesn’t even want to watch another baseball game; can’t even talk baseball with others. Just freaking sick.
* Man, if you didn’t see the end of the TCU-Texas Tech game, you missed out. One of the craziest endings Joe has ever seen. From a fluke catch to save TCU’s national championship hopes, to Texas Tech nearly pulling off an upset with a too-many-laterals-to-count pass and run that nearly made reached the end zone.
* The Gators are undefeated. Re-read that sentence.
* Butch Jones at Tennessee is the new choke artist in college football. Joe has to wonder if former Vols offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian bolting to be America’s Quarterback coach with the Bucs wasn’t a harbinger of things to come?
* Joe has become smitten with Houston, more so than Fort Worth or Dallas. Been here once before and thought it was OK. This weekend, Joe took in an Astros game at Minute Maid Park. It is very underrated with a retractable roof. The Rays should be so fortunate to have a new park like this (Joe is convinced he will not live to see a new Rays park… in the Tampa Bay area). Saturday, Joe did what he likes to do on away games — stroll. Downtown Houston is pretty big and there is a lot of skyscraper construction, which tells Joe there is money flowing in this town. Downtown is really clean and there are all sorts of niche restaurants (beef brisket taco was the best taco Joe ever wolfed down), really walkable, a couple of parks, fair amount of live music and – can you imagine? – light rail! This is a happening town. Unlike the stereotype of Texas, Joe saw a total of three cowboys hats the entire weekend. And the brisket! Joe has been to Texas three times and had maybe five brisket meals, and each was unreal. These folks in Texas sure as hell know what to do with brisket.
* Houston is more of a Texas A&M town but there are still plenty of Longhorns around and they are unhinged at what is going on in Austin. Folks are openly pining for Nick Saban. Yes, really. Even the local TV sports talking heads chatter about Saban as if Texas is actually in negotiations to bring him to the Lone Star State. Poor Bevo.
* Joe has to agree with Phil Mushnick of the New York Post: The assault of DraftKings ads (featuring that douchebag Pats fan swallowing his hands) while trying to watch sports has become one of the Ten Plagues, replacing locusts.
* Joe started following Donald Trump on Twitter. Dude’s timeline is a riot.
* Joe saw Trump’s interview on 60 Minutes last night. So Trump thinks he can outwit the Chinese government because he leases space on his properties to three Chinese banks? LOL!
* Seems like Michigan nailed the Jim Harbaugh hire. That close loss to Utah on the road to open the season doesn’t look so bad now, eh?
September 28th, 2015 at 6:18 am
One is a veteran coach with a super bowl appearance and the other a second tier college coach with no previous NFL head coaching experience. The first coach has control over personnel and comes into little drama, just bring in some free agents and some Bears cast offs. The second coach was brought into town to change the atmosphere of the team and ends up with Josh Freeman drama, mersa and Lawrence tynes, the and the media on his back.
The numbers:
Lovie 3 wins 16 losses
Schiano 7 wins and 12 losses
Games decided by 7 or less
Lovie 2 wins 9 losses
Schiano 3 wins 8 losses
Games decided by 10 points
Lovie 0 wins and 8 losses
Schiano 4 wins and 3 losses
Opponent turnovers
Lovie 27
Schiano 31
Opponent 3rd down pct
Lovie 41.9%
Schiano 39.8%
Penalties
Lovie 150
Schiano 128
Just sayin… this team has degressed under a veteran coach with little outside drama.
September 28th, 2015 at 6:20 am
First 19 games of this Loser Lovie era is awful compared to the guy who was mean to the media
September 28th, 2015 at 6:27 am
Kicker cost us 7 points…..
September 28th, 2015 at 6:37 am
Joe Luck didn’t build a lead he came back from 13 down to win
September 28th, 2015 at 6:47 am
Assuming a loss next week which is probably the result we’ll see, Lovie is looking at 3-17 for his first 20 games as coach. For reference, working for the Al Davis Raiders and having JaMarcus Russell as his QB, Lane Kiffin went 5-15. I think that should pretty much sum up why Lovie has to go, Lane Kiffin did more with less.
September 28th, 2015 at 6:53 am
I see improvments on offense. Defense is just bad. 12 men on the field is on the coaches.
I like Licht but I’m done with Lovie. They should be better on defense.
Yesterday defense quitted well before it was over
September 28th, 2015 at 7:12 am
When are the Glazers going to realize that Lovie is a terrible coach. The one thing I can say about Lovie is we never have to worry about him outcoaching someone.
September 28th, 2015 at 7:14 am
Lovie has turned this team into an absolute joke.
September 28th, 2015 at 7:15 am
#firelovienow
#gobucs
September 28th, 2015 at 7:18 am
I saw the same quit in this team as well on the defensive side. I’m starting to wonder if our defense is not buying into what Lovie is preaching. Needless to say excuses are for losers and until they just shut their mouths and challenge themselves in the mirror, this team will continue to lose.
September 28th, 2015 at 7:19 am
All you stupid fans get what you deserve. You all ran shiano out of town with billboards and moaning and groaning like a bunch of children. So now you get what you deserve. Eat it in that bed you ALL MADE. I THINK ITS FUNNY. shiano was a good coach and deserved another year. And all you idiots look just like that. Idiots.
September 28th, 2015 at 7:22 am
FIRE LOVIE NOW he has not made one facet of this team better….now lets look at the Atlanta coach, who has his team playing fired up and WINNING….Lovie has lost that lovie feeling
Josh McDaniels, Jon Gruden and Nick Saban welcome to Tampa…joey bosa is taking the year off from the 2 games I have seen him playing…maybe trade the #1….funny 2 of the dungy disciples here and in detroit are coaching teams to terrible results
September 28th, 2015 at 7:28 am
Losing mentality throughout the organization and it needs to stay away from Jameis and Mike Evans and Kwon it has already infected GMC and LVD…fire this clown now:
“No. Kyle is our kicker,” Smith said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “He, like a lot of us, had a disappointing day. That hasn’t been the case. You’re going to have off days, and this was an off day. When a player has an off day, we need to rally around him in other ways, and that’s what we weren’t able to do.”
Good teams fire the kicker yesterday
September 28th, 2015 at 7:38 am
Next two games are huge to Lovie and this franchise. Panthers and Jags at home before the bye. They beat the Panthers with a rookie QB at the helm and people can see the promise. This is a very winnable game. If they lose a close game and beat the Jags then again, maybe people see some promise.
Lose both and I believe the Glazers may step in.
September 28th, 2015 at 7:48 am
Greg Schiano: “miss
September 28th, 2015 at 7:49 am
Miss me yet?
September 28th, 2015 at 7:51 am
Does anyone think Incompetent Lovie Smith had this team prepared to compete yesterday?
September 28th, 2015 at 7:53 am
wins coming or not, Lovie will never get this team to where it needs to be…terrible gameday and in game coaching…BYE BY THE BYE, LOVIE…”simple as that”…
September 28th, 2015 at 7:58 am
Quaranteed losses coming up. 1-5 hello Tampa.
Since shiano the team has gotten worse. And all you idiots screaming for shianos head. He’s laughing all the way to the bank lmao. You wanted shiano gone and now look what you have hahahahahaha an even worse team lol. You’re all idiots and think cause you watch ESPN that you know something. Thank god none of you geniuses work for an nfl team. Oh but we have a qb now. Well it doesn’t matter if you have Brady or manning if you’re 1-3 about to be 1-5. Tampa= where careers die and idiot fans holding onto whatever straw they can grasp lol. Hahahahahaha hope this bed you all made is comfortable cause it’s gonna get worse.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:01 am
I like many others, am sick of the continued errors resulting in penalties like 12 men on the field and illegal formations. That was a game that we could have and should have won except that we could not sustain drives and finish with TD’s and Brindza was totally off target. Evans apparently forgot how to catch a football. I get that he was resting a hamstring injury but damn, couldn’t he have spent time catching footballs with running around? Apparently Randy Moss did not go over with Evans how to look a football in and make a catch. I am also sick of Evans half heartedly going after the ball and always asking for pass interference penalties. He is playing like a total wuss and I am beginning to think Winston needs to target V-Jax and Murphy more than Evans. The defense continues to be a liability as they can’t cover, stop the run or get to the QB unless they are playing the Saints. I am not going to continue to state the obvious about the state of this franchise but I will say this, there needs to be an intervention. Dear Bucs, I love you but your addiction to losing has negatively affected me in the following ways.
1. I no longer look forward to seeing you play because of the agony you make me feel when I see you fail miserably.
2. We used to have fun and you were so full of energy but now you are just physically here but there is no emotion or intensity.
3. You were once on top of the world and made your fans feel the same but now you are wandering around wasting your time and mine. The addiction to losing is killing you Bucs and it is killing me and the rest of your family and friends.
Bucs, Please accept any offer for intervention and help or else we will be forced to have to walk away from this unhealthy relationship. We can’t keep enabling your addiction to losing. It is a terrible and dangerous drug that is putting an ugly stain on the entire family and our city. Bucs, we love you and miss the relationship we once had, but we can’t allow you to continue to break our hearts, will and stealing away our right to enjoy professional football.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:01 am
DallasBuc, not sure what you mean. It seemed to me the players were largely at fault for what happened yesterday. Dropped passes, missed field goals and extra point, missed tackles. It’s the NFL and there is very little difference in talent from team to team. You make mistakes like that and you typically lose. Not trying to defend Lovie so much but more trying to say that the players are more to blame.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:07 am
I missed the Trump interview to go see the extremely disappointing and lackluster blood moon. But I did see Putin’s interview. I dont know what to think about the fact I’m conflicted on who to trust more between an old KGB from communist USSR or our own media and president.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:20 am
Early prediction, the Bucs lose to Carolina and struggle with the Jags. Really, who wants to wait around for Lovie to turn around the Bucs, that will take years, too long imo. The Gators winning, lucky as the Vols are the better team. They won’t beat Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss or FSU.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:24 am
JabooBuc- so you do think Incompetent Lovie Smith had this team prepared to compete. That’s fine. When virtually none over your equally talented players are making any of the routine plays they are expected to make, ie catching, tackling, blocking, penalties, etc. Who is responsible with this total team ineptitude?…the equipment guy?
September 28th, 2015 at 8:27 am
Relax people you just have to have some patience. Mike Evans in only in his second year. You have 3 rookies on offense. A rookie at MLB making calls for the defense and a lot of young players on the defense still learning how to win. It was only the 3rd game of the season and remember the Bucs were in the game.
As for the kicking he is a rookie as well. He will learn from this. I think his kicks had something to do with the field. Since if you noticed the Texans kicker had the same problem kicking. The last kick he over compensated since his first were wide right he then pulled it thinking he had to. I think the further you were out from the goal posts the better the footing and that is what was causing his problem.
Yes i agree the penalties need to stop, but some were tickey tack calls again that we on defense need to just get over. Now the big concern was the lack of pass rush. GMC looked non-existant and David just wasn’t wrapping up. But we were not flying to the ball like we should it looked like everyone was waiting for someone else to make a play. But again this is still people still learning the defense and how to play it. It is one thing to just learn where to go it is another to be loose and free with it. It is all about trust and it sounds like guys are not trusting each other.
You forget the 8-8 season that Dungy had in the his 3rd year where the team played like this. It looks like they under estimated the Texans and just thought they would go out and dominate them on D.
Just relax and we can see how they react from this, but remember this is still a young team learning to win consistantly. Just because they got a win doesn’t mean that they fully have learned to win.
On a major bright spot that offense started to look like the offense we saw the Falcons run. I liked what I saw from them. (When they caught the ball)
I see a bright future. Remember how bad the Dallas defense was 2 years ago and now they are looking really good. The Bucs will get there again.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:31 am
Hahahahha I love it when people oh just relax guys. Just relax lol hahahahahahahahahahaha I would have listened to that ten years ago but not today or anymore lol. Relax? Haha how about jump off a bridge. And 5 years from now when the staff has been turned over again people will say relax so and so is a rookie or only his second year blah blah and more blah. Relax lol. You won.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:33 am
OK Kevin, we get it. Have you and Schiano set a date yet or are you just engaged to be engaged? Lovie deserves A GREAT deal of blame for the current state of this team but he doesn’t miss kicks and he doesn’t drop passes. One year ago, we were all screaming at what a chinese firedrill our offense looked like. You can’t possibly be saying that Koetter was a bad hire, are you? Schiano was a better talent evaluator than he gets credit for but he was a terrible leader of men. Teams haven’t exactly beat his door down.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:35 am
I guess I’m just not sure how a coach prepares someone like Mike Evans to catch a ball or a kicker to make field goals. The drops by Evans were drive killers and the missed field goals were points left on the field. I suppose you can remove those players and replace with others with idea that failure will not be tolerated but doesn’t really help you in game.
They were on the road playing a desperate team and should have won the game. My view is that if the players do their job then they likely win that game. I thought the offensive game plan was good and defense looked good for 3 quarters. Players need to be held accountable.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:36 am
I watched both Trump and Putin interviews. Trump is an obnoxious blowhard running lines of total BS, the powers that be are trying to make it appear that an actual presidential candidate cares about the American people’s concerns, which Trump only feigns to. Put-in, why is he even appearing on U.S. mainstream media when this country is threatening war against his country publicly, that raises big red flags to me.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:45 am
“The Kevin”… Hold your horses, not everyone here wanted Schiano gone. To make a blanket statement that everybody wanted him fired is just ridiculous, proving you have not followed the comments very closely.
September 28th, 2015 at 8:50 am
JabooBuc- I really do see where you are coming from. Mike Evans is starting to give us his best Michael Clayton impression. Scary. However, when no one is doing their job and you want player accountability, who’s job is it to hold them accountable. And you can’t start after performances like yesterday. It has to be done much earlier. I’m sorry, this coach does not have this football team prepared to compete at an NFL level
September 28th, 2015 at 9:03 am
DallasBuc, I get it and my jury is still out on Lovie. He did tear this team down to the studs and is now building it back in whatever image or vision he has. We have a lot of youth in very key positions and I am trying to have patience. However, it is hard to sit thru this. I try to remind myself that this is a rookie QB and brand new OC. I am somewhat pleased with the progress of the offense.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:11 am
The jury isn’t out on Lovie. He’s now on his 8th season out of 9 without making the playoffs as a NFL coach. Sorry to say, we don’t have a very good coach and his ceiling is basically 10-6. Sucks we made another horrific hire but we must rectify it or risk ruining Jameis.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:21 am
So Bucrightoff, if the team finishes 7-9 or higher then you would still run him off?
September 28th, 2015 at 9:23 am
Joe, the dang Redbirds win too dang much. I’m pulling for the Pirates to sweep these 3 games starting today. Likely won’t happen I know but it would be sweet if those Buccos could win that division if it is still possible. I still don’t get why the two wild cards are reduced to a one game playoff to advance. It should be best of three. I’ll be pulling for Maddon and the Cubs to lose that single game elimination. It’s a shame two good teams won that many games to come down to one game deciding who advances. Maybe you would agree if your team wasn’t holding the top spot.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:48 am
If we lose the next two games, I would fire Lovie and make Koetter the interim head coach. Who’s with me?
September 28th, 2015 at 9:58 am
the kevindork. yawn. Why are you even here? All you do is rag on everybody. Get a life dude and quit lickin schiano’s sack.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:03 am
JabooBuc- I don’t accept the “tear this team down to the studs” excuse because in most every case he has not improved the starting quality of any position and in some cases made it decidedly worse. This team is now his players built in his image (remember he has final say on personnel) with a small handful of players left over from the Morris/Schiano/Dominik era. McCoy and David are now in the prime of their careers with brand new contracts and they are not playing better for Lovie. As the veteran NFL HC that he is you would at least expect him to have this team prepared to compete on gamedays. This defense is atrocious. They can’t tackle, maintain any gap integrity, defend a pass, rush the passer…sht they can’t even count to eleven. They made Alfred Blue look like Arian Foster. Incompetent Lovie Smith’s defense with “his” players and he is the play caller. Don’t put that product on the field and expect me to accept your excuses.
Now regarding Winston and this offense I am with you and willing to be patient as well. But they are getting abused on the line in run blocking and the offensive penalties are a blistering reflection of the lack of discipline and concentration. Ultimately this falls on our incompetent leader. I like that Winston is effortlessly able to push the ball down the field and the pass blocking schemes and play was able to prevent any sacks from that monster Texans pass rush. They deserve a ton of credit for that. Shame that no one could catch the damn ball. Sick of seeing Mike Clayton Evans complain to the refs like a petulant child every time a DB contests a pass thrown his way. It’s embarrassing.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:07 am
JabooBuc Says:
September 28th, 2015 at 9:21 am
So Bucrightoff, if the team finishes 7-9 or higher then you would still run him off?
_______________________________________________________________
Well lets not kid ourselves, that is highly unlikely to happen. I think 6 wins at best if everything breaks right, and I mean everything (like having every QBs arm fall off every week like Drew Brees). And if they go 7-9? Nah, he should still get canned.
People need to get over the Rex Grossman Super Bowl. Devin Hester is why that happened, not Lovie Smith. Examine his record deeper and you just realize he’s at best an average coach and really a below average coach with a horrible roster building record.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:07 am
Nothing will get better until ownership stops accepting poor results. Until they insist on winning and put a football guy in charge and run the incompetent fool Lovie Smith out of town they will continue to run the most embarrassing franchise in the United States. Even the redskins and raiders are less of a laughing stock than bucs. Ownership in Tampa simply could care less about the product on field as long as tv money is coming in they don’t care about winning. Just like gmc as long as that check cashes he could care less if they win, lose or crap themselves.
Mankins laughing and joking after loss was hard to watch. Hard to take Joe’s post seriously when he says mankins was mad. He sure didn’t seem upset after the game laughing and joking with opponents. I’m glad mankins speaks to joe but mankins is part of the problem. He is nothing more than a has been taking his 7 million and running. Total waste.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:08 am
NOLE
We are still waiting
September 28th, 2015 at 10:09 am
Greg “MRSA” Schiano is your answer? You’ve got to be kidding. Well, maybe we can get him back, but I heard he’s been quarantined to the State of New Jersey.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:11 am
OklahomaBucFan… I think the Glazers are more patient than the fans are, Lovie is probably in for the long haul. Even losing the next two, look what follows, a tougher part of the schedule playing all 4 NFC East teams sandwiched around at trip to Atlanta. Lose all of them and the Bucs are 1-9. Lovie lingers because you know it takes time to get to the verge of winning.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:13 am
Joe, only two games on the schedule are determined by record. The “last place schedule” simply doesn’t exist anymore.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:29 am
Mike Evans looked good. I saw one drop. the others looked like they were forced into coverage, sometimes double coverage. I don’t blame Evans for not coming down with the ball in double coverage.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:38 am
I don’t ever remember anyone on here saying fire Schiano and hire Lovie. Schiano was not doing a good enough job. Period. I wanted then as I want now for the soccer boys to hire a qualified general manager and let him hire the coaching staff. I don’t know yet if Licht is that qualified general manager. He didn’t hire Lovie and I’d like to think he wouldn’t have hired Lovie had he had the chance. We’ll never know. Step aside soccer fans, let the football men make the grown up decisions.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:43 am
J Says
“Kicker cost us 7 points….”
10 points.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:45 am
RELAX, i relaxed for almost 10 years now…Im sick of this crap, Lovie is incompetent PERIOD…dan quinn has his system up and humming defensively and the offense is doing well with their crappy OL….naw its time to dump Lovie….and TRUMP IS THE MAN
September 28th, 2015 at 10:45 am
I cant fault the defense. Regardless of yards and what not, we held them to 19 points. Your offense has to put up more than 19 points. But im not surprised either, I never thought Jameis would do much against this Texans defense, but he honestley wasnt bad. Im pretty upset that Evas could drop all of those passes though. He was supposed to be the difference maker in some close games. He didnt perform. And thats really bad when you consider the Texans all game were commited to stopping the run. This offense should have passed all over these guys until they gave us back the running game but they never had to do that becausre this offrnse never took advantage, which tends to happen when you start a rookie qb. I sure hope they figure it out.
Back to the defense, didnt yesterday epitomize “Dungyball”. Give up plenty of yard but limit scoring, aka but dont break? For all the Yards Blur ran for. For all of Mallets completions, they only put up 19 points? That should show you how bad that offensr was in Hou. But there defense was better and thats why we didnt outscore them.
Hiw much of this game falls on Lovie? Well you can say the defense should have had more sacks. Forced more turnovers. Did this. Played that. But at the end of the day, they did pretty good. And this is Lovies defense. But 19 points is not that many points. So this becomes an issue of having a weak offense, which has always plaqued Lovie. Burlt how much did you expect from a rookie vs a top tier defense? And like I said, if his receivers stay focused, and our kicker dosent leave 10 points on the board, this team is 2-1. I put this game on the players. They came out with no focus. No fire. Making the same mistakes they still havent learned from. But the team takes on the identity if its HC, right? Lol.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:46 am
As I said elsewhere…midseason is the mark for me. At that point I want to see huge improvement over the first 4 games.
Unlike many others here, I understand rookies need time. Our OT, OG, QB, K, MLB and Punter are all rookies. They need a little time.
Mid season at least is a reasonable time to develop to into at least showing good improvement.
That’s my mark.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:47 am
As the the vets being mad…good!
Because the vets are as much at fault as the rookies! Probably more so!!!!
If it motivates them to work harder, then that’s what will make the team better by midseason.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:48 am
The word Mankins said that rhymes with “witty” that can’t be said over the airwaves seems odd. George Carlin’s 7 words you can’t say on television is down to 6 words. The other bodily function that rhymes with “missy”, but with a P has been said for at least a decade on TV. I was surprised to hear *issy little b*tch on network TV years back on a cop drama. Why one and not the other, because sh*t happens, everybody uses it. It’s not like little kids don’t cuss up a storm already.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:53 am
@Paul
Evans himself would tell you he had a bad day with too many bad drops in key situations. Let’s hope it’s just rust. Lavonte has quickly gone from a star to a liability. Make a freakin’ tackle man!
September 28th, 2015 at 11:04 am
This Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Monday offering is one of my favorites at JBF, I like the recaps and other things to rag on besides the Bucs.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:13 am
@ bo
No arguing the fact that this team at least had a pulse with Schiano at the helm. We can argue forever on whether he should have gotten a third year (I think he should have), but the Bucs under Lovie just look like the bad news bears stumbling and bumbling at the worst times…at least some of that falls on the coaching staff either not practicing fundamentals enough and/or the coaching staff not being able to adapt to game situations. Yes players play and bear some of the blame too, but at the end of the day a HC is held responsible for the product on the field.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:27 am
Bucrightoff, if you say get rid of him after going 7-9 then you are probably part of the problem in this town. I honestly don’t care about what he did in Chicago. He’s our coach now for better or worse. If the team shows major improvement with the youth on this team then you keep the band together. Period! A revolving door of coaches and players does not make things better.
I do agree that improvement needs to start happening quickly. But I do see signs.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:29 am
OMG who is this Kevin kid. Jeez. Are you Shiano’s boy ? How is daddy? Out of coaching, yes? The Dom got daddy a job at BSPN…not even uncle Billacheat would give daddy a job. Shut the F*ck up! why do we always get jitter bugs on this site like that. Just cuz we ran daddy out doesn’t mean Lovie is the answer…just means daddy wasn’t the answer!
September 28th, 2015 at 11:33 am
Seriously look deeper Jaboo. Here’s one thing I can say off his past: Statistically speaking, we will never win the Super Bowl with Lovie. It’s a guarantee statistically. I get that people don’t want to be bottom feeders, but I’d rather be bottom feeders than the Bengals. You’ll say look how much better they are than us, I’ll say they haven’t won a playoff game since 1991. I just wanna strive for more than mediocre. And Lovie is mediocre defined.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:36 am
I agree completely with your first paragraph.
I agree somewhat with your talk of the OL. Their pass blocking was very good. But that’s not their only job. The run blocking was horrible. Stop talking about Martin being overrated, especially if you don’t even pay mind to the run blocking. The only reason Simms scored was because of bad defense. Also, Mr. Mankins should focus more on not false starting (blatantly) – in the first Q.
Winston, again, I’ll agree there was improvement, in the sense of running an offense. However, too many 3 and outs, still minimal sustained drives, now a lot of communication between him and his offense at the line, he stares down his receiver (watch some of those TE passes), easy mistakes (that disaster of a screen play), and a lot of passes mis thrown above and beyond his receivers. I definitely expect a lot of that to change, but it’s cant go without mention. I love his attitude and competitiveness, especially as compared to Freeman (if we’re even comparing the 2). He was the first to meet the kicker after that last kick. Love it!
September 28th, 2015 at 11:38 am
Not a lot*
Above and behind*
Dam auto
September 28th, 2015 at 12:35 pm
Officially according to PFF the Bucs had 4 dropped passes. Some of the passes people are considering “drops” were either passes that were uncatchable or the defender got a piece of it. The 1-12 3rd down conversion rate is the stat that stands out.
September 28th, 2015 at 1:25 pm
wr dropped to many passes…this was a winnable game…cant blame lovie..the team looked prepared just didn’t execute(dropped balls,penalties)..jameis is improving with his footwork and decision making…threw a couple passes out of bounds when the play wasn’t their..yeah he tried to force one which was something rookies tend to do…oline played very well, zero sacks they get an “A” for the day…run defense was where we got beat and the kick game…GO BUCS!!!
September 28th, 2015 at 1:44 pm
There is always hope for the future. Da Bears look worse than the Bucs, a possible home win in the next to last game. I watched that TCU-TT game, talk about being in the right place at the right time, that last deflected ball in the endzone for TCU was bigtime. Agree Pats or Broncos, can’t watch zip, zilch, nada. Utah sure kicked the Ducks for a flying leap. And you’re right these fantasy football ads are disgusting, you can win millions, how many losers get cleaned out to pay off a few. Whatever happened to truth in advertising? Did you ever buy a burger at any of these joints with ads on TV? It looks nothing like the TV pic.
September 28th, 2015 at 3:01 pm
Lovie got beat by a back up QB (again) and and back up RB. What more needs to be said?
Lovie , gmc, mankins, esmith, Cherilus, Simms, Myers, Verner, conte, mcdougle, wright, spc teams coach, safeties coach, RB coach, oline coach, (am I missing anybody?) they all need to go. And I haven’t seen McDaniels do anything either so he’s on this ice. Oh of course, Frazier you’re fired!