“It Is Tough To Defend Him”
October 8th, 2015
Pressure is on.
This Sunday is a WTBS, Five-Star, Four-Horsemen, Steel-Cage, Death-Match, Must-Win game at the Den of Depression.
For whichever team loses, Jags or Bucs, very possibly could have a new coach next year.
Jacksonville’s Gus Bradley (8-28) and Lovie Smith (3-17) may be looking at their career crossroads Sunday.
Things are gloomy for Lovie, the overlord of football operations for the Bucs. He is winless at home in 10 tries. Joe doesn’t know what is more damning; Lovie’s countless swings and misses in personnel decisions, or the fact he can’t win a home game.
Even the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, senses the anger in the air. In his weekly Wednesday appearance with the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, on the channel that bears his name, “Mad Dog Radio,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM Radio, Kaufman discussed Lovie’s warming seat.
eye-RAH! Kaufman: Lovie Smith is coming under intense pressure. I don’t see any way they can make a mid-season change but, Chris, the guy is 3-17. It is tough to defend him.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo: Oh, very difficult to defend him. Is he going to survive? If they don’t show any progress, will Lovie survive, or no?
Kaufman: I think this is a big week. It is a nothing game but it is a big game for Lovie Smith’s future. Chris, this is a team – and I’m not going to be able to say this very often on your show this year – that the Bucs have more talent. The Bucs are favored by three. (Sigh) Lovie Smith has never won a home game. I mean the numbers are starting to pile up. The Jags don’t have a lot of stars, Chris. They don’t have a lot of impact players. But they are gritty. They have lost a couple of tough games. The Bucs have a bye week after this, Chris. If they hit the bye week at 1-4, after the teams they have been playing the first five weeks of the year, I tell you what, changes have to be made at that point. Something has to change.
It is hard to believe a team with Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy and Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans and Doug Martin and America’s Quarterback finds a way to lose often to inferior opponents, sometimes getting its doors blown off by inferior opponents.
October 8th, 2015 at 7:33 am
This is a must win game. No way around it. All 3 Florida NFL teams are 1-3, and all 3 could replace their head coaches for next year. Miami and their practice squad trophy are the first domino to fall.
October 8th, 2015 at 7:37 am
Koetter has been on the sidelines this season which is not typical, so can Smith and promote Koetter to HC for the remainder of the season. Frazier can finish out as DC and the QB coach can step up and assist Koettet with OC duties. Easy.
October 8th, 2015 at 7:53 am
So rayjay1122 you fire Lovie, pomote Koetter to HC and OC, keep O’Dea and Frazier. How exactly has that created a winning team? Same OC calling plays, same DC running the same defense, same Special Teams coach, same players, and oh ya, same QB. I seriously doubt that Lovie tells Koetter what to call. The defense has been playing better since Lovie started calling plays there (it wasn’t the play-calling anyway, it was the players not fulfilling their responsibilities). Special teams looks to be improving, and hopefully bringing back Barth will fix the FG issues). How did firing Lovie fix things?
October 8th, 2015 at 8:08 am
BECAUSE BUDDY^ ITS SHOWS U CANT LOSE 11 STRAIGHT HOME GAMES AND KEEP YOUR JOB
October 8th, 2015 at 8:11 am
Ken Whisenhunt is 3-16 in his 2 years in Tennessee and also starting a rookie QB, do you think the Tennessee fans are already calling for him to be replaced? If not what’s the difference in the two situations?
October 8th, 2015 at 8:12 am
Lovies job is to put an entertaining product on the field for the fans of Tampa Bay. Ask yourself if he has done that. The answer is clearly no. His hiring to this point has been an epic fail.
Go Bucs!
October 8th, 2015 at 8:15 am
Really Joe, “inferior teams”!!
At some point we have to admit that we are what our record says we are. We have played 4 games against teams with a total of 7 wins, 3 of those were wins over us, and the other 3 are the Panthers. Yes the Titans, Texans and Saints are bad, but 2 of those teams got there only wins against us. Maybe we are the “inferior team”. Were s young team at alot of spots so maybe we can get better, but I think we are fooling ourselves thinking we have all this “talent”
October 8th, 2015 at 8:18 am
Defense Rules; O’Dea should be the first domino to fall if he had anything to do with the Bucs keeping Brindzda…. Last year O’Deas’ squad cost the bucs 2 or 3 games (Vikes, rams and possibly Cincy) via sheer ineptitude yet lovie kept him…. So where is the accountability? Lovie made Marcus arroyo a scapegoat last season and gave everyone else a pass and promised improvement. the the Titan game: despite all that Lovie promised the Bucs were embarrassed 48-14 and I would not be surprised if he gets embarrassed by the Jags. How can you keep a head coach who simply can not rally his team to play one decent home game in 11 tries???? So far all I have heard is excuses…. As far as firing lovie; if the Bucs are 1-4 at the bye how can anyone expect them to be better than 4-12 for the season? How can you keep a coach who was 6-26 for 2 seasons, how can you if you are the Glazers and expect any season ticket renewals, unless they are really angling on getting as many tampa games as possible to be played @ Wembley w/o having to send man u games back to RJS to make the Sports Authority happy….
October 8th, 2015 at 8:21 am
Waterboy: the difference is that the titans were not embarrassed 48-14 in their home opener after the head coach promised so much leading up to that game…. Until Lovie wins a damned game at home expect people to be calling for his removal….
October 8th, 2015 at 8:28 am
win or lose, this team is going nowhere with Lovie…”simple as that”…fire now and we have lots of time to get the “right coach”…season is lost anyway…
October 8th, 2015 at 8:28 am
Those names you just listed are Morris/Schiano/Dominik players with the exception of Mike Clayton Evans.
It all probably comes down to whether the Bucs get put over a barrel again at home on Sunday. Especially if Winston has a decent day but Bortles/Yeldon go off on Incompetent Lovie Smith’s Tampa 12 defense. That could be the red line for the Glazers. It will the red line be for the remaining few fans of Incompetent Lovie Smith.
October 8th, 2015 at 8:29 am
Man if we don’t win this game……. I won’t be surprised.
Bucs fan since the franchise started. Maybe the SB win was a dream?
October 8th, 2015 at 8:34 am
Agree with RayJay! Regardless of whether the Buc’s win or lose Sunday, there is not future in Lovie Smith. The Buc’s fired Schiano for less, so why can’t they fire Lovie for 3-17? Miami fired their HC so they could recruit another HC before the end of the season! The only way to get a future HOF HC is to do it months before Black Monday!
The team shows no fire, not plan for improvement. Lovie was fired by da Bears after 10 wins because he would never get any better. Need to find a great HC and give them full control to turn around the Buc’s. Kind of like firing Brindza because he missed 10 points 2 weeks ago and 7 points last week. Famous Porky gave way more points to the other teams with his now famous first quarter pick 6 program!
Coaching is lacking…Lovie can’t win with the first pick of all of the draft…yet other teams win consistently picking last…because he has no ability to game plan for differing teams, he makes no adjustments at half time, he has no game management skills, and his systems do not improve his players. Two years ago we blamed Schiano. Last year we blamed Arroyo….who is Jose gonna fire to keep Lovie this season. If Famous Porky does not get some serious coaching, we run the risk of him getting injured and losing his confidence like RGIII or Kapernick!
OMG …..if we only could have scored Jim Harbaugh!!
October 8th, 2015 at 8:35 am
As much as he may deserve to be fired at the end of this season, don’t see the Glazers firing Lovie regardless of how this season goes. They still have another year to pay Schiano. If they fire Lovie this year they are paying him, Schiano and a new head coach all at one time. Dont see the Glazers boys paying three head coaches at once. Unfortunately, Lovie gets 2016 to try and redeem himself. Ouch.
October 8th, 2015 at 8:42 am
Here’s one fan that hopes we win and Lovie turns things around.
If he doesn’t beat the Jags….I would fire him and make Koetter the interim coach….the only problem with that is if Koetter doesn’t win some games….and we seek a new HC….Koetter will probably be gone and that will not be good for Winston’s development.
Lovie, your team must win Sunday!!!
October 8th, 2015 at 8:42 am
@Joe
I think that we need some financial numbers as to what coach is still on the pay roll and how much is it to get the current coach out of here!!!
I listened to your podcast yesterday and was very glad to hear the Lovie’s “5th” year was a team option year, which they obviously will not use!! And correct me if I am wrong but I thought the Coach Schiano contract was worded that they can pay the last 2 years in 6 years of payment????
October 8th, 2015 at 8:43 am
FortMyersDave Says:
October 8th, 2015 at 8:21 am
Waterboy: the difference is that the titans were not embarrassed 48-14 in their home opener after the head coach promised so much leading up to that game…. Until Lovie wins a damned game at home expect people to be calling for his removal….
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You can’t base everything on one game when both coaches have virtually the same exact record over the same period of time but one should be fired and the other shouldn’t.
The only difference between Ken Whisenhunt and Lovie right now is Mariota is playing pretty well and Winston is struggling. That is the difference. A young QB that seems to be playing well gives a fan base hope for the future.
October 8th, 2015 at 8:56 am
“We don’t expect our fans to be patient” – Jason Licht 2014
October 8th, 2015 at 9:00 am
@Buc1987
did you finish your sign????
did you go with ” Bucs get icecream, but no sprinkles, Sprinkles are for Winners”
October 8th, 2015 at 9:08 am
Jake Says:
October 8th, 2015 at 8:35 am
“As much as he may deserve to be fired at the end of this season, don’t see the Glazers firing Lovie regardless of how this season goes. They still have another year to pay Schiano. If they fire Lovie this year they are paying him, Schiano and a new head coach all at one time. Dont see the Glazers boys paying three head coaches at once. Unfortunately, Lovie gets 2016 to try and redeem himself. Ouch.”
Here’s the problem with that logic. All the Glazers have to do is total up how much money Lovie, not Licht has wasted and I mean WASTED on FA’s that are on the bench, traded away, or simply let go. They’d be saving money by firing him, instead of letting him continue to bring in scrub after scrub and wasting money.
Before someone says….wait wait wait, what about Jason Licht, he’s responsible for the FA pickups too. I say HOGWASH. I want someone to tell me that Conte, Melton, Jennings, and Jenkins etc. etc. was Licht’s idea. If you think that then you’re an idiot. Lovie has FULL control over who comes to Tampa and who doesn’t, it’s become quite clear to many of us that, that is the way things are.
October 8th, 2015 at 9:08 am
Oooh that’s a good one Realist.
October 8th, 2015 at 9:12 am
Those of you saying the Glazers won’t fire Lovie because he has money left on his contract are not looking at the big picture. Nevermind his remaining salary, it is far less than the money he is wasting on bad contracts and free agent signings. At the rate Lovie is wasting glazer cash it’s much cheaper to fire him than keep him.
October 8th, 2015 at 9:14 am
87
We must have been typing the Glazers would be saving money at same time. Lol…did not mean to restate your point… it’s so obvious though
October 8th, 2015 at 9:17 am
From Joe Lovie’s last year is an “Option” year, really changes the dynamic of things. So it is only 10 million to walk away, That is the same as having Josh McCown on the roster for 2 years, You would rather not see it!!!!!
October 8th, 2015 at 9:26 am
I’d give loser Lovie to the end of the year to show REAL progress if none. Then he’s gone. If Tallahasse’s QB still looks like Freeman 2.0 and the d can’t stop 3rd string rbs let the loser walk
October 8th, 2015 at 9:28 am
Fire
Fire
Fire
Fire
Fire
October 8th, 2015 at 9:30 am
Lovie thinks to himself, I want this guy and that guy, and Jason makes the calls.
That’s how things are done right now.
Don’t fool yourselves, this mofo has a lot of say so as to who comes to Tampa.
October 8th, 2015 at 9:48 am
Waterboy Says:
October 8th, 2015 at 8:11 am
Ken Whisenhunt is 3-16 in his 2 years in Tennessee and also starting a rookie QB, do you think the Tennessee fans are already calling for him to be replaced? If not what’s the difference in the two situations?
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If they aren’t, they should be. Retread coaches can’t change their spots, it’s what we’re seeing with Lovie. By the end of the year if they’re 4-12 again he will get fired, and so will Lovie. Bringing back Gus Bradley doesn’t appeared to have worked for Jacksonville. Bringing back Joe Philbin was obviously a disaster. If a coach can’t find a 7 win season within 2 years, he probably isn’t a very good coach. If a coach can’t win 7 games COMBINED in the first two years, he’s obviously a loser.
October 8th, 2015 at 10:13 am
Well this is one of the 3 games Ive predicted we’ll win…..but I wont be surprised if we dont. Its a home game and our shjitty D will probably blow it, again.
October 8th, 2015 at 10:19 am
I thought I read somewhere that Koetter doesn’t want to be a head coach. He will never be the Bucs head coach.
October 8th, 2015 at 10:21 am
Btw, im ok with keeping lovie until the season is over…we’ll have some high draft picks and can hopefuly draft some pass rush in Bosa and then a DB. I originally wanted O line in the 2nd, but I think we’ll be ok….we need DB’s more.
October 8th, 2015 at 12:06 pm
Is there a Dungy disciple that has actually been successful as a HC in the NFL? Tomlin not really a dungy disciple, has there been one?
October 8th, 2015 at 12:30 pm
Do you guys think that lovie wanted to bring in a 3-4 DE from cincy? Do you think Lovie knows enough about o lines to blow it up last year and hire scrubs to replace them? Those signings and decisions look like Lichts decisions. lovie’s decisions look a lot more like signing 4 formers players and a LB and CB that played in a cover 2 defense. That is what a lovie decision looks like, it’s safe and he doesn’t have to rely on coaching as much. A GM with no coaching back ground would make a decision to turn a 3-4 DE into a 4-3 DE. And thinks signing a whole O line in 1 year is a good idea. It’s pretty clear who made what decisions. Lovie doesnt take risks, he would not make those gambles.
October 8th, 2015 at 1:05 pm
@Trubucfan22, I think you are completely wrong. The only thing you need to know is that Lovie hired Jason Licht. That should be your first clue as to who is running the show. Same thing with Gruden, he hired Bruce Allen. Coaches who hire the Gm have absolute power on personnel. This is all Lovies fault, everything lies at the feet of Lovie. Simple as that!
October 8th, 2015 at 1:17 pm
John McKillop you are exactly right and if Licht was doing that without consultanting with Lovie then they are both fools (WELL?) lovie just sucks as an HC and the community and fans bear the brunt of it…..and the whisenhunt comment is a joke…he has his team competitive where Lovie has been blown out 4 times in 20 games
October 8th, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Okay, so we fire Lovie. I was happy that we hired him. I liked where Schiano was going (even if we were progressing at a snail’s pace), but if the decision had to be made to move on, I could certainly understand it and saw Lovie as a significant upgrade over Schiano even so. Twenty games later I feel like a fool. I hate the notion of a revolving door at One Buc, but how can we keep Lovie after what we’ve seen?
October 9th, 2015 at 12:26 am
When each NFL team pulled in $225 million from national revenue *alone* (that is not including local revenue), you can see that a coach’s salary is really peanuts in the grand scheme of things.
If Team Glazer is willing to eat tens of millions of dollars like they did last year in garbage free agent signings, you can bet they aren’t fazed by a coach’s salary if they think a move needs to be made.
Lovie makes $5 million a year, so that is 2.22 percent of the gross *national* revenue Team Glazer pocketed this year. Of course, if you factor in local revenue, that makes Lovie’s salary an even lower percentage of gross annual revenue.