Lovie’s Soundest Personnel Move?
November 16th, 2015
Joe finds it rather easy to assign blame or praise to Buccaneers personnel moves. There’s either a Lovie Smith move, a Jason Licht call, or a true joint decision.
There are many examples.
Take Josh McCown. That clearly was a Lovie move. If Jason Licht was interviewed by Team Glazer and said he wanted to launch the regime with McCown pegged to lead Tampa Bay to the promised land, then Joe is certain Team Glazer not only would have passed on Licht but ordered him to seek counseling and an appointment with the Glazer family optician.
A Licht move would be, for example, every call made on the offensive line, from drafting Ali Marpet, to plucking Gosder Cherilus off his couch, to the Anthony Collins-Donald Penn debacle, to finding a fifth-round score with Kevin Pamphile, and many more.
One Lovie move Joe really must tip his cap to this morning is the offseason signing of formerly brittle Chris Conte, Lovie’s old starting safety with the Bears. Conte, 26, was hand-picked in free agency. Many Bears fans were sick of his string of nagging injuries, multiple concussions and declining play.
Conte came to Tampa, missed all of training camp with a pulled hamstring, played a handful of preseason snaps, and has since started every game at safety.
Through nine games, Conte has been steady and healthy, and flashed at times, like he did yesterday with 5:42 left in the game. Leading 6-3, the Cowboys started what could have been a game-sealing drive at their 9 yard line. Conte dropped running back Darrin McFadden for a seven-yard loss. It was a massive, massive, crunch-time play, the kind Bucs fans seek from Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David.
Conte leads the Bucs in solo tackles. No, he’s not a great player. But he’s been a great pick-up and a solid starter.
Well done, Lovie.
November 16th, 2015 at 8:43 am
Conte has also cost them a couple games by dropping key interceptions.
November 16th, 2015 at 8:44 am
I have been a strong detractor of Lovie but I must give his defense some credit the last 2 weeks. Let’s see if we can get some more consistency and win a few games in a row before we cool of his seat all the way.
November 16th, 2015 at 9:54 am
That idiot ran backwards near his own goal line. It would’ve been a 1 yard loss if he didn’t think he could run around everyone on the field. Guess he thought he was still at Arkansas.
November 16th, 2015 at 9:57 am
No, he’s not a great player. But he’s been a great pick-up and a solid starter.
Miguel
Which two games did Conte drop ints? I simply do not remember. I do remember seeing Kwon drop one yesterday that might have been a pick six and I think he may have dropped another one…LVD has dropped a couple of critical picks as well.
And so do we slam Kwon and LVD even more than Conte.
Joe nailed it. Conte has give us solid if unspectacular play.
November 16th, 2015 at 9:58 am
Lovie’s best personnel move was cutting Tim Jennings!
November 16th, 2015 at 10:11 am
@ St. Pete
They weren’t really drops……he was able to get his hands on the ball a couple of times….
And….Conte is better for us than Barron or Goldson…..
November 16th, 2015 at 10:17 am
VS. Atlanta, with 17 seconds to go, Conte jumps the short route (5 yard line) and gives Julio Jones a free game tying TD. He can’t cover my Pug.
November 16th, 2015 at 10:31 am
I remember a lot on this site ripping Lovie for this signing at the beginning of the year. If you can call him loser lovie when you are mad at him, you can at least give him credit when he has hit on his decision ie Sterling Moore and Jude (sp). Those two guys have played a lot better than Jonathan Banks and whoever else did yet some wondered why Banks was not playing. Give Lovie his credit as well.
November 16th, 2015 at 11:12 am
I also remember me saying that Conte was a good pickup and getting lambasted for it. The Bears fans were frustrated because of Conte’s nagging concussion issues and time missed on the field but when he is on the field, he’s a very solid safety. He made a few nice plays yesterday. That was something not often said when Barron was back there. I’m not saying he’s Kam Chancellor but he’s a good SS.
November 16th, 2015 at 11:36 am
Def not a Lovie supporter but I agree this is one positive. But in same breath he let both Goldson and Baron walk away and they are both playing very well for their teams and those coaches have found ways to get the most out of them. I know you saw goldson’s td yesterday
November 16th, 2015 at 12:23 pm
Said in the offseason this was a great signing. Everyone seemed to hate it. Glad this guy is paying off
November 16th, 2015 at 12:26 pm
I hated the Conte signing. Always hurt and a step slow in coverage was my take on him. I have to admit he has done a good job for us this year and I am glad we have him. Feels good to be wrong sometimes. I just hope he can stay on the field for the whole year. He is a bridge to our next young safety that we hopefully draft in the next few years.
Baron is playing WLB, which is kinda what he was at Bama, a box safety who excelled close to the line of scrimmage. Good coaching move by Fisher to move him to a place he could do well at.