Ron Rivera Sees “Prolific Style” In Jameis
January 2nd, 2016
(Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)
Cam Newton lit up the NFL during his rookie season, notably as a dual threat, throwing for 4,000+ yards and running for another 706 yards with 14 rushing touchdowns.
It was a sick opening season, especially considering his growth was stunted by wasting three-plus months at home, courtesy of the asinine NFL lockout of 2011. Newton couldn’t even learn his new offense.
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, who was a first-time head coach that season, has watched Newton mature into the sure-fire 2015 NFL MVP.
On Thursday, Rivera said he sees lots of Newton in America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston. Rivera noted how they’re “similar-type athletes,” how they extend plays with sound mobility and have comparable throwing strengths. Then came Rivera talking about Jameis’ maturity on film.
“You see little details in [Jameis’] game, the way he drops, the way he sets his feet, the way he tries to read coverage, the way he’s trying to look off coverages, stuff like that. Those things you didn’t see early on,” Rivera said of Jameis. “You’d see him stare down a little bit more earlier on in his career. Now you’re starting to see him get back there, and be a prolific-style passer, where he’s in the pocket and going through his progressions.”
Man, Jameis has been getting extraordinary reviews from opposing coaches. After the Bucs-Rams game, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher was on SiriusXM NFL Radio just gushing about Jameis’ “toughness” repeatedly. Jameis was belted 11 times in St. Louis, where he had a strong fourth quarter.
Hopefully, after his ugly showing against the Panthers in Week 4, the new Jameis that Rivera references will show up tomorrow.
January 2nd, 2016 at 10:08 am
We need to protect Jameis better…..sooner or later, one of those hits is going to take him out. I’ve been surprised by his toughness……I am quite sure that Mariota would have sustained a serious injury.
Another QB that displayed some toughness behind our lines was Glennon….say what you will about that kid but he can take a lick.
January 2nd, 2016 at 10:18 am
Im glad the regime has allocated a majority of its resources to build a core on offense. Its been fun to watch at times. Of course, the defense has suffered as a result, but this league is offense first.
Let me say this, Lovie will be back, as he has earned the right to. This team has shown vast improvement over a year ago, and is in a better place than it was two years ago under the old regime. Now, alot of them like to discredit or even deny any and all improvement. Their entire spin is how bad the defense is. Byt who cares how they spin it. Most of them were preaching that another 2-14 record was inevitable. These posters, most of them were convinced that a 5, 6, 7 win season was out of Lovies reach. So that takes away any weight your stance might hold. You see, they cant just discredit to what degree we improved or where we improved from when they were saying the improvement wouldnt be there period. When a coach improves after a season, he usually gets another season to further improve. Thats just how it works. Dome people actually think its the coaches job to mske sure a player is fired up. Sure, maybe a pregame speech is nice sometimes, but these are grown men. If they arent fired up to begin with, you really dont see a problem there? Why font you blame Lovie for something he actually did, like benching Banks, or cutting Revis, or going with Mccown instead of Bridgewater or Carr. You can criticize without making stuff up, but no. Its all about getting players to “play hard” or his Tampa 2 (which we dont run) or wasting money on M Johnson, but at the time not one person was against that move and fans and experts alike applauded the move, and you would have been bitshing anyway if we didnt sign him and got the same result. So please, if your going to hate on our hc, at least step your game up. Seriously, you cant shrug off the improvement or what we improved from, when you were saying the improvement wouldnt be there to begin with.
January 2nd, 2016 at 10:35 am
What else is Coach Rivera supposed to talk good about the Buc??? He cannot talk about how lovie has them ready to play, or how good they are at adjusting!!!!
Now that the season is wrapping up, it is time to think about the long term future for the Bucs. Since most of the sheep say that lovie tanked the season to better the franchise to make the team better! and some say mission accomplished! Even Joe clings to this as the only sole reason to keep lovie!!!
Does it not make sense that Jameis now must tank a season to improve the team so the following year that the Bucs can get a “real” head coach???
January 2nd, 2016 at 11:03 am
Realist, your fking comical at this point. Your the only anti Lovie poster that cant form a valid point. I get that you have been postimg here a long time but since when does that correlate into forming a valid point or at this point, just making sense. And what coach have you ever heard talk about the coach saying “gee, he really has his men ready to play”. You havent. Because that untrue. Getting players ready to play, so your saying Lovie and staff dont go through the game plan? Lol wow.
January 2nd, 2016 at 11:09 am
Largobuc as you probably know I am with you in Lovie not being fired yet. BUT have we really improved other than Jameis? I mean look who we beat this year. Jacksonville, Eagles (whose coach got fired), Dallas (without Romo have win one game in two plus years with out him), Atlanta twice (whose had a first year coach), and New Orleans who played the majority of that game with a hurt QB. Yet we lost to the Colts whose coach is going to get fired, the Titans whose coach was fired, the Giants whose coach might get fired, the Saints whose coach might get fired, the Texans with Ryan Mallet, the Rams who were starting a back level qb and are missing the playoffs. We also are going to lead the league in penalties, have the worst pass defense in the league, can’t rusk the qb, also know one has said this we also are going to finish this year with one of the lowest fg % in the league which was a result of a shame fg competition. Again not in favor of a change we I don’t think we improved other than with the four draft picks as non of our other players improved which is a sign of poor coaching.
January 2nd, 2016 at 11:24 am
Well said ndog….I think most of the intelligent fans are in that boat….we dont see a lot of improvement other than #3 and I think that has more to do with Koetter and QB coach than Lovie.
However, Glazer family operates in a way that is pretty consistent so that is why we will see one more year of Lovie. Glazers are not great owners in my opinion….they really should take a look how team Vinik operates…but they are cheap and probably would not let their ego let them in that room of thought. I mean why pay when you can get the City and taxholders to pay for everything.
January 2nd, 2016 at 11:44 am
Can someone please name a coach (alive or dead) that would have coached a dramatically better defense with the current players on our roster? 1 draft pick in two years on defense. Recent defensive free agents were stop gaps for the heavy emphasis on offensive player drafts as evidenced by their mostly 1 year contracts.
January 2nd, 2016 at 11:58 am
I know Lovie’s coming back next season and I hope he wins 10-16 games next season, but I just don’t see it. I don’t see it in the coaching on gamedays, nevermind the roster.
I’m sure I’m not in the minority on this.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Rivera knows how to schmooze up the opponent before the game. Lovie gets schmoozed trying to find new words to exlain the schmoozing afterhand.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:01 pm
Ndog. I know. I by no means think Lovie has been perfect. But my orig post was saying that there are plenty of things to criticize Lovie for, but you dont hear that. Just the cookie cutter scheme, motivating players etc that we constantly hear that are just like huh? And my point being that their shrugging off of the improvement would hold more weight if they didnt scream all off season that the improvment would not exist, regardleds of how much improvement was actually made. And really, out of the whole anti Lovie group, realist is the only one that I give zero credibility to, for obvious reasons. Wherr was realist between weeks 8-13? Not here! He was mia. Its gotten to the point that he is more of a troll than anything, and we dont need that garbage here. I would post on bspn if I felt like dealing with trolls all day. Its almost comical when some say all the bad moves were made by Lovie, but every good move was either Licht or just luck. Its like come on really? Lovie does have final say of the final 53, but that type of control isnt uncommon today. Last I checked, we had a gm. And do some really think the Glazers would pay a guy just to be there? No.
Personally, if we fire Lovie right now, I wouldnt flinch, because with or without him, there will be turnover on defense. And I could bitsh all day about cutting Revis, but whats the point? It was almost two years ago. Myself and other voiced our opinion on the matter when it happened.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:02 pm
ManilaVanilla….very, very easy to answer. I’ll answer that with 2 questions.
These are Lovie Smith’s “stop-gap” players that HE selected. Is it possible he doesn’t have a clue when it comes to picking these stop-gap players? Is it possible that another coach would have picked better?
I say yes to both those questions.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:23 pm
87, I ask what better “stop gap” options should we have chosen? Not being slick, but if there were stop gaps available last year, that would have better served our defense, that is a very good point and a legit cause to be critical.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:35 pm
You nailed it ndog, Bucs likely had the easiest schedule they will see for the next decade and still had a losing record. The weakest link of the team was the defense, second weakest link were the penalties, and it all happened under the watch of a veteran HC known as a defense oriented coach. But the trickle down effect of firing a HC is not an easy one just because the fan-base may shout for it.
It would be nice to know who had the final vote on those awesome draft picks last year, Lovie or Licht. Most all accounts that I’ve read Lovie gets the credit, but it’s way too hard for me to believe he was that adept at choosing offensive players when his defense sucks so bad. So if in fact Licht and his scouts slotted the draft board and ultimately made the picks, then he has easily earned his title and therefore should credited more for it, not Lovie.
Licht’s road to becoming an NFL GM has prepared him well for the position. There’s probably no one else better suited, including the Glazers, to determine whether the direction the Bucs are heading with Lovie at the helm is best in the long term. The real questions are, do the Glazers recognize that? And if they do, will they trust Licht well enough to let him make the call? Because if he’s all in on Lovie, than so am I, in Licht I trust. However if he sees a better future by making a change, than this is the time to do it, not one year from now.
Lovie-speak has for the most part grown deaf on my ears and there is a strong possibility that has happened in the locker room too. And Licht-speak? There’s not near as much out there on public record to analyze or critique as there is with the HC, rightfully so too, it’s not his job to be in front of the cameras on a regular basis. However, I am convinced the success or failure of the Bucs for the Winston era hinges on Licht’s vision and skillsets, not on Lovie’s. HC’s are in to the now because their securing their jobs are all about “what have you done for me lately?” What’s going on in Licht’s head right now heading in to the off season is of the utmost importance for the long-term future. Licht’s job security is not teetering on the fence. However, that can’t be said about Lovie’s.
So please Joe, how about more articles about Licht this off season. There’s bound to be a scoop or two waiting to come out in there somewhere.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:40 pm
@ LargoBuc
That’s easy, the Bucs lack of defensive QB pressure exposed the entire secondary. How about free agent DL Allen for one, he went from Minnesota to Carolina?
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:43 pm
LargoBuc …I…don’t…know.
I guess it depends on what type of system the other coach would have run.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:47 pm
Actually, Allen was traded from Chicago to Carolina. But it only cost a sixth round pick.But Allen only has like 2 or 3 sacks and probably wouldnt have contributed much especially for his salary, which isnt outrageously high, but still.
January 2nd, 2016 at 12:59 pm
You’re right LargoBuc, he was traded from Chicago, forgot where his last stop was as he’s kind of been a mercenary. Do agree his sack totals are down this year, but the pressure he puts on an OL even without the sack would have benefited greatly.
January 2nd, 2016 at 1:28 pm
Your right that sacks dont tell the whole story. Considering it only cost Carolima a sixth, it wouldnt have been too drastic had he not worked out.
January 2nd, 2016 at 1:46 pm
I’m with you Largo I just don’t know if o see any improvement on the defensive side and to be honest I am worried about the staffs ability to develop any players in the secondary. I thought that both McDougal and Banks had a chance to be really solid if not excellent players but with this staff they have regressed, why is that? I think at the very least they need to revamp the entire defensive coaching staff.
January 2nd, 2016 at 1:56 pm
Players getting better is what happens in the good organizations and for us that happened on offense with the rookies and even Doug Martin, Brate, and Stocker to a certain extent. On d you can say Kwon got better as the year went on but no one else in fact many got worse that is not good for a young team. We should have a d that at least knows what they are doing and didn’t make mistakes and we can live with the lack of talent because of how we got them but the problem is they lack talent don’t know what they are doing and commit stupid penalties. All the off those cannot be just bad luck is bad coaching.
January 2nd, 2016 at 2:48 pm
1987
Fair point but I think we also should consider a few other things before we blame defensive free agent failures all on Lovie. I think you could also make a case that perhaps Lovie ‘selected’ (wanted) better free agents but maybe we just weren’t able to sign them, maybe the agents for these players were demanding more than was reasonable as what often happens. We also need to keep in mind that many of these players are free agents for a reason, usually 2 reasons – 1, they weren’t good enough to justify keeping on their previous team or 2, they want more money then their previous team was willing to pay them. In my observations, those that make up this pool of players typically are not the type of people you would want on your team. This is why most ‘good’ teams are not made up of many free agents and why you rarely see free agents come in and become valuable members of their team.
January 2nd, 2016 at 3:47 pm
Lovie is inept at personnel decisions. But if Licht had full GM Powers, we could still make the playoffs next year retaining Lovie as long as he hires some new position Coaches, and quits making defensive calls and interfering in Offensive decisions.
January 2nd, 2016 at 5:55 pm
ManilaVanilla….Here’s ONE of the reason why I don’t want Lovie here anymore.
“We were 4-12 last season” – Lovie Smith repeatedly and SMUGLY said when he was hired in 2014 only to go out and put up 2 W’s the whole freaking season with NO home wins.
January 2nd, 2016 at 8:45 pm
Bucs likely had the easiest schedule they will see for the next decade and still had a losing record.
I just do not get this line of reasoning! Last year the Panthers won the division with a LOSING record…this year they’ve lost only ONE game. Our division has improved dramatically including the Bucs. Let’s face it…blame coaching..choking…whatever but we are clearly the best team in the NFL East and should have swept that series.
It’s called parity. The schedule is like this EVERY FREAKING YEAR!!! There will be lots’ of losers on our schedule next year and every year thereafter as long as the draft and salary cap remain as successful as they’ve been so far.
January 3rd, 2016 at 5:30 pm
[…] tries to read coverage, the way he’s trying to look off coverages, stuff like that,” Rivera said. “Those things you didn’t see early on. You’d see him stare down a little bit […]