Ridiculous Glazer Bashing Drones On
January 8th, 2016
Joe really can’t believe how out of touch so many national and local media types have become.
From ESPN’s popular Mike & Mike show to NFL reporter Josina Anderson to enough local voices to make Joe want to puke.
So many of these folks are ripping Team Glazer for not being present at Jason Licht’s news conference yesterday. They need to wake up. Fans don’t care about Team Glazer taking a podium and saying 20 different versions of, “We can do better than Lovie Smith.”
People forget football is a business. And business is always about what works tomorrow and today, not yesterday.Team Glazer looked at Lovie and lost confidence that he was the guy to lead the Bucs to the Super Bowl. Period. Simple as that. It was a routine firing of a failing head coach who was not supported by a majority of fans.
Licht is a general manager entering his third year. He wasn’t walking in off the street yesterday. Licht’s face belonged on that news conference. It’s Licht leading the head coaching search. It’s Licht in charge of personnel. It’s Licht who released cornerbacks coach Gil Byrd, safeties coach Mikal Smith, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and other of Lovie’s defensive coaches.
Team Glazer will 100 percent be available to media when a new coach is hired. They’ll be in a big auditorium taking uncensored questions.
Stop all the soccer-mom-Sally wailing because Team Glazer didn’t answer a few questions yesterday. Oh, the horror.
You want ego-driven ownership that wants its face on everything? Careful what you wish for.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:36 am
I guess none of them have ever sat at the poker table and been dealt 3 awful hands in a row.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:36 am
The Tampa2-mafia is out to criticize any and everything at this point. ( why do you think the “fired by phone call” got out!!!!
If the Glazers were there it would have diminished Licht as the GM! It would look like he needed to be babysat when the big decisions comer around!!!
January 8th, 2016 at 9:43 am
8-24. Say it again if you need to 8-24. The Glazers would have shown AMAZING restraint asking Lovie to come back after an 8-24 tenure. I think we all agree Lovie Smith is a kind person, but a great coach in 2016? Nothing he has done would lead you to believe he is ever going to be that. The Glazers are not bigots, heck they aren’t even great owners but this decision is sound.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:46 am
This is what I prayed for, literally…Bravo Glazers!…the right move. As you stated Joe, Lovie failed miserably on many things. The in game decisions was a killer for me and proves that Lovie would never get us to a championship – the ultimate goal. Another year with Lovie would be a wasted season.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:46 am
Preach it man. I’m hoping Glazers just let Licht do his thing…for a while.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:51 am
It hurts to see so many NFL watchers abroad criticize this franchise. My friends and coworkers are all really confused and there is really nothing I can say that isn’t a 15 minute sermon or the woefully inadequate 8-24
January 8th, 2016 at 9:52 am
You want ego-driven ownership that wants its face on everything? Careful what you wish for.
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EXACTLY Joe!
I’ll take the Glazers over an ego maniacal, pornstar mustache wearing wannabe like Artie Blank up in Atlanta.
If I was a Falcons fan and had the same seats up there that I have down here at Ray Jay, he’d be having me pay $180,000.00 for my 4 seats……..just for the privilege to pay him $14,000.00 per season for my tickets.
Leave the Glazers alone, they may not be the brightest football owners in the league but they are far from some of these other greedy bastids we see out there!
January 8th, 2016 at 9:53 am
just saw a poll for Eagles next head coach and Lovie is just behind adam gase in a long list of potential coaches. I guess nobody watches Bucs games LOL….
January 8th, 2016 at 9:55 am
Joe, you are my man !
100 % with you on this one !
January 8th, 2016 at 9:56 am
I agree.
The owners job is to hire people who know football and let them do their job. The glaziers seem to do that other than they get too impatient and probably had a little too much say in some previous hirings which is why they failed
January 8th, 2016 at 9:57 am
Lovie Smith to the Eagles?…they deserve each other!!!
He would get run out of town before the third empty utterance of “…kinda simple as that”
January 8th, 2016 at 9:57 am
The media missed the real story….again……Jason Licht was just eleavated to true GM status…….not “lapdog” as he’s been described….and the Glazers did that for him…..good for them.
You can blast the Glazers all you want….but they have spend draft picks….millions of dollars on FAs….and more millions on coaches…..next year they will be paying 3 coaches…..
Sure you can say that they made hiring mistakes….but they spend their money at least trying to bring home a winner.
January 8th, 2016 at 9:58 am
elevated
January 8th, 2016 at 10:02 am
Iam with you on this one.Joe. Lovie is a great guy but not only do I think the Glazers lost confideence in him but many of his players did too..
Hell I lost confidence in him and i was a Lovie fan….I’ve been watching the Bucs since 1976 and many fans know what I’ve been through with this team.. these are my thoughts, the Glazers are set to do a milti-million dollar upgrade on the stadium. ..we have a team that started to decline and the stadium started to become empty again what is there left to do. I read that there was suppose to be a meeting and all but Lovie knew what was coming so he said give me my 10 million and I will go on my own…what wrong with that
January 8th, 2016 at 10:05 am
TBBF- yes I originated and mercilessly hammered the lapdog reference and he has been incompetent Lovie Smith’s lapdog since Lovie hired him. That is the reason why he also didn’t get the ax along with LovieDovie. With him in a traditional GM role now it is no longer justifiable to tease him with the lapdog nickname. However, he also get them credit/blame for personnel.
Good luck Jason (no lapdog) Licht!!!
Go Bucs
January 8th, 2016 at 10:06 am
Amen to yo tampabayucsfan
January 8th, 2016 at 10:09 am
Moral of the story: Be a nice guy like Lovie and poor performances will be defended by the media. Be a dick like Schiano and poor performances will result in the coach being ostracised without any actual evidence.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:14 am
Yay! There is a shot we get to see Verner & banks in buc’s uniforms in pro bowl form.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:16 am
the CB shuffle was strange and another Lovie head scratcher…How did Verner and Banks become so bad suddenly??
January 8th, 2016 at 10:21 am
This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday. You nailed it, Joe. It’s just ridiculous and makes me angry. The only good thing the Glazers have done recently is firing Lovie.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:22 am
Licht probably was a lapdog in the beginning…..but over time and with the drafts and the hiring of Koetter…..I think the Glazers began to realize that he was the man they wanted to rely on.
The second Licht said that he informed Lovie that it wasn’t going to go well (taking it out of the hands of the Glazers) I knew Licht had been given the power.
I think he truly will make the decision on the HC….
I think it has already been decided……Koetter…..why else would the Glazers not be a part of the process?……..I think no one has made this point.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:23 am
@Joe. everyone has an asshole and everyone has an opinion. sometimes the two coincide and you get an asshole opinion. Only time will tell if the Glazers make a good move going forward. If it turns out to be a great one, you won’t be able to find anyone that said they disagreed with them now.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:27 am
Why the Glazers were Right to Fire Lovie Smith.
I can’t believe the national reaction to Lovie Smith being fired. People are literally outraged. The NFL is a results driven league and the results haven’t been there. That simple. The reactions of critics literally just shows how clueless the national media and fans are about everything that has happened in Tampa.
Before moving forward I want to say that Lovie Smith as a man is one of the best out there. He is really the definition of class and as well respected as they come. I’m not criticizing Lovie as a man, I’m criticizing only the job he did in Tampa over the past two seasons.
From the beginning, Lovie Smith’s hire was label as the savior of a franchise. Not only was this done by the public but the teams internal media took every opportunity they could to support that message. If you look back on the story Scott Smith wrote on Lovie’s “First 100 Days” the sell Lovie as the man doing everything right. The problem with this was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hadn’t played a game yet.
Most coaches would’ve downplayed themselves as the savior of an organization but Lovie fed right into the notion during one of his first press conferences in which he said “ We don’t think it’s fair to make the fans wait, we think we should win right now.” This was before Lovie even had his first practice with this team. He basically came in and told us to raise the bar and told us what our expectations should be.
So now we go into our first off-season with Lovie at the helm. First is Free Agency. The main concern with the glazier family to that point was would they be willing to open up the check book. Well, the answer was yes and Lovie had final say on all personnel.
We Cut Darrelle Revis which led to us having the highest Cap Space of any team in the NFL. Our Notable free agent signings were as follows.
DE – Michael Johnson: 5 Years, $43.98 Million
LT – Anthony Collins: 5 Years, $30 Million
DT – Clinton McDonald: 4 Years, $12 million
QB – Josh McCown: 2 years, $10 Million
CB- Alteraun Verner: 4 Year, 27 Million
Total on those 5 players… $123 Million Dollars.
Results:
Michael Johnson came in as a Pro Bowler but for the Bucs, was terrible. He played in 14 games had 27 tackles and 4 Sacks. He was cut after the season. Anthony Collins was just as terrible…He led the league in penalties for an offensive linemen and was also cut after the season. Josh McCown however was the worst of them all. At 35 years old he played in 11 games, had 11 Touchdowns, 14 interceptions and another 10 Fumbles (4 lost). His overall play was horrendous. Alteraun Verner came in as a Pro Bowler but was just as bad in his tenure with the Bucs.
However, he survived the end of season purge and made for another season. In the 2015 season he was relegated to bench duties for the majority of the season.
The lone bright spot was Clinton McDonald whom has been a solid player up the middle for the bucs. The issue was these were supposed to be the missing pieces to the Bucs team to get them into the playoffs. The results ended up being a 2-14 season in which the Defense seemed to regress under Lovie from the year prior under Greg Schiano. The Bucs ended up with the worst record in the league and the #1 Pick in the NFL Draft.
Looking back on it Lovie came in raising the bar saying the fans shouldn’t have to be patient and finished with the worst record in the NFL. His $96 Million free agent building blocks for the future we almost all failures and we had the worst record in football.
Does any other coach not named Lovie Smith survive that?
He made statements and didn’t even come close to living up to them. If he had came in humble and said it was going to take a few years it would’ve been one thing but to come in saying we shouldn’t be patient than imploding… That’s Fireable!
Now we begin 2015. We draft a young Quarterback. A player most would say would take some … Patience. So were basically hitting the restart button after we were told we shouldn’t be patient. Whatever, Lovie made a mistake on judging this team and $123 million in free agents, it’s lovie… we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and allow his to really get this thing going in 2015.
Free Agency comes again. Notable Signings.
LB Bruce Carter: 4 Year, $17 Million
S Chris Conte: 1 year, $1.5 Million
DT Henry Melton: 1 Year, $3.5 Million
CB Sterling Moore: 1 Year, $1.525 Million
DE George Johnson: 3 Years, $9 Million
Total $33.5 million all on Defense.
This free agency Lovie went back to his roots and picked up “his guys” almost all of the players had had success in the Tampa 2 system. Some under Lovie but most under Rod Marinelli in Dallas.
Bruce Carter our prize free agent lost his job in the pre-season to a rookie Kwon Alexander who is outstanding. Actually a good problem but still a waste of money. Chris Conte was probably the best player in the secondary. Henry Melton was a good rotation piece to combine with Gerald McCoy and Clinton McDonald. Sterling Moore came in as a high level slot corner but was moved to the outside when lovie made personnel changes in the secondary. Gerorge Johnson a former player for the Bucs under Schiano was signed to a $3 million a year contract to give us a rush end. He started 5 games and had 0 sacks.
When Lovie got here he had a All-Pro caliber 3-technique in Gerald McCoy. He also had an All Pro Caliber linebacker in Lavonte David. He also had the best CB in the game in Darrelle Revis. Those were three strong building blocks. One at each level. Getting rid of Revis may have been needed to make fixes on the defense so I get that because of his contract. Lovie took that money and allocated $156 Million dollars to the Bucs Defense. The Bucs Defense finished the 2015 season at #10 Overall in total yards but gave 26.1 pts/g. Under Schiano the Bucs were ranked #17 in total defense but gave up 24.3 pts/g. From looking back at it, Schiano did more with less.
Now 2 years later. We have Gerald McCoy and LaVonte David as our defensive cornerstones. Kwon Alexander is the only piece that’s added in my opinion. He was a drafted player. The rest of the defense is a circus with no developed pass rushers and a secondary in shambles. He brought in 2 Pro Bowl players and their prime and destroyed them. Hasn’t developed anyone to make the defense successful.
What was Lovie brought into do? … Build a Championship Defense… He Failed.
Look over to the offensive side of the ball and their having success building through the draft and supplementing it with undrafted free agent signings… not signing high price free agents.
If you come into an organization saying we shouldn’t be patient. We should win now. Come in as a “Defensive guru” and fail to make the defense any better in 2 years. More importantly finish the season from 6-6 and go 0-4, miss the playoffs and your defense was humiliated in most of those games… you could make an argument that the defense was headed nowhere. The needle was pointing down.
I don’t know if the decision to fire Lovie Smith was right or wrong and time will tell. But for media and fans to pound their fist on the table and say the Bucs are idiots… They must not have seen what I’ve seen over the last 2 years.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:29 am
Lovie was fired going 10-6 in Chicago…..why would anyone question firing him going 6-10 in Tampa……I guess the media has gotten used to 6 wins being a good season for the Bucs.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:33 am
The media are just scared the Bucs are slowly making the right decisions to be a force in the NFL again. We need to support our owners a little more because they came through for us fans, and we need to have their back. On a side note when my wife heard the firing of Lovie the first thing she said was ” good atleast you won’t have to say Simple as that anymore”. Lol I noticed how Joe uses it alot as well. How many others have used this when talking to their wifes? Lol. Go Bucs!!
January 8th, 2016 at 10:39 am
Way to spin it, Joe.
As a fan who supports this team with tickets, merchandise, ect…. I would have liked to hear from the Glazers explain how committed they are to winning when their track record shows dysfunction. The Buccaneers are 23-57 over the past five seasons. That is not a commitment to winning. This “commitment to winning” nonsense is the same song they’ve sung after they fired Gruden, Morris, Schiano, and now Smith.
They should have been up there to explain to the fan base how it’s going to be different this time and why season ticket holders should believe that.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:39 am
Never feel sorry for the rich. Especially if they were lucky to become that way. Lovie deserved what he got
January 8th, 2016 at 10:41 am
fk em. Outsiders dont know….its that simple.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:44 am
This is getting pathetic. For 2 seasons under Lovie the Bucs have been the laughing stock, punching bag, joke of the football worlds media elites. Now all of a sudden they are a team on the rise? I was in favor of keeping Lovie around for another year until the 4 game collapse at the end of the season. This is a team that has been routinely blown out and most of the Bucs losses have been self inflicted through penalties or blown opportunities to make splash plays on defense. I’m tired of watching this team year after year in a rebuilding process with the dismal play always blamed on the poor choices of the last regime. It’s obvious watching the games that most of the guys on defense are only here to collect a paycheck and the other ones are just supremely out of their comfort zones. All the while Lovie just stared off into the abyss…Never mad, never happy…He’s just there like a wax figure. Stubborn and refusing to adjust to the times. I was content with Lovie but now that the news networks have their panties in a bunch crying victim hood I’m glad he’s out of here. Just goes to show how far off the radar this team actually is that the experts don’t even know what’s really going on down here.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:59 am
I agree that if the team hadn’t lost ALL 4 GAMES at the end Lovie would still be coach but that epic letdown when the team should have been motivated to play at a high level showed that new leadership was needed. I hate seeing an endless string of new coaches but if we can get a coach who brings the swag back then it will be worth it. It’s always a gamble but 8-24 over two years is a pretty low mark for the next coach to beat.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:01 am
Nice breakdown but you forgot one important component to all that. Losing Jeff Tedford before the start of the regular season is something no first year head coach could have overcome.
Also, Michael Johnson was not a pro-bowler. Where did you get that?
January 8th, 2016 at 11:01 am
We have been so irrelevent for the last decade that no one in the national media looks at us much. Hopefully the days will return when we are good and have players so people are paying attention, but right now the national media really knows nothing and why should they… there has been no reason to pay attention.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Serious question to D-Rome: Why are you defending Lovie so much? Do you honestly believe he’s a top level coach and we made a major error firing him? Or do you not like firing him because of the perception it makes the Bucs look like the Browns/Raiders?
January 8th, 2016 at 11:24 am
It wasn’t just that Team Glazer was not present at Jason Licht’s news conference yesterday, it was the way the firing went down. For the Glazer’s it was a bush league way of doing business. They should have waited until the morning and made sure they had a face to face with Lovie so the word of his termination did not get out the way it did. Licht was suppose to call Lovie to have him come in the next morning but Lovie declined. When the first reports of the firing came out, some of his Assistants did not even know what had happened. Even Dirk Koetter was upset with the sudden firing of Lovie.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:28 am
I never understood all the Glazer hate. Personally, I love having them here. Another owner brings unpredictability, like team movement for example.
Unlike some people who “claim” to remember the Culverhouse era and say they are as bad, I actually do remember. Clearly.
The Glazers are a thousand times better than he was. And they DO wish to win. I like them.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:30 am
@godzilla13
The Glazers could not force Lovie to meet them. Even trying that would have proven to be a worse outcome. Who cares how he was fired? Really?
I didn’t want him gone, but all this bull about the way he was let go means nothing.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:43 am
I am no longer defending Lovie. There is nothing to defend anymore. Pointing out that losing an offensive coordinator before the start of the season is disastrous is not what I would call defending a coach but more of a statement of fact. A fact that should not be overlooked.
My ire is with the Glazers and this nonsene about being “committed to winning.” Something I’ve pointed out time and time again is that there isn’t a franchise in the history of the NFL that finds long term success when they fire coaches every two years. Make no mistake, the Buccaneers are no different than the Browns or the Raiders though the Raiders are bucking that trend now. Over the past five seasons they are 23-57. That’s hardly a commitment to winning. There is no reason to believe as a fan base the Buccaneers are going to get it right this time. If we were the Steelers or the Patriots or the Packers you could believe the ownership group would get it right. To answer your last question I would have liked to see the Buccaneers buck the recent trend and show patience like the Jaguars are doing with Gus Bradley. I know you have a different opinion. My ire actually has little to do with Lovie Smith being fired. This team wasn’t going to be a Super Bowl contender next year and no matter who is hired they are not going to contend for a Super Bowl.
January 8th, 2016 at 11:52 am
Your exactly right Joe unfortunately some of your sports radio buddies aren’t singing the same song lol I don’t see why they thought they owed him anymore than what they gave Chuckie especially considering he won a Super Bowl!
January 8th, 2016 at 11:54 am
They do? Based on what evidence? The Glazer sons took over the franchise’s day to day operations in 2006. The Bucs are 58-102 since that time. Meanwhile during that same time Manchester United has enjoyed a lot of success and championships.
As people they seem to give back to the community quite a bit so I have no issue with them, but their heart and investments are with Manchester United.
January 8th, 2016 at 12:11 pm
“D-Rome Says:
January 8th, 2016 at 11:01 am
Nice breakdown but you forgot one important component to all that. Losing Jeff Tedford before the start of the regular season is something no first year head coach could have overcome”
Lovie elected to go with Tedford’s sidekick who no experience in the NFL, no experience calling plays, and was clearly out of his depth. Unless it was part of the plan to get Jameis (it worked), he could have done something else. Even pulling an experience play caller off the couch in late August would have been better than Arroyo slowly drowning. That’s on Lovie.
January 8th, 2016 at 12:28 pm
So I guess we shouldn’t blame the Glazers for anything. Right? I mean, almost two decades of “bad decision” after “bad decision”. Lovie was the “wrong guy” but we brought him in anyway.
Again, I use the Steelers as an example. They’ve had, what, 4 coaches in their entire existence, we’ve had 4 in less than a decade.
It starts at the TOP. PERIOD, POINT BLANK!!!!!
Letting the Glazers off the hook is blasphemy! Only time will tell if this was a good decision.
January 8th, 2016 at 12:33 pm
I’m not sure why the national media is so irate over the firing? Was there this level of criticism when Whisenhunt was fired (mid season no less)? He had similar credentials (worse win pct than Lovie, but a SB appearance and a year one 2-14 record). Was there this indignation when Shanahan was canned one year removed from a playoff appearance? That guy has two SB rings and a better win pct than Lovie, yet all we heard out of most media blowhards is that he ruined RGIII. If anything one could speculate the media has either some reverse discrimination offenders or is sensationalizing a race issue where there really is none (Glazer’s have certainly done enough to prove they may be many things but racists they are not)
January 8th, 2016 at 12:33 pm
D-Rome Says:
January 8th, 2016 at 11:54 am
The Glazers are a thousand times better than he was. And they DO wish to win. I like them.
They do? Based on what evidence? The Glazer sons took over the franchise’s day to day operations in 2006. The Bucs are 58-102 since that time. Meanwhile during that same time Manchester United has enjoyed a lot of success and championships.
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True story: MUFC fans hate the Glazers even more than we do. They won because they had the greatest manager in futbol history running the team. Amazingly since Ferguson retired they’re struggling big time (for them anyways).
January 8th, 2016 at 12:38 pm
I disagree, the GLAZERS decided to fire Lovie Smith, they should have been there to explain the situation to the media and take the heat for their decision. Making Jason Licht eat the sh!t sandwich was a very cowardly way to handle the situation.
January 8th, 2016 at 2:15 pm
So Lovie is available and back in the coaching pool of prospects. That’s a head scratcher. That’s right, it is one big coaching fraternity where coaches are shuffled around and praised as the next coming of Vince Lombardi before proving anything as a coach.
January 8th, 2016 at 2:20 pm
“They do? Based on what evidence? The Glazer sons took over the franchise’s day to day operations in 2006. The Bucs are 58-102 since that time. Meanwhile during that same time Manchester United has enjoyed a lot of success and championships.
As people they seem to give back to the community quite a bit so I have no issue with them, but their heart and investments are with Manchester United.”
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obviously you know little of manchester united, just what the media here tells you.
next, your “evidence” is weak. just because they made poor choices for head coach does not mean they do not want to win here. silly man. they spend tons of money to show they do want to win…more than your tickets and merchandise.
your premises are false.
January 8th, 2016 at 5:16 pm
I agree. The Glazers might not have the brightest football minds but it is very clear they are trying to win. Something is wrong with you if you cant see that.
January 8th, 2016 at 10:28 pm
@Joe
When you refer to fans wishing to fire Lovie, are you referring to the people who post on this site, or are you referring to all fans that don’t use computers, or who do not read this site?
Just asking.
It’s over and done with now.