Just Win, Baby!
June 7th, 2016
Results, not words, expected.
The Bucs have been in the NFC South basement for a conference record five straight years. This is the first time such a mark has been established since the NFL/AFL merger some 45 years ago.
This is a shameful statistic, worse perhaps than the 0-14 Bucs of 1976. That was an expansion franchise before a salary cap and free agency. Teams back then could only stock their rosters with castoffs from other teams, dudes off the street and rookies. While a winless season is not acceptable, it was excusable given the rules of that time.
Being in last place for five straight seasons with the luxury of free agency in the salary cap era? Totally unacceptable!
Which is why the Bucs have a new coach.
Of course, last year, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter, while serving as offensive coordinator, noted the only thing that matters is wins. And he is absolutely right, as Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of Scout.com explains.
The organization has tried to do what it can off the field to gain back the fans’ trust. They have improved customer service, “upgraded” their concession stands (meh), and now will have high definition video boards for the first time ever inside their very stadium. That’s all nice, but it’s not enough.
Sure, the Den of Depression had greatly fallen behind other NFL stadia. A fake pirate ship in the end zone, where the vast majority of fans are forbidden to enter, can only draw in so many folks. The new HD video boards, terribly long overdue and most welcome, will help the fan experience.
At the end of the day, folks attend games to be entertained. After five straight basement finishes, there is nothing entertaining about that, unless one is a masochist.
After five years in last place, a new coaching staff that seems to be attune to the modern NFL game, a franchise quarterback and a couple of solid drafts, Bucs fans have read and heard enough.
It’s time for wins. As Koetter said, that’s all that matters.
June 7th, 2016 at 10:12 am
come on joe…. the fans want a team full of choirboys with a Dungy disciple running the team using a Tampa 2 defense with NO offense… Wins don’t matter it’s all about living in the past and developing talent for Other teams to win with.
June 7th, 2016 at 10:13 am
Bottom Feeders are what they are, they are like the Catfish in Lake Parker in Lakeland ( feeding off the waste at the bottom). Who wants to be a fan of a bottom feeder? It’s really sad when you have more fans cheering for a hockey team than a football team in the State of Florida ( a football state). The only thing that can change this is, get up from the bottom and move to the top.
June 7th, 2016 at 10:26 am
No division has been tougher to compete in over the last five years. I expect we’ve seen our last last place finish while Koetter is HC and Jameis is QB.
June 7th, 2016 at 10:46 am
We had 5 players to play in the 2016 Pro Bowl, but we were a last place team. And speaking of 5, the New England Patriots had 5 Ex-Bucs on their roster when they won the Super Bowl in 2015.These same 5 Ex-Bucs were on a LAST PLACE team here. This new coaching staff has to change the mentality of this team (quit looking at the stat sheet and look at the win column) play to win instead of playing for stats. Play as a team and quit playing for individual accolades.
June 7th, 2016 at 10:47 am
@ sparky No division has been tougher????? we were in a division race at 3-7 one year. No division has been easier.
June 7th, 2016 at 11:03 am
AFC North. Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cincinnati.
And even with those three teams, the Browns didn’t finish in the basement five years in a row. The Browns!
June 7th, 2016 at 11:13 am
Joe needs to get outside, it’s stopped raining. You are going to be responsible for a fan doing something drastic if you keep posting all this negative press 🙁
I am a Buc fan, the glass is always half full!!! lol
June 7th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
They always brag about the concessions at RJS. What they DON’T brag about is there is always ONE GAME every year where the CC machines go down, they run out of ice, they run out of something….. and I’ll never forget the off-season where they made such a big deal about having a “taste of Tampa” with fresh Cuban sandwiches. Well, they stocked the concession stand with 2 sandwich presses and it took 5 minutes to press one. There was a gigantic back-log of customers waiting for their Cubans. They took out the “refill stations” where you could just walk up and get a refill on your Souvenir Soda.
But I’ll eat dust bunnies for 10 wins.
June 7th, 2016 at 12:32 pm
What I’ve been sayin all the time bout our Bucs. This website spends outlandish time bashing past coaches who are..elsewhere making bank. They will not help us win one game. I would not care if Mickey Mouse was the coach.
All us old timers want is Wins. By one or 20. Don’t care. Just get it done. We don’t want to hear about how turbulant the ocean is. Just bring the pirate ship in..with victories. Everything else? is moot!
June 7th, 2016 at 2:21 pm
Repeated losing seasons are depressing for long suffering fans, the losing quickly becomes a blur. Wait until next year is enough to give it another go. The Jaguars and the Panthers got a better expansion deal than did the Bucs, I think. The Bucs becoming winners will be happier as that inevitable reality nears. The law of averages are sluggish but will kick in.
June 7th, 2016 at 2:25 pm
^^BANG-BANG^^
June 7th, 2016 at 4:04 pm
But we were 6-10 last year…
June 7th, 2016 at 5:18 pm
And the beat go’s on.