“Justify” Not Included
July 25th, 2016
Welcome to the national narrative on Dirk Koetter and the 2016 Buccaneers, courtesy of Lovie Smith’s friends who like to ignore the utter defensive collapse by Tampa Bay last season.
Today, Joe’s spotlight goes to Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal picture-taking, video game-playing, Taylor Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame.
In his famous Monday Morning Quarterback column, King calls out issues facing each NFL team.
For the Bucs, it didn’t take long for King to reference NBC colleague Tony Dungy notable Bucs frowning on the firing of Lovie Smith.
27. TAMPA BAY: Can Dirk Koetter justify the faith GM Jason Licht placed in him? There were a few prominent Bucs not happy to see Lovie Smith get whacked after the season. Koetter now has the job of ushering Jameis Winston into his maturing year as starting Buc quarterback and making sure he shows 53 players he’s up to the head-coaching task. He’ll need cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III, the rookie, to show up big early to boost a flagging secondary, so Winston doesn’t have to score 31 a week to have a chance.
Don’t misunderstand Joe. In Joe’s top-10 Bucs x-factors series, Joe ranked Koetter at No. 1, as well. But surely it had nothing to do with a few guys unhappy that Lovie was fired.
Newsflash for King: Some key players and figures are always unhappy when a head coach is fired. There were quite a few Buccaneers sad that Raheem Morris was launched, including iconic Ronde Barber. There were even firm Greg Schiano supporters, more than you might think.
Koetter was the best man for the job in 2016, and he doesn’t have to justify a damn thing. Lovie was dreadful. But Koetter must win games. Joe has written repeatedly; Koetter doesn’t have three years to respectability or better, not after serving as offensive coordinator last year and entering the top job with intimate knowledge of the personnel.
July 25th, 2016 at 9:51 am
I have been a Bucs fan since moving to Tampa in 1982.
Never, until Lovie’s reign, did I lose hope.
July 25th, 2016 at 9:54 am
Boy if only I could get whacked for multi million dollars.
July 25th, 2016 at 9:55 am
Wow, you can add ” Tampa2 Mafia Puppet” to your list of adjectives for P-king!!! I would rather have the media not say anything about the Bucs unless they actual did a little research of their own!!! But that would take work!!!
July 25th, 2016 at 10:01 am
Why can’t the glazer boys just find a way to pay the Offensive and Defensive coordinators more money to keep them around if it means so much to lose them? Did kidding not get paid top $$$ for his services before he jumped ship?
July 25th, 2016 at 10:02 am
I feel a helluva lot better with Dirk in year 1 than Lovie going into year 3. Simple as that.
July 25th, 2016 at 10:08 am
Well said Dewey…I agree 100%. Did these knuckleheads even watch the games? (rhetorical question) I know the answer to that.
July 25th, 2016 at 10:19 am
there may have been a few bucs unhappy at first,LVD for one but pretty sure
the new defensive scheme and coaching staff has quickly won him over.
July 25th, 2016 at 10:29 am
Wait…I believe more players than not were happy for the regime change..I can read between the twitter lines..
July 25th, 2016 at 10:30 am
King’s not really going out on a limb here.
I will be sooooooo happy when we can stop talking about last year!
I’ve said it before. This coaching staff has got a lot to prove, fairly or unfairly. You can’t bury the fact that Koetter was here last year. He’ll have an even shorter rope, IMO.
July 25th, 2016 at 10:42 am
I keep seeing Lovie’s name popping up in almost every post, but reality is that he was only part of the problem (a BIG part, but still only part). The defensive coaching staff and ST coaches assembled by Lovie were dismal. Hiring Mike Smith and new, well-respected assistants plus a new ST coach has to represent a MAJOR improvement there, but they still have to show it on the field. And despite Lovie’s poor schemes, some of the defensive starters just weren’t NFL-caliber. We’ve plugged a few starting holes (LB, CB & DE especially), but we’ve still got a ways to go I think (especially in terms of depth).
Bucs have pretty much been a defensive-oriented team since 1976, with predominantly defensive-minded HCs. However, our most successful year came under Jon Gruden, an offensive guru (like Dirk Koetter). I’m still convinced to this day that it was the ‘marriage’ between Jon Gruden and Monte Kiffin that brought us the SB win. We had a functional but not spectacular offense that year, but our defense … run by Monte … ranked #1 by a wide margin. Really hoping that same type of relationship works this year with Koetter and Smith.
July 25th, 2016 at 10:55 am
Wow – That picture makes me thirsty ! Yumm…Beer !
July 25th, 2016 at 11:28 am
Before Lovie got fired, we all knew that this team would not take than next step in year three. Thanks for playing Lovie, but it was just obvious this team was not going to be anything under your tutelage. With Koetter, there are alot of unknowns, but I will take those unkowns instead of guaranteed losing under Lovie. Sorry Tama 2 crowd, as Drake once said: “F#&k all your feelings, business is business and it’s strictly financial!”
July 25th, 2016 at 11:41 am
You mean the defensive collapse of giving up an extra 7 points per game that coincided with Kwon Alexander’s suspension?
July 25th, 2016 at 11:59 am
“You mean the defensive collapse”
That finally faced 4 starting Qb’s!!!!
that coincided with what should have been KA58 hitting the rookie wall!! ( maybe not according to the”energy drink”)
that the defense finally started tuning out coach my scheme’s “fiasco” of a defense!!!!! (fiasco as his own hand picked players called it)
July 25th, 2016 at 12:03 pm
A lot of people put pressure on Koetter but I’m already sold due to the fact he wont go meedling in our defense. Lovie didn’t let Leslie do his job and gave Koetter instructions that conflicted with his ideology. Koetter is still our offensive coordinator and he knows Mike Smith can run a defense without supervision. He delegates as well as anyone, this is why I’m not worried at all
July 25th, 2016 at 12:46 pm
Agreed Fsuking. We have our good, experienced OC as HC now and a good, respected former DC/HC running the defense and I love both their attitudes. They aint putting up with any BS and are gonna work hard to get this team wins
July 25th, 2016 at 1:01 pm
Can Dirk Koetter justify the faith GM Jason Licht placed in him?….what an excellent question…..another question I have for licht is did jameis make dirk look like a legit hc candidate?….funny how he did wonders with david Garrard and matty ice but was never offered a hc gig…..I bet Arthur Blank and I agree on the answer….GO BUCS!!!!
July 25th, 2016 at 4:24 pm
Joe, I’m no lovie fan but why not let dk prove himself before we accept him. He may not be that great..
July 25th, 2016 at 7:22 pm
I like Peter King OK…at least I do not dislike him…I’m meh.
But this is another in long line of stupid and obvious posts.
NEWSFLASH: Far more NFL coaches are under the gun and expected to produce than those who might get a pass. Belichek, Carroll are the exceptions not the rule.
At least 20…probably more..I’m too lazy to go team by team…coaches are under the gun to win and produce results. Doesn’t mean all of them would get fired…just means their days are numbered and if coaches like Koetter don’t win this year they’ll really be under the gun next year.
July 25th, 2016 at 7:24 pm
We all KNOW Koetter is under pressure to win! Here is a far more interesting question.
How many losing seasons could Bill Belichek have with the PATS before he gets fired? Unlimited? 6-4-3 ?
July 25th, 2016 at 11:17 pm
I think Tampa will give Koetter 2 years tops, to have a winning record, and put some more fans in the seats.
July 26th, 2016 at 7:29 am
No player ot fan likes to see a change of regime but it was due, I was a Raheem Morris fan as well, as I have never seen a coach get so much out of a young and talent lacked team. But in the end the Glazers want to get back to einning just as bad as us fans, if they didn’t they wouldn’t still be paying all these coaches to not coach. Call me a optimist, but I think we have the right regime in now, as well as a young nucleus of talent to grow together as a tram. That’s how u build a franchise the right way, so far so good. Now it’s up to #3 and the defense to lead us back to the glory days.