Impact!
November 10th, 2016
Biggest addition.
Bucs fans could name all kinds of impact players added to the team this year.
Vernon Hargreaves has made an impact as a solid rookie corner. Brent Grimes has had a major impact, Joe believes. Jacquizz Rodgers had a helluva impact.
But per Mike Sando of BSPN, no offseason transaction has made a bigger impact than Dirk Koetter. Sando wonders whether it will work out.
The move: Replacing head coach Lovie Smith with offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter
Smith lasted only two seasons with Tampa Bay, and his firing on Jan. 7 came as a surprise despite an 8-24 record. Koetter has emphasized accountability, but the on-field results haven’t changed substantially. Doug Martin’s injury has inhibited the Buccaneers from becoming the team they envisioned on offense. The season’s second half will demonstrate whether much has changed.
As for wins and losses, no, the team is not benefiting yet. That’s not on Koetter, who Joe believes has squeezed every last drop of offensive talent out of what he’s got to work, thanks to a rash of injuries to skill position players.
It is the defense dragging Koetter down.
November 10th, 2016 at 7:42 am
Yea Joe, Its not like the defense has injuries too!!!!! I read an interesting article that stated how the offense has had a much easier go in the first 8 games than the defense!!! The average rank of the defenses the Bucs offense has faced was 20th!!! while the offenses the Bucs defense has face is ranked 12th!!! Which is not a gigantic deference until you consider that the offense is in its second year while the defense is learning!!!!
Maybe the offense should help the defense that is dragging Koetter down by not turning over the ball in short field and evening up the time of possession!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 8:21 am
With the supposed talent level at many positions on the defense: McCoy, Ayers, David, Alexander, Hargraves and Grimes, I do NOT understand how the defense is so putrid. Joe, you always wonder why there are so many McCoy haters out there (I am not one, yet). Maybe this is the reason – Wheres the Development?
https://www.joebucsfan.com/2016/11/blog-bucs-player-development-ira-kaufman/#more-168371
When has McCoy ever had a season like Evans is having? Sure, McCoy is good. And I can appreciate he is not Sapp and never will be. But where is that one season, when compared to his previous work where we could say “WOW! McCoy is a stud!”?
And maybe Koetter and the offense would also be doing better if Licht had filled the glaring hole at WR thru FA or drafting one instead of a friggin kicker!
November 10th, 2016 at 8:39 am
Thanks Realist, right on. Both sides of the ball have had setbacks because of injuries and a lack of depth to fill in when those injuries occur. Bucs just have too many glaring holes right now to be competitive. And Harry, pretty hard to compare a WR & DT in terms of impact. Give Dirk Koetter & Mike Smith some talent to work with and then evaluate them. I think we’d find that both are excellent coaches.
November 10th, 2016 at 8:39 am
The poor talent evaluations and decision making of our Ego-in-chief Jason Licht is the primary albatross dragging Koetter and this team down. Enough excuses and selective reasoning for this bozo.
November 10th, 2016 at 8:43 am
I agree with Joe. I’ve said it for several weeks. I will continue to pound the FIRE MIKE SMITH drum even though the chances of it happening in season are slim to none. I don’t ever see this defense approaching the glory days defense of the Bucs with Mike Smith at the helm.
My answer to you Harry is although Sapp faced several double teams back in the day, Sapp also had a dominant defensive end named Simeon Rice for the majority of his career. Simeon not only had double digit sack years, he was a beast. He was the only DE in the league at the time that could actually chase and catch Vick before Vick could even get going. That’s what is missing on this team. Even if we had someone who was a threat at DE. At times opposing O Lines had to double team Rice which freed up Sapp. McCoy doesn’t get that luxury. He’s our most feared D Lineman and is double teamed, at times even triple teamed, on every play. Year after year McCoy is among the top 3 to 5 of DT’s in sacks despite this fact. I am not ashamed to say that I am a fan of McCoy. I shutter to think how bad this defense would look without him.
November 10th, 2016 at 8:52 am
@Realist – First, do you think that the average rankings of those offenses that the Bucs defense faced would be as high if the Bucs hadn’t gotten gashed and allowed them to get ridiculous stats.
Second, the offense has put up points. There haven’t been too many games where we didn’t manage to put a number up on offense that should be enough to win an NFL game. It’s simply because the defense allowed way more points than we were able to score that we’ve lost.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:09 am
@Defense Rules,
Sorry, I must not have said it very well. My point was not comparing Evans to McCoy – you are right, one cannot compare a WR to a DT. My point was how much Evans has improved over last year (or any year), and that we have never really seen that in McCoy – to have that truly stand out season. In other words, comparing them to themselves, what they have done previously.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:13 am
@Patrick,
You are exactly right. There has been very few games where the offense has not produced enough that we should have a chance to win. The problem is the D can’t stop a cool breeze (I never understood that saying, lol). As an example, Denver is the Bucs of old – give their D 17 or 20 points, and they will win the game. ATL is like the Saints used to be – their D is sufficient that other teams cannot outscore them.
Our D is so bad, backup QBs have career games and beat us.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:16 am
@patrick in VA
If you look at the three big loses of Arizona, Denver and Atlanta, there is a total of 10 turnovers in those games!!! That is hard sledding for talent we have on defense against those types of teams!!!! in the 5 other games there is a total 4 turnovers!!!!!
I just disagree with the “offense has done their part” and its only the defense that is letting them down, and we should fire the DC attitude in only 8 games!!!!!! using that same formula, dungy would have been fired as well and he had a bunch of hall-of-famers, and pro-bowlers on that roster!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 9:22 am
@Realist – Don’t misunderstand, the offense is not absolved all together. A lot of the turnovers that we’ve given up has put the defense in a terrible position where they are given short fields and that increases the likelihood of them giving up points. I’m not saying that any part of the team is working at a championship level.
Actually, I take that back. We’ve got a solid punter. I’m pretty happy with what he’s got going on.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:24 am
Bears 35
bucs 7
November 10th, 2016 at 9:24 am
@cmurda,
not so fast my friend. Yes, Rice added a LOT to the Bucs D, but he did not join the Bucs until 2001. Prior to Rice, Sapp had the following sacks:
’95 as a Rookie: 3 sacks, ’96: 9 sacks, ’97: 10.5 sacks, ’98: 7 sacks, ’99: 12.5 sacks, ’00: 16.5 sacks
Sapp had 16.5 sacks without Rice! I don’t think it is fair to make a comparison of Sapp vs McCoy, there might never be another Sapp on the Bucs. But my point was the exceptional improvement we saw with Sapp from one year to the next – he was always outdoing himself. And that is what we are seeing with Evans. We have never seen that with McCoy. He is good every year, but never outstanding from what he has done previously
November 10th, 2016 at 9:27 am
I think this has been a “team” effort. When the D plays well and limits two turnovers to just FG’s…the offense keeps going 3 and out until our D is just worn down.
When our offense scores in the 2nd half and actually gives us a lead, then it’s the D that let’s down and can’t stop squat.
We’re not deep enough yet and we’re still wildly inconsistent on both sides of the ball. Hopefully some more maturity for our young guys will help there.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:28 am
@Harry in Costa Rica … “Our D is so bad, backup QBs have career games and beat us.” Can’t disagree with your statement Harry, but it’s the reasons why that make all the difference. Media folk talk about determination & motivation & coaching & the like, but at the top levels in any sport or profession, talent is the deciding factor I think. Almost every NFL player is motivated & determined in my opinion … none of them like losing. Put USF’s football team on the field against the Bucs, and the Bucs will beat them every time (well, maybe). USF’s players may be highly motivated to do well, and may be determined to win and may be well coached even, but the difference in talent level would become obvious very quickly.
A classic example at the NFL level (in my opinion) is this year’s Panthers team. Coaching staff is the same, and most of the players are the same … but not all. The changes that they’ve undergone in the secondary especially have had a profound effect in this first half of the season (3-5 vs 8-0 last year?).
November 10th, 2016 at 9:38 am
@Patrick…I agree….
@realist…wrong as usually….even though the defense has more talent smitty isn’t getting the job done….the dc is trash….his scheme or lack their of is trash….the perfect example would be the rams game….how do you give up 30+ points to a team that scored a combined 9 in 2weeks….the problem is the defense but it shouldn’t be because there’s more talent…GO BUCS!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 9:39 am
How can you blame mike smith when it’s his first year being dc? Grimes getting burnt almost every other drive is killing us, no secondary is killing us all the dead money we spend on definsive ends is killing us. The rookies are the only people on defense that look real promising besides kwon, david, GMAC, and even ghost on. We need more pass rush on the ends too.When the bucs have time of possession we do great but these past several of weeks we have tried to play conservative and I can’t take it let Winston be the gun slinger we drafted and take over the game. He has more than enough talent to do so the first three games even though that Arizona game was tough to watch I loved it because Winston was letting it fly. Next year with this system I guarantee you we will be ready to compete
November 10th, 2016 at 9:44 am
@ realist
agree 100%
Best offense is a good defense. Three and outs are wearing out the defense.
The team is not good enough to overcome early turnovers.
Now,Koetter has not had all the offensive players he had to make the offense as effective as last year. Jason licht has to do a better job next year in free agency.The most effective free agents have been receivers except for
Simeon Rice who I would rate no. 1 free agent aquisition ever.We need to high, instead of low on wide receiver aquisitions.If a wideout can’t crack
his own team’s lineup then he is not going to do much for ours.
No more late round reaches at wide receiver , get a quality high draft round receiver.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:47 am
So what happened to we are better than 6 and 10?
The hc was fired because 2015 team should have been better thsn 6 wins
With jason gumps great player evaluation, he would add players from the draft and free agency to even be better than the unachieved 2015 6 win team
We, the fan base was told that end of last year and now instead we will compare koetters rookie season to lovies intentional tank 2 win rookie season?
The tampa bay fanbase has been sweezied
November 10th, 2016 at 9:57 am
@kobe
Lovie’s bad coaching job and lack of defensive improvement is easily confused with tanking .Lovie was trying to win with the exception of the last game where we were up and he took the starters out of game.
November 10th, 2016 at 10:00 am
IMPACT..Impact players?? Thamks for all of the laughs you provide Joe. I;m crackin up laughing! OHhhh yeah, we got impact players allright. Our 3-5 record says we’s makin a lot of impacts..in the losers column! YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE.
November 10th, 2016 at 10:10 am
@kobe….100% agree….licht fired lovie because he thought we were better than a 6-10 team….hired dirk and smitty because he thought the combination of those 2 would get us at least a winning record…..but now we should expect and accept regression because we have a rookie hc and a first year dc….BS…what sense does that make?….licht didn’t think of this before he made the sudden changes….now people are saying we have a tough schedule….which is false….they blame injuries as if no other team has incurred them….face it….dirk and smitty are incompetent….
GO BUCS!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 10:12 am
@kobe….100% agree….licht fired lovie because he thought we were better than a 6-10 team….hired dirk and smitty because he thought the combination of those 2 would get us at least a winning record…..but now we should expect and accept regression because we have a rookie hc and a first year dc….BS…what sense does that make?….licht didn’t think of this before he made the sudden changes….now people are saying we have a tough schedule….which is false….they blame injuries as if no other team has incurred them….face it….dirk and smitty are incompetent….
john fox with an improving defense and a bye week to prepare smells like a blow out….GO BUCS!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 10:12 am
Bob
I kow lovie sucks
He bought in jason licht and we should have dumped both of these idiots
We need a new gm and give koetter and smitty 1 year trial evaluation next year
We have the 3rd worst talented roster in the nfl. The blame and responsibility belongs to 1 man and position
November 10th, 2016 at 10:15 am
Bryan Anger has had the biggest impact. Without his leg we would of gotten beaten worse without him flipping the field.
November 10th, 2016 at 10:26 am
The worst case scenario around here is “IF” the Bucs had won the Rams, and Raiders game and been 5-3!!! Then the lovie loyalist and Tampa 2 media mafia would have said that if these coaches do not win the superbowl this year that they have to go!!!!!!!!
The Bucs are on schedule and even though their are 1-2 more injuries that I had penciled in!!!!!! It was a mess that lovie had left, and will take more than 8 game to “change the culture”!!!!! We knew that the D-line, health and play is not up to par!!!! Sorry if some had “overestimated the talent”!!!!!!!
https://www.joebucsfan.com/2016/07/stroud-and-thats-going-to-be-an-issue-for-them/
Go Bucs!!!!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 10:53 am
Man your pulling this crap out your assets on the run……but it don’t fly here…..but it stinks like a pile of you know what!!
November 10th, 2016 at 10:54 am
@kobe
Every Gm makes good and bad decisions and evaluation of players.
That said Jason Licht needs to be better in talent and durability evaluation
of free agents.There are not enough draft picks to get this team into the
playoffs.
We need some durable quality free agents to supplement can’t miss draft picks.
November 10th, 2016 at 10:57 am
@realist….what mess did lovie leave?…..the talent on this current defense is better than what he had to work with the pass 2 years…..the dc is suppose to be better than the previous so why have we experienced 3 blowouts this year?….
the worst case scenario around here is “IF” you admit dirk and smitty are incompetent….that would spell doom for licht, smitty and dirk…
dirk and smitty were brought in because licht thought we were better than a 6-10 team….now people like yourself say they except and accept a setback because we have a rookie hc and a first year dc….what sense does that make?…then when we witness a blowout its the defense…then we witness another blowout and its a tough schedule…then we witness yet another blowout and its give the coaches time to adjust….when are we going to start holding coaches accountable?….WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF EXCUSES!!!!GO BUCS!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 11:03 am
Bob, i disagree with you 100%
A competent GM would have made last year 2015 team into a playoff team
Vjack should have came Back with a lowered contract and we should have. A stud wr2 right now playing
Sweezy is a mess
No one would have given doug half the amount we are stick with
Old free agents that are pissed off but cant play
Etc etc etc
November 10th, 2016 at 11:07 am
Since playoffs seem to out of reach,Lets see more of the Caleb Benowith,s
and Alex cross’s.Evaluate our young players to see what are future needs are.
We have expensive free agents that not been on the field enough.Sweezy,Martin,Ayers, and Macdonald to name of few.All have a lot of potential,but They have to be field.
November 10th, 2016 at 11:08 am
Luckily the majority has spoken!!!!!!
https://www.joebucsfan.com/2016/11/vote-today/
I am giving this new regime 3 years to finally fix the mess created by dom/lovie!!!!! Changing the culture does not happen overnight, But when it does it will be worth the wait!!!!! Coaching has been fixing small things on this team that will turn it a round!!!!!
Go America!!!!!!
And GO BUCS!!!!!!!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 11:23 am
@realist…” am giving this new regime 3 years to finally fix the mess”…I bet you are….your creditability is banking on it….
“Coaching has been fixing small things on this team that will turn it a round”….what things have they fixed….everything seems broken….3 blowouts(and counting) qb’s passing for 500+yards, no pass rush, mismanaging the clock and timeouts, quitting on your team, predictable play calling….the list goes on and on….wake up and smell the coffee @realist….dirk and smitty are incompetent….GO BUCS!!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 11:23 am
8 games to play with 6 games to win to show improvement over the last REGIME!! GO BUCS GO COLIN STEP/UP AMERICA HURRY AND IMPEACH THIS FOOL!!
November 10th, 2016 at 11:28 am
@ bucboy
All the blowouts were not Jameis’s best games. Around 50% completion percentage,yards per catch average. from less than 5 yards to less than 6 yards per catch,and Int’s are just some of the things that contributed to these
blowouts.
This is not Koetter or SMitty’s fault.Koetter expected Jameis to play better.
I look for a yards per catch average to be closer to 10 than 5,in evaluating quarterback play.
November 10th, 2016 at 11:38 am
Koetter is being marred by a stupid GM.
November 10th, 2016 at 11:42 am
@BOB…..EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES……almost every time jameis throws a pick or pick6 he bounces back and leads the offense to a TD….
so explain to me the qb’s passing for 500+yards, no pass rush, mismanaging the clock and timeouts, quitting on your team, predictable play calling….im sure you’ll say, rookie hc, first year dc, tougher schedule, injuries….ENOUGH WITH THE EXCUSES….you say dirk excepted jameis to play better….hell we expected dirk to coach better….GO BUCS!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 11:47 am
In August, people were talking about winning 10 games. Now less than 10 weeks later, we are talking about impact players. Hello, doesn’t all 53 players suppose to have an impact on the team?
November 10th, 2016 at 12:55 pm
@ Bucboy
No excuses ,Jameis has only led the team to three wins,so its clear that he does not always come back with a touchdown.Its also clear that he started out fast in Oakland and had three pretty bad quarters after that.I think he’s got
potential,but he has to eliminate his mistakes at key times.Case in point the 1.5 fumles last week.
November 10th, 2016 at 2:36 pm
@bob…he lead us to a td in the 4th quarter vs. oak but the defense allowed them to tie the game and force OT….
Jameis deserves a little portion of the blame, but the most of it lies on the shoulders of dirk and smitty….GO BUCS!!!
November 10th, 2016 at 3:36 pm
I find it laughable when people pin ALL the problems this year on the defense. It would help out a lot if the offense didn’t commit turnovers and 3 and outs so much either.
Sans the Lovie commentary, I agree with Realist!