Koetter Sharing First-Year Blues
November 8th, 2016
So how exactly is Dirk Koetter faring when compared to his fellow head coaches debuting with a new team?
Mr. Koetter is fifth best out of seven new NFL chieftains in 2016.
Here are the contenders, with their teams and records:
Ben McAdoo, Giants (5-3)
Doug Pederson, Eagles (4-4)
Adam Gase, Dolphins (4-4)
Mike Mularkey, Titans (4-5)
Dirk Koetter, Bucs (3-5)
Chip Kelly, 49ers (1-7)
Hue Jackson, Browns (0-9)
Of course, few NFL head coaches take over great teams like Chucky did in 2002, or like Gary Kubiak did last year. Most of the time they’re grabbing the reins of a bad club in need of a makeover.
Koetter, for example, stepped in for a guy with an 8-24 record who was riding a four-game losing streak.
Joe sure hopes Koetter, by January, manages to move a few notches up the ladder when it comes to the head-coaching class of 2016.
November 8th, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Koetter is hamstrung by a crappy GM – Licht is a skunky GM and beer.
November 8th, 2016 at 1:55 pm
I don’t get all the hatred towards Licht, the last couple drafts have been the best in decades and he’s extended our key players. I will give that he’s made some bad free agent choices but to his credit, most free agents are free because they’re not that good anymore. If the owners keep him and Koetter for more than 3 yrs, I think it will do wonders for us.
November 8th, 2016 at 2:03 pm
al121976: people are just salty about him drafting a kicker. He has been excellent in the draft as you said, and he seems to be getting better in free agency. Although it would be near impossible to get worse after Collins and Johnson.
November 8th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
I agree al121974, that the mess they have to clean up from Dom/lovie, that a 3 year pass will be invoked from me as well!!! Though there are signs already of the improved coaching!!!! It funny that all the teams ahead of them have Cleveland on the schedule!!!!! But the Bucs needed to play this very difficult schedule!!! They needed to play with great teams!!!! They would not get better playing Jacksonville to OT for a win!!!!!!!
Go things are coming Buc Fans!!!!
GO Vote America!!!!!!
And GO BUCS!!!!!!!
November 8th, 2016 at 2:07 pm
Feel bad for the guy.
Marginal talent young inaccurate qb
November 8th, 2016 at 2:22 pm
Mort I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that Licht has improved in free agency. Definitely above average in the draft but so far not a single free agent has been successful.
November 8th, 2016 at 2:31 pm
And we could have easily of been 5-3. (Had a chance to win rams game and took Oakland to OT). This team is a better team than when Licht took over.
November 8th, 2016 at 2:35 pm
Also before anyone starts, players that the coaches suggest they bring in don’t count. I am talking about players that Licht and his team have done research on before taking them off the market.
November 8th, 2016 at 2:36 pm
@realist…improvement?…what improvement….oh you mean dirk’s good use of timeouts….or the good personnel he uses, or the penalties the team is not getting anymore, or the better defense we’re playing, or how jameis has progressed this year, or his creative play calling….yeah at 3-5 I can really see the improvement….cant wait to see the improvement vs Chicago….SMDH…GO BUCS!!!!
November 8th, 2016 at 2:47 pm
The Saints drafted WR Michael Thomas in the 2nd, then they traded back into the 2nd and drafted S Vonn Bell. That’s my definition of a good draft, the total opposite of the YUCS.
November 8th, 2016 at 2:51 pm
I think Koetter is doing a good job in his first year as HC…the offense is exciting and we can move the ball..it’s just we need a defensive identify and better defensive playing and play calling. ..hopefully we don’t have to go through another draft and staff changes before we start to see some winning around here. GO BUCS
November 8th, 2016 at 3:14 pm
The Yucs keep me laughing year after year, humor is the key to a long life. I may live to be a 100 years old, thanks Yucs for the laughs.
November 8th, 2016 at 3:16 pm
We easily could be 5-3…….a stalled drive and a hoding penalty cost us 2 games.
I think fans are cutting Koetter some slack because they realize we simply don’t have the talent we need to win consistantly.
Lovie didn’t get the same slack because he was blamed for the lack of talent because many of the players he brought in.
The jury is still out for me with Licht…..he needs to hit a home run in FA this year.
November 8th, 2016 at 3:31 pm
“I think fans are cutting Koetter some slack”
Only like a couple reasonable people are cutting the staff any slack. Seems like 1/2 or 2/3 of the posters think we should fire the GM & coach midway through the season lol.
Then there’s the 813s and others of the world that went into this season ready to pounce on the staff if we weren’t doing very well.
Most reasonable people saw the first 8 games and figured we’d be somewhere around 4-4. Maybe 5-3 if we were lucky. We played well enough to almost be 5-3. Should probably be 4-4. I don’t get the outrage lol. I don’t remember many people other than that Eric guy predicting playoffs. I’m always optimistic and I even only predicted a 9-7 record. I’m hopeful for 8-8 now
My take on
Koetter – 1st year HC. Give him time to adjust and learn. He’s already proven capable of generating an offense without much talent and we had the most yards ever I think last year? I mean does that not mean anything lol. Let’s see how we finish the year before accusing him of being incapable of the job.
Jason Light – biggest FA blunders were Lovie driven imo. Mainly the blown up O-line when Lovie immediately said they needed to change it; & then getting rid of Revis because he doesn’t fit the scheme; adding guys like Tim Jennings & Mike Jenkins; etc – all reeks of Lovie Smith. This was the first FA when Light was without Lovie and it’s looked a lot better than past FA outside of Sweezy; which was a medical blunder.
In general LIght has been bottom 1/3 in the league in FA. He has been top 1/3 in drafts though. Last draft wasn’t that great because of the stupid 2 picks for a kicker thing. But other than that we have a lot more names flashing as contributors from the past 3 drafts than we ever had from the last couple GMs.
Mike Smith _ let’s see how he adjusts. Not very good so far. But i still would rather have his defense than Lovie’s because weren’t not getting shredded every single week at 70% completion. We’ll see how the 2nd half goes
November 8th, 2016 at 3:32 pm
Two things will doom the early part of your career.
Being a new head NFL coach or being a #1 draft pick QB.
In both scenarios you are going to a really, really bad team which is why the situation occurred to begin with.
And in some cases…the Bucs…the Browns…the losing has been going on for a decade and a real losing culture has developed. Those are the most challgenging jobs.
November 8th, 2016 at 3:36 pm
SOUNDS MORE LIKE FIRST YEAR BLUNDER TO ME!!!!….GO BUCS!!!
November 8th, 2016 at 3:40 pm
“@realist…improvement?…what improvement”
Signs of things improved related to coaching:
Penalties – we are way down on the penalties compared to last year
Completion % – despite facing an easier schedule last year we are doing much better this year in terms of completion % allowed. From last place (at 70% !!!!) to 9th this year (62.1%).
3rd down conversion – we’re much better defense on 3rd down. We are top 7 in the NFL when it comes to allowing other teams to convert on 3rd down. We were bottom 6 last year.
There are a bunch of other stats we improved in but those are the most key ones to me and fit the picture I kind of see with the defense.
We give up way more big plays (which have lead to some big scores and some big yardage totals); but outside of that we are better defensively in pretty much every area. If they could cut down the big play screw ups the results would be significant.
November 8th, 2016 at 3:44 pm
@lord…very wrong sir…I went into the season supporting this staff….but after 8games, where’s the improvement?….the team has regressed….we’re losing games that are gifted wrapped for us, not to mention the hc’s poor in game decisions and lack of defense….all offseason people like yourself, @realist and others we’re screaming how good it feels to have a competent head coach….one that will put the players in position to win….one that knows how to create a defensive scheme that can generate qb pressure but the complete opposite has happened…our hc has no idea what he’s doing and the same goes for the dc….WHERE’S THE IMPROVEMENT????….GO BUCS!!!!
November 8th, 2016 at 3:56 pm
813 see some objective improvement I listed. Either way we still have 8 more games to judge
November 8th, 2016 at 3:56 pm
@lord…LOL…..yeah right….
did we not get a penalty that gave the raiders a win?…..Thursday’s game was full of them….did c.palmer, c.keenum, d.carr and m.ryan not carve us up?….thats every qb we played except for d.anderson and kap…..I think carr threw for over 500yards im not sure tho….the defense cant get off the field on 3rd down…that’s why we have gotten blown out TWICE this year already and we haven’t faced rivers,brees or dak yet….but yeah I see the improvement…..RIGHT…SMDH….GO BUCS!!!
November 8th, 2016 at 4:20 pm
have to say I was one of those expecting more,but nobody expected jameis to struggle as much as he has at critical times in the beginning of some games ,at the
second half of another, two fumbles he had a hand in last week.Koetter has struggled in part because of injuries to running backs, receivers and ASJ’s
failure.
And to be fair, First year HC Koetter is making some of the same mistakes
that Lovie made with 10 years of experience.
November 8th, 2016 at 4:27 pm
I clearly understand why Joe does not like statistics. They make too much sense.
November 8th, 2016 at 4:36 pm
Beware of the new orlean saints for the next 2 years
Kobe visions says 1 superbowl for new orleans saints next 2 years
They are going all out for brees last peak years
Great draft this year and few more pieces …watchout
Atl, car, no saints will be top 3 trending teams heading toward next year
Car and staints lost too many early games but they will be praling at end of the year
Next 3 years atl, no, and car will dominate and be forcejor forc
November 8th, 2016 at 4:41 pm
Sorry about last post
…major force in the nfc
We have a tough road ahead
We need a strong forward thinking gm and fo
Licht the kicker picker is outmatched
November 8th, 2016 at 5:17 pm
Speaking for Pablo
“Pablo likes coach Dirk, Pablo thinks he has better hair than coach Lovie. Pablo also likes Hason picking up Hosh Huff. Pablo has no problem with Huff and marijuana or guns…..as long as Hosh didn’t yank it in a Kmart parking lot”
November 8th, 2016 at 5:39 pm
its the same ole excuses..yr after yr. Koetters gotta clean up other coaches messes? PLEASE!! He’s got his own mess to clean up. Namely on Defense. Don’t worry, if he starts losing badly next year? These Bucs fans are gonna be screamin for his head on a platter. Koetters honeymoon is steadily being replaced with due bills. And HE..needs to get them paid or join the, gone Fishin crew.
November 9th, 2016 at 12:12 am
There’s loads of comments relating to Licht’ s F.A. acquisitions. Despite literally hundreds of posts they all can be summed up w “He’s done a terrible job” blah blah blah “He needs to be fired” blah ……blah.
As insightful and educational as that assessment is, there’s a few people who believe that information is so valuable that they’ve taken it upon themselves to repeat the living s@$& out it.
I’m guessing that a few people out there believe that “stupidity” (defined as;a condition that prevents prohibits or otherwise inhibits any other person from acknowledging that “I’m a football savant”)is best remedied w remedial opinions repeated again and again or until there’s unanimous agreement that 1 Lovie is to blame. 2 Licht sucks. Or both.
I propose instead of just repeating those two compelling options into perpetuity there’s another way. If we are considering the vast amounts of supremely gifted and thought provoking commentaries, provided without a charge or fee. Is it possible for someone to submit a single post that offers another possible factor or reason why F.A. has been unsuccessful?
November 9th, 2016 at 11:00 am
Kobe Faker, have you ever said anything positive in here?
Injuries are our issue and the inability to learn this defensive system as fast as intended. Period. We have the talent and nobody was predicting the superbowl this year. Everyone needs to relax and hope for improvement. Which is going to happen.
This whole division is trending upward but not to the extent you are insinuating. Cam is a target, Brees is almost done, and the Falcons are legit but we can hang as evidenced by week 1.
Get healthy and get better. The wins will come.