Dirk Koetter: “Jameis’ Accuracy Was Affected”
December 9th, 2017
Typically perched in his home office on Friday evenings (Joe imagines with a beer but cannot confirm), Dirk Koetter is peppered with Bucs questions.
They come from fanatical Buccaneers fans firing away on the Buccaneers Radio Network.
Yesterday, “Jim in Sarasota,” who called himself a Koetter fan and “an admitted Jameis homer,” asked the head coach if Jameis’ shoulder injury early against Arizona hurt Jameis’ accuracy through the rest of the season.
Koetter delivered a thoughtful and heartfelt answer.
“I do think that Jameis’ accuracy was affected by the injury because, let’s face it, his injury was to his throwing shoulder,” Koetter said. “Jameis is an unbelievably tough player physically and a tough competitor. A lot of quarterbacks in this league play through injuries. Stafford, the guy we’re playing against this week in Detriot, is a good example, Ben Roethlisberger.
“That’s what quarterbacks do. We were pretty fortunate the first two years that we were able to make it through and play all the snaps. Anytime you’re dealing with a shoulder injury, of course, you can teach yourself how to adjust your motion a little bit and, you know, change your timing up so that you can continue to play. But I do think that has had an effect on Jameis this year. To what degree, no one will be able know that 100 percent, for sure, maybe Jameis. But outside of that, nobody else. I mean, God knows we’ve had tons of MRIs and doctors and multiple opinion, and they’ve all done a fantastic job. The bottom line is players have to play injured in this league or do play injured in this league, all the time, different degrees of injury.”
All part of the learning process for Jameis, learning to play through injury, learning to lead through injury, and learning to come back midseason from an injury while continuing to learn and grow as a quarterback.
One nugget largely overlooked by many this week is the fact “shoulder” is no longer on the injury report for Jameis. It’s a non-issue. It’s all good after its first real test in Green Bay.
However, Jameis badly tweaked his ankle against the Packers and still was limping in practice this week. That was on the injury report, and Jameis dealt with ankle issues in college and previously with the Bucs.
As Koetter said, how much Jameis struggled with accuracy while his shoulder injury is unknown. He was very good in Buffalo, but perhaps he would have been better if healthy?
Joe is not concerned about Jameis’ throwing accuracy and his playing ability. Joe’s greatest concern is whether Jameis’ accuracy is on the money when it comes to what happened during his last Uber booking.
December 9th, 2017 at 1:00 pm
Not a Jameis hater at all but just don’t think at this point he is any better than just average. As a third year starter I really do think that Jameis is what he is and will be. Really do hope he improves as he gets older. But Geez, we’re really getting tired of excuse after excuse to try to justify his play
December 9th, 2017 at 1:23 pm
Always..an excuse with our Bucs Huh? Shoulder, leg, arm…LOSING!! Agreed BrianBucs, Jameis is averae this yr. His counterpart ..that kid with the Titans, whats his name? is doing better than him. Why? His team..is winning and he has no sexual allegations against him. PS..That Titans QB hates Crablegs too!!
December 9th, 2017 at 1:23 pm
@Joe … “Joe is not concerned about Jameis’ throwing accuracy and his playing ability.”
Judging from many of the other comments I’ve read on JBF & elsewhere, I’d venture a guess that you’re in the minority Joe.
@Joe … ” Joe’s greatest concern is whether Jameis’ accuracy is on the money when it comes to what happened during his last Uber booking.” Reading between the lines Joe, doesn’t sound like you’re 100% convinced that Jameis is telling the truth about that incident. Otherwise, why would you even bring it up?
@Dirk … “I do think that Jameis’ accuracy was affected by the injury because, let’s face it, his injury was to his throwing shoulder.” Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m reading that to say “Yes, his throwing shoulder was injured, but I put him out there anyways, lower accuracy and all, instead of letting Fitz start. Jameis definitely gave us a better chance of winning.” Uhhh, really? Many JBF fans, including myself, were calling for Koetter to sit Jameis & let the shoulder heal COMPLETELY rather than risk further injury. But noooo …
December 9th, 2017 at 1:44 pm
Fameis will lead us to a SB, and soon. My concern lies on defense. Simply put DC Mike Smith has been a total disappointment. I submit that Smitty wants to be a HC so badly that I think is actually throwing games so as to be released from TB. Then again, I recall his other defenses weren’t diamonds either. I say Mike Smith to Giants is a done deal, and good riddance, too.
December 9th, 2017 at 1:45 pm
Amazing that his accuracy was pretty much the same as it’s been the rest of his career. To Brian’s point the guy is who he is and that is AVERAGE! Queue the insults and haters in … 3,2,1
December 9th, 2017 at 1:49 pm
Jimbuc-were only going to a SB with Winston if he rents a bus and invites some of the fans to come along. Turnover machines don’t make playoffs let alone go to SB
December 9th, 2017 at 1:53 pm
BS….Aimless has ALWAYS had accuracy issues….hell he was reaching for a boob in the Uber ride
December 9th, 2017 at 1:54 pm
Altered Ego- that’s priceless and likely true. Haters ready, 3,2,1
December 9th, 2017 at 2:03 pm
This guy will say anything to save his job suddenly I so hope he gets fired. If his accuracy was affected why did it take so long to admit he was too hurt to play, why not pull back after the injury in the Vikings game, if he had sat Winston earlier he’d probably have an excuse to save his job. To smart and trying to outthink everyone is causing him to look stupid
December 9th, 2017 at 2:05 pm
Jw > Peyton Manning write it down now.
December 9th, 2017 at 2:18 pm
Groping drivers ain’t good for the throwing shoulder either. Word on the street is Jameis has been taking a lot of Lyft’s and re-aggravated it.
December 9th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
3 years in and I have no physical worries about #3…his arm and accuracy will be fine. But mentally and emotionally I need to see improvement!!! His decision making ability is no better in year three than it was in year one! That is disturbing. Maybe he’s uncoachable?
The only thing left to hope is that #3 has an epiphany and learns the value of managing a good football game. If #3 could simply gain respect for the value of the security of the football he’d be on his way.
December 9th, 2017 at 2:30 pm
It’s funny that bill bilacheat THE GOAT says Jw is a franchise Qb and don’t need to prove anything else. So Bucs fans knows more than him? I doubt that
December 9th, 2017 at 3:02 pm
The elephant is the turnovers and the lack of progress in that area.
December 9th, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Accuracy on the deep balls has never been one of JW’s strong points, even before the injury. Jameis needs a QB coach who can help improve his accuracy during the off season because it’s obvious signing a deep threat such as Jackson didn’t improve it one bit. Speed may make up a slight inaccuracy, but when JW misses, he misses by more than speed can make up for.
Heck, DJ’s been respectfully silent on it all season, but no doubt he’s frustrated. It makes me wonder in hindsight what DJ was thinking when deciding whether to join the Bucs or not, didn’t he look at JW’s film first?
December 9th, 2017 at 3:52 pm
Is it the same ankle Jameis injured in college and the preseason his rookie season?????
December 9th, 2017 at 4:09 pm
I have been critical of Koetter and the way that he has handled Winston. I think he realizes or has been advised that he needed to change his public rhetoric regarding Winston. Or just maybe, he has had a newfound understanding regarding the correlation between confidence and the speed and quality of decisions.
I know most around here will scoff at these comments, but I feel hypocritical if a call Koetter out for something I perceive as a flaw without applauding him when he adjusts. It would be like hammering Winston for his INT’s without considering if they were up or down per pass attempt.
The most critical relationship on any successful football team is the one between the coach and the starting QB. To me this represents a course change in Koetter. Now let’s see how Winston responds.
December 9th, 2017 at 4:54 pm
Buc haters will eat their words, u guys are so idiotic. Do u haters remeber that the Bucs were 2-1 and we lost to the PATS in a Thursday night game? In that game Belichek outcoached Koetter and the PATS played good defense and everyone blamed Jameis for the loss. If we had a kicker we win that game and by the way Jameis in the no huddle threw for 225 yards in the 4th quarter and the Bucs nearly won on the last play. Also it was Martin’s first game back and in my opinion Dirk abandoned the run too early. But the haters blamed Jameis for the loss. The BUCS were 2-2 and Jameis completion % was at 67% and he had 7TD’s and 3 INT’S. & NO FUMBLES. The interceptions were all in ONE game against the Vikings so at 2-2 NO ONE had issues with accuracy. It wasnt until AFTER THE INJURY that Jameis become beyond inaccurate. So how can you sit there Jameis Haters and make a case for Jameis being a bust when he was injured ON THE FIRST SERIES OF THE FREAKING 5TH GAME? Next year if Jameis continues to throw picks on his way down from a sack or fumbles instead of eating the ball then i will agree but at 23 years old i am NOT going there now. If you do the research instead of ONLY pointing out weaknesses than its not about facts for you Haters its only about HATE
December 9th, 2017 at 5:30 pm
∆∆∆
Another thing. I don’t see a Qb out Brady or Wilson taking the league away by storm either. Besides those two, all the rest even Wentz have issues
December 9th, 2017 at 11:38 pm
Brian Buc may have a point. In some drafts the top QBs simply do not pan out: look at the Jags with Bortles, not what they expected with the 2nd or 3rd overall pick and perhaps the Titans and the Bucs are both looking at the same situation. I have read that a lot of fans think Mariota is the better qb, but have you looked at his stats this year? He has regressed worse than winston with 10 TDs and 13 picks and also missing more time via an injury, the kid is fragile…. I think the jury is still out on JW, this season was marred by Irma, Winston simply trying too much and trying to play through a bad injury and simply bad play calling by Koetter and Mike Smith’s D simply putting the Bucs behind the 8 ball week after week. Last year the Bucs took advantage of a cake schedule and some good road wins, this year the Bucs have lost those games that they won in 2016 (Buffalo, Green Bay, ATL)…. The Titans and their fans are overlooking Mariota’s regression simply because they are 8-4 with wins over Cleveland, the Giants, Colts twice and Texans. They would have been 9-3 but they lost to a Miami team that the Bucs actually beat. Schedule says a lot fans.