“We Screwed Ourselves”
January 28th, 2018
Gerald McCoy delivered quite a well versed and reasoned take on the 2017 season this week as he prepared to play in this afternoon’s Pro Bowl in Orlando.
McCoy talked about some hard truths. And in a way, they might bring comfort to optimistic Bucs fans, which can be hard to find these days.
“As far as the season goes, man, we screwed ourselves,” McCoy said. “Just being honest.
“You can point to defense, you can point to offense, you can point to coaching. you can point so many different places. You can point to injuries. There’s a lot of different excuses we can make, but I’m not going to make any of them. I’m going to say we screwed ourselves.
“We had all the players we needed. Potential means nothing. People say, ‘Oh, so much potential.’ That means nothing. You gotta go out there and make that potential a reality and we didn’t. We beat ourselves so many times. We had teams beat and we would screw ourselves with penalties, or a turnover, or the defense would need one stop. We stop’em all game and need one stop to win the game and we can’t stop’em. We just screwed ourselves. And that really was the epitome of what the season was. I’m just really excited that we finished our last game with a win at home. That’s always great to go into the offseason, even though your season wasn’t what it should have been.”
Yes, the Bucs have many deficiencies and problems that McCoy did not address here. But they still remained a team that was one late stop from victory in Buffalo and in Carolina. And there was the ugly collapse in Green Bay that led to an overtime loss, and the Nick Folk crap show on shoulda-beat-the-Patriots night.
Being very close, unfortunately, doesn’t count. Every bad NFL team can’t point to a few tight losses. Heck, the 2013 Bucs lost their first two games by a combined total of three points. Lavonte David blew the first one with a few seconds remaining, and the officials stole the second one. A little luck there and Bucs history probably looks a lot different.
Were the 2017 Bucs close to being a good team? No.
But it feels that way to a lot of players and management. Hopefully that that mindset won’t be this team’s 2018 downfall.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:09 am
Sounds like a broken record. “We should’ve played better” or “We weren’t prepared”. Bucs fans have been hearing this for years. Talking means nothing unless you back it up.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:10 am
“There is a lot of different excuse we could make” LMMFAO!!! Spoken by the excuse master herself!! Batgirl!! Dude is such a showboat look at me kind of player.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:11 am
The Rest of the NFL to the Bucs: “Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself dweeb!”
January 28th, 2018 at 9:11 am
He sounded better last year when he pointed the finger at himself saying HE needed to make more plays with the games on the line. He didn’t but taking responsibility is what men do! Pointing in every direction is what losers do!
January 28th, 2018 at 9:21 am
GMC get the hint that most Buc fans hate you and are tired of your act and just STFU!! If you had any kind of nads you would finally set out to prove us wrong.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:22 am
stuck on repeat….
January 28th, 2018 at 9:35 am
Does he ever stop talking?
Probably a great guy personally, but I hate having him on the team I care about. I’m so sick of hearing him talk about what he and his teammates did wrong every year. He’s a loser, bottom line. He has a loser mentality. That mentality is infecting the rest of the group.
Great players from winning organizations come in and suddenly can’t play. Bucs players leave and go to other organizations and become winners.
Extreme measures need to be taken to remove the sickness from this organization.
January 28th, 2018 at 9:48 am
Trade Gmc…tired of “building” around him…hasn’t worked and I’m tired of his mouth…b gone fool
January 28th, 2018 at 9:54 am
And before the name calling starts. I’ll say this. He is a ok player. Yet, yes I would trade the “best” dline player on the worst line in football. Gtfoh he’s not the end all be all.
You mean to tell me during the season that you get paid for, u miss games but can play in the pro bowl? I hate him being on the Bucs now
January 28th, 2018 at 9:58 am
Joe calls bringing back coaches after a bad year of injuries for the Bucs “insanity”!!!!!!!!! {{{Remainder deleted}}}Look, man, write your own stuff instead of misrepresenting Joe. –Joe
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 28th, 2018 at 10:01 am
Every year this clown runs his mouth yet the results are the same under his tenure has captain. Not a single win in his meaningless career and a permanent residency in the nfc south basement. Thanks captain blowout. Absolutely the most overrated career loser to play any sport. Total failure 8 years and counting
January 28th, 2018 at 10:03 am
Mel Gibson should cast the Bucs and all coaches in his, Apopcalypo 2. They can just call the team, (every Years)…ALMOST and have Mike Smith directing the Natives assault. Man that would be, Academy Award material!!
January 28th, 2018 at 10:08 am
At least he noticed we lost.
January 28th, 2018 at 10:09 am
Story of his career. Good stats no meaningful wins.
January 28th, 2018 at 10:12 am
I disagree with McCoy when he says his defense would stop them all game… nah man, it wasn’t quite like that. All game ever game you guys simply didn’t make opposing QBs feel the least bit uncomfortable. And on offense they simply overestimated the Oline and Doug Martins abilities and ended up having zero run game. That pretty much it. They can fix the run game easily next year. Fixing the Dline tho will be a tough feat.
January 28th, 2018 at 10:17 am
MR “all bark, no bite” who showed up to trading camp dressed like a geisha girl and plays with Batman dolls is always running his mouth. Lead by example and staring winning a few games by having a shut down defense and the fans will return. Until then, it will be more of the same.
January 28th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Joe says:
” instead of misrepresenting Joe.”
Sooooo, your in the trade GMC93 camp????? and the plot thickens!!!!!!!!!!
Fix the “real” issues, the “trenches”
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 28th, 2018 at 10:38 am
Can GMC and “ourselves” figure it out during the season when it is happening rather then after the fact??
GMC we can’t keep doing this with you. Sounds like u guys got a pass for last year failures
January 28th, 2018 at 10:42 am
I wish this guy would just shut up. Talks all this trash in the off-season and doesn’t have anything to say when they are losing during the season. I honestly don’t ever expect him to get traded or cut and I’m not asking for that but I will say I can’t wait until this team moves on from Gerald McCoy on a few years, please don’t give him another contract after this one is up please
January 28th, 2018 at 10:47 am
GMC is a very good player but not great or dominant. This is all noise. If the Bucs were run like NE, he would be traded for picks or another player to fill a weakness. Yes, I am in that camp as I think the team would improve faster long term.
January 28th, 2018 at 10:49 am
If the trade GMC team thinks that a dt is the reason bucs have had a bad record since he has been here, NEWS FLASH yall are far from football experts, fans yes but to blame one player and a dt at that for losing is silly. Aaron Donald is pretty good dt and his team sucked too till this season as Gurley and others balled out, I doubt rams fans wanted to run him out of town. Like it or not n i can tell most on here hate it but GMC is one of the productive players. Idiots
January 28th, 2018 at 10:54 am
I could swear that John McKay was saying the exact same thing over 40 years ago.
January 28th, 2018 at 10:59 am
Wow yall are all idiots, GMC is a great player like what more do you want from him? Hes a DT! u act like he plays every possiton on the field and he should get a sack every play. Thats nonsense…. Trade GMC for a 1st round pick LOL! if hes worth a 1st round pick then why would we trade him smh like some of dont even think for a second befor yall speak. Give GMC some help on the D line and he will look even better. I blame the DLine problems solely on Jason Licht. Is this his 4th draft and we still have no young premier pass rusher that has been developed. Thats so sad.. should have fired licht this year, good guy but not the right guy
January 28th, 2018 at 11:01 am
A winning team, army, company, etc, needs good leadership. Too many close games amounts to enough talent but subpar leadership.
January 28th, 2018 at 11:02 am
GMC is not an Outstanding player. But he is a very good player. Problem is..he ain’t got much help..when he needs it. But for you who say he’s garbage..Ever notice how terrible our Defensive line truly is..without him? GET THE MAN SOME HELP!!
January 28th, 2018 at 11:21 am
This website is infested with life long community cancers.
I wish yall would stop talking but you wont.
There is nothing wrong with anything GMC does for this team or community.
Yall kill what you don’t understand. Which is why I suggest yall go kill yourselves now.
So tired of wasting my time on this site looking to talk football just have you cancers trolls take over.
But Joe likes feeding yall so I guess it will be me that leaves.
Buccaneers.com has always had the goods.
JBF was cool. Now it just a platform to show that its not our team thats pathetic. Its our fans and community.
Go Eagles
January 28th, 2018 at 11:35 am
Mike Johnson
Gmc is garbage and there is no drop off when he doesn’t play
January 28th, 2018 at 11:44 am
Let me put this in hindsight
We are more likely to get blown out of a game this year with GMC in the game than when he is not playing
Cards, Minn, Saints game for example
January 28th, 2018 at 12:17 pm
Ok Lamarcus. Get rid of GMC and see..Hoe much further behind that puts your vaulted Bucs. See just how much more we become..the laughing stock of the NFl. Go Right ahead and trade him, I DARE YOU’S!!!! Losers, all of you!!
January 28th, 2018 at 12:29 pm
Guys…..Guys!
Don’t you realize the Great Cancer93 was being barraged by 3 or 4 reporters when he gave his annual “Aw Shucks” statement.
That’s a lot of pressure…… we need to get him some help.
Like trade his sorry azz asap.
January 28th, 2018 at 1:12 pm
@Joe … “Were the 2017 Bucs close to being a good team? No.” Joe I’ll give you all the credit in the world for being one of only two or three above who are at least focusing on the REAL ISSUE. And GMC is not the REAL ISSUE folks.
He’s a DT, and a very good one at that. Disregard whether he’s a team leader or not (playing DLine doesn’t require that he be a team leader). Disregard how much money he makes (that’s the Bucs’ management’s concern, not ours). Focus ONLY on the plays he makes on game days. Guess what … GMC might not be the top DT in the league, but he’s right up there, year after year. Danged, y’all are turning into a bunch of whiny babies. Fix the REAL ISSUES (especially in the trenches) and THEN let’s see what we’ve got.
GMC was right BTW … Bucs screwed themselves. At best this team was probably never going to do any better than 9-7 like they did in 2016. Licht must improve the DLine, OLine, RBs & Secondary if we expect to ever be competitive in the NFC South.
January 28th, 2018 at 1:15 pm
Isn’t this from his interview with Michael Report?
January 28th, 2018 at 1:29 pm
You can say what you will about Sapp but he made the guy next to him a lot better. I wounder what Hovan, Culpepper, McFarland would do next to GM. i’d suspect that they wouldn’t get 6 plus sacks each like they did next to Sapp.
January 28th, 2018 at 1:29 pm
GMC is a good player except he is SOFT with no mean streak that is needed in the trenches.
January 28th, 2018 at 2:26 pm
Well GMC, being glad with that one last home win, the Bucs screwed themselves again! They screwed up having an awesome draft pick for a meaningless win…
Icing on the cake for a crash & burn season!
January 28th, 2018 at 3:03 pm
Defense…spot on. Folks crying clouds your vision. Mccoy is not the problem. You’d like him to be because that would make it easier and you would somehow seem smarter and the object of your “painful” frustration would be gone. The better way is to improve the roster (key spots on the line IMO) and improve the coaching at key junctures in game. That would make us a more consistently competitive team. A winning team (which is what we want to be).
January 28th, 2018 at 3:10 pm
PS: unfounded personal attacks (ice cream, batgirl, selfish, she) only reflect on the decency of the poster. Why would you call someone on your team who consistently demonstrates he is a good person (advise us all on what crime mccoy has committed or one word of hate he has voiced) a she when he is not. Total lack of decency supported by a far removed keyboard. IMO, staight cowardly and ignorant. Simple as that. Go Bucs!
January 28th, 2018 at 3:14 pm
JAB83, please don’t give up. There are a few posters here who enjoy football and have something besides ignorance and hate to spew.
January 28th, 2018 at 3:28 pm
They screwed themselves because they couldn’t rush the passer, couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t run the football, couldn’t kick a field goal and couldn’t figure it out before the season started
January 28th, 2018 at 3:31 pm
No, it really was mainly the defense that screwed the Bucs over. After Jameis gave the Bucs a 4th quarter lead – how many of those games did the defense blow – what was it 5? That’s on the defense, it was terrible.
January 28th, 2018 at 3:33 pm
McFraud is being negative, Joe should not print his words. After all, McFraud said he would not address negative questions
January 28th, 2018 at 4:14 pm
Top heavy at WR and linebacker,so why diid Licht not address Dline. Ayers has the attitude but his play has tailed off and only has been on the field for 12 games
in his last four years. . This is bad trend that should have been addressed. Baker was brought in to shore up the middle but he was too easily handled by double teams for big runs. You gotta expect a 335 pound guy to clog the middle and that didn’t happen. Reccomend the cover three article by Trevor Sikkama on pewter Report on Vita Vea.
In it describes some of the things Mike Smith tried to do towork around bad
or lack of personnel.
1.using McCoy to take on doubleteams as a decoy for an aging Robert Ayers to rush the passer.
2.Taking Baker out and inserting McCoy at the 0 technique DT in the three
man front. because Baker was getting blown up on double teams.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:03 pm
The McCoy hate is real. Lol
Seriously guys, if you want to point blame for lack of pass rush find someone else to blame. McCoy has not had a legitimate rush tandem since he been here, they let the only good one go for no damn reason you know this by now.
January 28th, 2018 at 5:50 pm
I think people are mad at GMC because he is not dominate say like Aaron Donald and Fletcher cox. He gets paid like he should be able to take over a game but he rarely doesn’t. I think we should draft Vita with the 7 pick. He has that nasty we need. Try to get Robert Quinn if he leaves the Rams
January 28th, 2018 at 6:15 pm
They are still screwing themselves, by not even considering upgrading any of the coaches. It’s like denying you have any problems or need to get better. smh Basically, were hoping for a miracle next year!
January 28th, 2018 at 7:31 pm
Careful…. He’ll be telling peeps to come meet him at one buc, lol.
January 28th, 2018 at 7:32 pm
Just put chubb and vita on both sides of him and we’ll see something from him, hopefully.