“That’s A Jason Licht Issue”
January 11th, 2018
GM Jason Licht
Former Bucs glory days defensive tackle Booger McFarland, now a busy ESPN analyst, has clarity on the issues holding back the Buccaneers.
Booger was busy this week pointing a finger and America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, and general manager Jason Licht on WDAE-AM 620.
Here is most of his Monday commentary on the state of Tampa Bay.
“The talent doesn’t always play to the level it needs to,” Booger said. “Jameis Winston is a very good quarterback from 15 to zero yards. He’s got to get better throwing the ball down the field. I think DeSean Jackson would have had another seven or eight touchdowns if Jameis was as little more accurate throwing the football.
“Defensively, their front line talent is really good, their depth is really not. That’s a Jason Licht issue.
“Jason Licht has to get the depth on this team better. And I think the Bucs are headed the right way, the question is how patient are the Glazers going to be. And more importantly, the expectations. We all thought 9-7 a year ago, what can they do this year? And it was really an epic fail. I think a lot of that can be attributed to injuries and we can make excuses. But the guys have to play a lot better. And that’s quarterback, that’s defensively, front-office-wise, they have to get better personnel, not the 1-22, but the 22-35 on the roster have to be better. If they don’t, then I think you’re going to see the same result next year.
“I think the Bucs took a step back this year but I wouldn’t say it’s a catastrophic step. I think it could be one step back to take two steps forward, especially if they address some off the issues they have.”
Lot of meat on Booger’s buffet there.
As for Team Glazer patience, well, that’s probably exhausted at this point, after the owners showed restraint and calm and kept Dirk Koetter and his staff, and granted Licht a fifth season at GM.
Expectations? Joe expects nothing until seeing what does — and doesn’t — happen in free agency and in the draft, and with the woefully under-performing defensive coaching staff.
Joe’s not as upbeat as Booger about the Bucs’ talent at the starting positions, but it certainly was enough talent to win more games.
And yes, Booger is on the money, Jameis must play signficantly better for the Bucs to have a chance in this division. He has to stop giving the ball away like it’s a water cup at a marathon.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:00 am
Can’t disagree with that at all. Once we lost Spence, Grimes we had no pressure and a damn disaster at CB. I don’t expect backups to come in and be superstars but they need to be functional.
Jason does get an A+ for LB depth though. The entire group from the first 3 starters to the two rotating backups were outstanding all in all.
DL and DB’s are a HUGE issue
January 11th, 2018 at 10:14 am
That about sums it up!
January 11th, 2018 at 10:14 am
Lol the linebacker depth is the main reason that I want Mike Smith gone. We can all make excuses for Mike Smith, saying that he doesn’t have rich talent to work with on the D, but one thing we ALL agree on is that we have incredible linebacker depth. He refused to use any of them to at least try to get consistent pressure.
As respectable as he may be, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that his “best” defensive scheming days are behind him. The entire NFC south made the playoffs this year except us! Joe has been hitting the nail on the head. Tampa lacks the level of accountability as our nfc south counterparts.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:15 am
Don’t look now but Grimes is about to retire.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:16 am
Like a water cup at a marathon…. that is a great line joe.
So many holes to fill. We need 3 new defensive lineman at least and a whole redo in the defensive backfield, plus a bunch of O line help and a 1RB… that’s a lot for one offseason.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:18 am
Patriots…….loss by 5 (3 missed FGs , missed PAT)
Bills…………loss by 3
Packers…….loss in OT
Lions……….loss by 3
Falcons…….loss by 3
Panthers…..loss by 3
Yeah I know that they are all losses but it demonstrates that we are a lot closer than most people think. We were in All of those games. For the most part D plays pretty well we could Easily be 11 and 5 instead of the other way around. A Pass Rush and a better OL next yr and we will be looking good.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:21 am
That was supposed to read ‘ For the most part the D plays well until the last few minutes of the game”
January 11th, 2018 at 10:23 am
If you look at Jax, Tennessee, Buffalo, Rams, and New Orleans, nobody thought those were playoff teams coming into the season. That’s the beauty of the NFL. Teams that seem like they are years away from even being competitive end up being playoff teams. There is zero reason why the same can’t apply to the Bucs. We have holes in our roster, but we also have some really good pieces in place. If we can get even an average pass rush (really shouldn’t be that hard to do, but it has eluded us for a really long time), we should be able to compete for a playoff birth.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:27 am
Man you tell some fans that Jameis must play better. More consistently. These guys lose their mind. How dare you say anything about their savior. Hes very inaccurate at times. Thats the truth. And makes some ridiculous mistakes too. But im a fan of his. I think he can and will improve.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:27 am
I just cannot understand when the QB is hurt and we have no running game, and the worst defense in football why everyone, including ex players look at the QB first. I mean yes he can get better but dang what do people expect? He is not perfect, newsflash he is never going to be perfect. I mean look a Drew Brees the last 3 years. They won 7 games each of those years missing the playoffs and Drew Brees was awesome! Now this year you give him a great running game and an average defense and they are looking like they are going to the Super Bowl. It really isn’t that hard folks, the QB must be good but if you cant do ANYTHING else well you are not going to win. Jameis needs to get better at the boneheaded play and the deep ball (really only to D-Jax) but look at how he got better in every other part of the game. His accuracy, running with the ball at the right times just to pick up 1st downs, his picks were down. I mean I guess everyone just thinks cause you are the number one pick a team needs nothing else to win. It is crazy and I would contend that even if he cleaned up his issues this year we might have won what at best 7 games? You just cannot compete with the worst defense in football and no running game. History shows it has never been done so why would we be any different?
January 11th, 2018 at 10:28 am
Are the owners impatient????? or is the local media and the sheep????? for once we should be congratulating owners ship for staying the course!!!!!! Very surprised that this website even mentioned NFL GM Licht and the incomplete roster!!!!!!!
Best line from local media ” Its unacceptable that Coach Mike Smith does not have a pass rush, fire him!!!!! Then ask if that was a NFL GM Licht issue and the answer was “rome was not built in a day”!!!!!!!! Then proceeds to mock DE for 1st selection in the draft for the Bucs and best free agent!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!
January 11th, 2018 at 10:38 am
The front line talent is really good?
January 11th, 2018 at 10:38 am
“not the 1-22,” what pass rush was Booger staring at?
January 11th, 2018 at 10:41 am
Realist we all know the DE’s were horrible but come you even you could not be happy with the complete lack of creativity this defensive staff showed this year. We all know you love Mike Smith, and that’s fine, but for real you had to be sick to your stomach at times watching the missed tackles, blown assignments, jumping offsides, poor stunts, lack of effort, etc….. That all ties back to coaching and it cannot be 100% on the players when other teams are getting much more out of similar talent at various positions.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:42 am
I miss his radio show. Far better than what the competition provided, and continues to provide.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:43 am
Ndog
JW is a easy target for lazy analysis who really don’t follow the Bucs but pretend they know. Booger said we have talent defensive line 😂😂😂
Then he said our depth sucks. Didn’t we play our best ball with the reserves??
Come on. Seems every time one of these outsiders cover this team misses the mark far and away.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:45 am
Right on the money.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:48 am
“I think DeSean Jackson would have had another seven or eight touchdowns if Jameis was as little more accurate throwing the football”
I’d f*cking love to see the tape backing up that statement of horse sh1t.
I counted 1 obvious (Vikings game – interception in end zone); and maybe 2 50/50 type plays where that applied. Add another 50/50 for Fitzpatrick where Djax made no effort on the ball. This idea that Djax had large separation (like 2-3 yards) open for TDs on 8 plays that Winston missed is insane to me. IT’s more like 1-2 feet max of separation and a lot of playable balls he didn’t go for
January 11th, 2018 at 10:49 am
I agree Joe, that’s a ‘Lot of meat on Booger’s buffet.’ Like you, I’m not ‘as upbeat as Booger about the Bucs’ talent at the starting positions, but it certainly was enough talent to win more games.’ Bucs played a number of close games this year, and a little extra talent at certain key positions could’ve easily made the difference between Winning & Losing. Jameis doing a better job of not turning the ball over will be a huge factor going forward.
One of the things I noticed this past year after Jameis came back (last 4 games) is that he turned the ball over A BUNCH. Bucs lost to Detroit by 3 pts, but we had FIVE turnovers (3 by Jameis) & that was a killer. Bucs lost to Atlanta by 3 pts also … Jameis had an unbelievable game but we again lost the turnover battle (barely). We lost to Carolina by 3 pts, and one again lost the turnover battle (yup, Jameis fumbled THREE times). Closed out the season with our 31-24 win at New Orleans … thankfully Jameis had a monster game, even though he had THREE INTs.
In just those 4 games (we went 1-3), Jameis threw 5 INTs & lost 4 fumbles. The rest of the team added 3 more fumbles for a total of TWELVE turnovers in 4 games. And yet, we won 1 game of those 4, and lost the other 3 games by a TOTAL of 9 points. Cut down on the turnovers by just 1 each game and we very possibly could’ve gone 4-0 in those 4 games. Hmmm, maybe Lovie Smith was onto something.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:58 am
Anytime Jameis threw the ball to Jackson and it wasn’t completed the haters
shout overthrow.
When really no way to tell unless you knew the pattern and where he was supposed to be. and a lot of times a DB will let up on an overthrow, giving the appearance of a wide open receiver.
Totally overblown. A lazy go to narrative. I did not care for Jackson’s attitude and would prefer him jettisoned. No accident JW played better when he got hurt.
January 11th, 2018 at 11:05 am
you have 2-3 players on the bucs defense that would start on another NFL team and then maybe 5 total that could play on an NFL team as backups or whatever, that is terrible and flat on Licht
January 11th, 2018 at 11:25 am
SB Says:
January 11th, 2018 at 10:18 am
Patriots…….loss by 5 (3 missed FGs , missed PAT)
Bills…………loss by 3
Packers…….loss in OT
Lions……….loss by 3
Falcons…….loss by 3
Panthers…..loss by 3
Yeah I know that they are all losses but it demonstrates that we are a lot closer than most people think. We were in All of those games. For the most part D plays pretty well we could Easily be 11 and 5 instead of the other way around. A Pass Rush and a better OL next yr and we will be looking good.
AGREED. It also shows a team that DID NOT QUIT on it’s coach. Very important and revealing.
January 11th, 2018 at 11:28 am
When Booger says the Bucs talent didn’t play up to its level. If anyone should know its Booger. A total underachiever.
January 11th, 2018 at 11:35 am
It’s on you Jason Gump – spend that Glazer loot
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/defensive-end/
January 11th, 2018 at 11:37 am
Come on Gump, DO IT –
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/defensive-tackle/
January 11th, 2018 at 11:44 am
I blame it on Gerald McCoy and Doug Martin!
January 11th, 2018 at 12:04 pm
@Eric
I think you have a lot of good points in your analysis of Jackson and Jameis
January 11th, 2018 at 12:05 pm
We haven’t had a pass rush in over a decade and every offseason we do very little to fix it. Can someone please explain that to me?
January 11th, 2018 at 12:09 pm
Said it for two seasons now since the beginning…..since the day he was hired.
CAPS LOCK- THIS TEAM WILL NOT BE A WINNER WITH A MIKE SMITH DEFENSE!!!
January 11th, 2018 at 12:32 pm
So sad to see the Winston Guardians of the Bay blame Djax for Winston’s shortcomings. Plainly obvious that the agenda is to get rid of a player because he exposes the horrible weakness of their savior. Having Djax here proves her just stinks at throwing the deep ball. Yeah just get rid of the most effective deep ball wide receiver in the last decade so there is no evidence of his poor accuracy on deep throws. I don’t expect perfection but I do expect him to hit on at least half of those passes. Hearing people say he should just dive for every poorly thrown ball is just ridiculous. Here’s a thought, instead over him having to dive for those overthrows just thRow an accurate ball so that he can actually catch it in stride and get what we never achieve….YAC!
January 11th, 2018 at 12:47 pm
Uh oh SB, you’re going to trigger the YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE fruitcakes when you point out close loses – or if you point out the Bucs okayed the toughest schedule in the NFL or if you point out the Bucs lost only one game all season to a team under .500. Those dopes don’t like if you counter their talk with anything of depth – it makes them angry and confused since you thoughts won’t fit on a bumper sticker and that’s as much reading as they can do in one sitting.
January 11th, 2018 at 12:50 pm
I think Booger was spot on in his review…maybe a little more positive about DL talent than me but overall I agree.
Hawaiian Also totally agree with the thrust of your post….yes worst to first used to be the mantra in the NFC South…perhaps we can revive it in 2018.
But to be honest…there are pretenders and there are contenders.
The Rams are a young, talented, up and coming team with an excellent young coach..may still be a little soon for them but they look like contenders by next year at least.
New Orleans is clearly a good team…with a GREAT QB…they are not that big of a surprise.
The other three you mentioned though are clearly pretenders. Tenn..Jax and Buffalo are not really that talented. All NFL teams have a good share of talent but these three teams seem to me to have a ways to go….farther than the Bucs…before they move from pretender to contender.
January 11th, 2018 at 1:13 pm
Some things I learned en route to looking up other things:
The Bucs scored 335 total points this year. In the three games started by Fitzpatrick, they scored 65 points, for an average of 21.66 ppg. This leaves 270 points in the 13 games played by Jameis Winston, for an average of 20.77 ppg.
The JW3-led Bucs’ offense gained many yards, but does not score enough POINTS. The main reason they had a 9-7 record last year and a five-game winning streak, was that the defense played lights out during that streak, and when that did not happen this year……. 5-11 is the result.
Just to get the crowd riled up, the 2014 MG8-led Bucs scored 105 points in his five games started, for an average of 21 ppg. That was on a team so bad,that they earned the #1 pick in the draft, and before they added all of the “weapons for Winston”. And before someone talks about the lack of a rushing attack, the 2017 Bucs outrushed the 2014 Bucs: 1450 yds to 1375 yds.
tickrdr
January 11th, 2018 at 1:18 pm
Pick up Ezekial Ansah in FA and get Quenton Nelson and Sony Michel in rounds one and two. Trade GMC for first round pick (maybe more?) and pick up BPA on defense (minus LB) with that pick. Pick up DE/DT/CB in the third. Poona Ford DT (Texas) in the fourth. Go after 3 CB/S in FA, at least one in his prime with a good rep.
What’s that Glazers???…You want to give me the marker to the big board. Well sure.
January 11th, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Lol Rod!
‘Specially the Bumper Sticker line. I will use that one
January 11th, 2018 at 1:27 pm
@tickrdr, Nice way to point out facts for the mindless sheep. Those facts are gonna hurt their brains for sure. How could it be that Glennon and Fitzpatrick score more points with less than the savior. Must be fake news. How else could it be possible unless of course the savior just really isn’t that good. When multiple players on other teams mock him and his stupid antics and the media other than Tampa based outlets see what the rest of the county see, could it be that the homer FSU fan boys only see what they want and dismiss the truth. That truth is Winston is average at best and usually fails when it comes to winning games not yards per game contests.
January 11th, 2018 at 1:28 pm
A bunch of cow manure!!!!
January 11th, 2018 at 2:31 pm
Nice try below tickrdr
The Bucs scored 335 total points this year. In the three games started by Fitzpatrick, they scored 65 points, for an average of 21.66 ppg. This leaves 270 points in the 13 games played by Jameis Winston, for an average of 20.77 ppg.
BUT what you are leaving out is the one game that stood out was a 30 point game at Mia where our defense got 5 TO’s and scored a TD so take away a defensive TD and the 2 short FG that were set up 100% by the defense and you get and average of 15.6. So again twist things all you want my friend but please don’t leave out FACTS!!!
January 11th, 2018 at 4:07 pm
DeSean Jackson would have gotten more yards and TDs if he was a better route runner and as fast as Jameis was told he was.
DeSean Jackson is the reason Mike Evan’s numbers were so bad. However, we’re stuck with him another year because of his $7.5m cap hit if the bucs cut him. Hopefully, things will improve there.
But the first thing that needs to be done? It needs to be made clear that if he wants more targets, he has to earn them…because frankly, I think Godwin is a better option.
January 11th, 2018 at 5:09 pm
Mike Evans 52.2% catch ratio
DeSean Jackson 55.6% catch ratio
Adam Humphries 73.5% catch ratio
Cameron Brate 62.3% catch ratio
Chris Godwin 61.8% catch ratio
O.J.Howard 66.7% catch ratio
Charles Sims 74.5 catch ratio
It don’t take a genius to see what the Bucs should be doing
January 11th, 2018 at 5:11 pm
@Buccaneer Bonzai
“DeSean Jackson is the reason Mike Evan’s numbers were so bad. However, we’re stuck with him another year because of his $7.5m cap hit if the bucs cut him. Hopefully, things will improve there.”
And Godwin deserves the #2 spot so much more!!
January 11th, 2018 at 5:14 pm
Repost
LakeLandBuc Says:
February 9th, 2017 at 11:57 am
83 passes to RB…..116 passes to TE…372 passes to WR. That’s why the Bucs want Speedy WRs so bad. Over 65% of their passes goes to WRs, and we talk about accuracy. We just have to throw the ball 20 yards up the field. We just don’t believe in * taking what the defense give us*. We just feel the need to force the ball to WRs in double coverage. Hump is not a legitimate * Number 2 WR” according to some posters, because he don’t stretch the field. We don’t need 4.2 WRs to stretch the field, we need 2-3 more WRs like Hump, who can move the chains. And add a 3 down back, who can run,block and catch.
January 11th, 2018 at 5:35 pm
Just listen to yourself jaboonutmanager, its so pathetic to hear you have to break down games and field positions in a specific game in order to explain why Winston avereaged less than Glennin and Fitz. Bottom line is HE IS A FING 1ST PICK IN THE DRAFT and shouldn’t even be close to sharing numbers with those two. When you select a player #1 overall, that player should be head and shoulders above the backups you have. He isnt the worst quarterback in the NFL, just the worst in our division. Knowing that fact drives me insane to hear some of you talk him up like is is the GOAT. I truly believe some of you would be happy to be one of his pubic hairs. Some 9f you
January 11th, 2018 at 6:19 pm
I thought I misread it at first when he said the starting defensive line had talent. Maybe with his job at ESPN he has not time to watch the Bucs anymore. They had a pass rush that was bad on epic proportions. My god they went games without ever laying a finger on the QB.
January 11th, 2018 at 6:59 pm
Defensive line talent good? The rest of what he saidlost all credibility once he said that.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:25 am
The talent on the defensive line isn’t that bad. McCoy is a year in year out pro-bowler. Spence, if he’s ever healthy, has a ton of talent and could be a 10+ sack guy. Ayers… well, he’s old, not all that talented. Gholston is talented in that he’s a run defender, his issue is he’s vastly overpaid for what he does. McDonald certainly has talent, well backup talent. Baker has a ton of talent, just no work ethic. There is talent there, it’s not like you got a bunch of scrubs who couldn’t play for anyone, but outside of McCoy they haven’t done anything on the field. But if any of them got cut by the Bucs, including Baker, I doubt they’d be unemployed.
January 12th, 2018 at 1:39 am
I dont think he meant defensive line talent when he said front line talent. I think he meant first string talent, Kwon, David, McCoy, Grimes, etc