“The Coaches Have To Step Up”
May 30th, 2018
Critical season looming.
Bucs fans seemed to have started their own rallying cry for the 2018 season.
One can hear it murmured in bars in-between the bad pick-up lines aimed at Hooters waitresses. One can read it in the comments from fans on this here corner of the interwebs.
“No excuses.”
Fans believe, and Joe seems to side with these fans, that Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht has stocked the club with loads of talent. Yeah, the Bucs play in the roughest division in the NFL. Still, there should be no reason for the Bucs to play remotely as bad as they did for much of the 2017 season with the talent they have.
“No excuses.”
That brings Joe to the pride of Seminole High School, Jeff Darlington. In a recent edition of NFL Live seen on BSPN, the topic of “Who is the Jags of 2018?” came up. Darlington seemed to channel the very thoughts of NFL fans from the area he grew up in when he had a very straight and direct answer..
The Bucs.
“You can rewind the tape of me last year at this very time because I am going with the very same squad: The Tampa Bay Bucs!” Darlington said. “It is time! They did exactly what the Jags did two years ago. They had a big let down despite high expectations. But they are a team that has the player personnel. The coaches have to step up and get this team together. They can turn it around.”
Joe is of the mind the team has the talent to do just that. But will they?
Joe has confidence in Dirk Koetter. Joe’s confidence in defensive coordinator Mike Smith, however, has taken a hit. Can Smith turn around the NFL’s worst defense? Licht has given Smith a lot of talent to mold a better defense.
The fact the defense was rock bottom in 2017 was hard for Joe to swallow. There were/are first round draft picks and/or Pro Bowl players on every level of that defense. Still, it was the worst in the NFL by a wide margin. How?
Some very strong defensive coaches have guided their units to the worst in the NFL in recent seasons. Those teams always bounced back to some degree.
Can Smith and the Bucs do just that? If not, there could be a lot of heads rolling at One Buc Palace come Janaury.
“No excuses.”
May 30th, 2018 at 12:14 am
I’m sorry but I feel like the offense sucked just as bad as the defense last year. They both have to show major improvement in my eyes before they can even think about making a playoff run.
May 30th, 2018 at 1:01 am
No excuses
I vouch for Koetter to stay for stability but without any other coach moves besides Buckner I’m baffled to why I vouch for him. Then his coach minions blame the players and their ” aw just pitch and catch, easy” attitudes . The losing culture “we chose to suck” comments makes me think we are headed to…….
May 30th, 2018 at 1:45 am
“The coaches have to step up and get this team together.” Things that make you go Hmmm…
May 30th, 2018 at 3:02 am
“The Coaches Have To Step Up”
—————–
Joe you misspelled “down”
May 30th, 2018 at 3:06 am
It starts up front. “Build the trenches.”
It is done. No more excuses.
May 30th, 2018 at 3:09 am
Hmmm. It is as if JBF servers have stopped creating cookies.
May 30th, 2018 at 4:55 am
Google why Smith was fired in Atlanta. Then look why Koetter and Nolan immediately packed their bags 💼. It’s all there!
May 30th, 2018 at 4:58 am
@Bucsfan951: Got your point, as points are the thing this game is about. And being #18 in the league in terms of points scored per game last year is only slightly better than #22 in terms of points allowed.
But allowing the most 3rd down conversions and the most yards per play while forcing the least punts per score in the entire league is simply embarrassing. And don’t get me started about an old RB picked off the street by our opponent just five days before the game running circles around defenders. Or a well-known Top10-WR of a division rival being uncovered for a complete NFL game.
That’s plain and simple a shame and I think even on purpose, no offense can suck that bad!
May 30th, 2018 at 5:43 am
Agree 100% with the notion that ‘NO EXCUSES’ should be our mantra for 2018.
Very impressed with what Jeff Darlington wrote. Meed to see more of that.
@Joe … “Joe has confidence in Dirk Koetter. Joe’s confidence in defensive coordinator Mike Smith, however, has taken a hit.”
Chuckled when I read that Joe, because I’ve got a lot more confidence in Smitty & his defensive staff than I do in Dirk & the offensive staff (and the ST staff). Bucs gave Smitty mediocre talent (at best) to work with last year, then injuries crucified him … as have you. No sense wasting time making the point that YARDS ALLOWED or YARDS GAINED does not indicate a team’s true capability (Pats went 13-3 last year, despite allowing 5,856 yards (#29 in the NFL), less than 200 yards fewer than the Bucs did). It’s POINTS ALLOWED and POINTS SCORED that matter.
I have more confidence in the Bucs’ defense improving significantly this year than I have in the Bucs’ offense improving significantly. And the reason for that is Dirk & his stubbornness. Three years as our OC, and our offense has produced essentially the same number of POINTS SCORED PER GAME each of those years, despite our offense getting the lion’s share of new blood in that time. Smitty’s defense has talent this year. And this defense is gonna kick ass & take names.
May 30th, 2018 at 6:23 am
Coaches coach and players play. Its the players who need to “step up” in order for this 2018 Bucs team to have a winning season.
May 30th, 2018 at 6:36 am
Scoring less than a touchdown on average in 1st half’s last year is totally unacceptable.
I agree and I have confidence the defense will improve……the offense certainly should also if not simply because it miserably under-performed.
Most improved…a dubious honor.
May 30th, 2018 at 6:54 am
It would be nice to see Joe go into the avg ranking of offenses faced, or post the laundry list of who was injured at every level, instead of posting the same story we have seen a hundred times of how joe want to fire Coach Smitty and run him out of town, errrrr I mean “hold accountable”!!!!!!! Do we get to see some ” real ” reporting and ask questions like ” Was the game plan for the defense to keep the score manageable with a soft prevent style while hoping the offense would put up huge scores???? And for joe to say the table is set before seeing all the new players put on pads is beyond ridiculous!!!!!!! The “real” fans have seen a ton of stories post ” why JW3″ will have a great year, but not one about the defense!!!!!!!
Favorites Indeed!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 30th, 2018 at 7:33 am
It all rests on Mike Smith and I just don’t think that he’s can do it. And if he doesn’t, it’s on Koetter and Licht because they chose to stick with him. A gamble that may and should cost them their job, if they fail to produce this year.
NO EXCUSES…..
May 30th, 2018 at 7:34 am
Couldn’t agree with you more Joe’s
May 30th, 2018 at 9:02 am
You have confidence in a guy with the worst defense in the NFL who can’t develop talent? That’s cute.
Bucs offense doesn’t have to improve “significantly.” Just needs to get better in red zone and for Koetter to quit banking on field goals to win games.
May 30th, 2018 at 9:03 am
Drules,
Have you considered T.O. on both sides? What about sacks and pressures?
May 30th, 2018 at 9:15 am
Defense Rules Says:
May 30th, 2018 at 5:43 am
“No sense wasting time making the point that YARDS ALLOWED or YARDS GAINED does not indicate a team’s true capability (Pats went 13-3 last year, despite allowing 5,856 yards (#29 in the NFL), less than 200 yards fewer than the Bucs did). It’s POINTS ALLOWED and POINTS SCORED that matter.”
————————————————————————————–
“our offense has produced essentially the same number of POINTS SCORED PER GAME each of those years”
_____________________________________________________________
+10
tickrdr Says:
January 11th, 2018 at 1:13 pm
The Bucs scored 335 total points this year. In the three games started by Fitzpatrick, they scored 65 points, plus 33 points in the second half vs. Arizona, . This leaves 237 points in the 12.5 games played by Jameis Winston, for an average of 18.96 ppg. (98 points in 3.5 games)
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
May 30th, 2018 at 9:15 am
No faith in the guy who had no interior fortitude on the d line and zero pass rush, also Ryan Smith and vh3 at corner but all the faith in koetter who had all kinds of weapons on offense and couldn’t score touchdowns, theguy who played Doug Martin despite how bad he was. That’s a little odd don’t you think. If Mike Smith fails koetter should walk the plank right along with Smith
May 30th, 2018 at 9:36 am
NO EXCUSES!!!!!!!!
that’s right @realist…….more and more national media folks are hoping aboard saying what ive been saying since January!!!!!! no excuses and time for the coaches to step up, aka #PRESSURESONTHECOACH!!!!!!…..
“REAL FANS” know this staff has run out of excuses!!!!!….you cant see it because your skirt is pulled over your head!!!!!!!
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
May 30th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Realist is always quick to roll out the excuses. I have to hand it to him though, he somehow manages to say the same thing without saying the same thing!
IMO, there’s more pressure on Smitty than Koetter (though his seat is hot too!). If a Smitty-led defense struggles early, look for changes. This team can ill-afford to coast through another terrible defensive season, regardless of the reason.
May 30th, 2018 at 10:38 am
Joe
I tend to come down with D.R. and Pickgrin. The coaches are not without faults…but it is the players..and especially on defense that cost us not the coaches.
So Joe I do not want to put words in your posts…but the ONLY way I can accept your point is if you are saying Mike Smith is over the hill and lost his abilities. He’s clearly or at minimum WAS clearly a talented coach.
During his tenure as the head coach of the Falcons, Smith became the franchise’s winningest coach by number of wins in addition to being the recipient of the 2008 NFL Coach of the Year Award by the Associated Press and was also voted NFL Coach of the Year Award by the Sporting News three different times 2008, 2010 and 2012. That doesn’t even include his impressive body of work with the Ravens and Jags.
He’s not chopped liver!!! Now look at the talent Licht gave Smitty last year!!!
ONE and I mean ONLY ONE DB of NFL quality…although I believe our safeties were at least mediocre…our CB’s? Are you kidding me? Smitty could have used them to jam receivers at the line and WR’s would have simply ran past them….as D.R. as suggested this team did NOT have adequate talent on D.
I do not blame all of this on Licht…Last year was weaponsforjameis this year has been weapons for Smitty. Last year a lot of new faces including two outstanding rookies in OJ and Godwin but still VERY inexperienced. These guys just NEVER melded as a team. I hope a year later and a decent running back changes all that.
May 30th, 2018 at 10:51 am
Great post by Defense Rules
*His post verifies that DR is the 2nd best poster here in this site
Seems like here we are setting up for the fallguy already
Poor Smitty, He gave Tampa and Klueless a 9-7 season and now they are planning his exit for a failed season
Rams HC Mcvay had the worst scoreing offense in 2016 @14 pts to lead the NFL last year at over 29 pts
“Its the scheme(Klueless) Stupid”
Kobe Faker
May 30th, 2018 at 11:09 am
stpetebucsfan:
Joe has no clue if the game has passed Mike Smith by. What Joe does know is he is not getting the job done.
Yeah, in the past Smith was a good coach. So too were George Siefert and John Fox. Would you hire them today? Lovie Smith got a team to a Super Bowl. There was a reason he got run.
What a guy has done in the past makes for a nice book. Joe is more concerned with the now.
May 30th, 2018 at 11:40 am
Joe
Certainly take your point. You feel Smitty performed poorly last year and have little faith this year.
I get that but i suppose I’m more on D.R.s line of thinking. You can’t make a silks purse out of a sow’s ear and last year’s defensive talent didn’t even get to the sow’s ear.
Seriously who was the talent on our D? Brent Grimes….love him…our LB’s have talent but didn’t they miss at least six games between the two stars? NO…and I mean NO pass rush…not just and absence of sacks..no pressure and I’m tired of looking at highlights of other teams running backs going off on NFL films and the other team getting gouged for the runs? As often as not it’s the Bucs.
GMC has talent…Grimes…seriously who else on this defense last year demonstrated real talent. Again LVD and Kwon had injuries and off years.
Where was the talent on this D last year I HAVE to be leaving out somebody.
The more I look at the total lack of talent I’m beginning to think Smitty wasn’t that bad…either that or too many D.R. posts. LOL
May 30th, 2018 at 11:45 am
Joe the truth is the offense and defense both have to improve if you want to see this team get double digit wins and finally make the playoffs.
There is fault at every level on the team, and on every coaching unit, especially including Koetter.
Being 18th or 22nd in points scored isn’t going to achieve anything.
May 30th, 2018 at 12:35 pm
@Joe … “You have confidence in a guy with the worst defense in the NFL who can’t develop talent? That’s cute.” No, what’s ‘cute’ Joe is you constantly going back to that empty well that YARDAGE ALLOWED and YARDAGE GAINED reflects best defense & offense. I have yet to see an NFL game played where the victory went to the team that passed & ran for the most yards as opposed to the team that scored the most points. Or to the team that gave up the least yardage even though they gave up more points. But hey, if you repeat something often enough a certain percentage of those reading will start to believe it. What’s coming out of Washington DC is proving that every day. So carry on I guess.
And your ‘Bucs defensive coaches can’t develop talent’ contention is equally as fallacious. They were given amazingly little to work with in the Secondary, but Licht made up for that by ponying up for a non-existent pass rush last year. Smitty was given VERY little to work with last year, and turning that into the #22 defense BASED ON POINTS ALLOWED was actually quite an accomplishment. Especially considering all those times when the Bucs’ offense turned the ball over in their own territory. I fully expect that this year the Bucs defense will rank in the upper half of the NFL, and potentially even in the Top-10 (depending on how long it takes for them to gel as a defense). And IF they end up in the Top half, I’d say that’d be a ‘significant improvement’ over 2017. Neither of us will know until the end of the year however, will we.
May 30th, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Same can be said how you twist stats. Most yards allowed pretty simple: your defense can’t stops a cool breeze.
There are like six different categories the Bucs defense was last in the NFL in. But keep trying to con folks that Mike Smith molded from nothing the best defense the NFL has seen since the 1977 Steelers.
Or does Jason Licht get the credit since you like to give him all the blame when it doesn’t fit your narrative?
May 30th, 2018 at 2:39 pm
It’s pretty easy to see there were coaching and talent issues. It’s not just one or the other.
But at the end of the day, ALL THAT MATTERS ARE POINTS.
Score more points than your opponent = Winning the game.
Even the head coach said all anyone gives a chit about are wins and losses. Points win games. Simple as that.
May 30th, 2018 at 3:10 pm
The entire defense was hurt last year. Even they were on the field they were hurt. By week 3 we were missing like 7 starters. It put the offense in a pinch in every game, and admittedly forced JW into some corners.
The D will be solid this year.
JW will get a final “prove it” year
Even if JW plays well, expect Uber to get Fitz on the field
Will there be a QB controversy?
Possibly…
#FreeTheAmishRifle
GO BUCS!!!
May 30th, 2018 at 7:47 pm
Points, Points, Points. #anti-statsthatdontmatter
DR nailed it. We gave up the same amount of points as the #3 defense in the league last year. JW averaged under 19 points per game, how is that possible for such a pro-ready, #1 pick QB? He was not the defenses best friend either and contributed to points against by giving the ball away 19 times. The defense suffered because of a lack of talent, injuries and always being on the field because of offensive turnovers. The offense needs to improve most.
May 30th, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Step UP?…..PLEASE!!! How about..Steppin OUT..of the pressbox?
Calling DC Smitty? Hello? Calling Mr Smith.
Ride his Butt out of Tampa Bay on a rail..If he can not win with all of this yrs additions.
Hang’em High!!
May 30th, 2018 at 9:01 pm
My big concerns are secondary coaching and right tackle. Dotson is a penalty waiting to happen and he sucks.