“I Want The Bucs To Be Good Again”
July 19th, 2018
Mind blown by rotten defense.
Sometimes, a team is so bad, it gains pity from folks in New York.
That seemed to the case as Joe watched a segment of “Good Morning, Football” earlier this week.
Co-host Kyle Brandt researched the Bucs to come up with fodder for how the team can turn things around this year. While digging up information on the defense, he was stunned to learn just how awful the Tampa Bay defense is, and has been for too long.
So Brandt admitted he doesn’t blame Bucs fans for still treasuring the days of a defense with Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Simeon Rice and Ronde Barber — because the Bucs defense has done little to nothing in the past decade to encourage Bucs fans’ embrace.
“I am a little frustrated with this,” Brandt said. “I don’t know about you guys, but there are a lot of things I like about the Bucs. … I really like their fans. But their fans is one of these fanbases that is constantly mired in the past. It is always about Simeon Rice and Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks. Sort of like the Bears [fans] are in a way.
“You can’t get over that with the defense playing like they have. The Bucs defense last year… the Browns at 0-16 had a better defense than the Bucs. Unacceptable! They haven’t had a top-five defense in 11 years.
“How about this, it blew my mind that I had to triple-check it: No Buc has had double-digit sacks — just double-digits, 10! — since Simeon Rice in ’05. … Ten sacks, it happens all the time!
“As much as Ryan Fitzpatrick has to raise his game and play well… I want to know what are they going to get from that defense? They have to raise their game. … I want the Bucs to be good again.”
The GMFB gang, sitting at the set they refer to as their “breakfast table,” confessed there is no way they can predict the Bucs to be in the playoffs come January after combining the three-game suspension of America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, with the Bucs’ brutal schedule and playing in the toughest division in the NFL,
Joe tends to side with Brandt in that if the Bucs are going to make a run this year, with Jameis out the first three games, that defense has to play a whole lot better and the defensive line must dominate to save the rookie/Ryan Smith playing opposite of Brent Grimes.
To see the full segment, watch below.
July 19th, 2018 at 8:06 am
Considering that it’s the worst defense in the league, there’s nowhere to go but up.
If the defense even plays average and the offense can get loose and our kicker, you know, kicks well……..you get the point!
July 19th, 2018 at 8:13 am
We ALL want the Bucs to be good again.
This team was always know for its defense. It even had a defense named after it. Oh how things have changed.
Jason Licht is responsible for last year’s defensive performance. He spent the last 2 years on his “Weapons For Winston” campaign and totally neglected the defensive side of the ball. He drafted a couple of defensive players with high picked but it wasn’t enough. So last year the defense stunk and Winston’s weapons don’t have Winston for a while. Light has been here way too long for his team to go 5-11. Mike Smith has taken his share of the blame, but Licht has not given him enough talent to field a high ranking defense
July 19th, 2018 at 8:23 am
This board? The fans? The writers? Live in the past instead of looking forward to next year? Inconceivable.
July 19th, 2018 at 8:33 am
@Bucsfanman Bingo!!!!
July 19th, 2018 at 8:40 am
“Ten sacks, it happens all the time!”
Sure – unless you reside in Buccaneer Cove…
Perhaps JPP, GMC or Spawn can break the curse this year. Those are our best prospects and likely in that order of probability.
July 19th, 2018 at 8:45 am
It really is odd people talk like that. It’s as if we’re still playing beckwith at d end, Noah Spence is still on IR and Mr beating is still starting opposite will gholston…. So odd indeed but what can you expect when a losing franchise infects media and fans with a loser mentality.
My only concern with this roster believe it or not is quarterback and that’s after Winston comes back. He’s decent but it’s one thing to stare down receivers and make stupid mistakes no one else in the league makes but the worst part is the things you don’t see until you watch games in the stadium and our fans are screaming he’s open all game long. Winston couldn’t even tell when a receiver was open or had his man beat
July 19th, 2018 at 9:15 am
Well, we can’t blame Jameis for our putrid defense…
Imho our defense and lack of a consistent kicking game has cost us more wins than anything…Winston’s haters can’t even deny that…
July 19th, 2018 at 9:22 am
What goes around, comes around. What’s coming is another legendary Defense. Patience people. Oh yeah….what helps is a great offense….and that’s coming too. Go Bucs
July 19th, 2018 at 9:34 am
The key to Bucs winning isn’t our Quarterback play….it’s the Defense and running game…..both were worse than poor….improvement there and we win…..and if those are good, we can even have an average kicker.
July 19th, 2018 at 9:39 am
The Bucs just seem to shoot themselves in the foot. When all is on the uptick, they find a way to turn south. It was only five years ago, another “face of the franchise” spazzed out and decided he didn’t really care about football. Fast forward to 2018…another off field issue with who was supposed to be a star player. Then others, like Evans, have misguided protests that distract and disgrace and temper fits that get them suspended. A young rising star gets poppoped for PEDs and has to sit out during a playoff run. A RB given another chance just doesn’t have the gas in the tank. An OC has a heart attack and it never gets addressed all year. What else can it be this year? If this team can 100% focus on football and being a team, they have the best chance to at least not embarrass themselves fans.
July 19th, 2018 at 9:49 am
I love how you make statements rendering it concrete information that Vernon doesn’t play outside on early downs and inside in nickel. That’s an open competition.
July 19th, 2018 at 9:57 am
The Bucs defense last year… the Browns at 0-16 had a better defense than the Bucs. Unacceptable!
another indictment on dirk’s BFF smitty….the game has past smitty by…..
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
July 19th, 2018 at 10:00 am
I said a thousand times…
FIX THE TRENCHES, FIX THE BUCS…
They went out and did that. But then the suspension…
Now I’m saying the most important thing…
Get another QB to compete with Fitz.
Period.
Or this regime is over.
July 19th, 2018 at 10:07 am
As I frequently state I LOVE offense. But I’m throwing in my lot with D.R. because the old cliche is correct…”Defense wins championships”.
As much as it pains me it is what it is. It was exciting watching Jameis lead us from behind in that last game in N.O. But we’re still a losing team.
I think our new direction…beefing up our D with plenty of new DL…two top draft picks at CB…is the correct direction.
Fameis did give all we offensive guys a last glimmer of hope…but he’s too wildly inconsistent. IMHO it’s just baked into his personality which leads to horrible decisions both on and off the field.
But if we could mimic our glory defense and play just 3/4’s as well as them…Jameis…Fitz..whomever will not really matter. Just don’t turn the ball over and get us three FG’s with that old SB Defense.
July 19th, 2018 at 10:09 am
@ Andrew
My prediction is that VH3 starts on the outside…..with MJ Stewart in the nickel.
July 19th, 2018 at 10:24 am
They have Ryan Griffin, who was very likely going to be the backup for Jameis until he got hurt. You’re probably right that they should bring in a 4th guy to compete and it shouldn’t be an undrafted rookie.
July 19th, 2018 at 10:30 am
For three games? What veteran stiff of an unemployed quarterback outside of an undrafted rookie (who the Bucs already have) is coming to come in to be a No. 3 (4?) guy for three games, Matt Sanchez?
July 19th, 2018 at 10:42 am
Glad everyobe is doubting us this season. Just need to tear right out of the gate from the start and starting whalloping the opponents. Get the tougj, no nonsense, physical football with athleticism back into our mindset. Accept nothing less than a division title.
July 19th, 2018 at 11:01 am
Errr….yeah….I didn’t think about that. You’re right.
(D-Rome fades into the background with egg on his face… )
July 19th, 2018 at 11:37 am
(D-Rome fades into the background with egg on his face…)
All good, D-Rome! – We still love ya! 😉
July 19th, 2018 at 11:47 am
I’m like a broken record with this. Its the fear of getting beat on a big play and constantly playing off coverage that allows a dumppff pass on a slant route which almost always eliminates the chances of getting the the qb
July 19th, 2018 at 11:47 am
Defense definitely wins championships.
Pretty much every SB winner of the last decade has had a top tier defense.
Pretty much every playoff team every year has at worst an average defense.
Of the top 16 scoring defenses last year; only 2 didn’t have winning records (Chicago – new rookie QB / terrible offense) and the Bengals (7-9).
The other 14 teams all had winning records with the majority of them making the playoffs.
Most all these teams also happened to have average or better offenses as well.
Definitely a TEAM game.
July 19th, 2018 at 11:48 am
EXACTLY!
Have been hearing folks wanting to pick up a quarterback. If Jameis was hurt for three games (like last year) would people be saying the same?
Now if the Bucs do pick up another quarterback, that may spell the end of Jameis, which Joe doubts very much will happen (this year).
July 19th, 2018 at 11:55 am
Don’t you mean MARK Sanchez?
tickrdr
July 19th, 2018 at 11:57 am
Jot
Now if the Bucs do pick up another quarterback, that may spell the end of Jameis, which Joe doubts very much will happen (this year).
Hope for the best, plan for the worst…
July 19th, 2018 at 11:57 am
“Joe”
July 19th, 2018 at 2:54 pm
I’ll say it again. I think because of our weakness at the 2nd corner position we should pull our free safety and put a corner in his place to help Ryan Smith or whoever is manning the 2nd corner position. We may lose our last line of defense without the free safety but what does it matter anyway if our corner is being torched constantly. If Grimes does his job and the linebackers do their job then any receivers that get behind our defense is going to gain a lot of yards anyway so why not double defend the weak corner?
July 19th, 2018 at 4:13 pm
I’ll bet my left testicle that Ryan Smith is NOT starting opposite of Brent Grimes!!
July 19th, 2018 at 4:14 pm
For those who want to bring in another QB to compete with Fitz I say for what 3 or 4 games? Winston will take over either week 4 or 6 after the BYE week. My guess is week 4 in Chicago. Winston isn’t going anywhere this year and my gut says he will sign a team friendly contract. He got rid of his agents in what may be a Jerry Maguire moment. Jameis Winston isn’t going anywhere.
July 19th, 2018 at 5:19 pm
There’s not a lot to be excited about when one mentions these present day Bucs.
At least you could be guaranteed those ole Bucs would knock somebody’s teeth out and rattle bones every Sunday. All I see now are fans grabbin their rosaries and crosses hopin for a miracle every Sunday. Seems like we are guaranteed if a team is down by 3 to 7 points with 2 to 5 minutes left, they will win the game. as smitty smashes yet another fresh set of binoculars up in the pressbox. Its almost liike we are the blood relatives of the Clev Browns!
July 19th, 2018 at 6:04 pm
Tony LA Says: Get another QB to compete with Fitz.
Period.
Or this regime is over.
Been saying the same thing, three tough opponents to start the season and if Fitz goes down all we have is Ryan “Who?” Griffin. Will the Gruden curse surpass the lore of the Babe Ruth curse? The Chicago cubs goat curse? Even the Cubs and Redsox returned to win it all.
July 20th, 2018 at 9:02 am
Bookmark my next statement.
The Bucs will win their division this year, so long as they are not plagued with injuries like last year.
July 20th, 2018 at 10:45 am
I’m tired of all this America’s QB Jameis Winston nonsense and the arguments of whether Ryan Fitzpatrick can get it done. When are the Bucs, the media, and the fans going to realize what the Bucs need right now is a good game manager, who doesn’t lose games for Tampa. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the face of the franchise, #1 pick in the 2014 draft Jameis Winston or the journeyman veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick under center. With the known weapons Tampa can put on the field and especially if rookie RB Ronald Jones adds the explosive rushing he’s expected to, whoever is under center needs to focus on not losing games for Tampa (the game manager’s role) by eliminating QB generated turnovers and throwing it away when necessary to live another down, let the game come to him, and let those weapons do what they get paid to do – gain yards and score touchdowns.
Right now the Bucs are fortunate to have enough offensive weapons available that it’s not necessary for any QB whether it be the face of the franchise Winston, journeyman Fitzpatrick, or even future HOFer Tom Brady to have to lift up the team and carry it on his back for most games. The flexibility to fill a particular role at a given time and to change when necessary are the keys to success in any endeavor and football is no different. I think Fitzpatrick, because of his long experience, understands that. Winston, however, seems to have some problems embracing the notion that for this particular game today anyway he doesn’t need to be a gunslinger because a game manager who gets the ball to his wise array of weapons so they can earn their paychecks is enough to win this particular game.
For examples of this notion look to two of the guys we’re so afraid of in the first three games Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger. They take what the defense gives them and they do enough to win. If the rushing attack is tearing up the field and they don’t need to go 30 of 40 for 350 yards and three TDs, they don’t and if they are needed to be heroic they can do that too. It’s kind of old school in a QB dominated league, but it’s about taking what the defense gives you and taking advantage of that to win the game regardless of whether the QB goes 30 for 40 for 3 TDs or 9 of 12 for no TDs. The only thing that counts is the Ws.
Another way to look at it, where would the Bucs SB Trophy be if an acknowledged QB freak Chucky Gruden had tried to force Brad Johnson to carry the team on his back instead of allowing Johnson to manage games so the offense didn’t lose them? The Trophy would probably be in Oakland instead of in Tampa despite the Bucs’ dominant defense.