Never Apologize
September 11th, 2018
Explains nailbiting moments.
There were tense moments in the fourth quarter of the Bucs win over division rival New Orleans Sunday.
The Bucs, without their starting quarterback, improbably found themselves up 24 points after getting involved in a shootout. Ryan Fitzpatrick getting the upper hand of Drew Brees? Unthinkable!
But that’s what happened until the Bucs let the Saints back into the game as Brees, ever the warrior, brought New Orleans back.
Dirk Koetter, in his weekly sitdown with Dan Lucas of WFLA-TV Channel 8, explained what happened and in many respects, the Saints getting right back into the ballgame was almost expected.
“I think one thing is when the other team is in that situation, the team that is behind plays with a little more desperation and they take a few more risks,” Koetter said. “So sometimes you can benefit from those risks by getting another turnover. Again, I will go back to Drew Brees playing at home with the weapons he has. …
“We should never, ever, ever apologize for winning on the road in New Orleans.”
Koetter admitted that a couple of plays the Bucs didn’t make were self-inflicted wounds that otherwise could have sealed the win. Such as making a field goal or stopping just one of New Orleans’ two-point conversions.
But a win is a win. Damn that offense was fun to watch.
You can see Koetter’s full interview below.
September 11th, 2018 at 6:14 am
The last thing I would ever expect is for him to say anything negative about the defense. Don’t worry Dirk, it will cost you. They have up 40 frieking points even while winning the time of.posession battle
September 11th, 2018 at 6:47 am
What defense has stopped Brees in NO. This isn’t the same Buc team boys . Our play makers are all over the field. Defense will a lot different this week and so will the offense, but I still think we’ll be a lot better than last year.
September 11th, 2018 at 6:47 am
*look
September 11th, 2018 at 6:52 am
Was that field goal tipped at the line?
September 11th, 2018 at 7:07 am
@BucEmUp … “They have up 40 frieking points even while winning the time of posession battle.” BucEmUp you need to be aware that the sky really IS falling, so I’d recommend that you take cover before the Eagles come to town. And if you’d been coaching the team, there’s no doubt that our defense would’ve held the Saints to zero points.
And oh BTW, when you win the TOP, BOTH sides of the ball had a hand in that. The 1st fumble in the 2nd qtr (forced by VHIII) was especially nice since Justin Evans scooped it up & ran it in for a TD. But the 2nd fumble (forced by Kwon in the 3rd qtr) was equally important, since the Bucs offense scored a TD off of that turnover. I think they call that COMPLIMENTARY FOOTBALL, but hey, I could be wrong. And oh ya, the Bucs offense punted ONCE the whole game. The Saints had to punt THREE times in the game. I wonder why … oh yes, because that putrid Bucs defense held them & forced 3 punts.
No, it wasn’t a sterling defensive performance by any means (and yes, that’s an understatement). But I seriously doubt that Mike Smith woke up Sunday morning saying, “Aah yes, it’s beautiful day in New Orleans. I think I’ll play a bunch of my rookies in the Secondary so that they can get their baptism by fire against Drew Brees and we’ll see what happens. What could possibly go wrong?” One game at a time BucEmUp … one game at a time.
September 11th, 2018 at 7:07 am
Casual Observer Says:
September 11th, 2018 at 6:52 am
Was that field goal tipped at the line?
^^^It definitely looked like it.
September 11th, 2018 at 7:18 am
the field goal wasn’t tipped….it nicked the players helmet thus changing the trajectory…watch film in slo mo…so yet it was altered
September 11th, 2018 at 7:20 am
joe i did not see koetter and payton shake hands…i think you should put the footage up on here so we can analyze and scrutinize…
do it joe do it ! 🙂
September 11th, 2018 at 7:28 am
That FG was tipped…….
I will say this….when you positively know that a team is going to throw on every down and you still can’t find a way to stop it…..that is a problem…
One other problem in this situation is that teams will use 4 downs instead of 3 to advance the ball….
We looked very impotent on both 2 point plays.
September 11th, 2018 at 7:51 am
@TBBF … “We looked very impotent on both 2 point plays.” I’ll second that TBBF. Especially on the 2nd one. Would love to know who we had on the DLine on those 2 because there was no push. I’m sure that GMC was exhausted by that point (him being on the field for 59 of 64 defensive snaps is crazy). Still can’t figure out why the other horse (Beau Allen) was only on the field for 31 of 64 def snaps).
And Joe, on looking at the injury list, it shows DJax out with a concussion; I thought it was his shoulder/neck. Also shows VHIII & Grimes both questionable for Eagles game. Figured Brent would be out for awhile, but losing VHIII for any number of games would really suck at this point. Any new info on him?
September 11th, 2018 at 7:58 am
I love how all the snowflakes changed their user name
September 11th, 2018 at 8:08 am
When I saw the title of this post I thought it would be about the Monday Morning Joe Podcast LOL
September 11th, 2018 at 8:09 am
I agree with Dirk. Great win, period.
Could the defense have played better? Sure. They also could’ve been worse. We beat the Saints in a track meet. Not even the most ardent fan saw THAT coming!
September 11th, 2018 at 8:46 am
So that makes Head Coach Koetter 3-2 vs the Saints!!!!!! Hold them accountable!!!!! No excuses!!!!! status woe!!!!!!!!!!!!
#trust the coaches!!!!! Fix the “real” problem!!! The roster!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 11th, 2018 at 8:48 am
Fun fact: the Bucs currently have the 2nd ranked offense behind the chargers and the 30th ranked defense above NO and KC (who gave up more yards). 2 teams gave up 48 points last week NO and Detroit.
Does anyone want to discuss the saints first drive? Or the defense at all? It was the Kamara show and next week we’ll need to stop Ajayi who imo is just as good if not better but wtfdik.
September 11th, 2018 at 8:52 am
Part of the joy of the win was the Peyton reaction after the game. Should have posted his picture with a cartoon bubble to allow Buc fans to express his innermost thoughts from their vantage point.
September 11th, 2018 at 9:03 am
i love that Dirk has no problem wearing shorts.
September 11th, 2018 at 9:10 am
I don’t know what some of you expect, maybe including Joe. Weakest area on the team before game 1? Secondary. Then we loose Grimes. Then we loose VH3.
2 Rooks and Ryan Smith going up against Drew Bress in HIS house! Yeah, its all Smith’s fault. What an idiot he is.
Yeah, I do not like his soft 20 yards off the WR coverage, But I guarantee you I would have done the same thing. You think the Bucs should have been up in press man?!! LMAO
September 11th, 2018 at 9:24 am
@DB55 … “It was the Kamara show and next week we’ll need to stop Ajayi who imo is just as good if not better but wtfdik.” Stay positive DB55. Oh ya, you were positive that the Bucs were gonna lose in New Orleans. Keep rooting against the Bucs … it seems to be working in our favor. But hey, wthdik.
September 11th, 2018 at 9:34 am
How about our Offensive Line though! Kirkpatrick came out with a spotless jersey. Meanwhile Brees was put on the ground twice. Life long Bucs fan knows not to get his hopes up too high though…
September 11th, 2018 at 9:41 am
I’ll say it again, the Saints get paid to play too and they have got a damn good offense over there. One thing I have not seen mentioned is that because we were scoring so quickly, our defense was getting gassed. You could see it in the 2nd half especially. Keep in mind that about the same time we started to see the injuries occur. It was a crazy pace and without a lot of depth, it was bound to happen.
We had a 24 point lead deep in the 3rd for a reason. We were stopping them more than they were stopping us. It’s really that simple. Philly will present a new challenge and all i care about is scoreboard. Keep winning Dirk and all this garbage about the D will go away.
September 11th, 2018 at 9:41 am
smitty has to get that defense right…..
offense had a great game plan…..loved how aggressive they were…..gotta keep the defense guessing…..
now lets hope they don’t “drink the kool aid” just yet……
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…..GO BUCS!!!!
September 11th, 2018 at 9:49 am
3-2 vs the saints with lesser talented teams just points to how the Bucs have out coached the Saints during Head Coach Koetter’s tenure!!!!!!! With less experienced talent, how the Bucs out schemed a very talented, top echelon team!!!!!!!! The “real” fans stand up and applaud all the work that lead up to that great victory that shook the NFL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Offense was non-stop and the defense pitched the game deciding shutout in the 3rd quarter!!!!!!!!
#trust the coaches!!!!! Fix the “real” problem!!! The roster!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 11th, 2018 at 9:52 am
All is gloom and doom for the defense. VH3 and Evans played pretty well. I saw a better effort from Ryan Smith and the rookie corners didn’t embarass themselves. If Evans needs a nickname, I think we should call him scoop. I even saw a corner blitz.
Masterful job by Fitz, his runs added a little something at times and a game saver
at the end. Rewatching the game Barber was pretty effective even when we had to run out the clock.
September 11th, 2018 at 9:56 am
edit:
All is not
On another note, Gholston was getting closer to QB. I think moving inside
and having a shorter route to the QB may benefit him.
September 11th, 2018 at 9:58 am
Pretty sure Koetter and Peyton shook hands and it was a respectful exchange.
September 11th, 2018 at 10:11 am
I say bogusness to what Koetter says! Every Buc fan, Joes, player, coach every football analyst knows exactly why……….BECAUSE OFFENSE WENT TURTLE AND DEFENSE WENT PREVENT!!!! A big ol lie coming out of his mouth! When do coaches learn you don’t do that against a team like Nawleans??? It was coaching that almost lost that game!
September 11th, 2018 at 10:24 am
I saw it reported somewhere that the ball was tipped in the 44-yarder but, I don’t remember where I heard it or read it. It might have been another comment by someone on a forum.
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Go Bucs!!!
September 11th, 2018 at 10:32 am
“We should never, ever, ever apologize for winning on the road in New Orleans.”
Can I get an amen?
@D.R. Great post. You worked in some excellent and entertaining snark.
September 11th, 2018 at 10:40 am
Many of our nattering negativists have a “never apologize!” policy of their own.
The glass remains perpetually half full for them. 😡
September 11th, 2018 at 10:48 am
You know… back in the halcyon days of the Bucs defense… we used to have scores like 6 to 3 (Bucs win against the Bears in 99)
I think I like watching our new Bucs better.
September 11th, 2018 at 10:54 am
I don’t think anybody is apologizing for winning in NO…
An update on Vita Vea would be nice …an honest one. If he’s not gonna play anytime soon put him on IR designated to return. Then get us a vet CB. Or a Vet LB.
September 11th, 2018 at 10:56 am
Adam from ny, was that ball tipped by the helmet of our guy or was it one of the Saints?
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Go Bucs!!!!
September 11th, 2018 at 11:04 am
What’s Joe supposed to do, break into the trainer’s room, throw a guy to the floor and put a gun to his head? 🙂
Vea, who barely talks to begin with (he’s a super nice guy, just quiet as a mute), surely won’t discuss his injury status — Joe’s tried.
At best — this is simply a guess — you won’t see Vea until the Steelers game. At best. We’re now in mid-September and he hasn’t practiced since July. He cannot be close to game shape.
Donovan Smith is the first guy in recent memory who actually exceeded previous expectations of a recovery time.
September 11th, 2018 at 11:09 am
What’s Joe supposed to do, break into the trainer’s room, throw a guy to the floor and put a gun to his head
Well Joe, if you think that would work…..
Seriously a first round pick who is MIA…put him on IR for six weeks.
September 11th, 2018 at 11:34 am
Vita is collecting money inn the training room and hot tub. He’s terribly out of shape also. And our Defense is looking quite pourous. If Koeeter were smart, He’d fire Smitty and give the DC job to our D line coach. But he won’t.
September 11th, 2018 at 12:02 pm
@DR
D-Jax went down with a shoulder injury the first time but the 2nd time when he stayed down it was a concussion.
You could tell he got knocked out cuz he was laying there with his arms bent, sticking up at his sides. Classic concussion pose. Hopefully he gets through the protocol quickly.