“Weird” Team
November 4th, 2018
Talks offense.
One cool thing for Joe about traveling to national NFL events is developing contacts with national NFL types, building a network of sorts to gather information Joe otherwise could not access.
Over the weekend, one such national NFL scribe, a well-respected guy and one of the nicest guys around, exchanged information with Joe via direct message on Twitter.
The national scribe remarked to Joe, “Man, your team is weird.” He isn’t lying.
Think about it, the Bucs have the best offense in the NFL, yet if you believe Dirk Koetter, he doesn’t know who his quarterback will be from week to week, not to mention the Bucs really don’t have any kind of running game.
That’s almost unheard of and it surely is unorthodox. Joe dropped this thought on tight end Cam Brate last week and asked him why or how the Bucs could have the best offense in the NFL with so many major question marks and holes?
“It has been a struggle just protecting the football,” Brate said, which added to the weirdness and question marks. “The coaches are going to put the quarterback in they think is going to do the best job of protecting the football.
“We have total confidence in our scheme and our players, too. We know we are talented. Obviously, the stats show that as an offense we are super explosive and can score a bunch of points. Holding onto the football is our biggest issue right now. We just have to figure out that issue.”
Just how explosive can this offense be? No telling, but right now it’s good enough to hang near a .500 record.
Joe’s honestly more worried about the defense than turnovers.
November 4th, 2018 at 8:33 am
Brate references ‘turnovers’ *four* times in two paragraphs. Is he trying real hard to not say something?
November 4th, 2018 at 8:38 am
Holding onto the football is our biggest issue right now. We just have to figure out that issue.”
#FEARTHEBEARD
November 4th, 2018 at 9:18 am
The Bearded One will take us to the promised land.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:19 am
All this angst about Fitz v Jameis doesn’t make sense to me. Our oline is odds on to get one of them hurt. I’m expecting our dline to really ball today.
Sound the horns and let loose the dogs of war.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:28 am
@Hawk and Jmarkbuc:
Nice posts.
JW3 has turned the ball over on 28.2% of their offensive drives this year.
He has led 39 drives while throwing 10 interceptions and losing one fumble, for
11/39 = 28.2% of all drives.
Please note that Ryan Fitzpatrick also turns the ball over more often than our opponents do, but still MUCH less often than Jameis does.
tickrdr
November 4th, 2018 at 9:40 am
ticked
Fully realize the Beard isn’t perfect…but it’s more fun to watch him play.
You feel like you have a chance, and every drop back doesn’t make you cringe…
November 4th, 2018 at 9:45 am
“tickrdr” is apparently a huge challenge for auto fill 😁
November 4th, 2018 at 9:47 am
Ok stop, we do not have the best offense in football. We have the most yards. Stats are for losers remember. Or offense turns the ball over at an alarming rate, can’t run the ball and is pretty poor in the red zone. We aren’t even in the Chief’s, Patriots, saints, falcons, Rams league.
November 4th, 2018 at 9:53 am
Our offense isn’t that good. Dazzled by yards is like being dazzled by hits in a baseball game. It’s runs that matter and as far as FB is concerned it’s points.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:06 am
No, Conte, the Bucs do not have the best offense in football. But they certainly *are* in the same league (literally and figuratively) as the above. The Buc offense is still #1 in *overall* offense in the entire league. They are still #1 in passing offense in the entire league. They are still #8 in TDs in the entire league. And they are still #9 in scoring in the entire league. And that’s with the Chiefs, Rams, and Patriots having played 8 games, to the Bucs’ 7.
Do they have issues on offense? Yes, absolutely. But *I* cannot remember ANY year that the Bucs had a more prolific offense… ever. For all the years that a Buc defense had to carry a sorry-a$$ offense, it’s time for payback.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Hawk, I agree! We have the most yards despite the fact that we give the other team the ball back so many times. Think of how many yards, and points, we’d have in the absence of the turnovers.
November 4th, 2018 at 10:48 am
That’s 1 of Jameis main problems…
NO running game…too many passes.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:03 am
Turnovers really is the Bucs Killer!
Sitting people down is the best way to solve the problem.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:20 am
Apt description for sure Joe. Weird indeed!
Seems to me reading JBF posters that we have a few “weird” fans as well. LMAO
November 4th, 2018 at 11:24 am
Whatever happens can we just win the friggin game please, and finish the season with at least 10 wins! I’m so tired of the losing at this point I don’t care who is on the field just play great ball and WIN! Go Bucs!!
November 4th, 2018 at 11:30 am
I don’t care if yahoodie QBs this team. I just want to see this offense FINALLY FULLY FLOWER!! It would be ABsolutely FABulous if it starts today against the ##########kitties!
November 4th, 2018 at 11:41 am
Let me see..who was it that suggested we sign AP and got scorched for it two years ago? Me. Just saying to those that remember how some said he guy was washed up and such. But remember, even though a HOF RB gets old, they often still have more in their early thirties than some of the young guys we fall in love with.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:43 am
No, what would be weird would be for the Bucs to win today. Go Bucs! Win Weirdos!
November 4th, 2018 at 11:46 am
Wouldn’t AP make a contribution to our team about now? Yeah, I know…I was laughed at for that two years ago.
November 4th, 2018 at 11:52 am
Fact: turnovers have cost the Bucs wins, despite the worst Bucs defense I have witnessed since Season #1.
Missed PAT’s are just an annoying pile-on.
Cut turnovers in half and the Bucs are no worse than 5-2.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:10 pm
The formula is simple, it’s the ingredients that are hard to come by.
It starts in the trenches with beastly offensive and defensive lines.
Add to that a running game, should be easy with that beastly line.
Mix in a secondary that can support that beastly defensive line and give them time to pressure the quarterback.
With a few targets(not necessarily elite) that can run accurate routes, catch, and make adjustments to the ball…(watch Jackson’s effort adjusting today-as opposed to the effort he gave Winston)
Even a “journeyman” quarterback can look efficient and sometimes elite.
Of course, the offensive and defensive coaching schemes need to be both aggressive and flexible to each game situation.
Just look at how many of you call a sixth round pick destined to be a career back-up the “GOAT”(excellent game manager and more athletic than I could ever have even hoped for but… he was luuuuucky to have landed where he did!!!)
Winston has NOT had ALL the supporting staff that ANY quarterback needs to succeed. (no quarterback in the league could have won with this “team”)
Can he be elite? He has the raw talent.
Will he be elite? If he has the support of a decently built team and coaching… the potential is there.
OH!!! One other very KEY ingredient
That entire team has to be on the same page with the desire to win and the PRIDE of ownership in their level of play
Sorry to say, there has only been one brief period where the Buc’s showed that key ingredient and it ain’t now!
November 4th, 2018 at 12:15 pm
Hawk, I agree. 9th in scoring offense shows we do not have major problems there. In fact consider that neither our defense nor our special teams are ever giving us short fields. Throw on top the bad turnovers last week by Jameis in the red zone and there you have it.
Give this team credit where it is due. The offense and the offensive coaches seem to know what they are doing this year. It is a passing league and this team has figured out how to pass as well as anyone this year.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:20 pm
@Unnamed national scribe … “Man your team is weird”. Any JBFer could’ve told him that Joe. And ‘weird’ doesn’t even begin to describe what we’ve been watching all season. Bucs aren’t NEARLY as talented as Cam Brate seems to think they are. Look at the various position groups and tell me where we excel:
o QBs: musical QBs going on.
o RBs: somehow doubt that ANY of them are a threat to even sniff 1,000 yards.
o OLine: mediocre at best.
o WRs: as good as any WR position group in the NFL.
o DLine: lots of big names but radically underperforming.
o LBs: another position group radically underperforming.
o Secondary: green as they come; slow too.
o Kicker: shall we say ‘inconsistent’?
o Punter: as good as any in the NFL.
That’s NOT the look of a Super Bowl contender. This team has a chance to win ONLY when it plays relatively mistake-free football (New Orleans) OR when our opponents insist on making as many or more mistakes than we do (Philly & Cleveland).
And yet, despite our obvious attempts at self-destruction, this Bucs team is still 3-4. Only 13 teams have a winning record this year (and we’ve beaten 2 of them). Another 4 teams are sitting at .500 for the season. So only about half the league is actually doing better than we are at this point. Problem is that we’re not getting better, and that doesn’t bode well for the 2nd half of the season. I would’ve felt a lot better if Jason Licht had taken some positive actions to fix several key weaknesses prior to the trade deadline, but alas, that was expecting way too much. So we’ve got what we’ve got. Hopefully some of these guys will improve. And hopefully we’ll be able to play closer to mistake-free football than we have been. And hopefully all of our remaining opponents will just implode play-after-play. Hey, since we’re dealing in wishes, might as well go for the whole enchilada.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:24 pm
I stand corrected. GP’s point above is correct. We do have a major problem in that we do not have an elite QB. He is correct that Jameis is not an elite qb.
The way above average offense we have this year deserves no credit to our offensive line or coaching staff because Jameis has not looked good.
I mean of course if Jameis does not look elite yet, it is everyone else’s fault. It is not Jameis’ fault; It is the running game, it is the offensive line, it is the coaching, it is Desean Jackson’s.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:38 pm
D.R.
Can’t argue with your point…at least to this point in the season…we’re not getting better…at least fast enough.
Call me the cockeyed optimist but I still have a last single thread of hope that we can get better…if the OL plays just a bit better and Fitzmagic is the “good” Fitz and not the “bad” Fitz…if our defense gets healthy and the very young DB’s experience after half a season starts working…maybe we get better?
OK trash me so I can be depressed. LOL
I do not care about posting an incorrect opinion but I hate just giving up on the Bucs.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:48 pm
Aspiring to be .500. Such lofty goals.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:49 pm
Scribe this: Fire the entire staff and get rid of the overpriced dead weight.
November 4th, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Geno
You might want to re-read my post, a little slower .
You don’t seem to have comprehended the full meaning.
I hope that’s not too big of a word for you
November 4th, 2018 at 1:04 pm
GP I read and grasped your post. I stand by my original post that your underlying comments insinuate that it is not Jameis’ fault it is others.
November 4th, 2018 at 3:55 pm
Geno
Just for clarification
OH!!! One other very KEY ingredient
That entire team has to be on the same page with the desire to win and the PRIDE of ownership in their level of play
Sorry to say, there has only been one brief period where the Buc’s showed that key ingredient and it ain’t now!
This has been the Buc’s problem since well before Jameis took his first snap in college
Again, sorry for the big words
November 4th, 2018 at 4:17 pm
Win as a team – Lose as a team
No one player can carry the day
November 4th, 2018 at 4:29 pm
Jameis is still growing up as a man and learning in NFL Fitz is who he is and that is not good career wise! Fire the coach now !