Licht’s Last Shot
August 18th, 2019
“How about that bonus I got you, Jason?”
Yes, Joe knows a lot of Bucs fans had indigestion yesterday.
When many Bucs fans woke up feeling good about life after the Bucs beat the Dolphins on a 48-yard field goal Friday evening, their good moods quickly turned sour when they read Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht had a five-year extension to his contract in January.
Licht’s contract lasts as long as Bucco Bruce Arians’ contract. This, too, was also signed in January.
That’s all Joe needed to know. Arians and Licht are tied at the hip.
It doesn’t take a spreadsheeter or a math major to figure out that Arians wouldn’t be here if not for Licht. And, perhaps, Licht wouldn’t be here if not for Arians. Licht is not a popular figure in Bucs fandom. He has a 27-53 record as a general manager.
That, more than questionable draft picks, make Licht a marked man with Bucs fans. While Licht forever has to wear the fact that he traded up into the second round to draft a kicker like a scarlet letter, Bucs fans would (somewhat) forgive him for that unconscionable mistake if he oversaw a team that made the playoffs.
Instead, the Bucs have only had one season with a winning record and never made the playoffs under Licht’s watch. That’s not good in the eyes of paying customers, no matter how good of a talent evaluator Licht may be.
To be fair, Licht didn’t run the show his first two seasons. That was Lovie, who Joe believes may be the worst talent evaluator who ever pulled a check in the NFL. The blindless he displayed in Chicago (unloading Greg Olson and trading a second-round pick for a stiff like Gaines Adams) continued with the Bucs which splattered Licht with mud. Who can forget Lovie’s basement brigade of Stewart McClown, Ghost Johnson, Anthony Collins and Lovie’s favorite pet Mike Jenkins?
Lawd!
As former Bucs coach Dirk Koetter once said, the NFL is a production league. The Bucs, under Licht’s watch, haven’t produced. And to fans, it doesn’t matter why or how come, it only matters that they haven’t and the buck stops at Licht’s desk.
Since the length of Licht’s new contract mirrors Arians, it’s fair to assume when Arians was negotiating his contract with Team Glazer that he wanted Licht as his right-hand man. Shoot, he publicly admits Licht is one reason why he came here.
If Arians leaves the Bucs without marching the team to the playoffs, Joe doesn’t think it is unreasonable to expect that Licht will be out the door with him, voluntarily or involuntarily.
So for Bucs fans freaking about a guy with a 33.75 winning percentage getting an extension with their team, don’t fret. If Licht cannot oversee the Bucs getting to the playoffs with his (final?) hand-picked coach in Arians, then Arians very likely will be Licht’s last coaching hire with the Bucs.
In other words, for Licht, it sure smells like it is boom or bust with Arians.
August 18th, 2019 at 12:06 am
Oh boy.
August 18th, 2019 at 12:10 am
Im good with it! I like Licht….he’s picked some failures yes, but his knack for finding undrafted talent makes up for it a little. We just needed the right Coaches and schemes…..Now its up to the players. I think we win at least 8-9 as long as JW3 stays healthy (and if his 1st string O line is healthy as well, thats a big one…the 2’s and 3’s suck!!)
August 18th, 2019 at 12:13 am
Now this was nice piece. Great job Joe!
In BA I Trust!
August 18th, 2019 at 12:15 am
Arians is a respectable HC… That said, even he will need 2 years or more to make this a winning team… Maybe he new Licht would be better for him to work with than an unknown GM later while going through a couple of drafts to get the right players…. They may have finally found a reliable kicker, GREAT…. A kicker and a few good receivers does not make a team… TO MANY HOLES TO FILL IN 1 OFFSEASON…
August 18th, 2019 at 12:16 am
he sucks but he brought in so… big mistake IMO…. he has had a open checkbookand the qb was cheap so should have a winner but no
August 18th, 2019 at 12:17 am
bought in BA
August 18th, 2019 at 12:17 am
I said I would not make a prediction…but it would not surprise me if we made it as far as the NFC Championship game this year.
August 18th, 2019 at 12:19 am
Two of the last three years, kicking and defense prevented us from flipping our record to 12-5. It looks like kicking may be fixed, and maybe, just maybe…so is the defense.
So anything is possible.
August 18th, 2019 at 12:19 am
OK Glazers..I’ll buy..for now.The season is yet to come. For me. its successful at 8-8. Low but..obtainable standards. But remember..Live by the sword..die by it Also. This ain’t Vegas. We Buc fans..especially us old school ones..know the game. Cultivate the young’ens..Yes. But you gotta win within the next 1 to 3 yrs. If not? You lose …about 20 to 40% of the fan base you got now. I’m no stat man, But thats..dangerous like..transfer territory. We’s tired of Losing. Here me now?
August 18th, 2019 at 12:20 am
Rolling my eyes @ Bonzai and his homer predictions every season.
August 18th, 2019 at 12:26 am
Bonzi and glazers are a lot alike they are never right and have low standards
August 18th, 2019 at 12:30 am
NO WAY there is an active gm that has drafted 2 kicker! congrats jason
August 18th, 2019 at 12:42 am
I think the Bucs have like 6 fans left…glazers get paid anyway.
Howard is more of an outraged onlooker than a fan so much anymore lol
Howard suspects the TV ratings are abysmal
August 18th, 2019 at 12:52 am
Wow joe a “stiff” like Gaines Adams??? Talk about kicking a man when he’s down (dead) … low blow and god is watching
August 18th, 2019 at 1:41 am
I’m beyond words…
Depression setting in
August 18th, 2019 at 2:30 am
Wow.
I am lost for words. What does he have on the Glazwrs?
Well now I have to hope the Glazers sell and the new owner cleans house at the management level.
August 18th, 2019 at 3:00 am
So who got rid of Talib, Bennett, Foster, Barron, Claiborne? Was that Licht? or
Lovee? or Dominik? That’s alot of talent on the defensive side that needed replacing.
And who stuck with Smith as defensive coordinator when they were worst in NFL? Licht or Koetter?
Maybe this is first time Licht and Head Coach are on the same page.
We shall see, but the Team looks alot better than last year.
August 18th, 2019 at 3:35 am
Consistency is a good thing
August 18th, 2019 at 4:14 am
Last shot. Thats been the theme here. Maybe BA will have more influence on personal than Licht.
August 18th, 2019 at 4:27 am
Excuse #1 … “To be fair, Licht didn’t run the show his first two seasons”.
Excuse #2 … “Arians wouldn’t be here if not for Licht”.
IMO Licht’s situation is no different today with BA as our HC than it was with Lovie as HC. Our GM works FOR the HC. He let Lovie run roughshod over this franchise, with devastating results. And now BA is pulling the strings, HOPEFULLY with excellent results. Since assuming command, BA has gotten exactly what he wanted … just like Lovie did. The only difference is that BA knows what he’s doing; Lovie didn’t have a clue.
I’m all-in on BA as our HC. Still convinced that he has a well-defined plan for ‘fixing the Bucs’. I agree with Tye; BA will need 2-3 years, and I still can’t see him coaching longer than that. But 2-3 years not just to have a winning team, but rather to turn this TEAM around & achieve MOST of his goals before he moves up to be the President of Football Operations (winning the Super Bowl in 2-3 years, given where he started, is a tall order).
By the way, great article and a very fair treatment of Jason Licht. He came here in 2014 as a Rookie GM, but he’s seen a LOT in the intervening 5 years. And HOPEFULLY learned a LOT too. I also HOPE that his supporting staff (scouts, etc) has also grown more experienced in that time, and that’s a very good thing. Under BA’s leadership, this dog will hunt.
August 18th, 2019 at 5:31 am
We had 10 years (2004 – 2013) of poor drafting before Licht took charge. Davin Joseph, Jeremy Zuttah, Aqib Talib, Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, Doug Martin, William, Gholston and Akeem Spence represent some of the few more successful picks during this period of time. Certainly not that spectacular of a group overall.
We’ve had 10 years (2009 -2018) of poor coaching before Arians arrived. The fact that BA said he was not rebuilding but was retooling shows how he assessed the talent pool already in place.
Out of Licht’s first draft we still have Mike Evans. From his second we have Ali Marpet, Donovan Smith and Jameis Winston. From his third we have Devante Bond, Caleb Benenoch, Ryan Smith, Noah Spence and Vernon Hargreaves. From his fourth we still have Stevie Tu’ikolovatu, Kendell Beckwith, Chris Godwin, Justin Evans and O.J. Howard. From his fifth we have Jack Cichy, Justin Watson, Jordan Whitehead, Alex Cappa, Carlton Davis, M.J. Stewart, Ronald Jones and Vita Vea. So far we have seven more potential rookies from this year’s draft. All of these guys are competing for a spot on our 2019 team. All of our 2017 and 2018 picks are still in the mix.
Don’t tell me that Licht has done a terrible job with his drafts in comparison with his predecessors or compared with his contemporaries across the NFL. Don’ t tell me he has not actually improved over time in overseeing our drafts.
August 18th, 2019 at 5:43 am
I would like to clarify something for the true Bucs nation. Dirk Koetter knew he wasn’t going to be the coach this year for the Bucs two years ago. Here’s how this went down. The Glazers wanted to fire Licht and Koetter to bring back Jon Gruden but he got power hungry and went back to the Raiders instead as damn near part owner which the Glazers wisely didn’t give in on. Instead it became a headline that Licht kept his job. No one ever thought about Koetter or his mindset in things. Koetter knew last year was his last year and the Glazers kept Licht hoping he could reel in Bucco Bruce Arians out of retirement. The Glazers were deperate and gave Licht the opportunity to bring him out of retirement since they failed to bring Jon Gruden back in. I believe Licht knew the whole time BA was coming to Tampa because of Winston. Winston was also the reason Jon Gruden was interested in returning to Tampa in particular outside of is desire and fire to be a part of a team environment again and his past success with the team.
Now we get to last year’s draft and Licht trades down to draft V. Vea. He said at that moment that Vea will replace McCoy in the near future and it happened to. Legitimately might I add. Vea is better than McCoy and was way more intense. The drafting of Vea let me know that they would be switching from 4-3 base Tampa Two to. 3-4. When Vea had the conversation with Licht at midseason I believe Licht told Vea this was his team and he flat out took it to. Guess what boys Vea had better stats than McCoy in way fewer games and both missed time last year as well. Koetter did Licht a glorified favor which was continue to pretrain Winston for this offense. Remember the offensive scheme hasn’t changed its just a more balanced and veteran coach here now. Here’s the real quick though to me BA is saying all the same things Koetter said since he got here. Literally he sounds just like the old ball coach too. Only difference is that BA has way more freedom within the organization than Koetter did. Understand why but then I kind of don’t. Koetter had a high power engine here in Tampa. He will also be the one to come back and bite us with the Falcons. This is what’s not being written instead jjust reckless hype by every Tampa media member.
As far as this upcoming season I think the late addition of Suh will pay dividends. Jpp and Vea are already out along the dline and they are still getting pressure. Guess who’s responsible. Yeah Suh and sleeper Beau Allen. Suh is just an added bonus with Vea. The offense will be little better in the red zone and will be more balanced but the stats from Winston will be more efficient. I think he gets more TDs and less INT. We will win and succeed because we have players that are gonna play hard for the coach. 9-7 is my prediction may win the division with it but I see wild card heroes out of this team for sure. They end going down just short of the Super bowl and may lose to someone else in the division.
August 18th, 2019 at 6:00 am
Figures.
That’s the Bucs for ya. Complete idiots.
Btw: BOBO SUCKS
August 18th, 2019 at 6:10 am
alan ^ agreed!
August 18th, 2019 at 6:27 am
Correction: Subtract Jeremy McNichols the 5th round pick from the 2017 draft.
August 18th, 2019 at 6:31 am
JL will do what BA tells him to do. This is probably a good thing.
August 18th, 2019 at 6:58 am
Licht getting extended is great news. Best talent evaluator since Rich McKay. Great at spotting Undrafted guys to help our team. I’m glad you don’t run the team Joe….firing Licht would make our residency permanent at the bottom of the NFC south
August 18th, 2019 at 7:01 am
If thing blows up, you can count on this….the Bucs will promote from within until all those contracts are off the books. That’s what the Glaziers do….when we fired Gruden/Allen, we promoted Dominick/Raheem. When we fired Lovie, we promoted Koetter and kept Licht. If we fire Arians/Licht, you can count on them promoting Bowles/Leftwich, maybe they keep Licht or promote someone under him but they will not go out and hire an entire new staff. They are all about the budget….it trumps everything.
August 18th, 2019 at 7:03 am
So I guess Lovie Smith brought in Jameis Winston, Cameron Brate, Kwon Alexander, Ali Marpet, Donovan Smith, Mike Evans, Adam Humphries, Logan Mankins, and also extended Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David?
August 18th, 2019 at 7:09 am
Yeah…just like you thought the Bucs were going 11-5 last year and that you were “totally confident” in Dirk Koetter.
August 18th, 2019 at 7:10 am
Im fine with it. Go Bucs!
August 18th, 2019 at 7:12 am
There is a “Licht” at the end of the tunnel……..and there is a “White” at the beginning…..
Devin White, coupled with BA & his huge competent staff will turn the Bucs around.
BA says it’s a reload….not a rebuild…..on that BA is BS….it’s a rebuild.
8-8 this year…..playoffs next year.
August 18th, 2019 at 7:17 am
I’m going out on a limb here but I am beginning to believe the rumor that Jason has Pics with the Glazers boys in the back seat, of an Uber Deluxe, with JW performing the proverbial circle jerk. Jason was in the front seat with the driver.
August 18th, 2019 at 7:20 am
I love this move! To me, this just indicates that the Arians Football Mafia will be in place for at least half a decade…long enough for Jameis to fulfill his potential, become the next great QB…and long enough to cement Matt Gay’s legacy as the greatest long kicker ever to walk this flat earth!
Plus, bonus…my neighbor is the Director of College Recruiting for the Bucs and our family is very fin of his. Great people. And let’s face it, organizations are made up of individual people…and if you can’t root for your neighbor, well, you have issues.
August 18th, 2019 at 7:20 am
fond not fin
August 18th, 2019 at 7:22 am
Living just north of Motown I have to compare this situation with the Lions and Matt Millen!
August 18th, 2019 at 7:41 am
This contract extension is big fat sloppy wet kiss of death from Team Glazer, who loves to pay people not to play, coach, or manage with multiple years remaining on their contracts. That’s just how they roll.
August 18th, 2019 at 7:47 am
“Kobe Faker stated 3 years ago we are the Cincinnati Bengals of the south
Our ownership like the Bengals Browns ownership doesnt really care to win
The financial landscape has changed in the last 10 years
In the past fan financial support was needed to survive. Now with corporate and tv gurateened contracts being the majority of the annual revenue…
The bucsheep fanbase is irrelevant”
Kobe Faker
August 18th, 2019 at 7:59 am
A cup of myopia, fellow Bucs fans? Dominick had every bit as bad a personnel record, and never hired a good coach. Yet he was a Rock Star. Now Licht is the picture of a horrible GM that has to go in your assessment. I’d rather think it is myopia and not Schizophrenia…or man love/ hate. If Arians bombs, I’m with you guys regarding ditching Licht…our player acquisitions will have every chance for success, and there will be no reasons if they are “busts”. I don’t think that will happen, but I could be wrong. And please…find some joy in your life along with football. It saddens me to see you in such pain. Life is short, but thankfully not as short as most NFL careers.
August 18th, 2019 at 8:00 am
@kobe: that is a low blow to the Bengals fan base. The Bucs are the Buccaneers of the South. Our talking points are based on if the QB can stay out of jail along with a place kicker competition. Pretty sad.
August 18th, 2019 at 8:03 am
“failures yes, but his knack for finding undrafted talent makes up for it a little”
For the last 5 years, the word on the street is, if you ‘re not drafted, go to Tampa. Good weather, no income tax and an incompetent GM who will be desperate to cover up for his horrific draft picks.
A player like Cam Brate couldn’t have gotten a sniff anywhere except Tampa, where he becomes a starter, gets paid and then replaced by a stumbling, bumbling GM.
A lot of the fans, like me, are old and have been here from the beginning. I recently took a poll among my family. I asked if anyone could name a single player on the Bucs, no one could. My 27 year old son, my 31 daughter (knew Tom Brady), my 35 year old daughter or my wife. No one could name a single draft pick, trade, free agent or player that Jason Licht picked.
They grew up going to Buc games. Every Buc game is on TV in my house. When I say,”Hey, the Bucs won last night!” Nobody cares.
If Gump has a 5 year contract, maybe the Bucs don’t last 5 years. I have seen diminishing interest in professional baseball, basketball, tennis etc. I haven’t watched an NBA game in 20 years. I haven’t watched a single baseball game this year. I used to watch 162 Rays games a season. I have never missed a Buc’s game, ever.
When they finally lose the old time, die hard fans like me……………………..
August 18th, 2019 at 8:11 am
It’s also good to see the lefty liberals begin to cannibalize on each other (buc1987 & Bonzai). I do appreciate their fanatic support but they have no clue about football or accessing talent. One of the two (buc1987) has begun to overcome his addiction by first realizing that he had a problem to begin with!!! Hell, With the right meds, I can even see him dressing up as the Bucs make cheerleader for Halloween.
August 18th, 2019 at 8:12 am
BA destroyed the AZ cards with his personnel moves now he will be pullin the licht strings ….. great
August 18th, 2019 at 8:12 am
So Jay-Miss needs another five years of development? This may shock you, but the NFL’s great QBs had it figured out by year five. How many more MVPs will Patrick Mahomes win over the next five years while Jay-Miss figures it out?
August 18th, 2019 at 8:16 am
@Kobe … “Our ownership like the Bengals Browns ownership doesnt really care to win”.
Very broad brush that you’re painting with Kobe. EVERY team’s ownership WANTS to win. The majority of NFL owners don’t know HOW to win far as I’m concerned. And yes, that includes the Glazer Boyz. HOPEFULLY that’s changing with BA in charge.
It takes a COMPLETE ORGANIZATION to win in today’s NFL, and the Bucs haven’t had that in many moons. It starts with an ownership group committed to winning (not just in words but in ACTIONS), and takes a quality GM with an excellent scouting group to create the ‘vision’ for how to make that happen (I personally prefer the word ‘team-building’). Obviously it takes a great HC with quality assistant coaches. To say that it needs talented, committed players is just stating the obvious. Bucs are just now on the cusp of starting to see all that come together IMO.
IMO the Bucs haven’t had that since Rich McKay & Tony Dungy led the charge. Yes Jon Gruden got us our only SB win, but IMO it was accomplished thanks to the defense that Sam Wyche started and Tony Dungy & Monte Kiffin perfected. Chucky the ‘offensive genius’ coached us to an average ranking of #18 offensively (while Monte Kiffin kept us continually in the Top-10 defensively). DEFENSE has always been our strength, and until we get back to that we’ll be mired in the middle to bottom of the pack. This year will be the start of us returning to our heritage.
August 18th, 2019 at 8:21 am
I know a lot of fans are not happy about this but maybe try an look at it from this perspective. A lot of the draft picks Licht has taken over the course of his career have not bin developed. It’s hard to judge his picks wen they arnt coached up right or developed. If Arians staff develops the picks that are left like Spence Hargreaves an all the other ones to many to name an they develop them well then this team can win. It’s not the GMs job to develop players an I know people will argue why is he drafting players who don’t fit the schemes but if we actually had good coaches then they would play to the players strength but we had Smitty an we all know he hasn’t developed players or coached wen he was here. Give time for this staff to develop these players an then we can see how good of a GM Licht is. Now for the Aguayo pick smh lol an he has us in cap hell so I can’t speak on that lol
August 18th, 2019 at 8:23 am
Defense…reasonable assessment of the life of the organization over the last thirty years. Of course, McKay’s draft sabotage didn’t help… Ap. State WR?
August 18th, 2019 at 8:23 am
D-Rome—
My bad. I forgot you were a prophet who knows the outcome of this year already…and have keen vision into the next half decade. Who would have known, except you, that The BA/TB regime would be such a bust? And damn, Matt Gay was so promising that first preseason…then, the curse was back. #firelicht
To be candid, I should have just deferred to your good negative judgment on the already-known outcome of everything Bucs. I’m going to cancel my 2019 Game Pass. Not worth my time knowing the Bucs will forever be destined to the NFL outhouse.
Now, who wins each division this year and the Super Bowl for the next five, Master? This I would like to k ow as your Grasshopper so that I can go spread some good financial cheer in Vegas.
Thanks for bringing me to my senses. I now know you are ‘da MAN! Never to be questioned. The knower-of-all. The ultimate visionary jock strap. The Master Cheese Fumunda!
I feel blessed.
Sign me,
Grasshopper
August 18th, 2019 at 8:30 am
Glazers last shot too
August 18th, 2019 at 8:33 am
Too bad the Outback boys got outbid by the “who are the Glazers ?”…hell even Steven Story was surprised when he opened up the envelope
August 18th, 2019 at 8:52 am
Todd…LOL. But these prophets listen to the best armchair prophets.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:02 am
Love the move.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:03 am
Great picture and caption, Joe. Big brother Bruce Arians definitely came to save the day in Tampa Bay. The six month secrecy of the extension shows that the Glazers had to know this would be unpopular news. I’ve always liked Arians and hope he can put together a winning culture. A lot of people are counting on him…fans…owners…a large staff he’s assembled and a little brother figure GM.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:06 am
Between the Smiths (Louie and Mike) the franchise has been sabotaged and doomed to failure. There is talent on this roster that Licht is responsible for and it appears that we finally a respectable coaching staff. It just makes sense to keep him under contract while BA is here.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:11 am
When GM’s get a contract extended, it is always a press conference, with smiling faces and handshakes for the media!!!!!!!!!! Why was this a midnight, backroom shady deal that has taken months to come to light!!!!!!!!!!!! It will all end badly, but not before they sign jay-miss game manager to an extension that will further handcuff and set this team up for failures!!!!!!!!!!!!! What garbage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 18th, 2019 at 9:26 am
Very astute observation. The reason being is because the Glazers would have to face very fair questions about the decision making process that went into extending the GM.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:27 am
I think the Glazers are trying to destroy this franchise. Dont know why. From GM to horrible uniforms and everything in between we are a joke.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:31 am
Some of his best picks were under Lovie. LOL. You can’t have it both ways.
This is a disaster. We have zero depth and it will show up during the season.
August 18th, 2019 at 9:43 am
That is like telling your wife “honey I know you caught me in bed with a few skanks before. But look how GORGEOUS this one is! I promise (kind of) that this time I will be faithful. If not you can leave me.” She should and definitely would say… NO FREEKING THANKS
August 18th, 2019 at 10:10 am
Licht is a freakin idiot.
August 18th, 2019 at 10:21 am
The Buc record with Licht as GM is not at all a reflection on Licht nor his abilities.
Some notes to defend my position:
1) Lovie hired Licht and was the defacto Licht boss. That is two years on which Licht has no real fingerprints.
2) It was not Licht who hired Koetter, it was the owners in an effort to develop their franchise QB. Licht had more responsibility, but he didn’t hire Koetter and Smith. He did have draft and personnel responsibility, but he was in no way totally responsible for the record under a poor coaching staff. The players Licht brought in were badly underused and developed under the former staff.
3) If Licht were not in TB, BA and Co. would not be in TB. If you approve (so far) of what BA and the coaches he brought in have done, you have to appreciate Licht in a different…well…light. I suspect the Glazers waited until they had solid reasons to believe BA is turning around this team before committing to Licht for as long as BA is Bucco Bruce the Kangol.
……………………..
I hope I am not the only one who sees an incredible difference in this new defense. Three items stand out like the proverbial sore thumb:
1) Gap control, even in the 2’s and 3’s, has been stellar on the DL.
2) Guys are just flying around at speed and effort not seen in Tampa for years. This is not Kiffin’s D, but the movement and speed are reminiscent of those days.
3) The D-Backfield is like nothing seen in Tampa, maybe even under Kiffin. The old great defense relied of big pressure from the Front 4, while LB’s and DB’s dropped into zones where they’d break on the ball in hopes the QB made a bad, forced throw. It worked well, obviously. But these guys…totally different. Press coverage all over the field where the goal is not to keep the ball in front then whack, but contest every ball thrown. I LIKE it! I’d rather get beaten being aggressive that soft letting teams have their will, hoping the O makes a (rare) mistake. Quite the difference.
When BA said early on that the D-Backfield was “totally fixed”, I pooh-poohed the notion. But from what I have seen and heard, what was once the primary weakness of this team may become a strength…overnight.
4) D predictability. I’m a film geek. Even when I watch coaches film on the D, and even when I know a blitz or dialed-in pressure is coming, I see very few signs as to where it is going to come from. It’s beautiful! And I take Bucs coaches at their word that they have been rather vanilla in PS games. This bodes well for the regular season.
5) Accountability. Under BA no player is immune from criticism, even in public. My favorite BA quote to date, after the first PSer: “I could cut to 60 today.” Boom. Better crank it up a few notches, boys, BA is not messing around.
So far I am beyond pleased at the direction on this team. Long overdue. I won’t make any “bold” predictions on the results, but in my world the results are a function of effort and coaching, and on those two items this team has done well…so far. It remains to be seen how it translates when the bullets are live.
August 18th, 2019 at 10:22 am
T posted “three”, I meant “these”…
August 18th, 2019 at 10:26 am
Defense Rules: spot on
August 18th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Good article and I agree with you, but if we go 4-12 or worse (very likely with our schedule) are we keeping Licht and Arians? I would sure as hell hope not. 😛
August 18th, 2019 at 10:45 am
El Buco Realisto Says:
August 18th, 2019 at 9:11 am
When GM’s get a contract extended, it is always a press conference, with smiling faces and handshakes for the media!
————————————————————-
No, not really.
August 18th, 2019 at 11:01 am
Winners: Licht, Jameis, Arians and the Glazers
Losers: The Bucs and their fans
August 18th, 2019 at 11:01 am
Based on the comments above, and the relative qualities(in my mind) of each poster….. I’m good with the extension, with the caveat that winning must occur within two years for anyone to see the end of said extension
August 18th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
And if Arians and his staff can make the players Licht drafted look better then Licht should stay.. The more it unfolds the more it’s going to show Koetter had no right being a head coach and Licht knows how to draft… I also believe Lovie and Koetter we’re both Glazer boy mistakes. They need not look at Licht but they panicked when they thought Koetter and Smith would be plucked and hired at head coaches elsewhere. The owners are the ones that are clueless..
August 18th, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Talent > Coaching…
August 18th, 2019 at 1:40 pm
Talent > coaching. But in the NFL, where there is a salary cap, and players are drafted in order with the weakest team first, the variation in talent isn’t as great as you think…. the caveat to that being an exceptional once in a generation player, particularly at the QB position. And with that being said, the difference made by coaches is monumental.
August 18th, 2019 at 1:42 pm
The Realist is right!
“When GM’s get a contract extended, it is always a press conference, with smiling faces and handshakes for the media! Why was this a midnight, backroom shady deal that has taken months to come to light!”
It’s like when you wake up with a hangover, and realize your wife and dog are gone. Your cars are missing and someone cleaned out your bank accounts.
It’s not great news!
August 18th, 2019 at 1:48 pm
In other words “You cant make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t”.
Sounds reasonable
August 18th, 2019 at 2:10 pm
Talent without coaching gets you America’s Turnover Machine, a Djax sulking without recriminations, a RoJo frustrated on the bench, a Red Rooster clowning after a routine stop…and a team cashing it in after 4-5 games.
August 18th, 2019 at 2:15 pm
5 more years of Jason Licht nonsense. I can’t watch a whole decade of Licht screw ups.
August 18th, 2019 at 2:42 pm
Talent>coaching? Not really because they’re BOTH critical to winning. It’s the old ‘chicken or the egg’ question … Which comes first? Which is more important? The only correct answer is YES.
All NFL teams have talent … to varying degrees. Some have good starting talent, but very limited depth (hello Bucs). Some go well beyond that & have very good starting talent PLUS some reasonable depth. Some have mediocre talent across the board.
Same goes for coaching. Teams with mediocre talent AND mediocre coaching achieve mediocre results (at best). Teams with very good talent (starters AND depth) AND very good coaching march right up to the top of the pack. It really isn’t rocket science. Bucs are in a unique situation at the present moment I think. We’ve got reasonably good starting talent, limited depth (in many position groups) AND good coaching. IF we can stay relatively injury free (a VERY BIG IF) then we could do reasonably well this year (minimizes the need for depth). By the same token, IF we can bring our depth players along fast enough, that’ll help a bunch IF the injury bug strikes. LOTS of IFs at this point, unfortunately. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out this season.
August 18th, 2019 at 2:57 pm
After months of preparation, couldn’t we at least have had this announcement made by a camera-shy bird?
August 18th, 2019 at 5:08 pm
D…I remember when Coach Tom Landry was asked about why his “Flex-D” was so effective, and his response was that with the players he had, most any D would be effective….R. White, Lily, Too Tall, etc.. Now that is an exaggeration, but an excess of talent can cover up a “multitude of coaching sins”. And HOF Landry was being a little self-effacing. But yes…they are both critical…and inseparable when it comes to production. But it is somewhat relative…I’d have loved to have had the talent and coaching to be an NFL player… but all the coaching in the world wouldn’t have made that possible.
August 18th, 2019 at 5:43 pm
@Defense Rules: Mediocre talent with good coaching will win more than great talent and poor coaching.
August 18th, 2019 at 6:11 pm
Agree Cobra. And as talent is intentionally dispersed around the league, it magnifies the importance of good coaching. Though as D said…they are both critical.
August 18th, 2019 at 6:17 pm
2019-20 Bucs record: 6-10.
August 18th, 2019 at 8:40 pm
I’m actually ok with it. It doesn’t make sense to use Jason to bring BA here and then run him off. If you look at Jason’s bust rate, it’s pretty much league average. A lot of guys that look promising don’t work out and incompetent coaching doesn’t help.
August 19th, 2019 at 12:44 am
Pittsshore…make some sense every once and awhile. That way more than the foolish Winston Derangement Syndrome Goon Squad might actually agree with and comment back to you.
I comment back to you because I pity you and your daily foolishness on these boards.
Btw jackwagon….I’m further to the right than Rush Limbaugh….most of the long time posters and readers KNOW that. Thanks for playing the though.
August 19th, 2019 at 12:45 am
Thanks for playing the game* though.
Reminder to self….never feed the envious trolls.
August 19th, 2019 at 5:56 am
en real Says:
August 18th, 2019 at 12:52 am
Wow joe a “stiff” like Gaines Adams??? Talk about kicking a man when he’s down (dead) … low blow and god is watching
^^^Stuff like this makes me think joe is paid shill for CBSSports and not really a bucs fan.
August 19th, 2019 at 10:41 am
@buccaneer bonsai I like you’re optimism but ,I did the math and, a 12-5 record would mean adding another game to the regular season.
On a side note, maybe joe could consider a character limit on responses, to keep all the long winded know it alls from regurgitating their bile. 500 words or more doesn’t make you right, it just means that you need to get a life.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:50 pm
Alterraun Verner, Chris Conte, Deshaun Golson, and Major Wright were among other less than stellar free agents of the early Lovie Smith-Jason Licht era that set the team back to be bad enough to have the #1 overall pick the following year.
I read that today’s Bucs are a talented team, but I remember awful picks from 2014-2018.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:52 pm
@Defense Rules: Mediocre talent with good coaching will win more than great talent and poor coaching.
Maybe more true for college football; it’s hard to say in salary-cap pro-football.
August 21st, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Long time speaking here Joe. I’ll say I’m one of those ppl that like what Licht has done. No GM is perfect in picking players or coaches but when many NFL ppl say the Bucs have talent why should I not believe them; unlike these fake personnel ppl here I don’t know more than them.
Most times a GM gets to pick 2 coaches. He didn’t pick Lovie, he got picked. So Koetter was his 1st choice & that pick seemed great finishing 9-7 in the 1st yr. The whole time he was here the offense was good enough for the playoffs. Thanks to Mike Smith for stopping that. So I actually like what Licht has done. His contract extension is FAIR!