Playing Smart Football
October 28th, 2019
Puzzled.
After that hideous loss yesterday, Joe questioned whether the Bucs had players smart enough to play winning NFL football.
Week after week there is evidence that perhaps they do not have what it takes upstairs to consistently win ballgames.
Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians seems frustrated, having few if any answers as to why the Bucs keep beating the Bucs with mental errors.
“When I look at the number of missed assignments in the game, after totally making that a point of emphasis in our off week and last week of practice, where they had disappeared, they showed back up in the game,” Arians said, audibly frustrated and at the same time amazed. “We’ve got to look at our preparation. We’ve got to look at our coaching.
“Are we teaching it properly? Something’s not happening from Saturday to Sunday, and to take our base run and run it against a front that we saw every day in practice, and not block it correctly, is baffling to me.”
Arians’ words remind Joe of two things.
Joe’s old man was a catapult officer on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theatre in World War II. In charge of a crew, he had never in his life been a supervisor in anything until that time. So his first experience in charge of men came in the middle of a war with people trying to blow you up into a thousand pieces. Not exactly assistant manager responsibilities at Walgreens.
Joe remembers asking him once how he could run a smooth-operating crew with zero experience.
Joe’s old man said, “You teach guys what to do so even the lowest simpleton can understand.” That may be what Arians has to deal with here.
It also reminded Joe of what Vince Lombardi did when he took over the Packers. A former high school chemistry teacher, Lombardi, is his first meeting with his quarterbacks, held up a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”
Lombardi began to re-teach the sport to his quarterbacks right down to what a football was and how to hold it and go from there.
Joe has no idea how Arians is supposed to reconfigure his coaching staff’s methods in the middle of the season. But, that’s why Arians gets paid the big bucks.
One thing is certain: if players continue to make the same mistakes over and over, that doesn’t say much for Team Glazer’s return on investment into the largest coaching staff in the NFL.
October 28th, 2019 at 3:39 pm
He hired them..WTF Bruce?
I see a health related resignation coming…..
October 28th, 2019 at 3:40 pm
i predicted BA’s early exit… see ya pal enjoy your glazer retirement coin….
October 28th, 2019 at 3:44 pm
Was his name Jeff Tedford…?… why am I thinking of that repressed chapter in recent Buc psycho drama?
October 28th, 2019 at 3:46 pm
Is it true the Bucs are trying to trade for Eli Manning?
October 28th, 2019 at 3:57 pm
Well we can start with JW and tell him the team wearing the other color jersey you don’t throw to them. You throw to the team wearing the same color jersey as you.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:02 pm
Bruce, you’re being fooled by how they practice. Of course they look good against each other, it’s against a real team where they struggle. Your players suck, because Licht chose them. Now it looks like you suck too, because you can’t seem to coach them. You’re just realizing now you have a dumb ass GM, dumb ass players, and dumb ass owners. You were hired to fix things, not cry about not being able to fix things.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:03 pm
He’s going to retire because of health again and we’re going to be right back where we were. Another wasted year of Mike Evans and Lavonte David’s careers.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:11 pm
Remember… Jason Lite brought in BA …. to save HIS job !
October 28th, 2019 at 4:14 pm
You cant keep blaming coaching staff after coaching staff especially when you have an experienced staff, are they supposed to go out on game day in uniform to demonstrate in games too? It’s simple they need to put a pharmacy on site and prescribe Xanax for all these guys who seem to have performance anxiety and play great on the practice field and scared when the lights come on
October 28th, 2019 at 4:15 pm
I just watched the presser and let me tell you BA is already a beaten old man. I find it amazing that he did not know what he was getting into, regarding our before taking the job. Lends itself to he is only here to take the cash for him and his homeboys. Fire sale!!!! Start with the QB. There is someone out there just as dumb as us to take the guy
October 28th, 2019 at 4:18 pm
“Grandpa Smurf cant figure out why Periman looks good against our secondary but suk during the games. The stiff has been cut by 2 teams
retire clueless stubborn old man
posters here want to see a playoff game before they checkout”
Son of Sam
October 28th, 2019 at 4:22 pm
They need more coaches! Or maybe fewer coaches?
October 28th, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Why is it that we are one of 2 teams in the NFL to not have an analytics department?
October 28th, 2019 at 4:24 pm
I suspect that the players simply lack the talent necessary to play at this level…..not yet….perhaps never…..
VH3…..MJ Stewart…..CD…..SMB…..Dean…..just not getting it done.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:24 pm
Smart would be: if the one who touches the ball every offensive play keeps losing the ball, replace him!
October 28th, 2019 at 4:32 pm
Funny thing. They get smarter the more time they spend on the bench or on the street.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:37 pm
JL must go, john lynch knows how to build a team
and he tackles with his head.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:49 pm
2nd time hearing about preperation. It really showed last year too. The work ethic of many players on this team is lacking. The NFL has all of these labor rules so players gotta put in their own work. We simply do not have enough players willing to put in the work needed to give is a respectable team.
Work ethic is something you either got it or you don’t so not much hope to expect any turnaround this season. I do think Bruce can fix this but only if he has enough leaders in house to build with. That’s why y’all need to stop calling for heads.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:58 pm
the yearly meltdowns and excuses from this pathetic organization is much more enjoyable than on field play year in and year out. I was hoping for some sideline collapse drama but I think BA is such a BS artist he will bow out creatively… he is finished already in tampa team has quit on him and BA quit on glazers before he started
October 28th, 2019 at 4:59 pm
son
posters here want to see a playoff game before they checkout”
Son of Sam
you are dead on sir….
October 28th, 2019 at 5:05 pm
Sorry BA …it’s all white noise now
October 28th, 2019 at 5:14 pm
I’ve never seen such a bunch of B S articles in my life
THE BUCS LOST THE GAME FOR THE SAME REASON THEY HAVE LOST EVERY GAME EXCEPT THE SAINTS GAME-
JAMEIS WINSTON TURNOVERS
October 28th, 2019 at 5:15 pm
Lol we hear a version of this speech from every single HC that comes here post-Gruden. The Bucs lack a respectable NFL roster, that’s their problem. Hodad hit the nail on the head, The problem starts at the top, it’s not BA, it’s Licht and the Glazers. Their either incompetent or just don’t care. These players cannot and will not get it done. Every year they just find new ways to sh!t themselves, just start the fire sale and fire licht. We dominated the Titans in TOP and their offense barely did sh!t all game before they went into their normal meltdown mode. You can keep the revolving door of coaches but even Belicheat couldn’t coach his way out of this roster. Rant off.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:21 pm
Alanbucsfan
i respect your hate… after all hate is the only true emotion… all other emotion is temporary or fabricated that being said…. Bucs sucked long before winston and will suck long after winston. winston is just a small footnote in this embarrassing minor league franchises pathetic history…
October 28th, 2019 at 5:23 pm
I believe you keep playing to win. That’s the only way you can change the culture of losing attitudes. 7-9, 8-8, 9-7 sets a positive precedence and gives teams hope. It changes the cultural misconceptions and makes recruiting quality FA’s to buy in. It’s easier when they know a team is committed by the way they played to the end of season before. Besides, where are we still after being in the top half of every draft for the last decade?
October 28th, 2019 at 5:23 pm
TRAIN
October 28th, 2019 at 5:24 pm
WRECK
October 28th, 2019 at 5:26 pm
BA … ““We’ve got to look at our preparation. We’ve got to look at our coaching.” YGBSM coach. You’re just now figuring that out halfway through the season. and with a 2-5 record?
TBBF … Agree totally with you on VHIII & MJ Stewart … I’ve seen enough to get a decent feel of who they are far as I’m concerned. But Carlton Davis has excellent potential IMO for a 2nd year corner; coaches just need to get him to play more ‘under control’ & stop with all the BS penalties (8 penalties for 106 yds now in just 7 games is ridiculous). And SMB & Jamel Dean just haven’t gotten enough snaps yet I think; heck, they’re both rookies. Same with Edwards back at Safety. Without a veteran presence back in the Secondary (no, VHIII doesn’t count IMO) these guys are being thrown to the wolves.
And especially with our meh pass rush that’s just not getting enough pressure on the QBs. And yes, our LB play also; they’re part of the pass defense problem IMO. Through 7 games, and with all the short passes that we’ve seen, LVD has 3 PDs, Barrett has 2 PDs, Minter has 2 PDs, White has 1 PD & Nelson has 1 PD. That’s only 9 PDs by our LBs in 7 games, barely 1 PD per game. Compare THAT to the number of balls that’ve been thrown in their area of responsibility & it seems awfully low.
Granted, our CBs & Safeties aren’t exactly setting the world on fire through these first 7 games. VHIII has 3 PDs, Davis has 6 PDs, SMB has 3 PDs & MJ Stewart has 1 PD. Whitehead leads our Safeties with 7 PDs, Edwards has 2 PDs & Adams has 1 PD. That’s it. Our defense has been on the field for 428 defensive snaps now, and opposing QBs have thrown 283 passes and completed 180 (63.6%) … that’s not THAT bad. We’ve defended a grand total of 33 passes … seems like we should do better, but maybe that’s what to expect from a young Secondary. I guess the other 70 incomplete passes were just bad throws.
Overall though, these youngsters aren’t doing nearly as bad as BA made it out to be. What is horrendous IMO however is 17 TOs in 7 games. In all fairness to Jameis though, his OLine is getting him killed … 28 sacks & 54 QB Hits in 7 games is disgusting. Jameis throwing for a career low of 58.2%, a full FIVE percentage points below last year. Something stinks in Bucsville & I’d be looking at management & coaching BEFORE having any fire sales.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:28 pm
Absolutely Jean.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:28 pm
We have to kill the streak of double digit loss seasons.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:31 pm
Licht is the biggest dummy of them all.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:35 pm
You know what’s “smart football”? Not forcing your offense to live or die by the deep ball, not abandoning the run or not making Rojo the bellcow by now, and not letting a guy who is clearly in over his head at OC call plays.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Defense Rules……Don’t look now but our secondary actually stepped up and made a few key stops on third down yesterday.
Still had some struggles but I will take that if they can show signs of life…..And some ability to make game changing plays. They don’t count in the recodr book but those Carlton Davis picks were massive plays and were improperly taken away. 3 times they took away those huge INTs…..I did not see the third pentalty but the first 2 were dead wrong. I’ll check the film breakdowns and am willing to bet the third one will confirm cheating……..same with flagging us for a hold on our very first offensive play afterward. I’m betting that was another botched call that confirms cheating.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:39 pm
i think it would be best if you all would just accept being a buc fan equals no hope, very little winning, stadium filled with opponents fans, 4 to 5 really embarrassing blow outs per year and some serious jerry spring drama from the inmates running the asylum…
October 28th, 2019 at 5:44 pm
Stop all this already – go to Denver and trade for Joe Flacco, Elway and his slaves are desperate. We are too.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:45 pm
And Joe, as to the earlier article stating Jameis’ comp % is 58.2. It is actually 62% if you factor in INTs
October 28th, 2019 at 5:50 pm
Ye of little faith.
This was not a one year turnaround unless Jameis and kicking and running and pass rushing and pass defending could be fixed. I was hopeful. But this is not on coaching.
We now know that a change in coaches did not fix Jameis. Or Jensen. Or Donovan. Or the entire right side of the O Line. Or Hargreaves. Or 92. They lost a game on a missed chip shot, but kicking appears to be fixed.
I’m willing to wait to see the improvement in year 2. The rest of you, go be a Dolphins fan.
October 28th, 2019 at 6:02 pm
They can start with cutting Perriman and VH3. And put Miller on the PS… can we finally see what Watson can do???? Also wouldn’t mind contacting Denver about Chris Harris Jr. Sadly don’t see any of that happening.
October 28th, 2019 at 6:06 pm
Light can’t find intelligent players because he lacks brains himself. Jameis had some nice plays but again his bad far outweighed the good. He needs to go with Licht. It won’t be a loss and the team will be better without them.
October 28th, 2019 at 6:08 pm
Perriman is a joke. VH3 just can’t figure it out.
October 28th, 2019 at 6:23 pm
After another losing season if this guy leaves they should send Licht behind him and offer Derrick Brooks general manager. Let him pick the bucs next coach.
October 28th, 2019 at 6:33 pm
I think Ronde would be a better GM than #55…guy is smart with many connections in the NFL and across the league…
October 28th, 2019 at 7:09 pm
I think I can speak in a language Brucie can understand…
Welcome to Tampa mother-******!
Didn’t your boy #lichtmyb**ls Level with you on how things roll around these parts?
It’s all good though, you’ll get paid and so will the worst GM in all of pro sport no matter what.
#ariansretitenenttrain
October 28th, 2019 at 7:19 pm
@BigMacAttack
“Light can’t find intelligent players because he lacks brains himself”
why most need 6 years to realized this fact??!! all a long i’m been saying , there is no fantasy on this guy.. there is no independent thinking , there is no smartness, there is no vision. he uses the pass performant of successful teams, to determent the future of Bucs. Big failure.
BA was, is done as a coach. he got a very short OK performance, that means nothing, let a lone to be the future of a franchise. He is here for retirement.
JW, never was great, below average QB, no even close to a Franchise QB.
I never gave up on bucs.. but this time I will be happy for them to lose as many game as possible, I hope ALL the rest of the games, and maybe we are lucky for JL, BA,JW to get out of here.
BA = LovieS 2.0
October 28th, 2019 at 7:24 pm
First 3 qrts Tannehill went after Davis and failed then in the 4th qrt he went after VH3 and went 90 yards for a TD. Brutal drive but if the coach isn’t smart enough to realize vh3 is just a completion waiting to happen then idk what to tolds you.
Blow the whole thing up trade everybody.
October 28th, 2019 at 7:40 pm
steve jobs would not stand for this…
#Facts
October 28th, 2019 at 7:56 pm
Another failed coach with the Bucs… this team is a coach killer! The deaths won’t stop u til Licht AND the Glazers are gone!
October 28th, 2019 at 8:02 pm
How can this be? We have the most diverse staff and diversity is our strength. It’s not the coaches.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:09 pm
New Bucs Fan Club just came about this evening: “The Miss-Fitz”
October 28th, 2019 at 9:17 pm
maybe too many coaches
October 28th, 2019 at 10:36 pm
Chargers get it!! Just fired OC Ken Whisenhunt who has a much stronger pedigree than Leftwich. SMDH!!
October 29th, 2019 at 5:36 am
Think about it: we are a chip shot field goal and and a patient ref away from sitting at 4-3. And think about the discussions we’d have in that case…
October 29th, 2019 at 9:05 am
But we are not sitting at 4-3, we’re 2-5, and deserve that record. We earned it fair, and square. Stop talking about what we should, or could be. We’re a 2-5 team heading for another ass whipping this Sunday. We’re going to have another double digit loss season. That’s reality, something Buc fans can’t seem to grasp. Get your head out of fantasy land, we are what our record says we are.