“We Better Do It Or We Are Going To Lose”
October 16th, 2020
Bucs WR Mike Evans.
Penalties have been a big conversation around One Buc Palace this week. How to resolve them seems up for debate.
The Bucs lead the NFL in penalties. Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians has said in the recent past about penalties that he and his staff have to do a better job of coaching.
Some penalties are just downright dumb. Offsides, false starts, things like that. And Joe has stated that he isn’t sure you can coach away dumb midseason. Grade school football players know better than to jump at the wrong snap count, line up offsides, not grab face masks, and so on. You get the drift.
Yesterday when Bucs star receiver Mike Evans spoke via Zoom, he strongly dismissed the notion that penalties are the coaches’ fault. Instead, Evans said players have to look in the mirror.
“We’ve got to have some discipline within ourselves,” Evans said. “It is not up to coaching. Coaches are not out there jumping offsides and having OPIs and things like that. It is us, the players.
“So we have to fix that. We better do it or we are going to lose. So we have to take that approach and mindset. We can’t beat ourselves.
“If we don’t beat ourselves, we are really, really, really tough to beat.”
For reasons unknown, the Bucs have been penalty-ridden for much of the Lost Decade. Even Evans acknowledged this when asked how can players teach themselves not to get flagged.
“We have to be better,” Evans said. “If we want to be a championship team, which we are capable of being, we have to eliminate these penalties.
“It’s been like that since Day 1 since I’ve been here. We have to change that around if we want to be champions. I think we can do that. But we have to hold each other accountable and make an effort on Sundays to do that.”
Outside of running laps or being forced to drink lesser beers not brewed at Big Storm Brewing, Evans didn’t say what penance or sentence he or others might force teammates to do by committing penalties.
Now don’t think Evans placed himself on a higher level than his teammates. He confessed he too once was guilty of a rash of penalties. And he thinks Arians is onto something when he said players are sometimes marked by refs, not necessarily teams.
“Before the games, refs will tell me, ‘Watch the pushoff,'” Evans said. “Earlier in my career, I definitely used to push off. Every receiver pushes off, big or small. The bigger guys don’t get away with it as much as the smaller guys.
“This year I don’t recall many times I’ve had to push off. The OPI in the Bears game, I didn’t expect that at all cause I had nothing to do with the play.
“I did push the guy, but I wasn’t getting the ball or anything. I wasn’t setting a pick on [any]body. He grabbed me and I just pushed them.”
Evans said, at least from a referees angle, he would like to see more consistency on calls from crew to crew.
Joe doesn’t know if there is a right or wrong answer to solving the penalties. Can coaches teach a different technique or nuance that might lessen the chance a zebra will call holding? Perhaps.
But Evans said it best, at the end of the day, it isn’t the coaches on the field who are grabbing players or jumping offsides or not firing off the ball on the wrong snap count.
October 16th, 2020 at 5:18 am
My bet is that somebody doesn’t focus on fundamentals like say a Dungy or Belichick.
October 16th, 2020 at 5:50 am
When you have a hot head coach yellin AMF cussin all the time during practice as well as other coaches AND then put on all that players who are hot heads, you have lack of discipline all week long. They practice this all week long. It starts at top and works its way all the way into game day. The last coach I can remember not having penalty problems was Dungy. Go figure
October 16th, 2020 at 5:50 am
Mike Evans is obviously right in that “it isn’t the coaches on the field who are grabbing players or jumping offsides or not firing off the ball on the wrong snap count”. However, penalties are all about discipline IMO, and coaching is a big factor in that aspect of the game.
Bucs lead the league this year in the number of penalties (42) AND in yardage penalized (410 yds). We led the league last year in penalties (133) & were third in yards penalized (1111 yds). So BOTH years under BA we’re averaging 8.4 penalties/game & about 70-80 yds/game average lost to penalties. Three specific types of penalties seem to stand out both years: False start, Offensive holding & Defensive pass interference. Those 3 categories make up roughly half of all our penalties. That’s not bad; that’s horrendous.
Kansas City led the league in penalties AND yardage lost in 2018, yet apparently focused on fixing that in 2019 & 2020. They’ve stayed out of the Top-10 since & it’s apparently paid off. Maybe the Bucs should do the same?
October 16th, 2020 at 6:16 am
It’s the false starts and offsides that make me lose my mind. Aggressive penalties can be overlooked at times, but the simple stuff?! Not lining up properly? C’mon!
Coaches coach and players play. If the Bucs are to be “championship caliber” they have to PLAY like it.
Clean it up boys!
October 16th, 2020 at 7:18 am
In other words sheep, do not look for this huge problem to be fixed!!!!!!! And now ole stale biscuit has told the player that “it is up to them”!!!!!!!!!!! What happened to “when they happen in bunches the coaches need to correct that” and “we stress penalties everyday since I have been here”!!!!!!!!!!!
What a liar ole stale biscuit is!!!!!!!!!!! There is no coaching up going on!!!!!! Only player replacement with no player development!!!!!!!!!! You can bet your last big storm beer Joe, that if the Bucs were on the other side and one of the least penalized, that ole stale biscuit would take credit and tell you how “great” coaching fixed the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is past time that the sheep and local media “realized” that this team is going no where with ole stale biscuit!!!!!!!! He is a liar and a sloppy coach!!!!!!! And it is beyond embarrassing that some have not “realized” the truth yet!!!!!!!!!! At least the sheep are drunk and stupid, but what is the local media excuse?????????????
Go Packers!!!!!!!!!! errrr I mean, go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2020 at 7:23 am
Simple solution: bring back bear crawls as a form of punishment.
It worked for us back in the Pop Warner days. Lol.
October 16th, 2020 at 7:31 am
Joe,
By my count, that’s 3 players who have said that they (players) have to hold each other accountable. Add the comments from Jason Licht and Bruce Arians which they both stated Tom Brady was brought to the bucs to increase the level of accountability in the locker room. That’s 5 !
I’m wondering when one of the Joe’s is going to realize this is a big GD deal and possibly ask a question about it during a press conference.
Joe pondered that the season could go sideways because Brady yelled at a lineman. If it does go sideways , it won’t be because of Brady. Lack of leadership from the 867, or so, Coaches will be why. Get ahead of your peers and get to the bottom of why players have been tasked with accountability and not the Head Coach.
October 16th, 2020 at 7:37 am
Each time a player commits a dumb penalty like offside or false start, have them pay 50k dollars to metropolitan ministries and the poor and homeless of the Tampa area will be eating steak and lobster everyday the way we generate Penalty flags.
October 16th, 2020 at 8:00 am
How were Arians teams when he was in Arizona with penalties?
October 16th, 2020 at 8:35 am
thisisouryear!! … I had wondered the same thing earlier, and found that his 2013-2015 teams (all with winning records) did very well from a penalty perspective (bottom half of the league each of those years). However, his 2016 & 2017 teams (that barely broke even) did considerably worse in terms of penalties.
It’d be interesting some day to take a look-see as to whether losing teams tend to have more penalties than winning teams. I would suspect that the answer is Yes in most cases, but not all.
October 16th, 2020 at 8:36 am
Play more disciplined. Cut the penalties. Play angry against the packers and let’s get this W. We can’t make mistakes against Rogers and expect to win. He will torch us if we don’t bring our A-games. Let’s go Bucs. Ground and pound baby. Keep Rogers off the field. Set up play action and get tons of pressure on Rogers the whole game.
October 16th, 2020 at 8:37 am
Evans needs to stop playing with such a chip on his shoulder and let the play do the talk because most defensive backs in the league always get in his head, as a result he ends up getting dumb penalties. I know if I am a Coach going against the Bucs, I will tell my corners to get in Evans head because he usually snaps and starts getting Wreckless.
October 16th, 2020 at 9:16 am
Yes!
Not sure what answer you are looking for? Understand your frustration. Do you want the Bucs to do — just throwing a name or two out there. If Lavonte David happens to make a dumb penalty, do you really want the Bucs to bench him? If Alex Cappa gets flagged, do you want him cut? Is a backup better than Lavonte? Is a backup better than Cappa, better at protecting Brady, better at making holes for RoJo?
If this were the offseason, sure, Joe would be OK with dumping guys off the ship. It’s October and maybe it is just Joe, but this team is scratching for its life to keep their heads above water. Not sure the risk of benching/cutting a guy is worth the lousy play a backup would provide.
Joe has stated many times including in this story, not sure how you fix stupid midseason. If this were March or April, yeah. If, for example, Donovan Smith (just throwing a name out) continues to get flagged, it is a good bet he’s not here next year. Don’t think the Bucs have someone on the bench that can play as well as he can or better otherwise that guy would likely be starting.
Yes, Carlton Davis can be counted on for a penalty a game. Joe thinks his play is superior enough that it’s a tolerable cough medicine to swallow. Joe would rather a team get a holding or interference call once a game than a corner getting worked for a TD two or three times a game.
October 16th, 2020 at 10:04 am
@D1
Let me translate what Joe just said!!!!!!! Their will be no answers or coaching corrections coming from this regime!!!!!!!!! That the “All Excuses” world tour will continue!!!!!!!!! That there will be no accountability from this coaching staff!!!!!!!!!!! And as of yet, the local media will not hold the coaches accountable!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2020 at 10:24 am
Sounds like Evans borrowed the speech Famies Jamies used to make after every int. “I gotta get better.”
October 16th, 2020 at 10:55 am
anderson Fa Gonzalez Says:
October 16th, 2020 at 8:37 am
Evans needs to stop playing with such a chip on his shoulder and let the play do the talk because most defensive backs in the league always get in his head, as a result he ends up getting dumb penalties. I know if I am a Coach going against the Bucs, I will tell my corners to get in Evans head because he usually snaps and starts getting Wreckless.
_____________
So very, very true.
You never see Godwin lose his sh!t don’t you?
Nope
October 16th, 2020 at 11:08 am
One of the least penalized teams in the league. That’s another reason why Joe isn’t raking the coaches over the coals and it points to the Bucs just have penalty-prone players (read into that what you wish).
October 16th, 2020 at 11:21 am
Amen!
I’ve been screaming about this for years! There is ZERO consistency from game to fame, crew to crew, week to week. It’s so goddamn frustrating to watch as a fan of the game itself, not even just when the Bucs are playing.
October 16th, 2020 at 4:17 pm
Mike Evans sure looks weird in that pic, mask and all. Bucs have to realize they play both the refs and the opposing team. Dungy’s teams gradually figured that out. Bucs do it Sunday, Pack won’t know what hit them. Neither will the rest of the league.
October 17th, 2020 at 6:19 am
It is on a player ultimately like Mike said, but the great coaches like Don Shula, B Belichick, and others were very disciplined and their teams are not penalty magnets. Even when T Dungy was here the penalties were cleaned up and the Bucs were better then most teams. GO BUCS!!!!
October 17th, 2020 at 8:21 am
Let me translate what ElBucoDicko just said, “blah, blah, blah, biscuits!!!!”