Schiano “Has A Long Way To Go”
November 15th, 2013
Much to the angst of many Bucs fans, who want Bucs commander Greg Schiano gone by midnight tonight, Joe isn’t so sure Schiano is a goner, despite the damning 1-8 start to the season and winning but 14 of his last 16 games.
Joe really believes there is a chance Team Glazer gives Schiano a mulligan over the mess that Josh Freeman started, doing his best to Pearl Harbor the team right out of the chute, and the MRSA chaos that only the most delirious of Schiano hates would blame him for.
It seems longtime Tampa Tribune scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman isn’t so sure. The subject of Schiano’s job security came up when Kaufman made his weekly appearance with the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on the show that bears his name, “Mad Dog Unleashed,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM Radio.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo: I watched the game Monday night and there may be evidence that Schiano should stay. [Mike] Glennon looked better, No. 1. No. 1 the veterans played hard; they fell behind and recovered. The crowd was into it. There were some positives about Schiano I thought on Monday night. What’s your take about that?
eye-RAH! Kaufman: Chris, it’s a start but it’s only a start. Chris, he has to win another four or five games. I don’t know if he can pull it off. You’ve got to remember, Chris, you’ve got to remember the expectations of this team. This is the telling point: The Glazers, in their history, they spend on free agents when they think they have a competitive football team. They did it in ’01 when they brought in Simeon Rice and Brad Johnson. That team was ready to win. They’ve done it the last two years; they traded for [Darrelle] Revis. That tells you what was in the mind of ownership here, Chris. Rebuilding was over here in Tampa; that started in ’09. It was time to win. When you have a year like this, you are 0-8 and out of it early, the fans have turned on Schiano with a vengeance though a little bit less now, I agree. But the MRSA, the Josh Freeman saga, there is a lot to answer for, Chris. It’s a start, but he has a long way to go.
Now that is an interesting thought Joe hadn’t pondered. Team Glazer, in the past, has hinted that if the Bucs built through the draft, they would be liable to be very patient with their football operations staff. But if they went all Danny Snyder/Jerry Jones and went shopping for their team, the patience would be much thinner.
In the past two years, Team Glazer has inked a quarter of a billion (that’s billion with a “B”) in free agent contracts the past two years. Team Glazer could have purchased an NHL team for that kind of cash, so fans who still poke their fingers at Team Glazer for not spending cash need to be backhanded.
So that is the predicament Schiano finds himself in: How to convince Team Glazer to give him a mulligan when they spent a king’s ransom on the team.
A 3-1 record in December would go a long way to help Schiano. But there goes a top-five draft pick.
November 15th, 2013 at 8:11 pm
So many fans are starting to forgive Schiano because that win felt so good. Our young players showed progress, our defense stepped up, the whole team played hard. But why did that win feel so good? IT WAS OUR ONLY FREAKIN WIN OF THE SEASON!!
At the end of the day, you’re as good as your record. And our team, which was expected to contend for a playoff spot, is 1-8. Freeman is a piss poor excuse; so is the MRSA incident. While they didn’t help by any means, our team had several opportunities to win, and they blew each one. That’s on good ol’ Greg.
November 15th, 2013 at 8:18 pm
The pop-star is a coach killer. plain and simple.
November 15th, 2013 at 8:36 pm
Jimminy Christmas Joe, you think the Glazers are just gonna blame the season on MRSA and Josh Freeman and keep Schiano? MRSA only took 2 of our players, one of them being a kicker. I’m not sure how much MRSA has effected Johnthan Banks. And Freeman only started 3 games out of the 8 game losing streak, what about the other 5? And the first 3 games were lost by the team, not just Freeman. The defense blew leads, David made a bone-headed play, Lindell missed a FG and Freeman played terribly. He got benched (rightly so) and after that the media and fans blew things way out of proportion while both Schiano and Freeman handled it unprofessionally up until he was finally cut because of all the unnecessary drama. If the season ended today, Schiano is cast off in my opinion. But he’s got 7 games left on the schedule, and finally got his first win of the season. But he’s gonna need a lot more to save his job.
November 15th, 2013 at 8:50 pm
If Schiano wins 5 out of the next 7 games, I think they will keep him. I will also agree with that decision as well. Considering he would win those five games with a 3rd string RB, a rookie 3rd round QB, no receiving core (shhh some say VJax is quitting on the team) and all the turmoil that went on to start the season.
It would actually be an amazing feat to win 5 out of 7. If that happens I hope they keep Schiano. The pick would be lower and that would piss off a great number fans even more though. A much lower pick… and they keep Schiano. Imagine that scenario. Because there is still a chance it could happen.
November 15th, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Going to be a very telling seven weeks. Seems like the players and schiano are working to find common ground here as well as pick up some wins. Winning cures all and the glazers will check the pulse of the team come January and make a decision from there.
for as much as schiano has made me curse, best case scenario for this franchise is for the ship to get righted right now.
November 15th, 2013 at 9:24 pm
If you think the Schiano haters are bad now, imagine if the Glazers bring Greg back and the Bucs start losing again. Now THAT would be a true disaster.
November 15th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
Walkdaplank,
We gave Freeman 61 starts to show us peaks and VALLIES.
Surely we can give Greg 32.
Greg hasn’t even had 10 starts with the new QB of this team.
November 15th, 2013 at 9:37 pm
Now you are trying to push that Freeman tried to sabotage the team? I don’t think the coach going out in the off season and shopping for his replacement did wonders for the guys confidence and affected his play. Trying to sink the play is a little far fetched in my and I would hope most people’s opinion.
November 15th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
I am with stanglassman. Joe, you’re maybe forgetting gamers where Freeman left the field with the lead, and the defense choked and lost the game. I don’t get why anyone would want to say Freeman is responsible for how bad the Bucs are – nor do I find talk about how Schiano could keep his job credible. The owners canned a Super Bowl winning coach after a 9 and 7 season. They’re not going to continue to suffer under Schiano.
November 15th, 2013 at 10:26 pm
This team was one of the lowest spending teams consistently, and this team still has a lot of cap room, give me a break. We are suppose to be proud of this ownership because they bought a couple big name? They still didn’t spend enough to have any kind of depth.
November 15th, 2013 at 10:48 pm
Joe really believes that there is a chance Team Glazer gives Schiano a mulligan over the mess that Josh Freeman started
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The coach started the mess and handled it unprofessionally; Josh wasn’t his guy and he should have traded him and got a draft pick. Schiano has 7 games left to make his case. 7-9, 6-10 or 5-11 is not an improvement. He’s in over his head like Rah was
November 15th, 2013 at 10:53 pm
quarter of a billion dollars? You know that NFL contracts are not guaranteed? they didn’t drop anything close to that.
November 15th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
“Joe isn’t so sure Schiano is a goner, despite the damning 1-8 start to the season and winning but 14 of his last 16 games.”
Um..huh?
November 15th, 2013 at 11:13 pm
“The coach started the mess and handled it unprofessionally; Josh wasn’t his guy and he should have traded him and got a draft pick.”
BucsFan68…who’s to say that trading Josh was Schiano’s decision to make?
November 15th, 2013 at 11:17 pm
I really do think that Coach Schiano is a good man with a good heart and intentions. I just don’t feel that he is qualified to be an NFL head coach. There is a huge difference in coaching 18-20 year old college kids and coaching professional athletes that are grown men. Hope that he goes back to being a college coach where he can be a positive influence and mentor to the kids
November 15th, 2013 at 11:32 pm
Schiano did not handle the Freeman debacle as well as he could, but trading him is Dom’s job. And from what I understand, nobody wanted to trade for Freeman when everybody knew that the Bucs were going to cut him loose after all the overblown drama and they could get him off the FA market without giving the Bucs a draft pick. It only took the Vikes less than 2 weeks to make Freeman their starter, then he goes and plays one his worst games ever. I just don’t think he is going to get past his roller-coaster ways, one day he looks great, the next he looks terrible. He played himself out of a starting job, but Schiano and the fans ran him out of Tampa Bay. If you want to blame him for the first 3 games, go ahead even though football is a team sport. But blaming the entire season on him? One guy? That’s beyond ignorant.
November 16th, 2013 at 12:43 am
I agree with Buc1987: I don’t want to start over with a new coach or a new QB for that matter. I want the Bucs to rattle off a nice winning streak. In this impatient society, sometimes we have to understand there is a learning curve for coaches as well and time for chemistry to develop. Hopefully that is what’s going on.
I’d love to Glennon to work out so the Bucs can concentrate on pass rush, D-Line and O-Line in FA and the draft.
November 16th, 2013 at 12:48 am
“Schiano did not handle the Freeman debacle as well as he could, but trading him is Dom’s job. And from what I understand, nobody wanted to trade for Freeman when everybody knew that the Bucs were going to cut him loose after all the overblown drama and they could get him off the FA market without giving the Bucs a draft pick.”
WalkdaPlank…why then was Freeman NOT traded prior to the 2013 season? How come no one in the organization saw his regression before the season even started? Those are the questions that need to be asked.
So it’s either the organization as a whole is incompetent or Freeman had them fooled.
This whole organization is starting to look like a dog and pony show. What I mean by that is, what I’ve been saying for about 3 weeks now.
Sign big name FA’s and season tickets will be bought on that alone.
OR suppose they did figure out that Freeman was a looney toon after they already had Revis and Goldson signed and they were stuck with him at that point. Try telling fans in May that your starting a rookie over Josh, how many season tickets do you sell then?
The whole thing is quite baffling to me. No one will come out and tell the exact reason on what happened to Josh and why he regressed so much. I mean from Dom or Schiano. So for right now. I put the blame on Josh going from Raheem (easy going coach) to Schiano (hard ass, my way or the hwy) not wanting to perform well at all, capable or not under Schiano. Which could be the way it is with more players than just Freeman. If that’s the case then Schiano has to go regardless of how he finishes the season.
November 16th, 2013 at 1:08 am
Yes Pete, that’s what fans should ask themselves. What’s more important, the Bucs rattling off a serious winning streak and not making the playoffs but finish 7-9 or that 1-2 or 3 pick in the draft? Because to me if Schiano can prove that he can win with the current group we have now, then there is NO need what-so-ever to get rid of him.
95% of the “experts” in the offseason picked our team to go 6-10 some even said 5-11. So I don’t get where all this talk is coming from that our team was supposed to be making a playoff run this season. I guess it was the fans that thought that. Me too, I’m guilty of it too. I picked the Bucs to win the damn division this season. I thought I was being realistic too. So I’m way waaaaay far off. I guess if you take into account what the consensus was amongst the”experts” then they are all correct.
So I swear to God if I see or hear another fan say that the Bucs were supposed to make a playoff run this year, I’ll always remind them that 95% of the “experts” said 5-11 to 6-10 prior to the 2013 season.
Btw I don’t see the Bucs going 7-9 or 6-10 or even 5-11, but if 6-10 is accomplished in all this mess. I would support bringing Schiano back another season.
November 16th, 2013 at 1:39 am
@Buc1987 – Well, I think most of us Bucs fans had decently high expectations for our team. After a 7-9 season in which Freeman had another roller-coaster year but still put up 4k yards and over 20 TD’s, but collapsed at the end of the year. But what also happened was the emergence of players like Doug Martin, Lavonte David, Mason Foster, Gerald McCoy made his first Pro-Bowl, VJax was added, and Schiano literally transformed the leagues worst run defense into the leagues best run defense. It seemed like a pretty competitive team minus the terrible DB corp (Fearsome Foursome). I’m not sure about you, but I was hoping for the Bucs to at least make the Wild Card this year with a 9-7 or 10-6 record, but I was horribly, horribly wrong.
As for player problems, Freeman and Schiano clearly didn’t have good chemistry. Michael Bennett already cut and run and said Schiano had “small-man syndrome”. Kellen Winslow was revealed to be a whiny ball hog and decided to party in Cali instead of practice, so I don’t blame Schiano or Dom for cutting him loose, although we could’ve gotten a decent TE before we did. Not sure what former Bucs like LeGarrette Blount, Roy Miller, or Aqib Talib think of Schiano, it would be nice to have some input from players like them.
November 16th, 2013 at 1:49 am
I wonder how man “experts” predicted the previously 2-14 Chiefs to be 9-0 at this point. Or for the Falcons who made it to the NFC Championship Game last year to start off 2-7 this season.
November 16th, 2013 at 3:30 am
i would love to see us win out and go 8-8 regardless of the draft, and see Schiano keep the job. from what i’ve read it seems he’s loosening up and its obvious the players are still with him.
November 16th, 2013 at 3:56 am
I’m starting the “Schiano Mob”. I don’t think there is a better coach for the Bucs on the face of the earth right now. At least not with this team that Schiano has built (no credit to Rockstar, this is the Schiano Order, right? LVD and Doug martin included)
November 16th, 2013 at 5:24 am
4-12 is still regression regardless of what time of of the season it happens. Just because the team “got hot”at the end doesn’t mean that the season wasn’t a debacle as a whole. they can’t just pretend the first part didn’t happen if he finishes on a three game win streak. If we finish at 8-8 then he should stay because that would be progress and that’s how a should be judged. If you haven’t already won a super bowl then are you progressing us toward one. That’s the only question I wasn’t answered at the end of the year. No stats or standings or BS about how the players are buying into the system. Are you winning more games than you did the previous season. It’s a yes or no question that could be asked on the sidelines of our final game so we can save everyone the suspense
November 16th, 2013 at 6:22 am
I don’t know if the glazers realize Shiano has a long way to go with his nfl learning curve regardless if he wins a couple of more games.
November 16th, 2013 at 7:15 am
When Schiano was hired I had no preconceived ideas about his ability to resurrect this once proud team. I really didn’t care much for his personality but was willing to give him a chance with a team that seemed talented enough to win. After the 6-4 start that could have been even better I thought he might be the guy we needed. But after finishing 2012 1-5 I began to have serious doubts. Some chose to place all of the blame on Freeman and of course Realist blamed Dominik. The 2013 season has been well documented as Jon Gruden would say. To this point I think the team is perhaps better than its record but you are what you are when the season ends. Schiano has seven job reviews remaining. Finish 8-8 or even 7-9 and I would support his return. Anything less I would need some serious convincing. Heck, he’s never even had a convincing win.
November 16th, 2013 at 8:20 am
Schiano needs to win a couple of games we shouldn’t….like the SF game at home or the Carolina game away.
He also needs to win the games we should….Atl, Buff & St. Louis..
I say 5 more games will definately save him….possibly 4.
Our draft position wouldn’t be as good…but we would be in a better position to win next year with a stabalized coaching staff.
I think we will win Sunday….that will be a start.
November 16th, 2013 at 8:53 am
I want to win and end the season with some momentum I don’t care about a top 5 draft pick.
November 16th, 2013 at 11:22 am
Nice ridiculous ramble–Joe
November 16th, 2013 at 12:16 pm
I would say a 7-9 or 8-8 record with the schedule remaining should give the Glazers a tough decision on what to do with Schiano. Obviously a run like that would put us at a mid round pick maybe around 14 to 18 in the first round. Also that would mean Glennon keeps improving as well as the OL and DL. I think the best QB’s will be gone by then as well as Mathews and Clowney. So I am on the fence on this one. I guess either way I will have to acceot it. Win out and finish 8-8 but no worse than 7-9 or lose out and draft a QB and clean house in the coaching staff??? The later may be hard to do with a near perfect finish to the season which I find highly unlikely. I think 3-13 is about the best we finish which should still land us a top 5 pick.
November 16th, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Buc1987 said – If Schiano wins 5 out of the next 7 games, I think they will keep him.
Our remaining schedule Atl @Det. @Car. BUF, @ STL, SF and last @NO. I see New Orleans resting their starters just like ATL did last year so that is one win. I like our chances against ATL, BUF and STL. But not Carolina or San fran or Detroit. Best possible a split which makes us 5 – 11. Good bye Schiano. Hello Lovie Smith / Bill Cower / Jay Gruden????????
November 16th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
The way I looked at this season was that the Bucs fixed their glaring weakness. The secondary. I was counting on the offense to stay on track and with a better secondary, they would be a playoff team. This is one of those years that anything that could go wrong, did go wrong hence derailing the chemistry of the Bucs. The team started getting back on track in Seattle and have continued by winning against Miami.
November 16th, 2013 at 1:19 pm
just go to the film of the opening snaps of the Jets game. Remember when Freeman’s headset was “not working”? He just stood there, looking at the sideline. He called a timeout, the staff looked at the headset and it was working. This happened twice burning two timeouts. He didnt call his backup plays which everyone says he has in his pocket. I dont want to go all “Grassy Knoll” on everyone, but given the circumstantial evidence that Freeman purposely tried to tank Schiano, I think the Glazers give Schiano a pass this season if he brings in some wins. I think he deserves it.
November 16th, 2013 at 2:08 pm
Nice ridiculous ramble–Joe
@JOE
So nice you decided not to post it on your webiste…thank you i feel better now
November 16th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
@Joe why don’t you understand with the new CBA the Glazers had 2 spend the money to get to the cap minimum?! They will have to this year again especially without Freeman moving forward.
November 16th, 2013 at 4:54 pm
We already have one FA, Jackson, who is past his prime?? Will Nicks ever play? Does he still have MRSA? Penn and Joseph are getting long in the tooth. There are many capable GMs and HCs around. Please, hire someone who knows what he is doing, and who has better connections to able coaches, especially OC and DC. But really how much does he interfere with, or override their decisions? Tough shit with the injuries and schedule; every team goes through this from time to time, or year to year.