Evidence Of Schiano’s Job Security
November 29th, 2013
The presence of No. 4 delivers a clear picture
No, it is no sure thing that Bucs commander Greg Schiano returns next season. That is not locked in stone. He will finish the 2013 season with, at best, a .500 record and still a losing record in his two seasons as Bucs coach.
Now as Joe has pointed out before, the weather vane is pointing for a return for Schiano. Here’s another tea leaf that reads Schiano is your Bucs coach for 2014:
Rian Lindell is still employed as the Bucs kicker.
Joe has no idea why or how Lindell, who has done his best to choke away games for the Bucs, is still thieving good money from Team Glazer. But he is.
You could directly point to two losses in the Bucs’ first three games at Lindell. If he kicks a field goal near the end of the Jets game, Lavonte David could have strip-searched Geno Smith on the sidelines and it wouldn’t have mattered as the Jets would still have needed a touchdown.
Same with the loss to the Saints. If Lindell kicks a late field goal, it forces the Saints to score a touchdown, not a field goal.
Then there was Lindell’s debacle in Detroit, missing two critical field goals that very well could have cost the Bucs a win. Only by the skin of their teeth did the Bucs survive, no thanks to Lindell’s antics.
And who knows what would have happened to the season then? Leaky Josh Freeman’s career, in part, exploded because of Lindell’s shanks and hooks. And he damned near killed Schiano’s NFL days.
If Schiano was still concerned about his job security, you think he would keep Lindell around to provide more chances to throw away wins?
Aside from the turnaround the Bucs have mastered in the last month, and Mike Glennon’s development as starting quarterback, there is no clearer of a sign of Schiano’s return for 2014 than Lindell has yet to clean out his locker at One Buc Palace.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:29 am
After putting both Tynes and Barth on IR I’m not sure that there’s a whole lot of viable options out walking the street or else Lindell probably wouldn’t have been on the team long enough to shank those balls in Detroit. We’ve just gotta deal with it til we can get Barth back next year. It is what it is
November 29th, 2013 at 8:31 am
1. Weather or not he has job security, there is no reason for Lindell to be on an NFL team right now. I’m a small business owner, with plenty of job security. If a tool or part fails (especially at inopportune times) it gets replaced. Period. No exceptions. Because if it keeps failing, my job security goes from very high to non existent if I keep using it.
2. If Lindell makes those FG’s against the Jests and Aints, Freeman may still be here, and we wouldn’t know how awesome Glennon is. I think those misses were worth it.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:42 am
@Chef Paul – I’d have to disagree with the premise of your second point. Freeman may still be here in a backup capacity but the writing was on the wall and I’m sure that everyone there knew when they gave the lion’s share of the snaps in preseason to Glennon that he was the heir apparent. Those missed field goals and losses led to them putting Glennon on the field quicker than they were comfortable with but Freeman only had another season here at best and probably only about 8 games if he was serviceable. Schiano wanted his guy to take over, it was just a matter of getting him eased into the system so he could hit the ground running.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:56 am
The fact that we had to even rely on Lindell to make game winners in either the Jets or Saints game is an indictment on Schiano. Both games the Bucs repeatedly were shooting themselves in the foot but heres thr thing – due to lack of halftime adjustments the Bucs let those teams hang around, and we lost. Blame it on the kicker all you want (dear lord Lindell is pretty god awful) but Schiano was at fault for those games and has gotten better at coaching once he had to eat some humble pie and listen to the players.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:00 am
Maybe if our idiot kicker went out and got liquored up……
November 29th, 2013 at 9:05 am
Patrick,
You bring up good point but in both of our scenarios , those misses helped get Freeman out of here sooner than the plan was. That is a plus in my opinion.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:11 am
Patrick,
Now that I think about it a little more, I think we DO in fact agree. You just worded it a little more eloquently.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:16 am
@ Patrick & Chef Paul
I agree that the missed field goals helped to speed up Freeman’s benching…..It would have been very difficult to do that if the Bucs were 2-1 instead of 0-3…..and, its very possible that Freeman would have helped us win against Arizona….then, he would have several more opportunities after that…only after being eliminated from the playoffs would the fans stand for a benching….
This was the dilemma with Freeman’s inconsistancy….there was no clear opportunity to replace him in season….it presented itself (not without controversy) and Schiano took it.,…the rest is history..
November 29th, 2013 at 9:16 am
Hate to break it to you people but Barth will be a shell of his former self when he returns. Worst possible injury for a kicker.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:18 am
@Chef Paul – yeah, perhaps you’re right that we are indirectly getting at the same point. Whichever way it happened, I believe that we ended up winning out in the QB scenario but it’s unfortunate that the bad kicker that was the catalyst for change is still wearing a buc uniform.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:51 am
Snook, I believe it was his planting leg not his kicking leg. Someone correct me if that is wrong.
November 29th, 2013 at 10:29 am
When the Glazers (Joel) broke silence and gave Schiano a vote of confidence when they didn’t have to, spoke volumes about whether he will be returning for 2014. More than anything, it has been Glennon’s consistent growth that assures Schiano’s return. It also simplifies a lot of contractual and dead money issues for a new coach and staff leave alone the time and travel for the Glazers to put a new administration in place.
Now Lindell. If the Bucs had thoughts of playoffs or beyond, it would make sense to look for a more reliable kicker if one for sure was out there. Lindell is also a vested veteran and was on the week one roster. His salary is guaranteed for the year. So they will have to pay him even if they cut him along with Tynes, and a new kicker that is not guaranteed to be any more reliable in the short-term.
November 29th, 2013 at 11:27 am
There are no kickers out there! Its that simple…
November 29th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Lindell made the FG at the end of the jets game. What the hell are you guys talking about?
November 29th, 2013 at 12:54 pm
BucsfaninChina Says
“The fact that we had to even rely on Lindell to make game winners in either the Jets or Saints game is an indictment on Schiano.”
I hate to break it to you, but games are often decided by a field goal. Even with proven coaches and teams.
You point is not accurate.
November 29th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
I agree Justin, Lindell was 1/1 in the Jets game. What miss?
November 29th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
There are plenty of better options walking the streets. There were about 5-7 close calls on teams this year alone. What about the guy we cut that was kicking so well it looked like he had beat out Lindell, he only had one bad game. Not to mention 3-5 every year are you telling me all those guys can’t kick anymore? A old guy with no confidence that lost his stroke is the worst option.
November 29th, 2013 at 11:39 pm
I still can’t understand how Lindell beat out Derek Dimke this past preseason. THAT dude was a beast!
November 30th, 2013 at 3:44 am
Dimke.