Schiano Won’t Criticize Defense
December 24th, 2013
No, Joe can’t fault the defense too much in the ragged loss to the Rams. Sure, they let Zac Stacy burn them, but Joe thought Bucs coaches should have put more guys in the box to stop Stacy and force a nobody journeyman like Kellen Clemens to beat them.
When asked Monday whether, given the Bucs offensive offense, he could cast blame on his defense because they pretty much had to pitch a shutout, Schiano wouldn’t nibble at the bait or call anyone out. He, instead, stated the loss was a team loss and not on any one unit.
“Criticize I don’t do,” Schiano said. “Instruct, you know, that’s more what I do. There’s certain things regardless of what’s happening on the – certainly we’re struggling offensively, it’s not a secret. But our defensive football team knows they have a job to do and they need to do their jobs. So when we don’t execute our job or when we don’t coach it correctly or when I don’t coach it correctly, that’s when we evaluate and try to correct. I agree with you that there’s not a lot of margin for error. To win – as I said in the San Francisco game, for us to win that game, probably not going to be a 30-something [points scored], maybe not even a 20-something, and the same may have been said [for St. Louis]. I actually, going into the game, thought we were going to move the ball better than we did, I thought we would be able to run the ball better than we did. Obviously we didn’t play our best game upfront, but we played one of our lesser games upfront this season, which affected us in the run game as much in the pass game.
“Look at it from pure production though, most of the injuries and most of things have happened to the offensive side. So that’s what a team does, they pick each other up.”
Joe can see Schiano working here. Joe knows Schiano is frustrated with the offense, irritated at the offensive line. But Schiano isn’t going to be throwing people under the bus. Not this time of the year.
Even if Schiano returns next season, it is a foregone conclusion by most reasonable, sober folks that offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan won’t return. Schiano isn’t going to publicly skin the guy on his way out the door and damage Sullivan’s chances of gaining meaningful employment somewhere else.
December 24th, 2013 at 8:36 am
To Joe and staff
Merry Christmas and a Happy and blessed New Year
December 24th, 2013 at 8:42 am
The NFL is a highly offensive league now with quarterbacks regularly putting up 300+ yards per game. Glennon is only averaging around 200 yards per game and Schiano is blaming the defense? The defense has played well enough to win more than 4 games. This is all on the offense. Unfortunately, Schiano is a defensive minded coach stuck in the 1970s and he is not going to change his ways. He is not a good fit for the modern NFL. If he was an NFL coach in previous decades, he probably would have won some Super Bowls. But not now.
December 24th, 2013 at 9:34 am
good defense but bad scheme regardless of what anyone says…..point to all the last second losses, breakdowns in coverage on pass plays, not having the common sense to spy running quarterbacks or at least keep contain, things im sure veteran defenders we have are well aware we should be doing….plain and simple we are a middle of that pack defense that should be top 10. cant get greg schiano to do anything but take credit for things he hasnt done…he can take credit for bringing in glennon but not his development because the offense is putrid, he tried to take credit for gerald mccoy saying we were using the B word before he got here and really how would he know if we were calling him a bust or not….we were using the words IP for injury prone but not bust….take credit for getting rid of the two guys up front that helped you have the number 1 rush defense…..take credit for your team not being prepared during the regular season…take credit for using the regular season to get starters in gameday ready mode instead of using the preseason like every other real head coach does…3 snaps for doug martin in the preason then he goes out and gets injured on a pass play…a pass play not a running play, the smallest guy in the stadium thats probably 5’8 in 4 inch heels lol you send him on go routes and get him hurt on a pass play….your way of admitting it is never doing it again with any other running back on our roster….
defense is good but could be better so greg schiano cant even use the defense as an excuse to keep his job
December 24th, 2013 at 10:08 am
I think we really missed Mark Barron in this game…I know one player shouldn’t make that much difference but I think he is a real force against the run.
I appreciate Schiano taking the high road here.
December 24th, 2013 at 10:14 am
Just when you thought the Bucs couldn’t get any worse, they did.
I think it’s pretty funny to hear comments from Bucs fans about whether they should beat the Saints or just lie down for a higher draft pick. Beat the Saints? This team can barely beat its own Scout Team.
Yes, we should fire the coach and probably the GM. Yes, we should draft a quarterback high in the first round and roll the dice. Yes, we need improvements at some positions.
But it wouldn’t surprise me to see Schiano end up a DC somewhere, and then eventually getting another shot at a head coaching job and taking his team to the playoffs. IF he can learn from his mistakes. People sometimes forget that The Hoodie was awful as Cleveland’s head coach and they fired his ass.
Meanwhile, everyone wants to tear Glennon apart and say he’ll never amount to anything, and the kid’s a rookie on a team with a bad O Line and only one good receiver, and an OC that everyone would say is awful. Draft a QB number 1, sit Glennon as the backup for the next 2-3 years, but don’t be shocked if he develops into a quality quarterback who challenges to start. It’s not likely, I agree, but it is possible.
Merry Christmas, Joes. We agree with you, we disagree with you, we say you’re brilliant, we say you’re an idiot, but we always keep coming back because this is the best Bucs news site, period.
December 24th, 2013 at 10:52 am
@MadMacSkillz – Merry Christmas to you, as well. Thanks for the kind words. Yes. Joe realizes many think Joe is an idiot more often than not. That’s ok with Joe.
December 24th, 2013 at 1:04 pm
The defense under Bryan Cox is fantastic.
I just hope Jay Gruden promotes him to DC.
Feliz Navidad!!
December 24th, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Lost my fantasy football Championship game last weekend. But it feel’s like a win because I don’t need to watch another snap this season. The ref’s have made a mockery of the league. My intrest in the NFL has never been this low. Flip a coin call’s and player discrimanation (Goldson)
December 24th, 2013 at 1:06 pm
I’m not sure if Glennon even averages 200 yards; I also am not sure who’s going to be there when we draft. We cannot draft a QB just to draft a QB even though we desperately need one to at least become comptetitive in our own division. We are 13 point underdogs in a league where 75% or so of games are decided by 7 or less.
December 24th, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Jay Gruden !!!!!!!