Lovie Not Worried About Late Start
May 13th, 2014
Lovie Smith doesn’t have a problem with the late start for rookies, as long as all teams are under the same schedule.
No, Joe cannot find a single solitary person that liked the draft being moved back to May. It was loathsome and it fostered and deepened Joe’s hatred of the mock draft industrial complex. This stain upon society should worry all red-blooded Americans.
But the May draft is here to stay. The ratings blew away any non-basketball association or NHL playoff game and dwarfed baseball this past weekend. We are a football society, the rest of the sports just hang around.
The delayed draft has changed how teams conduct business. Two weeks have now been carved off the time it takes rookies to learn their new team, coaches, teammates, schemes and playbooks. This may just put some players, who were bubble players to begin with, behind the eight-ball.
Bucs coach Lovie Smith has long been on the record claiming the draft being moved back two weeks gave him and his staff extra time to research draftees. So he had no problem with that.
Saturday night, Lovie was saying how the Bucs would fly in the draftees Sunday and begin “cramming.” That’s when Joe asked Lovie if those two weeks lost because of the late draft will hurt those cramming rookies. Lovie didn’t think so.
“All rookies are under the same time schedule,” Lovie said. “I never complain, very seldom complain about a rule on how something plays out as long as we’re all going by the same rules. So, again, as I said earlier, it’s helped us with our evaluation, being behind some of the teams that didn’t have a coaching change. And guys pick it up. We have plenty of time, believe me, to get our work in, which we’ll do. We have excellent teachers on our staff and the players will get it down.”
There you have it. So long as the Bucs are under the same rules as 31 other NFL teams, Lovie has no problem with the shorter period of time. That seems fair.
But, damn, there is certainly a lot rookies need to learn in such a short time frame. In about 10 weeks, training camps open. It really is within sight.
May 13th, 2014 at 10:17 am
We are a football society, the rest of the sports just hang around.
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TRUTH!! Football really is almost like another religion in this country.
May 13th, 2014 at 10:20 am
All other sports pale in significance to football. They are just lowly fill ins between each football season. America, home of the brave and football fanatics.
May 13th, 2014 at 10:28 am
Joe….there is hope for you yet…..you missed an opportunity when talking about the draft’s ratings to point out that JF may have added to the hype!!!
You’re a pretty bright guy (I’m sure you agree} so I’m quite sure you thought of it an deliberately restrained yourself…..bully for you!!!
May 13th, 2014 at 10:35 am
I’m sorry Joe, but with no explicit mention of any Bucs qb, either current, future or potential, this article really seems out of place on your blog these days.
I mean, it’s almost like you think there’s other topics than the qb depth chart worth discussing.
Scroll around. You’ll find your commentary to be off base. –Joe
May 13th, 2014 at 10:39 am
No, Joe cannot find a single solitary person that liked the draft being moved back to May.
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Seeing as though it drew record ratings, I’d say TV executives liked it.
May 13th, 2014 at 12:52 pm
“We are a football society, the rest of the sports just hang around.”
That’s the best most accurate thing I’ve read in a long time Joe.
May 13th, 2014 at 1:50 pm
10 weeks. 5 paychecks. 2.5 months.
Aw yes.
May 13th, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Joe, should I be concerned a little by Jenkins not being there? Didn’t he have issues at one point being lazy?
May 13th, 2014 at 6:16 pm
Joe you gotta lighten up a bit. Was making a joke about (or trying to make a joke about) how intense the qb talk in these comments has been getting when camp isn’t even open yet. I welcome the non-qb articles.
May 13th, 2014 at 10:22 pm
“…mock draft industrial complex” a brilliant turn of phrase. Love that as a description about what went on this year. Kudos!