Struggling To Keep Secrets
July 25th, 2014
Joe was up with the chickens on Thursday and cruised down Hillsborough Avenue in the way-too-early hours. But hey, the Bucs, minus human armoire Carl Nicks, were reporting to training camp about 6:30 a.m.
Who could pass on such excitement? Josh McCown stopped to talk to gathered reporters, and one question posed to him elicited a response of “I don’t know.”
The Bucs’ starting quarterback was asked how Tampa Bay would manage to keep the mysterious Jeff Tedford offense under wraps when thousands of fans watching training camp, plus media, would be watching plays being installed, two-minute drills, red zone work and so much more.
Back at the NFL Owners meetings in March, Lovie Smith said the Bucs expected to keep plenty hidden all the way up until opening day against Carolina in September.
This all makes one wonder whether it’s better for a team to work on stuff in preseason and in practice and master plays, or is the element of surprise too powerful, especially for a Buccaneers team desperate for a fast start against two nasty defenses in Weeks 1 and 2.
How the Bucs balance all this will be fun to watch evolve. A veteran head coach, plus an artist at offensive coordinator, should be able to figure it out.
July 25th, 2014 at 2:24 pm
Keeping it a secret isn’t the issue. It’s just an advantage. After game 1 there wont be much of a secret left other than can we execute better than the other team? Can’t wait to see.
July 25th, 2014 at 2:31 pm
We will play 2 tough defenses but u can’t discredit the point that we will have a ferocious tough defense as well so the way I see it is week 1 n 2 will b a low scoring dogfight but if you put our offensive weapons against there’s I see us having an advantage. So I really am not that concerned or afraid to think we’ll go 2-0.
July 25th, 2014 at 2:46 pm
Even if they install a base offense there should be plenty of variations from that offense.
If the opponents figure out some of the Bucs plays they still will have to wait and see how Tedford calls plays, which players emerge as go to guys. VJax is the only sure thing at this point. Every defense will be aware of him. Yes they’ll also know about the new rookies and last year’s rookie TE as well as Doug Martin but they can’t possibly know exactly who gets featured when. Because even we do not know those things and I’m not sure even Tedford and Lovie know. We need to find out which of the new young guys is the real deal.
July 25th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
I remember two years ago when we shut down Carolina’s running game on opening day and won. When the media asked riverboat Ron what happened he said he didn’t have an answer because he didn’t know what was coming because he had no previous film of what to expect. I can easily see us making them one dimensional again and win because not only does Cam have no one to throw the ball to he is coming off an injury so he is already behind on jelling with his WR’s and they have a question mark on the guy protecting his blind side. I don’t see their offense being very good week 1. I think we sweep them this year since normally whoever wins first wins both games.
July 25th, 2014 at 3:19 pm
Don’t forget BucNasty, I’m sure that Carolina will have a few surprises of their own. On paper we have better weapons so they will expect to be underestimated.
We cannot afford to play “not to lose”. We must stand on their throat, rip out their jugular, pour hot sauce on it, and eat it like wild ravenous dogs!
Whew! Anyone ready for football?!
July 25th, 2014 at 3:25 pm
1/2 HOUR UNTIL THE SHIP LEAVES PORT!!! ARRRRR!!!!!!!
July 25th, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Maybe it’s a secret because they are afraid it won’t be any good?
Actually, I understand, with the games we start off with, why they are trying to keep things hushed.
2-0 might not be impossible, but it IS unrealistic. Both teams have established systems. Their lines are gelling.
We have a ton of free agents that have never played together…some of which have not stayed healthy throughout a full season in some time.
Brooks said it best. It could take a year to get things going right. Even Dungy took a year.
July 25th, 2014 at 3:55 pm
You losers say “we” like you play for them, Get a life, a girl and a career and stop spending your life on a website
July 25th, 2014 at 3:56 pm
We’ll see a lot of base offense, and the personnel groupings will start to tell the story.
July 25th, 2014 at 3:56 pm
Rob:
Your first point was spot on. But please, don’t chase away Joe’s readers. 🙁
July 25th, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Sorry, we means we are all collectively fans of the Bucs. We is fine because we all love our Bucs. We is more than acceptable even if we are not players or associated in any way officially with the team. We are all Buc fans. We, We, We.
July 25th, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Rob WE all have careers, a woman, and a life. WE also can multitask and do other things like hobbies.WE are BUCS fans, and WE dont give a damn if you leave.
July 25th, 2014 at 4:33 pm
Robby is having a bad day. Robby misses Schiano…
BooWooo, BoooWooo, BoooWooo…..lol