“There Is A Sense Of Urgency”
September 25th, 2014
Joe senses some Bucs have taken advantage of Lovie Smith’s gentle ways
Joe thought it was interesting if not amusing earlier this week when, discussing the Bucs, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of Lovie and his horrid start, “Knowing Lovie Smith, I know he will be undeterred by the start. As a matter of fact, he is going to be energized by it.”
Joe understands where Tomlin was going, but “energized?” Awful strange word to use when starting 0-3. PO’ed, maybe. Upset, maybe. Driven, maybe. Energized?
So Joe started poking around the Bucs locker room to find out if Lovie’s style has changed. And some players have sensed, yes it has, after the debacle in Atlanta, and not necessarily in a bad way.
“I wouldn’t say a change but there is a sense of urgency being 0-3,” Bucs defensive tackle Akeem Spence said. “But nothing has really changed in his demeanor. He wants us as players and them as coaches to put more time into it. Watch a little bit more film. On the field, going through walk-throughs, if it isn’t the way he wants it or we didn’t get out communication right, to do it again. Just doing a lot of extra things that we didn’t do before that might have cost us to lose a game here or there. Try to make things perfect.”
Interestingly (at least to Joe), tight end Brandon Myers used the same verb to describe Lovie this week as did Spence, only he applied it to everyone at One Buc Palace.
“I think there is a sense of urgency everywhere, not just with Lovie,” Myers said. “Everybody. You’ve got to stop [the losses]. You’ve got to get a win. You have to do what you have to do, if that’s spending a little extra time here or in the playbook or in the weight room or the film room or whatever.
“I hope it’s not just Lovie. I hope everybody feels that sense of urgency to get this thing going in the right direction.”
It all sounds good, but if just a few extra minutes of work in the weight room or in the film room is the answer, why wait until you are 0-3?
Joe gets where Myers is coming from but it just seemed by his words — and what defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said yesterday — that more than one or two players decided to take too much of an advantage of Lovie’s lighter ways than they would have under the boot of former Bucs commander Greg Schiano.
Maybe, just like Schiano before him, Lovie must find out what players to weed out? Maybe this is the painful way? You know, the cream rises to the top?
To hear more of Spence and Myers, click on the red buttons below. As always, audio courtesy of Joe’s friends at WDAE-AM 620.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:07 am
Pending Panic
September 25th, 2014 at 9:15 am
I hope he doesn’t “weed out” players like Schiano, the guy who dumped Bennett.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:15 am
am I the only one that finds lovie extremely snarky and passive aggressive with the media…look I dont expect all sunshine and roses but being a jerk will get you no where
September 25th, 2014 at 9:16 am
Ah crap, what am I even saying. He already “weeded out” Mike Williams, Revis, Zuttah, Joseph…
September 25th, 2014 at 9:24 am
“Maybe, just like Schiano before him, Lovie must find out what players to weed out?”
Isn’t that what the superb talent evaluation did when they purged 40% of this vet roster who nearly all happen to have starting jobs on better teams for better coaches? Hmmm?
September 25th, 2014 at 9:31 am
meh Says:
September 25th, 2014 at 9:15 am
I hope he doesn’t “weed out” players like Schiano, the guy who dumped Bennett.
___________________________
It wasn’t Schiano, it was an ownership call to save money.
All of our terrible personal moves have the same modus
operandi…owners being cheap.
Of course the guys on the payroll have to make it look like
it was their call. Ask Dominick. He recently hinted at the
truth.
Lovie said “We need to spend TO the cap” yet as of today
the Bucs are 7 million under the cap. Are you so dim that you
can’t figure out what’s actually happening?
#It’s a Bucs Life
September 25th, 2014 at 9:32 am
Quitting is like a virus it is very contagious! Seems like some of the new players have caught the bug that is going around that locker room. Having a hard time figuring out who will turn this quitting mentality around, but it’s going to take a special leader to do it.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:33 am
@sho nuff…
you’re giving him way to much credit, you’ve got to somewhat intelligent to be snarky, and the passive aggressiveness just shows he’s non-confrontational, not a good trait when you’re a supposed leader of men…
September 25th, 2014 at 9:37 am
You mean Lovie wearing flip-flops around One Buc gave the wrong impression? Maybe if Lovie let the players cuss they would do better.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:39 am
Yes Joe, he and the team should be energized…….give vitality and enthusiasm to.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:40 am
Spending a little extra time, how about a lot of extra time.
September 25th, 2014 at 9:40 am
This is how it goes with people that don’t have integrity. First year of the regime you find out who will be here next year. Patience Bucs fans. We are still moving forward with the next Super Bowl team. It takes a few years to find the men who are willing to look beyond the money and put their heart out on the field….
September 25th, 2014 at 9:49 am
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11581514/rex-ryan-compares-ndamukong-suh-detroit-lions-warren-sapp
Bulletin Board Material- Comparisons to Sapp with no mention of McCoy….
September 25th, 2014 at 9:57 am
It’s time for Lovie to get out the horse whip, or in his case the silly string.
September 25th, 2014 at 10:09 am
I don’t hear any players jumping up and saying how they love the offense or defense schemes, plays,coaches or anything else from the new regime.
I don’ t hear them saying how this is going to be a good team because they believe in it.
I don’t hear much of anything from the players actually
seems quiet from that standpoint
September 25th, 2014 at 10:22 am
Or just maybe our starters are not as talented as we think, at least compared to their respective counterparts that they have gone up against 1 on 1. It’s easy to put a mediocre team together and think you have a great unit because not one player really stood shoulders above the rest to accurately gauge your own talent. Now that they have competed against 3 teams that have literally dominated us do we see that our own players are less talented as a whole.
Could it be they are still learning the system? I doubt it. Even so, that doesn’t really explain why our guys are being dominated in their 1 on 1 battles. Could it be lack of effort? Maybe, but even that’s a stretch considering to the man how much they have publicly endorsed Lovie. I think they are realizing that they just are not as talented as the teams they have played so far and need to approach every game with a chip on their shoulder and prove they can compete at a high level for 4 straight quarters every single game. They don’t have the luxury to coast like the other teams can. We have to work twice as hard.
David and Goliath
September 25th, 2014 at 10:33 am
The players quit because they know the owners don’t care….FIRE TEAM GLAZIER!
September 25th, 2014 at 10:38 am
How does a team organize and staff its coaching units? Our OC goes down and there is not a single solitary soul in the organization who was qualified to step in? The equipment manager probably has 2 or 3 backups but an offense that can’t answer the next man up call adds another dim bulb to the Bucs coaching chandelier. One time, think military, expect the best, prepare for the worst. Stop wasting fan time and money.
September 25th, 2014 at 11:32 am
And JOE blamed Schiano and his hard a$$ ways last season? Now you are blaming the coach for being too soft JOE. Which one is it going to be? Try blaming the players in the locker room for once. We have seen both ends of the spectrum with coaches and the players still don’t respond. Blame their a$$ and their sense of entitlement.
September 25th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
They’re just NOW getting a sense of urgency????
September 25th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
@flmike
true…
September 25th, 2014 at 12:43 pm
If Lovie can turn his mess (some self created) around in 2014 it will be a downright miracle.
This team is such a mess right now. The worst it’s been in over 10 years.
For those of you that missed the 70’s and 80’s Bucs. This is it. I’m an 80’s Buc fan. It was bad. From what I’ve seen so far this season. This Bucs team mirrors those teams and I don’t see it getting better, regardless of Lovie’s past.
September 25th, 2014 at 1:50 pm
I don’t really think anyone on our team has the clout to quit on a coach like lovie after just three games and I don’t really think they did. Did they get outplayed yes but what I saw was a defense that looked lost having the new guy Dane Fletcher calling plays, I saw them over pursuing and trying to do more than their supposed to leaving wide open lanes on sweeps like Greg schiano team did. Nah they didn’t quit, our d ends are the weak link in this defense but I personally think GMC hasn’t done enough to call out teammates, one sack where he was basically left to run free