Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
October 6th, 2014
A long look at the Bucs yesterday, today, and what to expect tomorrow and beyond.
NEW ORLEANS — Joe nearly had acid reflux last night, and no, he didn’t go to a Cajun joint for dinner, and he only had one beer, though it was a big beer.
For a team with an alleged defensive wizard head coach, who made his bones on defense and who makes no bones about the fact his team will be strong and physical and tough defensively, the Bucs coughing up 202 yards in the fourth quarter and one drive of overtime is beyond the pale.
Seriously? With guys like Gerald McCoy and Michael Johnson and Lavonte David and Alterraun Verner and Mark Barron and they couldn’t even slow down Drew Brees in the final minutes. An 11-point lead vanished inexcusably.
Frankly, that goes to coaching. There are all kinds of teams that don’t have that kind of talent on the defensive side of the ball, and they aren’t playing matador defense like the Bucs did late yesterday and through much of this season.
Joe has to ask, why can’t Lovie craft a defense to get the most out of the talent he has on hand? Where is this 11th Commandment that “Thou shalt run a Tampa-2?”
How is this defense any better than what Bill Sheridan put together last year?
Wake up!
Joe isn’t sure why Austin Seferian-Jenkins missed the team buses yesterday to the Superdome? Didn’t we have enough of this with Josh Freeman?
ASJ played like he was asleep early in the game, dropping passes as if the ball was a warm beer. Early possessions that went nowhere, in part, because he couldn’t hang on to catchable passes may have cost the Bucs the game.
Again, Joe isn’t sure why ASJ was late. It could be something very innocent. But it should not happen again.
Channeling 2012
The 2012 Bucs came within the distance of a short field goal to setting an all-time NFL record for most passing yards allowed in a season. Those Bucs then averaged 298 yards a game through the air.
This year’s Bucs? They have allowed an average of 292 passing yards a game. Yes, a team with a much better roster is nearly as bad as the putrid pass defense two years ago.
And, yes, that goes to coaching.
Leslie in the Booth
Joe has no idea the relevance of this. You may infer what you wish. Yesterday, Leslie Frazier, Bucs defensive coordinator, was coaching from the booth. Frazier, in the past, has been on the sidelines, as well.
Again, Joe has no idea if this is bad or good. Just throwing that out there.
What is Ahead?
Thinking about the Bucs in the playoffs should be left to the methheads. It ain’t happening. So here we are, back to draft talk.
Quarterback Mike Glennon should start the rest of the season. If he makes it, he makes it. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. Time to fish or cut bait and stop toying with the kid with empty proclamations about being the future of the franchise. If he truly is, he needs experience to hit the ground running next year, right?
NFL Thoughts
Packers: Man, there aren’t too many quarterbacks more enjoyable to watch than Aaron Rodgers. When that guy is on, he is the best. He’s mobile, he has a gun and, man alive, is he accurate. He throws the prettiest back-shoulder fade Joe has ever seen. By the way, if this Thursday night’s game is yet another blow out, Joe is done with NFL Thursday games and will stick with college Thursday night games. At least those are somewhat interesting.
Stinking Panthers: It appears the Bucs aren’t the only team that Greg Olson destroys. With Kelvin Benjamin suddenly going quiet, Olson picked up the slack with a pair of touchdown catches to beat the Bears.
Cowboys: Tony Romo went nuts with over 300 yards passing. With the rushing attack Dallas has, if Romo can play decent football, the Cowboys suddenly become dangerous.
Bills: Poor E.J. Manuel. He gets benched in a panic move because Doug Marrone is paranoid for his job, and his backup leads the Bills to a win.
Steelers: Ben Roethlisberger lit up the Jags to take control of the game and made girls jump into one of those pools at Jags games with jeans and T-shirts on. Wet T-shirt competition at an NFL game. Now there’s a way to increase attendance.
Colts: Andrew Luck outduels Joe Flacco. Bjoern Werner woke up to record a pair of sacks.
Giants: Everybody and their brother thought the Giants would stink out loud this year. After a couple of games to settle in, they have a rejuvenated offense and a 3-2 record. Eli Manning throws for a pair of touchdowns to punish the Falcons.
Eagles: So the Eagles bounce back and bounce the Lambs, which is really no surprise. Despite Austin Davis’ three touchdown throws, the Eagles got a punt return and a scoop-and-score to bolster their offense.
Browns: The amazing Browns continue to pull out wins. This time they rallied from 25 points down. Remember when they rallied in the second half and almost beat Pittsburgh? The Browns aren’t quitters, that is for sure.
Broncos: Peyton Manning: 479 yards, four touchdowns. Yawn.
Chargers: Any time an NFL team can shutout another is impressive. The fact the victim was the Jets is high comedy. Joe is going to guess there is an uptick in workplace crime this morning in New Jersey.
49ers: Gee, for a coach people seem to think the players want run out of town, the Niners sure do play hard for Jim Harbaugh. Phil Dawson with five field goals leads the way. Somewhere, Father Dungy nodded his approval.
Patriots: Who said New England was dead? Tom Brady went crazy with 292 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns on a decent defense to lead the Belicheats. Last night, Darrelle Revis sure looked like he would have helped the Bucs.
Non-NFL Thoughts
1. Mississippi State should be ranked No. 1. With apologies to Noles fans, the Bulldogs have beaten higher ranked teams. Dan Mullen has done a fine job in Starkvegas.
2. Don’t worry Noles. Get healthy and keep racking up 50+ points each game and you will be in the playoffs. Speaking of the Noles, that defense is getting a little better but greatly misses former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. That guy was so good at adjusting on the fly. If the Noles don’t make the playoff, then Joe suspects it will be because the defense lets them down.
2b. For fun, if you want to know the real reason Pruitt left Florida State, well, Google is your friend.
3. My goodness, somewhere Saturday, Beano Cook smiled from above. Joe cannot remember such a memorable day of college football.
4. Utah damned near blew their upset when they went full-blown Father Dungyball and played with their tail between their legs. With 43 seconds left, Utah, needing only three yards for a first down inside the UCLA-5, decided to take a snap, run backwards, and kneel down for a field goal attempt and then call timeout! That’s Page One, Chapter One, Paragraph One of the Father Dungy School of Scared Football. UCLA was out of timeouts! All Utah needed was three yards and they could have run the clock down and then kicked the game-winning field goal, preventing UCLA from a potential comeback. Why not try? If you don’t trust your team to handle a handoff, then that reflects more on the coaching staff than the players. Utah then sweated it out when UCLA missed two field goal attempts in the final seconds.
5. Joe doesn’t think Arizona State beat USC with a Hail Mary. That was a post-route. Watch the replay. A Hail Mary is throwing the thing up for grabs and hoping to get rebound.
6. Auburn is freaking rolling but just how bad is LSU this year? Joe can’t tell if Auburn is that good by pounding the Tigers, or if LSU really is that bad.
7. Joe thought it was so cool how the Ole Miss fans freaked out over beating Alabama. How many future citizens of Mississippi were conceived in Oxford Saturday night?
8. Rutgers beat Michigan? That is all anyone needs to know about the Big Ten these days.
9. The baseball playoffs have been fun. Who would have guessed Kansas City would have rolled the Angels like they did? The Giants just don’t lose much in the postseason, do they? Bruce Boche is a Hall of Fame manager. Then there is the Cardinals. Good to see they still have a hex on Clayton Kershaw.
10. There really is nothing like a strong, spicy Bloody Mary for breakfast in New Orleans.
October 6th, 2014 at 7:05 am
I don’t buy it that it is a coaching problem with the defense. I have 2 points and is not a safety:
1. HOF Derrick Brooks said it a while back, “This defense takes a while to master”
2. McCoy was disgusted with the Atlalnta game because guys weren’t doing what was thought by the coaches during the week in practice before the Atlanta game.
Defensive players will get it right and execute properly sometime in the future.
**** I said this last week and it happened once in the game. Unless “The Cannon” gets more accurate with his long passes look for more interceptions this year for Glennon. Opposing teams are watching film. Glennon has a problem of throwing long passes in the vicinity of the receiver/tight end rather than putting it in the numbers more often than not. Like yesterday’s interception defenders will start looking back for the ball on those long passes and end drives for Glennon…
October 6th, 2014 at 7:18 am
I don’t know why you keep saying this team is full of defensive talent. Other than McCoy and David, NO ONE on this defense impresses me. Our secondary is a joke! Our d-line and linebackers are a joke! Michael Johnson is Gains Adams version 2.0 ( lets remember that it was Lovie that traded a 2nd round pick for Gains Adams, really good talent evaluator ) I’m sorry but Barron, nor, Golston, nor Verner impress me at all. Our linebackers are soft ( other than David ) and look lost out there. Fletcher BLOWS DOG!!!! Another guy brought in by Lovie. Thanks a lot, appreciated that Lovie! We should have won that game yesterday! We had an 11 point lead in the fourth and they ( DEFENSE ) gave it away! And where in the hell was the running game that Lovie says is our foundation?! I mean we should be road grading teams with this AWESOME o-line we have! NOT!!!!!!! They blow just as much as the d-line. How many stupid penalties could they possibly get! This is a mirror image of last year. A continuation of where they left off last year. It’s going to be a great year, CAN’T WAIT!!!
October 6th, 2014 at 7:20 am
Tell lovie or Frazier that if you’re going to play that much cover 3 you have to sprinkle in cover 1. Because soon as the qb sees a single safety high he knows that all he has to do is wait until whoever is going across th middle gets between the safety and linebacker and he’s going to be wide open in our defense. So why not play cover 1 at times. That extra split second to realize we’re in man wouldve gafe mccoy time to get home yesterday
October 6th, 2014 at 7:22 am
Glennon has been steadily improving, deserving of some respect. Time will tell however if we still should draft a “franchise” quarterback in 2015. Defense has allowed more points in the league other than the Jaguars.
October 6th, 2014 at 7:28 am
I thought the secondary played better. Verner is making up for missing camp. Barron is getting better. There are some Saints in the ice tub today from Barron and David hard hits. We were missing a FS and a MLB yesterday.
Hoping Foster and Goldson get back soon. Needed them both yesterday. The D-Line got pressure yesterday, but expected a little more from McDonald. Going to take a little time to get everybody healthy and they are still learning.
Whose fault is this? Doesn’t really matter. All fault rests with the head coach in the final analysis deserved or not!
October 6th, 2014 at 7:28 am
There was absolutely very little wrong with MG8s performance yesterday…..that interception was caused partly by a missed pass interference call (defender pushing off) causing Murphy to fall down. So, both of Glennon’s interceptions this year have been far downfield with recievers falling down. Not…pick six or red zone like McCown.
Glennon was constantly on target with recievers dropping the ball and penalties negating positive plays.
We had absolutely no running game…..AGAIN!…..
Our 1st & 10 run up the middle hasn’t worked all year.
NO went for over 500 yds.
To blame this loss on Glennon is rediculous. Brees had 3 intercepitons & NO won….
October 6th, 2014 at 7:39 am
I dont care what anyone says, the Defense played well yesterday. They had us firmly in a position to win. We had 2 takeaways, a defensive score, tons of pressure, and I saw more pass break-ups in this game than I have all year. Also we were punishing people with hard a$$ hits. To have us in a position where all the offense had to do was drive down the field, take some time off the clock, and put points on the board. Honestly if that drive from hell had been a field goal drive instead, we would have had a 14 point lead with like 7-8 minutes left on the clock. Which I think would have placed the game out of New Orleans reach. I do think the zebras were being super inconsistent with what they called offensive holding, because I saw the saints offensive line holding on for dear life on more than one occasion. It was just a bad finish from the offense that a gassed defense couldn’t help cover up. But I did see a huge improvement from both the O and the D, it’s just too bad we didn’t pull out a win.
October 6th, 2014 at 7:46 am
Historically bad defense and the DC and HC should be ashamed of themselves!
October 6th, 2014 at 7:49 am
Like I said earlier in the week; you can’t win in New Orleans without some sort of running game. Over Zealous refs hurt, but not being able to control the clock and keep the ball out of Brees hands was really the only reason I saw for us losing yesterday. As a team they played pretty well.
October 6th, 2014 at 7:53 am
Just an observation, but it seemed the D was playing fast and swarming to the ball. Not a bad day in the secondary either. The flag on Banks that negated the Saints not picking up a first down was a home town flag. That was the difference in overtime.
October 6th, 2014 at 7:55 am
@Touch_Down_Tampa_Bay Says:
“…I don’t buy it that it is a coaching problem with the defense…”
I beg to differ. Did you see this kind of learning curve with Schiano? I think a good coach adjusts to the talent he has, not the other way around. And I thought Schiano “forced” his scheme on the D last year, but now I am rethinking that. Lovie is definitely forcing his defensive scheme on the team.
And what I saw yesterday, they could not tackle. That is not a scheme issue; that is simple fundamental football technique. The Bucs had 66 yards rushing. The Saints had more than double that with 140 yards. So how is that not coaching? Joe makes a good point. This D has plenty of talent on it, WHY is it not playing better???
October 6th, 2014 at 8:02 am
@pewterpirate99 Says:
“…I don’t know why you keep saying this team is full of defensive talent…”
Its relative. I don’t think one can argue that this team has more talent then what it had last year, yet it is playing substantially worse defensively. They can’t stop a cool Brees (sorry, couldn’t help myself). Some will say it is a learning curve, and, yes, that is partially true. But how many arm tackles did you see the Saints RBs breaking thru?
October 6th, 2014 at 8:17 am
Gettin rid of Revis was moronic. As he said, Lovie wants to run outdated Tampa 2 rather than adapted his scheme to the talent. This defense is as horrible as 2011 so far.
October 6th, 2014 at 8:19 am
Blake, over 500 yards of offense allowed, with 3 turnovers, is awful. That”s probably over 600 yards of offense allowed without them. This defense is simply awful and the scheme is the biggest culprit. Middle of the pack last year with Schiano.
October 6th, 2014 at 8:37 am
Nobody expected the Bucs to win this game. That they were in the game and held leads before the meltdown shows some improvement. It’s a tough loss to take and had me on the edge of my seat, only to flatten out in total disgust. What a bummer.
October 6th, 2014 at 8:44 am
Hc does not know when to use time outs, But he is good
October 6th, 2014 at 8:51 am
That’s one thing I hate the most about college football. Realistically, Auburn and MSU or even Ole Miss should be able to jump FSU in the polls. But since they’ve been there since Day 1, there’s an unwritten rule that can’t happen.
Makes no sense.
October 6th, 2014 at 8:54 am
MG8 played well again. Leave him out there for the rest of the season.
October 6th, 2014 at 8:59 am
A lot of whining going on. Lately, I have been wondering why I keep returning to JBF. Been a loyal follower for years. For the first time yesterday, I avoided the site until after the game.
And for the first time in a while, I actually had fun watching. I think the constant whining drags fans down…suck the joy out of us. And I’m painting with a broad brush here, not targeting Joe.
October 6th, 2014 at 9:44 am
I’d like to see how many yards they gained off screen passes.. This team can’t defend a screen for the life of them!
October 6th, 2014 at 9:53 am
@Bonzai – the losing gets me down. You seem to be just fine with it.
October 6th, 2014 at 10:11 am
I hate Leonard Johnson
October 6th, 2014 at 10:49 am
Totally agree with joe. I’m assuming the d will get better because that’s what Lovie is known for and there is good talent. I think schianos d finished #15 in the league. I just don’t think these zone schemes work against elite qbs. They shreds it. Worked before cause bucs had hof players on d: brooks sapp lynch barber. Overall, happy. At least team looks professional last 2 games and competing. That’s all I ask fror as a fan. First 3 games a joke. Bright side we have some good young talent: Glennon, Dotson, Evans, asj, gmc, David!! Couldnt say that during morris, late gruden days. Go bucs!!
October 6th, 2014 at 10:52 am
Absolutely this.
There was a time where there would be some actual good debate and discussion going on in the boards. Now, its always either complaining and whining or doom and gloom.
In the offseason, no one expected us to have a winning record, much less make the playoffs. We lose our first 3, everyone goes haywire: “Oh no, this team sucks. Might as well just play for the draft. 0-16 here we come.”
After one win it becomes: “We can still make the playoffs. We’re so good. Glennon is our saviour.”
The next loss, its right back to the sky is falling forever. 1-15 here we come.
Its almost gotten to the point where I read the article and don’t even bother looking at the comments anymore. I’m already forced to follow a depressing team, no need to have to put up with all the depressing fans at the same time.
GoBucs
October 6th, 2014 at 11:28 am
@harry. I respect your opinion. But you need to contact Derick Brooks. It was his words that the scheme talks time to master.
October 6th, 2014 at 11:43 am
Celly, kind of agree with your points but you couldn’t be more wrong when you say “nobody expected us to make the playoffs or have a winning record”. Most of the people on this blog thought we would and many pundits. I can’t name them all but a few: Herm Edwards, Brian Dawkins, Stylz White, Mike Greenberg, Skip Bayless, Peter King, Colin Cowherd. I mean what are you talking about? Do you just make this stuff up as you go to accentuate your point or are you that non perceptive. The team has played way below expectations so far and pundits and fans are going overboard with their frustration. What a surprise!!
October 6th, 2014 at 2:08 pm
@Brent
I was speaking about the general fans that post on this board, not what the national media had to say.
I, for one, am always optimistic about this team. I believe every game is a winnable game and i predict my season records based on the current week…for example, my new prediction is that we will finish 12-4.
Realities? Doubtful. Homerizm? Absolutely.
October 6th, 2014 at 3:06 pm
“Joe is going to guess there is an uptick in workplace crime this morning in New Jersey”. Now that’s funny!
October 6th, 2014 at 4:47 pm
JOE, at least when the game is over and we loose. You have a sweet life to fall back on, traveling all over the country going to Tampa Bay games and watching our BUCS in the coolest stadiums in the world. You should have no reason to ever and I mean ever be angry or have a hang over for the simple fact that your life is crappy. You aren’t like the rest of us who look forward to Sunday all week long, and then get let down and have to go back to the real world. Actually have to go back and face reality in the face! Just saying, I have read your columns for years now and you do complain a lot, and wine.