“This Is A Long Term Disaster”
December 19th, 2014
The sting of 30-58
Lovie Smith absorbs backlash from seemingly endless Buccaneers losing.
That’s not really fair.
No, Lovie wasn’t responsible for the December collapse of 2008.
Lovie played no part in the 2009 roster gutting and rebuilding, or the 10-game freefall of 2011.
And Lovie was not affiliated with the MRSA, or leaky, sleepy Josh Freeman, or any part of the New Schiano Order, even though he’s fallen for many of its young players, like Danny Lansanah, Johnthan Banks, Bradley McDougald, Mike Glennon Demar Dotson and Patrick Omameh.
Lovie has his own miserable record, but the toll of a stunning stretch of futility is one for which Lovie pays a price. Ever since the surging 9-3 Bucs marched into Carolina in December 2008, the Buccaneers’ record is a horrendous 30-58.
“This is a long term disaster,” veteran Tampa Tribune NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman called it on Ronnie and TKras on WDAE=AM 620 recently.
“[The Bucs] are down there with the Raiders and the Titans and the Jags.”
Kaufman noted the Bucs are assured their fourth-consecutive, last-place finish. The “basement view,” Kaufman called it, after Lovie spent a year in his famous Chicago basement plotting a triumphant return to the NFL.
Joe’s not giving Lovie a pass, but it is worthwhile to note that the head coach is sometimes punished for his predecessors’ failures.
December 19th, 2014 at 5:41 pm
Over 60% of this roster is already made up of Lovie Smith’s guys. How are these terrible results not on his head? He wields all the power, and I’d be the first person to sing his praises if he had lived up to the hype. He hasn’t, and he deserves to be held accountable in some manner.
December 19th, 2014 at 5:44 pm
We keep losing because we keep changing coaches. We have to keep Lovie for at least 5 years.
December 19th, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Basically as long as JoeBucsFan has been around, the bucs have been losers. I think this site started up during the Chucky firing?
December 19th, 2014 at 5:49 pm
Also funny to note that 15 years ago the Bucs, Raiders, Titans, AND JAGS! Were all contenders!!
December 19th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
The people who continue to buy the lie that if we fire Lovie nobody will want the gig never cease to amuse me.
Fact: there are only 32 of these jobs available, with this one made all that much more attractive because of a high pick and loads of cap space.
There’s someone out there hungry enough, and competent enough for this job, but it sure as hell isn’t Lovie Smith.
December 19th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
For the luv of Michael Pittman, someone please verfiy or deny the rumors that Chicago is offering Jay’Cry-baby”Cutler for the Bucs 1st and 2nd round picks…………If Lovie does this I swear I will run out onto the field during the packers game, nude, yelling and screaming Lovie and Bill Cosby molested me. Just say not to Cutler.
December 19th, 2014 at 6:05 pm
A few winning seasons overall, the Bucs are at or near the bottom in NFL futility. It’s been a long hard slog through all the losing years wanting a winner. The Super Bowl season and a couple other were the hightlights. For Tampa, it seems tough to put a competitive team on the field. Still struggling to field one.
December 19th, 2014 at 6:10 pm
If you need to blame someone for this Raiders-like hole that’s been dug, look no further than the top. The Glazer boys have done their best to run a once proud franchise into the ground. Malcolm would be ashamed if he were still here. I pray for the day the Glazers sell this team to someone with some commitment to winning and half a clue how to get there.
December 19th, 2014 at 6:11 pm
Rutgers4Schiano Says: someone please verfiy or deny the rumors that Chicago is offering Jay’Cry-baby”Cutler for the Bucs 1st and 2nd round picks.
Someone physically punish whomever is stupid enough to even think about and make up a trade like that. So a team (Bucs) who’s in desperate need of a QB, will trade their 1st and 2nd Round picks for an overpaid “has-never-been” currently on a team in desperate need of a QB.
I swear, Fantasy Football is ruining America’s football IQ.
December 19th, 2014 at 6:25 pm
Dear Santa…hopefully this is a SHORT term Disaster…..FIRE Lovie !
December 19th, 2014 at 6:37 pm
This is going to be very hard for all Buc’s fans to understand or accept, but we need to give L&L a pass for this past year. Don’t yell…just wait and read on.
They didn’t know how bad and disorganized this team really was. They did make the big mistake of building our hopes up with “win now” and not producing any winning results.
So, where does that leave us? Now, we get to see just how good L&L are as Coach and GM. They should now know the weak areas of this team. They should know the type of players needed to fit their system. (I know….What offensive system?) They should also know they need to start from scratch with the offense…a creative and knowledgeable Offensive Coordinator would be the correct first step and them build from there.
December 19th, 2014 at 6:38 pm
@stratobuc
“I pray for the day the Glazers sell this team to someone with some commitment to winning and half a clue how to get there.”
YES!! Too bad that Jeff Vinik as owner of a team in another pro league is not eligible. Vinik has been the very best owner this town has EVER seen!
He has the Lightning poised to be a great team for years into the future with the very best young kids in the league, the brilliant GM who built the team, HOFer Steve Yzerman and the best young coach in the game today. Vinik also treats his fans with respect and he MOVED HER from New England because he decided to be a major force in our community. And now look what he’s done for Channelside.
As horrible as the Glazer run Bucs are, the the Lightning are the flip side of the coin. Out of the four major sports at least we have the best owner in one of them.
December 19th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
seems smart to everyone else to bash a guy in his first year as if it’s his fault the team has sucked since 05. you really get mad at the coach when he calls a defense and leonard Johnson ends up on Julio jones? it’s smart to line up jones in the slot and if we have a guy who cant cover high school receivers then that’s when it comes to upgrading talent, people are infuriated as if we didn’t need to upgrade our talent. I thought greg schiano was the worst coach I had ever seen in the nfl in my entire life and I gave him a pass in the first year and I think every coach should get a chance to see if they can improve from one year to year two like players do….
December 19th, 2014 at 7:11 pm
I could live with Lovie’s record if it was just predicated on a lack of talent, losing an OC right at the season’s start and other legitimate reasons for 2-14.
But taking timeouts to start the second half. 12 men on the field. The myriad stupid dead foul penalties. This team played STUPID football and that is totally on Lovie and his staff. The Bucs played dumb undisciplined football. It’s the coaches fault!
If they come back next year and are disciplined and smart, then I’ll give Lovie credit. BTW I DO think he deserves another year. Perhaps he needed to knock off the rust of his time out of football..whatever…if you give a man a job you gotta give him some time to succeed.
December 19th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
This team needs more talent. Simple as that.
December 19th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
This comment is awaiting moderation
December 19th, 2014 at 8:00 pm
@StPeteBucsFan
im real curious to know what you would do if you keep stressing smart football, coaching up players on the way you do things, benching players for bad play, teaching and teaching but players are still doing the same thing….apparently you have some answer that no other adult has. you really need to call the bucs and give them your expertise because apparently you don’t realize the bucs were top of the league in penalties and stupid plays last year too!!! guess it’s still the coaching staff’s fault that leonard johson has been in the league 3 full years and he’s still facing guarding receivers?
blame lovie for coaching mistakes, yes lovie takes the blame for the overall record and bad play but I mean seriously dude it’s kind of dumb to think or assume lovie is coaching false starts and defensive pass interference.
December 19th, 2014 at 8:24 pm
StPeteBucsFan –
you are correct that they can’t own across leagues in the nfl that being said but look how creative stan kronke was. he owns the rams, cough cough cough the denver nuggets and the colorado avalanche… one of his son’s i believe is technically the owner of the nuggets but come on… anyhow, you are right but with a little creativity Jeff Vinik could get past that rule
December 19th, 2014 at 8:32 pm
Who cares about the past when it comes to this season? We’re about to be 2-14. On it’s own that’s a disaster of epic football proportions.
Question – Who is going to pay for that?
Answer – The fans, who pay to watch it, spend their time on it and feel like crap every time their team hits the field.
December 19th, 2014 at 8:41 pm
The New Browns
December 19th, 2014 at 8:51 pm
Lovie has made enough decisions for this team to get a fair assessment from the fans as to how the rest of his time will go…
Changing many decent players for less talented, hiring losing coaches to his staff, going after McCown and naming him starter is if he were gifted, 2-12 and most likely 2-14, blown out in some of those games, can not count 12 men on the field, started a center who never snapped a ball and others as well…. Over hyped, ovetrated , and WAY overpaid…. It was a mistake to hire him…. The Bears fans had it right all along… Many said it would go bad and it has!
December 19th, 2014 at 9:00 pm
This year is ALL lovie! It starts with his love affair with his boy Josh Mccown! lovie owns the o-line too! Cut our losses and boot the bum!
December 19th, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Be that as it may, he gutted the o-line and let Revis slip away, didn’t draft a QB and is now en route to being the worst team in football. There’s plenty from this season to lash out about.
December 19th, 2014 at 9:25 pm
What zam said
December 19th, 2014 at 9:52 pm
the bucs are 12 point (spread )underdogs sunday. pretty good odds the bucs will lose the game. they will be one game away from the number one overall draft pick next spring.
December 19th, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Lovie took a mess and made it a much bigger mess. As much as I hate to say it, I don’t think that he is the coach to pull the Bucs out of this deep losing hole.
December 19th, 2014 at 11:09 pm
Take away Rah’s fluke year in 2010 and the Bucs are 20-52. That is right in the area where the Bucs were in the Perkins’ era and he had Culverhouse running the organization…. Disgusting, the Glazers have to do something…
December 19th, 2014 at 11:09 pm
Take away Rah’s fluke year in 2010 and the Bucs are 20-52. That is right in the area where the Bucs were in the Perkins’ era and he had Culverhouse running the organization…. Disgusting, the Glazers have to do something…
December 19th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
As I said earlier today, all Joe has to do to spark a bunch of posts is to post a story with Love’s name attached to it and all the trolls come out who never ever change their mind even when a rational argument is made against their point of view based on fact instead of irrational feelings.
No one is more upset about this season than myself, especially since I have two season tickets which means this season has cost me actual money, unlike the majority of people who post out here who have never set foot in RJS.
You people who are already calling for Love’s head are the same ones who wanted Gruden fired and you see what happened after that.
The problem with this years team is pure and simple.
An unqualified offensive coordinator and an ineffective QB has turned a 8-8 or 9-7 team into a 2-12 mess.
Finding a qualified OC should not be a problem. QB is another dilemma.
As far as I know, JOE is the only person than some moron on NFL.com who has floated the Cutler rumor. The NFL guy was practically laughed out of the building.
Of course it sets all the morons off on this site which is exactly what Joe wanted to do.
Ask yourselves why any team would trade anything to get Cutler, or any player who has benched and who has a tremendous salary cap hit.
They wouldn’t but it set the loons off on this site who swallow anything that supports their irrational view that Lovie is an idiot who in one year has forgotten how to field a consistent winning football team.
Yes, Lovie whiffed on a couple of FA’s as has every other coach and GM here and everywhere else.
In fact, of all the FA’s we have signed over the last four or five years, only one, Vincent Jackson has been worth anything. Hope we keep him next year no matter what has salary is.
December 20th, 2014 at 12:32 am
Comment censorship is not free speech.
December 20th, 2014 at 1:02 am
Heres to getting the #1 pic. Because all our other pics through out history have turned the ship around.
December 20th, 2014 at 1:05 am
It most certainly is when Joe is responsible in a court of law for every word typed on this site.
December 20th, 2014 at 1:41 am
Wonder if Rondo could help the Bucs too???
December 20th, 2014 at 1:46 am
Great article Joe but unfortunately Lovie has taken a bad situation and made it worse.
I could see if he maximized all opportunities with the roster and added to it and won 5-6 games –
Also if he wasn’t so cocky to reference the prior failures and make claims of returning to relevance as if he’s got “All” the answers –
NOPE Lovie is digging his own ditch and after his failure here he will be back to DC where he belongs.
December 20th, 2014 at 7:17 am
Love is our best hope for a solution. He is in no way the problem.
This cramp started with Grudens’s distinct for young players, and refusal to coach/develop them.
We then turned the. Franchise over to a too green GM and series of Coaches- who both drafted horribly- then coached worse.
Lovie walked into a locker room, that had 7 NFL players in it. That’s it.
Tedford saw how talentless this team was- and took his first possible opurtunity to jump off this train
Lovie can fix it. I wouldn’t. Team is a disaster, with an uninformed fan base, that believes it is SuperBowl ready!!
You have half those stadium blaming him for this teams stupidity over 10 years!
I’d go elsewhere. He’s a real coach- and can get a better gig
This team is screwed for another 2-3 years-in the best case scenario
December 20th, 2014 at 7:18 am
I hate auto edit.
Crap and disdain
December 20th, 2014 at 10:15 am
Did the Gruden regime hire a voodoo priest to curse the Bucs, or what?
December 20th, 2014 at 11:18 am
I think that Lovie needs to be given a chance to right the ship. I also believe he is taking a lot of blame for the Schiano and Raheem debacles. I think L&L should be given a shorter leash by the Glazers, meaning they should be required to get a qualified OC and DC (I’m not impressed with Frazier) and let them coach and make most of the decisions for their respective units. The Glazers also must rebuild our scouting department and get it back to what is was during the Dungy and Gruden years (around the 99 thru SB years). Our scouting over the last 5 years has been crap (Bennett vs the “Ghost”). A solid OC will come here knowing we have the #1 or #2 pick and want Mariota or Winston with Evans and VJ to throw to and a stable of solid RB’s. Our offense needs 3 things to be on a successful path, 1) OC, 2) QB, 3) O-line revamp. On the Cutler rumor, he is not worth any high round pick maybe a 4th rounder if any. He has been benched for Christ sake.. Glennon is probably worth more. It may happen that he comes here as a stop gap while a 1st round QB acclimates to the NFL but I wouldn’t mind that. Bring on the draft!
December 20th, 2014 at 12:25 pm
@tmax
Valid points about the players responsibility for being dumb. I just find it hard to believe Bill Parcells would have stood by on the sidelines while his team played as stupidly as the Bucs. But your point is valid. This is not ALL Lovies fault.
As to a creative solution in how Vinik could get the Bucs thanks for those ideas and examples. I hadn’t thought of that. I wish Vinik read Joebucsfan.
Hey maybe he does.
December 20th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
The big mistake this year was to tell the Bucs fans that there would be no rebuilding. You can’t turnover half of your roster and expect a quality product. Just tell the fans that Lovie is never leaving and we are rebuilding. Honesty.
December 20th, 2014 at 3:43 pm
At ddneast, so you do not want to see rutger4schiano running across the field at rjs, screaming incoherently, as he goes full monty in a bid to rid us all of the incompetent lovie?
December 20th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
This season is ALL on Lovie. He’s head man in charge. The team is a mess.
He’ll get next season. If we have double digit losses he should be fired.
And I hope the Glazers sell because they stink out loud as owners.
December 20th, 2014 at 10:40 pm
weak ownership= weak team
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:07 pm
It’s funny you bring up that game Joe vs Carolina in 08′. I remember watching the game & Williams + Stewart was taking turns butt f**king us. I said to myself “eh I can’t see this being something we gotta worry about, we will be alright.” Almost 60 loses later & I’m ready to jumpoff the Brooklyn Bridge (yes I’m from NY & I love the Bucs) 🙁