What Is “Unacceptable?”
August 31st, 2015
Should Evan Smith be concerned?
Yesterday, Bucs coach Lovie Smith proverbially stomped his foot when he said the play of the offensive line was “unacceptable.” But that term is empty rhetoric unless something is done.
To Joe, the word “unacceptable” is just that. It means something should no longer be tolerated and strong measures will be taken to correct it.
Joe will defend the rookie offensive linemen, left tackle Donovan Smith and right guard Ali Marpet. Why? Because they are rookies. Ups and downs and learning the ropes will be their theme for the season.
Anyone who thought Smith and Marpet would play like Anthony Muñoz and John Hannah right away is seriously unreasonable. Lovie doesn’t think that. In fact, he too all but stated yesterday the two would remain starters because you don’t draft guys in the second round to sit on the sidelines and play Xbox. They are the future. They need the snaps. They need to learn.
Look, Reid Fragel at right tackle was brought to the Bucs as camp meat. If Demar Dotson or Kevin Pamphile were healthy and/or Gosder Cherilus was up to speed, Fragel would have been lucky to take snaps in the second half.
Left guard Logan Mankins had a rough night but he’s going nowhere. That leaves is Evan Smith. Through three preseason games, the best the offensive line has looked is when Smith is off on the field.
Remember, Joe doesn’t believe in coincidences.
If Lovie really is at the end of his rope and wants to put actions behind his declaration of “unacceptable” offensive line play, then Jeremiah Warren might become the starting center.
Joe hopes that to Lovie “unacceptable” doesn’t mean you cross your fingers and hope things get better.
August 31st, 2015 at 5:17 am
Warren should be the starting center. No question about it.
August 31st, 2015 at 5:20 am
I get that you don’t like Evan Smith because he treated ‘America’s QB’ like a rookie in your eyes. Obviously in your world Joe he should be beaten and whipped for not recognizing Jameis as the Second Coming of our Lord. However, I’ll still defer to our coaches’ judgments as to whether or not Evan Smith represents our best option at center … with our present personnel.
I personally think that Warren has very good potential, but he has no game experience. Starting 3 rookies on the OLine to protect Jameis (oh ya, another rookie) may not be the wisest thing to do right now. Their lack of experience handling extensive blitzing in the Browns game really showed. Throwing in a rookie center and asking him to make OLine calls in situations like that … which will now happen every game … is a prescription for getting Jameis killed.
August 31st, 2015 at 6:21 am
Lovie couldn’t get the o line right in Chicago who the hell thought hed get it right here?
August 31st, 2015 at 6:45 am
Warren can snap but not block. Gilkey can block but not snap. Where do we find these guys and why do we think they should be our center?
August 31st, 2015 at 6:45 am
The buc’s are at a stage where tough choices need to be made. I do not believe he will make them.
August 31st, 2015 at 6:58 am
I agree with passhtebuc. This is the same guy who gave Jenkins EVERY chance to beat out Banks. Now, he did put Kwon in at MLB, so maybe, just maybe Lovie knows he has to make a leap this year. I say if the QB is more comfortable with Warren, and if the line plays better with him, play the man. BBQ Logan thinks that Warren has the goods. Will Lovie have the testicular fortitude to make the move sooner then later?
August 31st, 2015 at 7:20 am
Warhop should be on the short list for getting canned. He or Lovie better find some way to make this line at least competant else they are both sunk. Having said that, I think yesterday’s freakout by all the posters on here was a bit premature. Over the years I have seen teams go 0-4 in preseason and then go deep in the playoffs. I have seen teams go 4-0 in the preseason and then struggle to win a game in regular season. This is preseason and truly means nothing. If the team looks like this come real game time, I will be hating on Lovie and Licht pretty quickly.
August 31st, 2015 at 7:21 am
Warhop should have been canned after last year.
August 31st, 2015 at 7:25 am
I really don’t get when ppl say Lovie didn’t get the OL right at Chi so why would he here.. let’s be real guys Lovie is the head coach.. not the GM not the OL coach. anyways at this point Smith is on his last legs and probably should not be starting we will see how things go
August 31st, 2015 at 7:27 am
Joe, any last minute trades for better lineman? I seriously doubt that any will hit the waivers.
August 31st, 2015 at 7:28 am
@meh
Agreed!
August 31st, 2015 at 7:34 am
I remember the assistant O Line coach being some hot commodity. Why not let him take more responsibility? He can’t do much worse.
August 31st, 2015 at 7:57 am
“Simple as that” Lovie Smith.
August 31st, 2015 at 8:22 am
When the Bucs make further cuts they should throw a few dud coaches on that departing pile of rejects to top it off.
August 31st, 2015 at 8:22 am
What is “Unacceptable?”
The fact that Evan Smith can not snap the ball in shotgun formation.
August 31st, 2015 at 8:50 am
The playcalling has been unacceptable, it seems like it’s worse than last season. I don’t know if Dirk Koetter is waiting for the regular season, or what. The OC and the O-Line has to be on the same page, what happen to our power game? We can win the NFC South, but not with a vertical passing game. It’s a must that we run a power offense this season,we need at least 2200 rushing yards this season. The last time we rushed for 2000 yards, we went 10-6. And Josh Freeman went for 25 TDS and 6 INTS, we have to get back to ( Buc Ball). We won’t win 4 games this season without a strong running game, I hope Dirk Koetter realize it. Jameis Winston will fail miserably without a strong running game, we seen what happen at FSU last season. Go bucs
August 31st, 2015 at 9:08 am
Lakeland Buc: you do realize this is PRESEASON??? I seriously can’t believe someone would mention play calling for a preseason game.
August 31st, 2015 at 9:22 am
Who are we going to bring in thats better? Quality linemen, esp centers, arent looking for work two weeks before the season. Warrens good and maybe he starts eventualy.
August 31st, 2015 at 9:44 am
Licht spent 2.4 millon on a kicker (Barth) for twice that he could of had all pro guard evan mathis. Stupidity abounds in the lovie-licht regime
August 31st, 2015 at 10:02 am
I feel for Jameis. This is a situation that can ruin a young talented QB. You could put tackling dummies out there and they would have held up the pass rush better.
What is more troubling to me is the attitude of the OL. I know this is pre-season and the emotions are not there as a real game. But numerous times when the offense came off the field you could see the OL joking and laughing, smiling. This includes Mankins, Smith. Especially a series where Jameis was sacked (crushed) on back to back plays. Could have been injured.
You see Jameis go to the sideline and starts communicating witht he coaching staff. The OL went to get a drink and you could see most of them joking around.
If I was on the OL and my QB just got killed on back to back plays I would have a different attitude.
Sad to see.
August 31st, 2015 at 10:54 am
Ac
Lovie is the kne who has final say on tradin zuttah and bringing in cousins. Lovie is the head coach the gm the scout and he’s basically the owner. Til he gets fired. Lovie is responsible for every wrong. Just like he should get all praise for success. Hr brought in warhop. He got rid of zuttah and penn and brought in cousins. Not licht not Joel. Lovie
August 31st, 2015 at 10:56 am
I did see that mjc..i agree the attitude is lacking for the oline..lovie needs to send a message to the whole team that poor play this year wont to tolerated..some cuts or releases need to happen to make sure that message gets across..with that said,its only preseason so i’ll save the real criticism for the real games…GO BUCS!!!
August 31st, 2015 at 11:27 am
What is unacceptable is how Incompetent Lovie Smith and his little fatty lapdog GM have taken a badly broken football team and somehow made it significantly worse. Talent evaluation, decision-making, attitude, COACHING and leadership is all time turrible.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:05 pm
I’m very happy with the two rookies! They have shown the talent and strength and they are clearly able to hold up physically.
But as Joe points out their ROOKIES. They didn’t get whipped physically against the Brownies as much as they were CONFUSED.
Fameis noted in the post game presser that the Brownies did things that the Bucs hadn’t seen on video in their short week of prep. If Fameis admitted that the Brownies flummoxed him with stuff he hadn’t seen before what do we think that did to Smith and Div III Marpet. These kids are going to be good. But as Goz Cherilous says it may take the better part of the year for them to reach their real game. We simply have to hope that their learning curve is not full of too many blunders like that A gap blitz that Marpet gave up. I love Mongo but he simply needs to see some reps. That was their first look at the 3-4. Let’s hope they get that down before LeBeau brings his verion to town.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:06 pm
their=they’re LOL Man as you get old the freaking homonyms give you fits.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:20 pm
I cant defend Lovie. Dallasbuc, while many view you as an “extremist” so to speak, Lovie has yet to do anything to justify being defended.
Here where you and I differ, I beleive that Lovie, with his experience and respect (trust me, the man is held in high regard in the league), I beleive he will turn it around. I beleive in what he is building. I give him a little more trust than I did Raheem and especialy Schiano due to the span of his career. Did he make mistakes last year? OMG did he ever. Was some of it sort of a necessary evil when turning over roster? Yes of course. The o line had to bee re done after 2013. They were unmotivated, aging, over paid. Zuttah was above average but Joseph, one of my favorites, and Penn were not performing up to their salary. Chsnge had to be made there. And since Dom never drafted an o lineman, or at least very few, we had nothing to fall back on. So I understand why the line was a mess in year one.
Now you got guys like Ghost and Collins. Huge busts. That falls on Lovie. He wanted them. He got them. You look at Mccown. A guy he trusts more than he trusted any rookie that year. He had to go. Basically him and Arroyo were the fall guys last year. Mccown can be a great game manager, which he was brought in to be. But early, our defense gave up too many points. When you force Mccown to carry the offense with no running game, new o line and NO O COORDINATOR thats what your going to get. It was a horrible stroke of luck. Not many coaches short of Bill Belichick could have made it work.
I understand your view, Dallas. I can present the reasons behind last season as in depth as possible, but at the end of the day Lovie lost. I think he can start something to build upon this year. You dont think that. And no matter what everyone else says, I can not fault you for that.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:20 pm
their=they’re. Wow you grow old and forget how to spell homonyms!!!
Worse still you have to get up at night and pee. LOL
August 31st, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Waaaaay back when they got rid of Zuttah, I screamed that it was a mistake. Eventually, everyone pretty much agreed.
But here’s why I felt it was a mistake…the MOST important spot on the offensive line is Center.
Why? Because it is the hardest one to replace effectively. Traditionally, the Buccaneers have had issues there.
When you get a good center, you keep him. Period.
But that’s in the past now. The issue now is that we still have not found a good replacement for him. Warren has potential, but needs time. Gilkey sucks. Evans…you know, the popular thing is to blame Gilkey for all those bad snaps last year, but Evans had his share too.
We have a solution on the roster.
Ali Marpet.
He is a great center when he plays the position, and anyone of those other guys can play his old spot.
Unless one of these young guys suddenly gets better, the Bucs will have no other choice. As I predicted in the past…by mid season, Marpet will be our center.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:22 pm
@Lakeland Buc
Actually, I think the playcalling has been decent. Execution hasn’t been there, but that comes with time. And add that it is preseason…well, you know.
August 31st, 2015 at 12:32 pm
DallasBuc Says
“What is unacceptable is how Incompetent Lovie Smith and his little fatty lapdog GM have taken a badly broken football team and somehow made it significantly worse. Talent evaluation, decision-making, attitude, COACHING and leadership is all time turrible.”
I nearly completely disagree with this.
The GM’s evaluation of off team talent for free agency has been horrendous, but Lovie actually has done a good job.
Leadership has been good.
And I have not seen a single issue with attitude at all. I don’t even know where you pulled that from.
It’s been clear to me that the team is working their butts off to become good. I think that, being in Dallas, you are missing out on seeing some things…but the good stuff is surfacing.
I know that you’ve heard “be patient” so many times over the last decade that you (and everyone) is sick of it, but in this case, that really is what we have to have.
August 31st, 2015 at 1:35 pm
This offensive line is crumbling up now with injuries and lack of depth to go along with bad play on the field. Pamphile, D, Smith are injured E.Smith is a disaster waiting to be cut and Mankins is looking old. Only bright spots I have heard on the offensive line is D.Smith and Marpet doing a great job of coming along, which they are, and Gilkey doing a great job showing up. Dotson is hurt which brought in Cherilus and hes not ready yet. I say in the final preseason game give Fragel a shot over there at left tackle because im thinking that D.Smith should be moved to right guard once hes healthy and Dotson should be moved to left tackle once he’s healthy as well and then move Marpet to center over Warren when that time comes but I feel like Pamphile will be healthy and can take the job from everyone. Evan Smith gotta go now though and I personally think they should take a chance and trade Mankins to a solid contender now and let Marpet be his replacement so he fulfills his set destiny of left guard to open up roster spots as well because they brought in a well scouted bunch for special teams and they have some skill players that should step up like Bell, Clay, Shepherd, and Hall. Humphreys is good but he will catch on somewhere else believe me on that.
August 31st, 2015 at 5:57 pm
@LargoBuc
Thanks for that very balanced view of Lovie. You just said what I’ve been trying to say for the past two months.