“I’d Be Careful On Listening To What The Commentators Say On What We Should Be Doing”
December 1st, 2015
It’s a pretty safe bet that Lovie Smith wouldn’t watch a Bucs game with the sound on.
The head coach got a little cranky (for Lovie) when told last night that game analysts were blasting the Bucs for not having cornerbacks reroute Colts receivers at the line of scrimmage Sunday.
“I’d be careful on listening to what the commentators say on what we should be doing,” Lovie told the Buccaneers Radio Network.
“How could you when you don’t know what the [defensive back] is supposed to do. How could you really know?”
Lovie went on to repeat that things aren’t so simple when you’re not on the field or a coach on the bench.
“What do those commentators know anyway?” Lovie said.
And Lovie wouldn’t let it go, then got technical, and then made it clear that Sunday’s defensive breakdowns weren’t about rerouting receivers.
“One of our signature coverages, Cover 2, most of the time we should get a reroute on the receiver, but that’s only if the receiver is in a position where we can reroute him,” Lovie said. “If he goes underneath right away, there are some times where it doesn’t cause for you to get a reroute. The receiver can actually reroute himself. So I’d be careful on just looking and saying, ‘Hey, we didn’t get a reroute on this play.’ It has to be there. It’s not always the case.”
“Yesterday, based on the things that we didn’t do well, I can’t say that rerouting had a whole lot to do with plays that weren’t successful with us defensively, as far as defending the pass.”
Dick Stockton and Matt Millen called the game for FOX.
December 1st, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Lovie is defending the one glaring thing we’ve all been screaming about all season! Jam the WR at the line!
If you’re saying they cut too quickly to get a hand on them, you are essentially giving away that play, every time. This is total BS.
Own up to it Lovie, your corners got burned yesterday over and over. You can’t give guys a free release.
December 1st, 2015 at 12:22 pm
Hope the big dog didnt hear Love say they are at times running the Cover 2, he would get flabergasted on air. Lovie is right commentators have no clue what defense is called or coverage, they can line up in a cover 2 shell and run cover 3, 4 or press man and run cover 2 the job of the defnse pre-snap is to confuse the look of the QB and get him guessing wrong so they call a wrong combo route into an alleged coverage, as a fan you can look if you are able to see the corners or if its a blitz, the corners will look at their guy in man and read the routes and QB in zone….the cover 2 and 3 basic coverage is hurt in the NFL because their is a limit on the yardage as to where you can hit the Wr and let them run…i thought they played man pretty good the last 2 games…for whatever reason they cannot play cover 2 and have not been able to all season and its probably the lack of pressure from the front 4 when they are in the cover 2
December 1st, 2015 at 12:24 pm
We need to draft several defensive players…..we simply aren’t that talented….
December 1st, 2015 at 12:29 pm
I think this year we need an all defensive draft.
December 1st, 2015 at 12:39 pm
I still think it should be Jonathon Banks on the other side with Sterling Moore, nothing against Jude but i like Banks he’s a tall long corner and has showed in the past he can make plays on the ball.
December 1st, 2015 at 12:44 pm
every cb we have would be a gunner on special teams at best if they were on another team…we don’t have the talent at the cb position to run an effective defense no matter what scheme we’re running…moore and jude are holding up as best they can and they give us the best chance to win…once we draft a cb with some talent and elite speed, the pass defense will be more like the run defense…GO BUCS!!!
December 1st, 2015 at 12:47 pm
Yeah I agree we need to draft some defensive talent this year. There are a couple decent edge rushers out there hopefully we can grab one or two and a CB.
December 1st, 2015 at 12:48 pm
i can’t believe people even listen to that idiot Matt Millen. the guy is the biggest clown with no shame whatsoever.
December 1st, 2015 at 1:13 pm
Well let’s look at this logically (a foreign concept in America, I understand):
You’re NOT jamming receivers at the line, you’re NOT re-routing receivers and how many double-digit leads have you blown? How many losses to journeyman QBs, rookies, and second-stringers?
It takes a big person to admit when they’re wrong. Kyle Bridza cost Lovie TWO wins because he’s STUBBORN. He even made a big ta-doo about standing by his kicker and then he bowel-dumped the week after that big grandstanding show of support.
Seven deadly sins… Lovie’s is definitely “pride.”
December 1st, 2015 at 1:48 pm
The commentators also said we shouldn’t have so many penalties. But how could they know whether that wasn’t part of our game plan, either? It seems to be the only thing we do consistently.
December 1st, 2015 at 1:48 pm
Lovie sounds like he’s grasping at straws.
December 1st, 2015 at 1:52 pm
I got a laugh on Sunday when a bunch of people were saying Lovie needs to stop playing the Tampa 2 when Steve White (@sgw94) stated they weren’t playing Tampa 2.
My point is that Lovie is absolutely correct about the commentators on TV and the local bloggers blasting the Bucs for playing Tampa 2. He’s right, no one outside of those on the sidelines know exactly what the defense is supposed to do in every situation.
December 1st, 2015 at 2:05 pm
Our cornerbacks and really, secondary as a whole, is a concern and needs to be addressed during the draft. However, our biggest glaring need is a premier edge rusher. Jack Smith and Howard Jones would be on the practice squad of most teams. I appreciate their effort but they simply don’t have the talent necessary to give Qbs fits. The Colts beat us because they won the battle of the trenches on both sides of the ball. That and the refs screwed us royally. I’ve had 3 days to clam down and I’m still po’d over the ridiculous calls. From leaping on a play that was nowhere near leaping, to a PI call on Evans that never happened, holding on Dougie’s TD, no holds against the Colts who held all game long, a false start against the Colts that was inexplicably called against us for offsides, a phantom penalty called against us on the fumble recovery, the fumble that happened late in the 4th qtr which was definitely a fumble if you look at the replay. Effing leaping. When they called that which I predicted would end up being called against us at the beginning of the game, I lost it. I seriously cannot understand why we get so shafted on these calls. Please look at that play and you will see the ball start coming out of Bradshaw’s hands before any part of his body touched the ground. How do you screw this up after reviewing it? These calls were monumental to the outcome. I get the whole premise of you never blame the refs, but that’s B.S. These blown calls changed the whole outcome of this game. 2 turnovers and a loss of 4 points were direct results of crap calls.
December 1st, 2015 at 2:27 pm
We need a corner as top priority for next year, if for no other reason than we are set to lose Verner. We need a pass-rushing DE to take those downs from Gholston. We need a upper/mid-round WR since Jackson is getting older and not a burner and Evans drops make him not a #1. I like our slot situation with Murphy, if he comes back well, and Humphries. I hope we don’t lose Martin, but could make do with Sims and Rainey (get a dedicated returner burner too please). Our TE roster is stellar, assuming ASJ comes back. We’ll learn about Bruce Carter over the next 4 games, as a going-in backup LB for next year. I suspect Lansanah will be out there with David on passing downs. Conte is a stud at free but competition for SS is a must. Finally, competition at kicker is a last wish.
December 1st, 2015 at 2:53 pm
Whether its a cover 2 shell or man coverage, everyone will agree that the defense looks better the further it gets from the cover 2 zone!!! Finally mixed in some blitzes here and there ( something we called for over a year ago ).
But hey, this offseason lovie will scrap the secondary for the 3rd straight year!!! Maybe 3rd time is the charm????
December 1st, 2015 at 2:56 pm
Jim Schwartz is probably going to he a DC or maybe even HC next season.. The Bucs better get on the phone right away.
December 1st, 2015 at 3:06 pm
Matt Millen was the one calling out the defensive backs for the rerouting. Matt Millen. Think about that for a second. The same guy who singlehandedly destroyed the Detroit Lions organization and presided over the NFL’s only 0-16 season. I’ll support Lovie on this one.
December 1st, 2015 at 4:06 pm
Funny. I’m the one that asked the question. He really didn’t answer it though. I wanted to know when the reroute is part of the defense, and it doesn’t happen…how does that affect the defense. He heard commentator and went in. LOL
December 1st, 2015 at 4:16 pm
Fans forget..You gotta have lots of pressure…or a lot more than we are getting in order for the Cover 2 to be a success. In some games we don’t even get enough pressure to make the QB hurry his throws. Therein lies one of our biggest defensive problems.
December 1st, 2015 at 4:32 pm
Rodney great question and realist you are spot on, i dont understand what he is ultimately trying to accomplish and it appears neither does he
December 1st, 2015 at 4:36 pm
I actually agree with supersam. This year we need a defensive draft.
I’m very excited and optimistic about this team. My hopes is that we have at least an 8-8 team(we’re practically there) by the time my daughter is 4(she’ll be 1 in january). I’d love for her to be able to watch a winner with papa.
December 1st, 2015 at 7:17 pm
@Dusty
the job of the defnse pre-snap is to confuse the look of the QB and get him guessing wrong
Exactly Dusty. The only problem is that the QB we faced has won in the NFL and had 16+ years of experience and is by every account playing his best ball in years…better even than Luck was playing. He’s a hot experienced QB and he did his job with some terrific throws and he unloaded the ball quickly…#3 is simply not there yet but he’s getting closer every week.
Hopefully watching Hasslebeck will help inspire #3. The defense did NOT lose this game. 6 Points in the first half!!! The 2nd half they were not the SB Bucs defense able to carry a struggling offense that was three and out far too many times…that missed the field goals…that dropped passes…that had penalties earlier in the game that took away a TD that would have stretched the lead.
We trailed a team on a win streak..with a winning tradition and culture..11 wins three years running…with a red hot experienced vet who knew when to throw it away and knew when to go deep and when to dink and dunk. Despite all of that we trailed by only six on the road into the 4th Q. “Future Fameis” will win games like that.
We’re not quite there yet and the loss while frustrating is not embarrassing nor is it a huge setback. The major disturbing thing to me is the repetion of some of the errors..the penalities…partially caused by horrid officiating which we can expect the rest of the year because of our reputation..and ME’s critical drops at game changing moments.
We have some stuff that still needs to be cleaned up…but we can do it.
December 1st, 2015 at 8:44 pm
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else” – Ben Franklin on Lovie Smith
December 1st, 2015 at 9:28 pm
cmurda….C*n*e was flagged for running into the holder.
Which was still nonsense, because he was in mid flight before the ball even took off. How was he supposed to slow down in mid air?
I agree though lots of ticky tacky BS calls, that effected the game tremendously. It was almost like watching a scripted pro wrestling match.
December 1st, 2015 at 10:17 pm
Mike Johnson nailed it. You need a pass rush to run Lovies Defense. We have no pass rush!!! So why are we stilling running the same defense? It is the square peg into a round hole premise. If you don’t have the right personnel to run the D that you want to run, YOU, as the coach, has to make the adjustment. Change your scheme! That is my biggest complaint about Lovie. If you are a one-trick pony in this league, you aren’t going to last very long. The previous 2 games, we blitzed like crazy, every Buc fan has been screaming for this for a year and a half. What do you know-2 wins. We barely blitzed in this game and he stood back there and picked us apart. As you can tell, I’m not a fan of Lovie, but the win total has already earned him another year.
BTW, Evans drops aren’t just little drops, he is dropping easy 3rd down passes that would keep the chains moving and TD passes, he is just killing us right now. I’m in no way ready to right this guy off, he is so young! He just needs to squeeze the damn ball.
Oh yeah, last thing…Sims is a 3rd down back so stop taking Martin out for a quarter at a time, if you want to spell, Martin for a play or 2, fine. Doug has earned the right to run the damn ball. Down by 7 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter does not mean you have to completely stop running the ball.
Last thing- why do we NEVER run a no huddle just as a change of pace, when Winston doesn’t have time to think, he is at his best (yes, I am an FSU Grad)
WOW, now I feel better that I got this off my chest.
December 2nd, 2015 at 8:20 am
’87- Actually the call on the field- by the head official was “Leaping” not running into the holder. We hit rewind 10 times because we couldn’t believe it. The announcers are the ones that kept saying running into the holder. There is NO WAY for the head guy to misinterpret the actual call. Either it is running into the holder, roughing the holder or it is leaping. They announced the penalty for leaping. F-ing ridiculous.