Lost Buccaneers Syndrome
December 1st, 2015
Happy in Baltimore
It’s sad how many Buccaneers fans are eternally scarred by various players ditched by Tampa Bay.
For some, it all started with the guy being put in the Ring of Honor this Sunday, quarterback Doug Williams.
Williams didn’t get the money he wanted in Tampa in the 1980s, and he left and later won a Super Bowl as a starting quarterback with the Redskins, and the Bucs franchise took a couple of generations to find another stud QB.
There are all kinds of examples in between, from John Lynch to Michael Bennett to Jeremy Zuttah and many more.
Joe felt the agony on Twitter last night, when Ravens rookie return man Kaelin Clay ran a punt back for a touchdown. It was a heck of a return, finishing with Clay flashing breakaway speed.
Clay was the Bucs’ sixth-round pick this year. But he was cut after an injury in preseason. The Bucs put him back on the practice squad when he was healthy, but he was cut again.
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome swooped in, and Clay delivered in his second NFL game last night.
Joe can’t get caught up on the loss of Clay. He’s got a lot to prove, though he surely might be a better returner than Bobby Rainey, the guy Clay was drafted to replace.
It usually takes a long time to know what you have in a bott0m-of-the-roster, late-round pick. There’s no reason to say the Bucs screwed up on Clay, but that could be the conversation in a year or two.
December 1st, 2015 at 1:51 pm
I don’t get Rainey returning kicks. His hands are suspect as he has muffed a few kicks and I just don’t see returner breakaway speed. It doesn’t make sense to me how the Bucs would have thrown the towel in on Clay. I’m not sure he will ever amount to anything big but he already has 1 more return for a TD than our entire team has.
The 1987 Superbowl that D Will won and was also named MVP was actually after he was named the starting QB for the playoffs. Originally, Jay Schroeder was the starter for the 1987 season if you can believe that. D Will subbed in for Schroeder 3 times but only started 2 games that year. After the Skins qualified for the playoffs, D Will was named the starter and the rest is history.
December 1st, 2015 at 1:54 pm
Joe…you’re depressing me:(
December 1st, 2015 at 2:05 pm
Siege The Day! Go Bucs!
December 1st, 2015 at 2:10 pm
But no one complains when GM Bruce Allen swooped up Donald Penn!!!
December 1st, 2015 at 2:27 pm
Realist I’m still waiting for you to link us all to where you have had suggestions in the past about all things Bucs and how your master plan would have been so much better than where we are at. Such as?
Who you wanted us to hire as HC after firing Schiano?
Who you wanted us to hire as GM that same offseason?
Who did you want us to sign / re-sign in the last 2 offseasons?
Who did you want us to draft the last 2 years?
I’m sick of your negative diatribe bullsh1t with absolutely no alternative suggestions or thoughts. You literally have taken a position of only appearing when we lose or things go bad at this point.
Who are the coaches that you think are so f*cking amazing and so much better than Lovie Smith in this league besides Bill Bellicheck? Every other coach in this league has failed at this level at some point.
Do you realize only 1 team wins the super bowl each year? Do you realize even some of the best teams that have won super bowls recently have had problems and inconsistency year to year? Look at the Ravens. Look at the Steelers. They have been consistent usually but also miss playoffs / underachieve on a regular basis. Look at Marvin Lewis and his lack of any playoff win recently.
I could go coach by coach with you and make every coach look as bad as you try to make Lovie Smith look if I wanted and it isn’t even hard dude. (well outside of Bellicheck).
December 1st, 2015 at 2:40 pm
I am just wondering what world Realist lives in when he thinks there are all these head coaches & teams that make the playoffs every year? It doesn’t exist. You are not living in the real world.
You know which teams make the playoffs EVERY year? Pretty much just the Pats.
Broncos are loaded right now but it’s just like the Seahawks where there is a limited window of top talent all being kept together. John Fox was just fired lol. Their current coach is incredibly mediocre.
Mike Tomlin has been a consistent coach but the steelers have had some pretty bad seasons in between success. Same with Harbaugh. The kind of seasons “Realist” would go crazy over with a boner of depression.
Jason Garrett hasn’t done sh1t with Romo.
Chip Kelly is fading fast & hard.
Mike Mcarthy is overrated and has ridden elite QBs most his career.
Oakland coach is meh I guess?
49ers are a mess
Tom Coughlin has been on the hot seat by people like you to be fired all the time. Giants are underachieving hardcore this year
Zimmerman has done an OK job I would say but the Vikings don’t scare me much more than the Bucs would.
Dolphins fired their coach and are losing with angry interim guy.
Rex Ryan hasn’t done anything since the AFC championship many years ago
Bruce Arians is a great coach but they haven’t won anything meaningful and he has a stacked team of talent and needs Carson Palmer to win in the playoffs.
Ron Rivera had people calling for him to be fired at some point lmao
Jay Gruden is overachieving but still has a mess of a team
Jim Caldwell’s lions have been freaking terrible until recent weeks
Chuck Pagano is a meh coach
Todd Bowles has underachieved with the talent he has; or at best done meh
Chargers are doing terrible
Browns are doing terrible
Sean Payton hasn’t done sh1t recently
Dan Quin on a huge losing streak in his first year lol
Bill O Brien looks promising but has been really stupid with his QB decisions
Titans coach fired lol
Gus Bradley career record is horrible
Andy Reid doing ok but also was fired before
Jeff FIsher underachieving every year with the talent they’ve accumulated
Marvin Lewis can’t win a playoff game
I mean seriously.. Lovie Smith stacks up pretty damn well compared to the average NFL coach based on career records and accomplishments.
All the young blood coaches haven’t really done much either.
December 1st, 2015 at 2:41 pm
Mean to say Garret hasn’t done sh1t without* Romo
December 1st, 2015 at 2:42 pm
I think they threw in the towel too early on clay as well as r.herron….both players have elite speed something that we are missing in the wr and kick returner position…I just hate when players leave the bucs and have success on other teams…now watch gilkey turn into a pro bowler next year for whoever picks him up…GO BUCS!!!
December 1st, 2015 at 2:54 pm
@lord Cornelius…I agree totally…the only coach that doesn’t have to look over his shoulder is bill…the thing realist fails to realize is that the bucs had zero talent along the oline, qb position, secondary, linebackers, and dline…if lovie had inherited a team like the jets ,bills, or atl with only problems on one side of the ball he would’ve only lost 2 or 3 games by now…but im not worried…lovie isn’t going anywhere any time soon and the team is headed in the right direction fast…GO BUCS!!!!
December 1st, 2015 at 3:01 pm
Ok so based on preseason performance who should they have cut to keep Clay? VJax, Evans, Louis Murphy, Ranell Hall, Humpries, Kenny Bell or Shepherd? It only makes sense to keep 5 WR’s so so which 5 should have included Clay?
December 1st, 2015 at 3:01 pm
813bucboi Says:
December 1st, 2015 at 2:42 pm
I think they threw in the towel too early on clay as well as r.herron….both players have elite speed something that we are missing in the wr and kick returner position…I just hate when players leave the bucs and have success on other teams…now watch gilkey turn into a pro bowler next year for whoever picks him up…GO BUCS!!!
——
Herron is still a Buc. He’s on IR. Pay attention, please.
December 1st, 2015 at 3:21 pm
Don’t pick on the Realist…..she can’t help it….all the men in her life have abandoned her…and her last husband looked just like Mark Dominick.
December 1st, 2015 at 3:23 pm
Kaelin Clay…..”Muscle Mouse”
December 1st, 2015 at 3:23 pm
@813bucboi
When I said this a long time ago, people dismissed it back then, trying to tell me what a talented roster was in place already!!!!
The_Buc_Realist Says:
April 22nd, 2014 at 7:56 am
Lovie/Licht were dealt a bad hand. It will take more than 1 year to fix the straw house that Dominick built. by the opening day roster for next year ( 2015) there will be only 2-4 players from the garbage roster of the past regime. What does that tell you!
December 1st, 2015 at 3:32 pm
@Brandon. Be careful when calling people out. Better check your own facts. Herron was cut on September 1. You might be thinking of Bell.
@Waterboy. Murphy and Bell are Ir’d so we would still keep 5. I would have kept V Jax, Evans, Humphries, Sheppard, Clay on active. Let the return game be Clay’s job to lose. Dye on the practice squad. Dye has talent but he needs more polishing. The spot that on the practice squad that the Bucs wasted and of course, I’m playing couch GM with all of this is Rannell Hall. I have zero confidence that he will be worth anything in the NFL. Hall does have returning experience and was pretty good at it so if you want to keep Hall on the practice squad, fine. They could have gotten rid of a guy like Ben Gottschalk who is a center. I mean, how many centers between practice and active squad do we need. Including Gottschalk that makes 4 centers. Give me a break. Meanwhile Warren who looked great in preseason is not one of the centers we still have. Again, I’m couch Gm’ing here and I openly admit that but I do have to question Lovie’s personnel decisions. I think he’s actually a very good coach and his players play hard for him.
December 1st, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Sure it may appear that Clay was a mistake, but, what about a guy like Cameron Brate. If I had to choose between the two, Brate has been more productive. Lose 1 gain 1!
December 1st, 2015 at 4:07 pm
I must say that Brate has been a pleasant surprise, if ASJ wasn’t hurt not sure that we would’ve found out what we had in him as well we still don’t know what we have in ASJ. That being said, did they put Kenny Bell on the wrong list, IR instead of the PUP, I know they were just trying to protect him from being picked up but it would be nice to know what we have in him, especially when V-Jax went down and we lost Murphy, at least we know what we got in Humphries. Clay probably in the long run would’ve have been a better keep than Rainey, but no way would they know that based on his preseason. The good thing is we have a QB who doesn’t mind spreading it around, but I can see Lovie going in the off season looking for that spark, he mentioned in the press conference yesterday that the Bucs have done nothing special in the return game.
December 1st, 2015 at 4:07 pm
Nice article for thought there Joe. But we (the Bucs) have done quite a few..swoopings of our own around the NFL. Sometimes a player gets cut, waived or shuffled to a practice squad only to find new life. Often times they play harder for the next team knowing it could be a..last chance. Clays run was beautiful. Hope he has more so he can stay in the league. I’m sure Lovie and Licht are scouring rosters and waiver wires even now. There be gems in them forgotten souls!
December 1st, 2015 at 4:08 pm
I think L & L have done an excellent job with the draft and free agency. The top 4 picks not only are starting (minus Ali Marpet), but contributing a lot. Free agent signing of Brate and the little white guy at the slot receiver were excellent as well. I must eat some crow as I wanted the other guy at QB. Jameis’s interception record in a weak football conference repelled me. I was wrong. Being from Chicago, the skivy on Lovey is he’s a good players coach but a terrible game day coach. That’s been proven the past 2 years. How many 2nd half comebacks have you seen ? Also, in the past 10 games, how many were against a team with a winning record ? How many were against their back up quarterback. All of a sudden, 5-6 doesn’t look as good as it once did.
December 1st, 2015 at 4:14 pm
@Rrsq
The PUP can only be 1 player…..we used it for Demar Dotson
I’m quite sure they wanted to keep Bell….but not at the expense of a roster spot….so they saved him for next year by IR….
December 1st, 2015 at 4:51 pm
I agree that Clay may have needed a longer look but in the NFL it does not work that way….you either excel when called upon (his preseason was pretty bad) or your cut/practice team.
If Belichick could cut someone during the game who fumbled, he would. I wish Lovie was more like him in some ways…being a players coach like Lovie has not fixed the dropped passes or penalty problems.
Herron…that was easy to see that he was and never will be NFL level….its critical to catch the ball as a WR.
December 1st, 2015 at 5:16 pm
Bear the Bucs
When we first hired Lovie I felt like you. Nice guy..good players coach..but far too conservative for me.
He’s changed! And he can’t win with a certain part of this board. He brings in Koetter who is NOT a conservative coach and then it’s poor Lovie who catches the shiite for NOT BEING conservative and pounding the rock the 2nd half against the Colts. The Colts made the major halftime adjustment to force #3 to win the game. Koetter and the eyes in the sky surely saw this and they ADJUSTED!!
Then people started whining why didn’t Lovie adjust his defense at the half.
DUH he had just given up SIX POINTS…TWO FG’S. We ran the ball down the Colts throats and FORCED them to adjust. They didn’t force us to adjust.
The Lovie hate is really starting to get absurd to the point that people even make stuff up like he’s lost the locker room.
Again just for perspective…the six years after the SB Jon Gruden was 45-51..six games under .500. Is he a horrible coach? He didn’t inherit..MRSA…money shipped to Man U…he basically came into a franchise that Dungy had turned around culturally
December 1st, 2015 at 7:47 pm
St Pete Bucs Fan – Point taken. ..But – I don’t know what Lovie says at halftime; it’s not working.
December 1st, 2015 at 8:35 pm
I’d be much happier with a return man that can also be our 4th receiver! We can afford to waste roster spots, especially if Lovie is gonna be in charge of our personnel. Seriously, who goes into a game with 4 WRs and no pass catching TE??? #FireLovie
December 1st, 2015 at 8:36 pm
*Can’t
December 1st, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Lovie is not 6 games under .500 and it’s only been to years. He wins 1/4 of his games, most of them pissed away around halftime. Lovie might not have lost the team, but he’s lost any fan that wants the Bucs to win next year.
December 2nd, 2015 at 11:09 am
Maybe its just my opinion but why cut players you just drafted without giving them time to develop? If they needed a roster spot why carry three QB when you have a competent back up? The first thing I thought when Vincent Jackson went down was what happened to Kaelin Clay? Now we hear he is scoring TD for the Ravens when we are stuck with slow poke fumbling returner Bobby Rainey? Not to mention Ryan Delaire and Patrick Omemah to name a few.