Lovie: “We Were Terrible On Third Downs”
December 14th, 2015
Tough talk from the defensive playcaller today at One Buc Palace.
That guys is Bucs’ defensive chieftain Lovie Smith, the architect and ruler of the defense.
“Defensively, we were terrible on third downs,” Lovie said. “So not much good happened to us yesterday. As for why it happened, don’t really know. Practiced well, thought we were ready to go. Sometimes you think you are, and you’re not.”
Joe’s mostly interested in the last part of what Lovie said. It’s very rough for a head coach to admit he didn’t have an accurate pulse of his football team. Lovie has told media and his team recently that they’re “a good football team.” Is that still true?
The Bucs’ mettle will be tested Thursday. A Thursday Night Football game in December is often a death sentence for the road team, especially if they’re starting to lose focus — or flat out thinking about January afternoons on the beaches of Jamaica.
December 14th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
Road teams are 7-6 this year on thursday. I don’t know if i can take another year of Lovie. We are 6-7 and we have played one good football team. You can not have an easier schedule.
December 14th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Yes, the pass defense has been horrible for most of the year. And it starts with the pass rush. It seems like the only move these guys know is the bull rush but they aren’t strong enough to win on it.
If your secondary is so-so and you have no pass rush, you’re toast.
December 14th, 2015 at 3:38 pm
Joe, please shed some light on reports that Spence injured his ankle and the Bucs are bringing back Bowers?!?!? WTF? Really? SMH
December 14th, 2015 at 3:45 pm
I have a suspicion that the Bucs will fire off on the Rams Thurs night. I don’t know if we have the talent (due to injuries) to win the game, but I’m feeling like passion won’t be an issue. The Bucs will be thirsty to get that bad taste out of their mouths imo.
December 14th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Mike … This was the perfect schedule for the Bucs this year. No schedule is really easy (I’m convinced that any team can beat any other team on any given day in the NFL), but this one was easier than many we’ve had in recent years.
Opposing defenses in particular haven’t been overpowering (except for Carolina), allowing our very young Bucs offense to gel and build confidence. If Jameis and company had to go against great defensive teams every week they wouldn’t be as far along in their development as they are in my opinion. “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger” only appies if it doesn’t kill ya.
Lovie’s conservative nature sometimes frustrates me to no end (like yesterday at the end of the game when they punted), but I see that changing (albeit slowly). This team is lacking talent defensively, and he’s done a good job with what he’s been given I think. He appears to relate well to the players yet at the same time maintain high performance expectations, and I see that as being really important (neither Raheem nor Greg Schiano did that effectively). He may never be selected as ‘Coach of the Year’ but he’s a good solid HC and the Bucs really are getting better under his leadership. Games like yesterday will happen .. although I hope not too frequently.
December 14th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
I have a feeling we will dominate Thurs and smear mustard all over field. Ketchup rules!
December 14th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Well, this didn’t take long: Howard is right back to blaming the Glazers.
IMPERATIVES:
* Re-sign Martin
* Re-sign Jackson
* Give Koetter huge raise and title.
* Basically re-sign every player who isn’t sucking. Do it in the name of continuity.
* Re-sign Mankins, EDS and Cherilus.
* ADDRESS DEPTH ISSUES in draft and free agency.
Howard is sick and tired of watching a paper-thin team struggle with injuries every year. The Glazers have trillions in cap space. THEREFORE SPEND TRILLIONS ON THE BUCS. God-dammit, do whatever it takes.
Any nimrods who want to chime in and tell me that “it’s not my money”, “the Glazers are great owners”, or other yadda-yadda bulls**t, then please let me pre-emptively tell you to go **** yourself.
Go Bucs!
December 14th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
@mike- Seriously dude! Yeah, lets get rid of Lovie and replace him with another coach and entire staff so that Jameis has ZERO continuity and we hit the restart button again!
Pump the brakes! Did anyone think we’d be in this position with a rookie QB?! 6 wins and counting!
December 14th, 2015 at 4:02 pm
@defense rules…
Lovie has done good with what he has been given? He was given the best cb of the last decade and cut him so he could sign michael johnson and a verner. He also decides he wants mike jenkins and guys like major wright to be starters. He wanted bruce carter to start too. The d was a little better under schiano. True, there isn’t great talent on d but he has something to do with that tooAlso, is there a team that plays dumber?
December 14th, 2015 at 4:33 pm
GhostofSchiano-
No Rumor, they really did re-sign Bowers.
Who else that’s better are you going sign this late in the year who know the system?
December 14th, 2015 at 4:34 pm
@Mike … “is there a team that plays dumber?”
L&L have made some bonehead FA acquisitions I admit, but they’ve made several good ones also. And as far as the draft goes, I’d say they’ve done pretty good overall. Fortunately or unfortunately, that’s been almost exclusively on offense in our last 2 drafts (Kwon is the obvious exception).
Lovie’s main problem defensively is that he’s trying to fit a square peg in a round hole (or vice-versa?). The scheme that he and Frasier are trying to run takes players with certain talents, and right now too many of our starters don’t fit the scheme well. That’s particularly true in most of the secondary unfortunately, and also in much of our DE pool. With a good draft focusing on defense, plus a couple of good FA pickups, I’m expecting that our D will be much improved next year.
December 14th, 2015 at 4:43 pm
Dare I say I saw quit on this team yesterday? This did not look like team who wanted to be in the playoffs, at home in front of a sell out crowd is unforgiving. Heads need to roll.
December 14th, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Whether one likes Lovie or not, Koetter and Bajakian are tied to Lovie.
I dont think it does Jameis any good at all to have to go through a change in OC and QB coach in the second year, IMO more harm than good. Even cutting Lovie and promoting Koetter changes the dynamic for Jameis. I would leave all as is for the sake of raising young Jameis properly.
December 14th, 2015 at 5:04 pm
Here we go again with the “punt”
Down 7…..4th and 10…..not 4th and 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5…..10!!! You are in your own territory…..over 4 minutes left with 3 time outs and the 2 minute warning,,,,if you miss and Brees can get 20 yards….it’s a 10 point game.
Only a coach with absolutely nothing to lose would go for it….or fans who want to second guess a call every coach in the NFL would make.
December 14th, 2015 at 5:08 pm
@defense rules… exactly my point. 9 of the 11 starters we went into the season with were hand pick by lovie. Only mccoy and david were hold overs from schiano. He has done a poor job in the personel dept. We lead the league in penalties, taking a knee before half and punting in the 4th quarter while behind.
December 14th, 2015 at 5:24 pm
Since ole man Glazer handed over the team it has been a mess. We need ownership that is not divided with a mega soccer team.
December 14th, 2015 at 5:24 pm
Players Coach Lovie will not get the best out of players.
Why
Because He just talks they like him Because hedoesnt work them too hard.
Belicheck isn’t called a players Coach, What great coach is.
Lovie will not get 100% from players.
December 14th, 2015 at 5:50 pm
As far as my opinion of our Head Coach, I’ve been rough on him. After our first few games looked so awful, it was all Fire Lovie! But, I have to say that Lovie has been willing to gamble a few times and he has owned some of the fault. I have yet to hear him take full responsibility but I have to be marginally impressed with what he has started to build here. Lovie is a likable guy and I want to like him. It’s also unfair to want to oust him after he has clearly shown iprovement in this team and there is a bright future with Jameis. I’m going to continue to root for him but I will also be honest about it. It’s easy to critique this defensive scheme but when we add an effective D.E. and cornerback, this defense can be very effective. Lovie deserves at least 1 more draft and this one needs to be primarily defensive. With that said, we desperately need a speedy, reliable WR. We need to take the best available at our draft spot in the 1st round in a position of need. We have plenty of positions of need (DE(2), CB, WR, OL, TE). Tight End should probably not be a primary focus. After watching the game yesterday all I can think of is the draft. Even if we win out, I don’t see us sneaking in to the playoffs. I also am very interested to see how we respond against a very good ST Louis defensive unit.
December 14th, 2015 at 6:11 pm
You guys act like there were all these pro bowl defensive players to sign in FA the last few years lol.
Who are the great DEs/CBs/LBs we missed on? There simply have t been many available and/or they didn’t want to sign here. This isn’t Madden.
The pass D was just as bad if not worse when we had Revis. Our defense has been pathetic for years in general lol. The last 5 games we’ve given up 6, 17, 25, 19, and 25 points. That’s solid in today’s league. The offense is why we lost to Colts and why we lost to Saints.
The Saints may be bad but offensively they rank well and scored their average against us.
Now if the Rams score 25-30+ then the D is having a bad day
December 14th, 2015 at 7:13 pm
Yeah let’s fire a coach who just hired the best o coordinator we’ve ever had and drafted the best qb we have ever had. My goodness you people are clueless. I mean we have drafted one player on defense in the past 2 years how good do you expect the defense to be? The offense is starting 3 rookies and is playing up to 5 rookies at times, do you people really expect this team to win the super bowl?
December 14th, 2015 at 7:42 pm
If we somehow win two more games and finish 8-8 he would be a coach of the year candidate. If we would’ve went 10-6 it would’ve been a no brainer. This roster is still paper thin. Expectations should be managed better, lets all realize we got a real gift in that we rebuilt the offensive line and got a franchise QB all in a year. Next if we can get a dependable WR and a defensive lineman then we can look at a playoff run followed by a Super Bowl season in year 3 of Jameis.
December 14th, 2015 at 8:29 pm
Did anyone really think we would be better than 8-8 or 7-9 ? not me! it’s pretty good from what we did last year! 2 wins! let’s get real ! Go Bucs!!!!
December 14th, 2015 at 8:45 pm
@finisher… I didn’t the we would finish 8-8 ish but I also didn’t think 14 of our games would be against teams with losing records. Don’t be fooled.
The only reason lovie won’t be fired is because we gave jameis and dirk.
December 15th, 2015 at 8:12 am
Play of the game. 05:55 in the 3rd, 3rd and 15, Brees is sacked by Kourtnei Brown for -7 yards. Penalty on Howard Jones: Illegal Use of Hands, 5 yards, automatic first down. Saints drive down field and score what turns out to be the game winning TD. It was not just converting on 3rd downs, it was that these 3rd downs were 3rd and long. 3rd and 21, 3rd and 10, 3rd and 13, 3 and 11, 3rd and 13, two 3rd and 10. Guess who almost all of the 3rd down conversions were against? Bradley McDougald, Major Wright, Keith Tandy and the game changer Alterraun Verner. We need two new Safeties. Period.