Jameis Lauds Lovie
December 24th, 2015
“I’ve got your back, coach!”
Yes, long before the season began, Joe believed six wins would lock Lovie Smith in for a return to the Bucs’ sidelines in 2016.
My goodness, tripling your number of wins (at least) from the previous season is a heck of an accomplishment, especially when starting a rookie quarterback.
But the way Lovie’s defense played, Joe had a hunch many weeks ago that, in fact, America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston, would save Lovie’s job.
Joe is pretty sure that is the case. Lovie has handled Jameis’ transition into the NFL perfectly. And if not for Jameis, who Lovie signed off on drafting, no way the Bucs would have won six games this year (and maybe more to come).
Talking to the Chicago pen and mic club via teleconference yesterday afternoon, Jameis went to bat for Lovie stating the head coach molded him, types Jeff Dickerson of BSPN.
“I think without Coach Smith, I probably wouldn’t be where I am as far as the mental capacity and what it takes to be a true professional in this league,” Winston told the Chicago media. “The way that he treats us players and the way that he holds us accountable for everything, that really teaches you how to be a great man.
“Everything that he says is a teaching moment, it’s a walking teaching tape.
“Coach Lovie, he teaches me something new every day, I can’t really walk you step-by-step through the process that we’ve had together here at Tampa Bay. But what I can say is, without that man as my coach I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.”
That’s high praise from Jameis. Joe wonders what part of Jameis’ football family Lovie is. Before the draft, Jameis was asked what his coach at Florida State, Jimbo Fisher, meant to him and Jameis responded, “He’s my football daddy.” Could Lovie be Jameis’ football uncle?
Yes, it is Jameis who saved Lovie’s job. It surely wasn’t Lovie’s secondary that earned Lovie a third year (or more) with the Bucs.
December 24th, 2015 at 5:32 am
By Joe’s logic, all first year coaches should just be terrible their first year!! Just so in the second year the sheep ( love loyalist) can say look at the improvement!!!!
Is it improvement if you burnt the franchise to the ground they year before??
Is it improvement to go from total incompetence to a sloppy, and below average???
Merry Christmas to all, and that includes the sheep!!!!
December 24th, 2015 at 5:50 am
@ Realist
You cant deny that’s a valid strategy as long as you improve each year once the base line is set most people will see growth and be optimistic.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
December 24th, 2015 at 6:15 am
We shouldn’t have been 2-14 last year. So no, 6-10 not impressive
December 24th, 2015 at 6:18 am
Winning 6 games instead of 2 is definitely improvement, regardless of how pessimistic you are. Lovie deserves one more season to focus on his defense, he hasn’t had the opportunity to draft some new additions besides Kwon.
December 24th, 2015 at 6:34 am
@Joe … “Yes, it is Jameis who saved Lovie’s job.”
It takes a TEAM to win in the NFL as you wll know Joe, and giving one person too much credit for winning (and saving a coach’s job) takes away from the critical contributions of other team players in my opinion. L&L took a huge risk in going all offense in the draft these last 2 years (except for Kwon). The risk was that even if the offense improved, the defense would stink up the joint and they’d continue losing big time anyways, costing L&L their jobs. Jameis did very well, especially for a rookie, but would his first year really been as productive if the OLine hadn’t improved dramatically with Marpet and Smith and several others, or if Martin & Sims didn’t have great years running the ball, or if VJax and Evans didn’t have very good WR years? And even though the defense has been bad, there are several bright spots that’ll serve us well next year.
Lovie & Licht are building a team that can be competitive but that’ll take time. Personally I think it’ll take 2 more excellent drafts, plus some smart re-signings and some good FA acquisitions. And Lovie himself needs to improve in several aspects if he expects to see the finished product.
And Realist, things really aren’t as gloomy as you picture them as. People oftentimes learn more from mistakes than they do from successes. Yes, even Lovie.
Merry Christmas to all … and to all, my hope for an awesome new year.
December 24th, 2015 at 7:10 am
All is right on track. Jameis was an early Christmas present for all Bucs fans.
The savior is resurrecting this team. Playoffs next year!
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!
December 24th, 2015 at 8:18 am
What part of the football family are they? Maybe they are married to each other….oh wait….wrong coach and QB.
December 24th, 2015 at 8:36 am
I am not happy with lovie, but 3 years should probably be the minimum tenure for a coach, its a mistake the bucs, jaguars and others have made, constant coaching changes means constant rebuilds. As displeased as I have been with lovie, he needs a draft for the Defense and gets another year.
That being said I have said it before and I will say it again… Overall, Lovie is an awful coach who makes pisspoor personnel decisions as well as in-game decisions. With him as coach we will always be held back from our true potential
December 24th, 2015 at 8:52 am
I have several friends that are Bears fans……they all say that Lovie is the perfect coach for Jameis…
And Realist…..I’m sure you, as a 3 year old, didn’t believe in Santa Claus…
You call yourself “Realist”…..but are truly only “Pessimist”
December 24th, 2015 at 9:20 am
Again, this team was a wreck after 2013. A few overpaid players (Revis deserved every penny tho.) and the rest was empty, esp on offense. I dont think any coach, except maybe Zimmer, would have had our team in a better place right now, and they probably wouldn’t do much better than 2 wins in 2014. So acting like there are all these coaches out there that are all around better than Lovie, it’s just not the case. But now that we have some talent on offense, maybe there are some coaches out there that could furthdr maximize the talent there. But I think Lovie made a smart hire in Koetter and Koetter has done more with this offense than anyone thought possible. That said, apparently everyone wpuld rather have a better defense than offense. If we focused more on defense, then everyone would still be griping about the offense, like always. There is only so much you can do in one offseason. We have had two and now we have a core group on offense. Dure, people are always going to bring up Michael Johnson and etc but if our team is bad and we never signed those guys, your going to complain about that too.
At the end of the day, no matter what I or others say, certain fans will always look the other way. They are going to look up and bend facts to support their hatred. They say that Derrick Brooks is either delusional or kissing up. Gtfo just goes to show the level of ignorance and entitlement when some peoples view is not supported. Brooks does not work for Lovie, the Glazers or the Bucs at all. He has had no ties to the team since spring of 09 and hasnt had any ties to Lovie in almost 20 years. So he has no agenda, he just isnt telling most what they wana hear. And fyi, he aint delusional.
December 24th, 2015 at 9:24 am
Jameis is below average at best. Time to sit the kid and learn behind a real quarterback names Mike
December 24th, 2015 at 10:45 am
I expect Jameis to say nothing less. Its his character to never throw anyone under the bus. Love him for that.
December 24th, 2015 at 10:45 am
Lmao uncle no way Lovie is jameis Grandpa loll
December 24th, 2015 at 10:46 am
And btw after a 2 and 6 win season. Not sure how anyone can be a pessimist. Lovie just hasent been very good. Thats real.
December 24th, 2015 at 10:51 am
I agree @LargoBuc this defense yeah inexcusable for lovie but the NFL has changed when I was a kid I loved the defense we had here dominating relentless impact players all over. But we lost a lot and a lot of terrible offenses practically my whole child hood now 25 we have the 7th best offense with a f ing rookie !!!! We got to build on that success I much rather be an explosive no lead is safe from us offense. The Defense will come along you just gotta build your team like the packers and Seattle through the draft and all the undrafted studs they grab even the Ravens have a well built team thru the draft minus the injury disease they got up there
December 24th, 2015 at 11:18 am
Couch Fan Says:
December 24th, 2015 at 10:46 am
And btw after a 2 and 6 win season. Not sure how anyone can be a pessimist. Lovie just hasent been very good. Thats real.
But he tripled the win total! I wish I could artificially set the bar lower at my job and then still not do very good, but because I did “triple the job”, it’s now graded as being good because of scale grading.
December 24th, 2015 at 11:45 am
^^^If only that worked…