QB Dominance Should Be A Wake-Up Call
January 11th, 2016
Bucs overlord of football operations Jason Licht
Just look at what happened yesterday, as A.J. McCarron, Teddy Bridgewater, Brian Hoyer and Kirk Cousins all lost at home in the playoffs to Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, respectively.
You think that was a coincidence?
Of course it wasn’t.
Joe and most 6-year-old fans could have predicted that outcome in September or December. The NFL is a quarterback league, courtesy of 21s-century league rules that intentionally cut the impact of defenses.
Yes, Joe realizes the Bengals and Vikings should have won. That’s not the point. Joe’s writing about the collective result.
The great news is the Bucs have America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston. Now Bucs overlord of football operations Jason Licht must build around Jameis, starting with a head coach and a pile of cash in free agency, in addition to premium draft picks.
Joe’s only message to Licht would be to please be unafraid to build a dominant offense, the likes of which never has been seen in Tampa Bay or in the NFL. There’s no crime in being able to steamroll opponents and have fans glued to games. All the screams Joe hears for an all-defense draft really scare Joe.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:10 am
Defense might win championships but QBs win playoff games.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:12 am
1. Stanley OT
2. Spence DE
3. Rashard “Hollywood” Higgins WR
4. Dorian Thompson FS
5. DJ Whote CB
6. Matt Brieda RB
6. Bronson kaufasi DE
January 11th, 2016 at 9:16 am
More than looking at the Quarterbacks look at the head coach’s and their records. They are proven winner and no how to select the right free agents. No big name free agents,but guy that have come from winning teams. Select a coach that has won games over a long period of time. Some one wrote ” Wintson would make any OC look good.” Think and research long and hard before making your selection,because in 24 months you will be gone.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:16 am
Bucs don’t want any more offense because the firing powder for the ship cannons are getting expensive.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:16 am
All defense draft is a losers draft. It’s a offensive league, score and score and score some more
January 11th, 2016 at 9:18 am
C’mon Joe. 2 of those wins were once in a lifetime wins. 99% of the time Minny & Bengals win those games. But nice try….
January 11th, 2016 at 9:20 am
I’m with you Joe. Everyone wants the draft to be all d now, but I say don’t neglect the offense. We need another lineman or two and another big play reciever.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:29 am
I’m with you as far as “an all defense draft” is insane.
They absolutely need a DB and DE in the first few rounds of the draft and in FA though.
Other than that, in today’s NFl, always get OL and more WR.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:30 am
I am of the opinion, based on several factors, that the Bucs are in a unique position, draftwise. IF, the entire OL is maintained (logan stays), we don’t need to draft a tackle first. If we can actually get some worthwhile pickups in FA, we can bolster our defense on the backend and DE.
That leaves us the complete authority to draft the BEST person available, throughout the draft. Dirk will continue to build this offense and a top DC will make our defense at least somewhat respectable. We could be in very good shape moving forward.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:40 am
Gotta side with the other posters…seems like those games came down to more than just QB. Russel Wilson had a fairly bad game, and if not for a kicker who choked Wilson would be sitting home watching the playoffs. AJ McCarron played well enough to pull the team ahead in the final minutes of the 4 qtr. The HC and a few idiots on D lost that one more so than Ben winning it. Having a good QB certainly helps, but saying thevputcome was because of the QB play in all the games is a bit misleading in my opinion.
January 11th, 2016 at 9:59 am
Gotta agree w/ Joe on this one. If Bridgewater, McCarron, Cousins or Hoyer could finish a drive it wouldn’t come down to last second field goals. McCarron was a non factor vs a fairly poor pass D from Pitt, Bridgewater had a tougher task but still couldn’t put it in the end zone. Cousins couldn’t get it done vs a fading Pack team. Load the O with talent. Get us that one speed WR we need and maybe start grooming V-jax’s replacement. I’m tired of plodding Offenses!
January 11th, 2016 at 10:02 am
I take Joe’s point completely. The KC and Packer wins were clearly QB driven.
The Seahawks did struggle on offense…they didn’t have Marshawn Lynch…so yes that made the entire offense look worse including Wilson. But Wilson is the kind of wily competitor who just keeps hanging in there and finds a way to win!!! Not always pretty, but a win in a win. Can you say #3!!! That’s one of his strengths.
That leaves the Pittsburgh win…OK toss that out if you wish but really? Yes boneheaded PacMan may have determined the final outcome but Big Ben had to play well enough on the road against a better team and Cincy had to overcome playing AJ McCarren. Here’s a hoot…at Thanksgiving the Bungles were in a bit of a slump and when I returned to visit one of my cousins was actually calling for AJ McCarren over Dalton in our annual holiday football debates!!! Well he got his wish! LOL
January 11th, 2016 at 10:07 am
pittsburgh was salting that game away until big ben got hurt. then all of a sudden the pitt offense was basically a speed bump on the way to Cincy getting the ball back
January 11th, 2016 at 10:15 am
It doesnt need to be an all defense draft. But the top 3 picks should probably go defense. Our defense is void of talent aside from David, Kwon, and GMC. The offense only needs a few pieces, and imo some veterans would do this offense good. So fill in the offense with Free agent talent. And try and get the defense a little more top end talent. Hope to find some new young leaders for that defense to rally around.
January 11th, 2016 at 10:52 am
We will be lucky to get three maybe four good players from the draft alone and people want to go offense? What would all of those teams who either won or lost do to us if we made the playoffs? Short slant routes and score on every possession. If your offense can score, what good is it if the other team scores every time as well? We have to go CB in the first round then get the best available CB in the draft. Second round go Safety and do the same. Third round go DE, do the same.
January 11th, 2016 at 10:57 am
I think FA is for filling in spots..and the draft is for building our core.
How about our offensive core versus the defense right now…
Two most important positions..
QB- Set MLB Set
OL- Perhaps a little more depth nothing drastic
DL- GOT to get an edge rusher…our biggest need
Offensive backfield…Set. Martin and Sims are a GREAT complementary pair in my wildest dreams I wish we could add a power back but that’s low on the priority list.
Defensive backfied…We suckkk it’s as simple as that.
Seems to me we are looking at just depth and some possible upgrades on offense.
We are desperate in some areas on defense.
That doesn’t mean the BPA crowd is wrong…but it does mean it’s a conscious choice because our needs are far from equal. We’re “OK” on offense again we are DESPERATE on defense.
In our case I suspect LIcht will balance those concerns equally…BPA versus need.
January 11th, 2016 at 10:58 am
Conventional Bucs wisdom says that there has to at least be some element of a functional defense. Unfortunately, Bucs wisdom is barely wisdom at all when it comes to putting together a winner, so let’s take what we have and model it after the game as it is today and not the way we want it to be based on our glory days teams. I hear all the time in the DC area that they need to “run the dang ball” because that’s what worked when John Riggins was running behind the hogs. That’s an outdated philosophy and that gets you what the Vikings have with AP. A feast or famine offense. We’re in a similar boat with wanting our dominant defense to be what brings home trophies. That’s just not going to be the case anymore. How about we embrace the direction the league is headed in and make it work to our advantage. Let the rules and our heavy dose of offensive talent work to our favor. I’m willing to try it out.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:24 am
For the Bucs-must-draft-all-defense crowd:
The Bucs just canned a guy who proved (at least with the Bucs) he could not coach defense or at least coach up players. Don’t you think the Bucs will improve defensively by just having someone remotely more competent than Lovie?
Also — Joe won’t mention the player — a Bucs defender told Joe *before* Lovie was fired that the team had too much talent to be this bad defensively. Let that sink in for a moment.
Get Jameis another (two?) receiver.
January 11th, 2016 at 11:36 am
@Patrick- I agree to an extent but the answer lies somewhere in between. KC really didn’t play all that well on offense in the first half yet, their defense shut-out the Texans. If you look at what the Seahawks have in terms of offense/defense it is far more balanced.
Yea, we should look beyond the outdated philosophies of Bucs yore but keep in mind that it is the ability to run that helped open up this offense. Imagine if VJax, LoMurph, and ASJ were healthy all year! I believe that we are on the verge of being a “good” offense. “Good” offenses keep the ball away from the opponent and score points. Don’t overlook the benefits of a balanced offense.
All-defense/offense drafting is nonsense! Get the best players available.
January 11th, 2016 at 12:16 pm
It only takes 1/2 of a team to win the Super Bowl in the Salary Cap Era, so let’s build a dynamic offense around Jameis Winston and give the fans something fun to watch.
January 11th, 2016 at 3:58 pm
Wow… What a bunch of non-sense you all say, lol. Ok, first, for two years straight we had all offensive draft (except Kwon Alexander)smh. So please spare me your insight on how we need to not draft defense. Ultimately, we have the players on offense, they just need to make plays! Plain and simple. On defense we have a few key guys, but improvement here (especially in the back end) would turn this team around very quickly, if it takes an all defensive draft for that to happen, then I’m all for it!!! To anyone that thinks it’s not about defense to win anymore, look at all the top teams in the playoffs, panthers, Seahawks, cardinals, patriots, broncos, Chiefs. All top defensive teams, and the reason I name only these teams is because they all are considered to be teams that can make it to the Super Bowl. The rest the made the playoffs lost on Sunday, and for those of you that might argue the Texans. They have a top defensive player, not a team. Yes, you obviously need and offense to compete in this league no doubt, but if you want to be a champion… Only defense gets you there!
January 11th, 2016 at 8:02 pm
All I want is a pass rush. Is that too much to ask?
January 11th, 2016 at 10:22 pm
DUDE bengals lost because hill fumbled the ball!!
January 11th, 2016 at 10:43 pm
Draft offense? From where I sit, Oline looks good, RB position is best in the league w/ Hamster and Sims, QB position excellent w/ Winston and solid backup in Glennon, TE position decent with ASJ for razzle dazzle and Brate for reliability, WR position decent with Evans and VJ plus up-and-comers like Humphries and an experienced vet in Murphy.
Sure, you can always upgrade some of these, but you could also roll into next season without changing any starters and expect to compete. All the pieces are there for an explosive, big-play offense.
Defense? We have two good LBs (David, Alexander) and an average starter in Lansanah, One good DT (McCoy) plus a couple average starters, we have garbage at DE (J.Smith is a backup on any other good team) and average to poor players in the secondary.
Now maybe you believe Verner, Banks etc will improve massively due to a new scheme/new DC, but our DEs will remain a joke until that position is addressed.
So yeah, draft some offense. Just not before round three or four.
January 12th, 2016 at 1:37 am
Joe I agree.
But I’ll tell you, those teams that won, it was as much about the coaching as it was the QB.
I watched that Cincy game, and couldn’t help but to think of Evans, Goldson, or Spence were in the middle of those scrums…