Gene Deckerhoff

During training camp, Joe got a chance to talk Bucs football with the longtime radio voice of the Bucs, Gene Deckerhoff, now entering his 28th season. Joe decided to save the interview for opening day. Enjoy.

JoeBucsFan: What kind of vibes are you getting from this team?

Gene Deckerhoff: Vibes for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are very positive vibes. In fact, the Kool Aid is as red as the jerseys.

Joe: It just seems like there is a breath of fresh air around here with Mike Smith on board as the defensive coordinator and the place is energized.

Deckerhoff: Well, that begins with Dirk Koetter, the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, bringing that offense back for another year. There won’t be any change; in fact. there will be improvement. We need more touchdowns. We need to be better in the red zone. Dirk Koetter in his second year, you will see vast improvements in all aspects of the offense. Now last year we had a lot of yards rushing. Matter of fact, we were in the top-10 in most offensive categories but we just couldn’t punch the ball in the end zone. We need to get more than three touchdowns out of Mike Evans, I believe. We need a healthy Vincent Jackson. Doug Martin needs to keep doing what he is doing – by the way, Doug Martin looks great. He has the big contract. He even looks better now that he has the big money. I can’t wait to see him get going running the football.

Then of course, Jameis Winston. It revolves around your quarterback; He is going to take it to the next level. Twenty-two touchdowns passes and ran six touchdowns, which is a Buccaneer record for a quarterback. So he will take it to the next level because what I have learned about Jameis in his career, in college at Florida State and I think I will see it here with the Buccaneers, is that he will get better and better game to game to game. He is driven to be the very best at his position and you know, there have been some pretty good football players who have played in the National Football League. Jameis is a student of football. He knows to get to the level he wants someday, he has to work hard every day. I think you are seeing that; He is always in the film room. He gets to the meeting rooms early. When he has assignments to go out into the community, he is always early. He stays [at One Buc Palace] late. He is just driven. He is wired for the movement one of his coaches said of him at Florida State and I believe him. I think you will see improvement at quarterback. You see, 36 touchdowns passes led the league and that was Tom Brady. Blake Bortles of Jacksonville and Carson Palmer at Arizona threw 35. So 22 [touchdowns] to 35? That would be a nice jump.

Joe: When you said Jameis gets better from game to game, he did that last year. If you looked at him the first month and looked at him the last month, it was like two different quarterbacks.

Deckerhoff: Right. When you get into the month of December, last year wasn’t the first time this franchise has fallen off the map in the month of December. Remember with Coach Jon Gruden, we had a chance to make the playoffs and we lost four in a row in the month of December. It was his last season as a matter of fact. Last year, we lost four in a row in December and it was Lovie’s last season. What happens in the NFL, it is a game of attrition. You start losing players to injury, you start losing players to suspension, all of a sudden, you are not the same team in December. Offense was still producing points and getting yards and winning time of possession. The defense – we lose Kwon Alexander for the last four games. We were not the same defense the last four games. If you are looking for rainbows and getting one of those wishes, you know, like winning the Powerball, if everybody can stay healthy and no one gets suspended, the Buccaneers are going to be a contender in the month of December. I am convinced of that.

Joe: You know that is an interesting point. Alterraun Verner had said in OTAs that the best thing that could happen to the secondary is that the defensive line stay healthy because they were all dinged up. It’s an interesting view.

Deckerhoff: You know how they say the games are won in the trenches? Most of the battles that go on in the trenches – I remember Warren Sapp when we walked down the hall from the team plane and I am a gregarious sort of guy, and I went to shake hands with him and he would pull his hand away and say some things you can’t say on the radio and he’d say, “Don’t touch those hands! Those things are hurting from Day 1 until the last day of the season.” He said those are his weapons, those are his tools. “Don’t hurt my tools.” I will never forget that. The guys who do the pounding in the trenches, that is where you lose players. What I have noticed, and what folks like yourself have noticed who follow the Buccaneers, Jason Licht is upgrading the depth on this football team.

Joe: Yes, very needed.

Deckerhoff: And you look around the league. Why do the Pittsburgh Steelers win 10 or 11 game every year? New England Patriots win 10 or 12 games every year? They are football programs that have been around a while. They have an excellent front office that keeps filling guys in there. So when they get guys hurt, they are not dropping off a whole lot. That’s what Jason is doing as general manager. It’s not just the first-22 that is going to get you to the playoffs, it is the next 30 on that 53-man roster. I just think the quality of depth on this team is probably as good as it has ever been…

Joe: For a while…

Deckerhoff: We drafted well and Jason works that waiver wire. I mean, we do a show called “Building the Bucs” every single Sunday [with Licht] before the game and it is good radio, I enjoy doing it. Every week, I say, “Jason, you are working non-stop, 24/7. “ Every week there are changes. My depth chart by Sunday is missing a few players because of the work he does on Friday and Saturday. But that is just the way – so you get the depth, you get your quarterback in his second year, you have a great running back tandem in Doug Martin and Charles Sims, you get that offensive line those two rookies in their second year I like a whole lot, Ali Marpet and Donovan Smith, we are blessed. I am anxious to see J.R. Sweezy. I know he is on the PUP list. They are not going to hurry him along because they know what he can do. [Add Joe Hawley, Evan Smith] and Gosder Cherlius and Demar Dotson, I am telling you the truth: not many teams can have that many good offensive linemen.

Joe: Well, as you said, that is important because those guys in the trenches will get dinged up too.

Deckerhoff: Offensive line, I tell you, I counted 18 dressed at the Florida State spring practice. There were three not dressed. And then there were five incoming freshman [not dressed] so that makes 26. So I asked Jimbo Fisher, ‘Do you always have that many?’ And he said ‘Gene, the only way your football team can get better is with quality depth on your offensive line.’ Because you don’t know if your second team defense is any good if they are just going to go against scrubs. They look like world-beaters. If they go up against the Florida Gators of Alabama Crimson Tide, they will get blown away. So Jimbo said, ‘the only way you can really develop a team is to have quality depth and experience on the offensive line.’ You don’t know how good your defense is until they go up against a quality offensive line. Anyway, we have quality depth. We’ve had some outstanding drafts. I don’t think Jason Licht ever sleeps. The only time he doesn’t look at that waiver wire is when he jumps into that pool in his suit after a Buccaneers win.