“They Are A Mess Right Now”
October 6th, 2016
“Mad Dog” surprised with demise of Bucs.
No less an authority than the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo summed up the Bucs perfectly Wednesday.
While welcoming JoeBucsFan.com columnist eye-RAH! Kaufman, the “Custodian of Canton,” on his weekly appearance heard exclusively on the channel that bears his name, “Mad Dog Radio,” part of the family of sports channels on SiriusXM Radio, Russo described the state of the 1-3 Bucs perfectly.
The Bucs, Russo said, “are a mess.”
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo: Your Bucs stink. I mean I was making fun of you today. Eleven o’clock at night stuck in that stadium missing your ice cream tracking down Dirk Koetter to get a couple of sound bytes after losing 27-7 against Denver. That is not a place I would want to be and they are a mess right now. They have digressed. The last three games they have been terrible for crying out loud. And of course against the Broncos. I guess there is some heat on Tampa right now, correct?
eye-RAH! Kaufman: Absolutely. Winston is taking the brunt of it, Chris. And not totally fair. He is 22-years old. Look, he’s throwing too many picks, two early to of all people Aqib Talib, former Bucs, ran him out of town. Very talented. He’s a knucklehead but he is very talented. Chris, Winston is taking the brunt of it, even from Koetter who said he is very concerned with Jameis Winston. That is a little bit ominous Chris because Dirk Koetter’s job can be traced back to his relationship with Winston. That is the reason Koetter is here. If he is now worried about his quarterback, these are bad times for Tampa.
eye-RAH! makes an excellent point. The reason why Koetter is in charge is because of how he developed Jameis. If Jameis regresses, then guess whose head that comes down upon? Hint: It ain’t Todd Monken or Mike Bajakian. You can see why Koetter might have been so emotional after that Broncos loss, a game highlighted by Jameis’ two picks that turned into 14 points.
People want to blame the defense, but when the Broncos didn’t have a short field to work with, the defense of the Bucs only gave up 13 points.
So, yeah, Joe saw progress there. But the big picture item is whether the relationship between Koetter and Jameis begins to fray if Jameis can’t turn things around. Koetter doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy to bite his tongue or hold back his emotions.
And this just in: Team Glazer has a whole lot more cash and skin invested in Jameis than Koetter.
October 6th, 2016 at 8:10 am
Numbers are an interesting thing Joe. Yes the defense only gave up 13 points when not gifted a short field. How many did we score again? Still a loss. Look I’m not making excuses for those 2 picks but this defense isn’t going to win us any any games.
October 6th, 2016 at 8:30 am
The team is a mess because of injuries, lack of depth, and lack of talent in the secondary. The last time JW3 had a viable running threat with him in the backfield, he threw 4 TDs and 1 pick against what is now a 3-1 team. Injuries to Sims and Stocker have completely robbed the offense of a running game, which is key to Koetter’s vertical, play action scheme. Injuries to pretty much the entire front 4 have killed the pass rush.
JW3’s problem right now is that he is not good enough to overcome these issues against the best defenses in the NFL, and he is making costly mistakes by trying to do too much. Pretty predictable for a 22 year old, second year QB (look at Mariota in TN). All part of the learning curve.
October 6th, 2016 at 8:34 am
AGAIN! Go back to the first two possessions of the preseason where we turned it over twice to start the year and the eagles scored 14 points. Why do always have to give up 7 each time?
It’s a such thing as making opposing offenses kick field goals you know. That’s what the good defenses do but of course we’re not good.
October 6th, 2016 at 8:42 am
Why is everyone trying to absolve Jameis of any blame? Is it FSU homers? Media/Analyst not wanting to be wrong about him being a franchise QB?
I root for the team not 1 player, if he sucks I’ll say it. And so far this year he had one good game and 3 awful games. 3 of the 4 games he’s turned the ball over multiple times making it harder on his teammates. When is he gonna have a turnover free game and lead his team?
Playing sports all my life and into college you stopped following your leaders when they stopped performing. If Jameis keeps this up all this leader BS he spews will be ignored as his teammates will tune him out for his poor play
October 6th, 2016 at 8:42 am
I bet you all wish that you would have taken a hiatus prior to last week like I did. It was awful to watch, but I didn’t let myself get worked up and I’m numb to it now just like I will be on Monday when we play Carolina. These are two weeks out of the schedule where we know we don’t have a chance, so why live and die with every play? We came in to the season with a roster that we knew was still an offseason or two away from being in serious contention, so why is everyone preaching fire and brimstone now that a lot of the pillars of that roster are injured? How could you not see these losses coming? Did you think that we had quality backups on the bench just waiting to come in and shine? No! We don’t even have an NFL level secondary. How can you expect us to have a fully loaded pantry? Until we get our best players back we cannot compete with other NFL teams. That’s just what it is.
October 6th, 2016 at 8:46 am
Keeping Dirk Koetter and Jameis Winston on the team is key for any success. The QB position is most important on the team. With Dirk gone of course, we’ll be starting over again.
October 6th, 2016 at 8:55 am
Getting rid of Dirk is not the answer. We’ve gone around and around this thing. We’ve been through how many coaches and we still keep getting back to the same place. It’s only a coaching thing in that not only do we keep making bad hires, but we keep blowing those coaches out and starting over every couple of years. I’m convinced that we have a really good hire in Koetter and Licht is a good GM. Let’s give them some time to weed out the bad eggs, get the team to understand their concepts and actually have some continuity and a chance to build something.
October 6th, 2016 at 9:00 am
Ooooo but last year it was all LOVIE’S fault! I’ll say it again the dumbest move was the one that made most Buc Fans happy! Now you got the BACKSTABBER live with it! 12 more games to play with 8 more games to win to show improvement over the last REGIME: THE CONSPIRACY WILL CONTINUE TO RUN DEEP!
October 6th, 2016 at 9:11 am
@BigHogHaynes – You sound like all the people here in the DC area who are bigger fans of RGIII than they are of the football team itself. They’re hoping that “their team” loses a bunch of games just to show that getting rid of a player that wasn’t performing was a mistake. You’ve got it in the bag for Lovie and you refuse to see that his coaching style just didn’t (and still doesn’t if you look at what Illinois is doing) work in today’s NFL. I get that you think that Lovie being ousted was an effort to get the white guy in the head seat and all that and there’s no argument that anyone is going to make that is going to change your mind on that since you didn’t need evidence of him performing well for you to think he should be here. It’s just a really tired and boring flag to have to see waving around still.
October 6th, 2016 at 9:12 am
For God’s sake can we get Winston a couple of WRs that have the speed to get open?
Now, is he without blame, no?
When Jameis learns that he has limitations, he will start to succeed.
As for Koetter, call a game that keeps Jameis out of trouble…..throw pirmarily to backs, Humphries & Brate……with an occasional shot downfield…..but only if the field position is good.
I think Koetter’s decision not to call a timeout was made as a lesson to Jameis. “You haven’t earned the chance today” You know Jameis got the message. We weren’t winning that game anyway. I am probably the only fan who agrees with Koetter……although it was painful.
October 6th, 2016 at 9:18 am
@TBBF – I’m there with you. Everyone is taking umbrage with the punt itself as though they missed out on a golden opportunity to get back in the game. They were a MASH unit, they were playing badly and it wasn’t getting better. Focusing on that punt as some kind of indictment on Dirk and saying it’s a sign he gave up on the team is nonsense. I’ve got no issue with it. The team was playing like garbage. It didn’t matter.
October 6th, 2016 at 9:20 am
The truth is that the Bucs faced a very tough schedule with consecutive good teams!!!! Without no second passing option on this team, it is just too easy to defend!!!! After the bye week, it will be interesting how the Bucs adjusts, and a couple of roster changes!!!!
the second half of the season, I will be surprised not to see stories of how the Bucs regrouped, How JW3 corrected, How they started to get it.
2017 NFL Bucs draft Wr, Te, and safety!!!!
October 6th, 2016 at 10:19 am
JW faces more blitzes than any other QB in the league because every one feels they can blanket or receivers in man coverage, and they are right. Maybe we should incorporate some pick plays to create separation and some easier throws. Payton Manning, arguably one of the best QBs in league history made a living on pick plays.
October 6th, 2016 at 10:24 am
Patrick,
It’s because year after year injuries decimate this team, and never seems like there’s enough depth and quality players to step up. So that 2 year turnaround is bs
October 6th, 2016 at 10:27 am
@JOE
So the $$$ and future are invested in #3. I think we all get that including Koetter. So what if he turns out to be a Jeff George? Tons of talent but uncoachable.
I have seen nothing from #3 to indicate that YET. But if it gets to that I’m jumping ship just like we did for your mancrush on Johnny screwup.
#3 is now 22…a grown man! If hearing the truth from Koetter hurts his fee fees then indeed we do have MAJOR problems!
Perhaps Koetter felt the need to call out #3. Your knee jerk reaction is to jump to the defense of #3. That MAY be a correct response…but it could also be totally bass ackwards.
So do you trust Koetter to know more about playing QB in the NFL or is Jameis smarter? Are you ready to watch the ship go down if #3 is not taking his coaching?
I love #3 and this is all speculation. I respect both #3 and DK more than the Joes or posters here. Again….let’s wait and see how the season plays out before all these “conclusions”.
October 6th, 2016 at 11:04 am
I agree with all the above comments and it is easy to see where a trend begins. We win our first game on the road, Doug Martin is injured. We get blown out by a highly underrated team on the road that was virtually back against the wall after 0-1 start. We hang with a Ram team in our third game and lose due to clock management and bad QB Play in the rain delayed last two minutes. The Rams are 3-1 including a win against Seattle. Finally we lose to a 4-0 Super Bowl winning Bronco’s team after losing Pro Bowl DT McCoy and Noah Spence after two early interceptions that turned into TD’s. So we have no Running Game. a patchwork DL. And basically for the first 5 games a schedule from hell. Not to mention 4:00 starts, rain delays, and a 2nd yr QB who needs to stop forcing his passes and throwing INT’s. I’ll make some excuses for them. Lets see how they do after the Bye week.
October 6th, 2016 at 11:32 am
I agree with the quotes from your piece JOE. But I think this is what will define our young QB. Being a QB means you have to keep evolving and leading. Winston succeeded in high school, then college and then last year as a rookie QB. This is simply another level he has to progress through. All QBs have team issues that they have to fight through every season. The best QBs in the league have had to fight through what Winston is facing now. It is difficult to stay patient and let watch Winston go through these growing pains, but it is normal. Winston has to find a way to progress to the next level….he is no longer a rookie QB who made throws, reads, and reduced interceptions. He is moving forward with the loss of running game, struggling Defense, pile of injuries and ever incresing expectations of fans. I believe we have the right Coach and QB to climb out of this. WE NEED TO SUPPORT OUT COACH AND QB. Not question them.
October 6th, 2016 at 11:42 am
@ Patrick/VA: I will never compare the collage game to pro game nor will I compare one coach to another but I will compare the talent on a team from one year to another and next year I will be sating the same thing, this team needs more talent, as you can see different coach same record so far, I say they won’t win 6 games this year, not because of Coach K……..talent, when any poster sees any improvement in this team over last years team give me a holla and I’ll holla back!