First Half Futilty
October 29th, 2017
Not ready to start games?
These slow starts are getting out of hand.
Since the day winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter got here, he has preached fast starts. Rarely has that happened and when it does — surprise! — it is usually good news for the Bucs.
These slow starts jump off the page when you study the opening drives of the Bucs in each game this season. The Bucs have yet to score a touchdown on an opening drive in 2017.
Data-driven, limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’, kiss-stealin’, data-analyzin’, Bucs-film-studyin’ Thomas Bassinger of the Tampa Bay Times has the gory details.
#Bucs opening possessions this season: FG, FG, punt, punt, punt, FG, punt.
Now the thing that irks Joe about this is coaches script plays. Those are generally plays the coaches believes will work best based on hours of film study.
Yet the Bucs, through seven games, have not scored a touchdown in their opening drives.
Fast starts, indeed.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:04 pm
This is all a product of the Head Coach. There are teams with far less offense talent putting up numbers. I think the offense under Koetter has peaked. They rely way too much on big plays that never materialize. Plus it’s predictable. No way this offense should be help out of the end zone.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:06 pm
Coach softly, and secure a top 5 mf’n pick! Atta boy Dirk…set up the next regime with a premium pick.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:10 pm
#1 passing offense!!!….GO BUCS!!!
October 29th, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Please stop calling him winning head coach. He’s a losing head coach. Simple as that.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Yep..another Sunday in my mancave Den of Depression. Oh well, at least the…..Makers Mark was tasty
ALL ABOARD..THE GRUDEN EXPRESS!
October 29th, 2017 at 4:12 pm
Team futility
October 29th, 2017 at 4:13 pm
actually it will probably be a top 3 pick. As of right now only 3 teams with worse record than bucs. Just stop and actually think about that 7 games into this season for us.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:18 pm
No one saw this coming.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Forget fast starts. How about 3 TOTAL points in the whole game? The defense finally had a respectable game and the offense screws the pooch. Nobody seems to be willing to say it, but Jameis had no business being out there today. Sore shoulder, only ONE day of practice … and he was having problems running a consistent offense & putting points on the board before that this season. Putting up big yardage doesn’t mean diddly when you’re 2-5 and falling further & further behind in your division. Poor offense, poor defense, plus our STs haven’t exactly been that sterling on the year. Oh wait, I forgot, we still have GMC to throw under the bus. Hallelujah … blame it on GMC.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:24 pm
WE arguably have some of the Best Weapons in the NFL, U all know who they are, Healthy O Line, and a Solid QB… Majority of Teams would give anything for that lineup, and they would be winning team with an above 500 record. Why do we consistently wait till 4th qtr and down 2 + scores to start No-Huddle fast offence??? you can clearly see it works. Why do we run the ball 3 straight plays when we are down 2 scores ? why do we always run on 1st down, do you not think the other team knows this ? we need to put Koetter at HC and get an OC that is aggressive
end of story… till then i can’t watch this anymore
October 29th, 2017 at 4:28 pm
As a whole we are unprepared week in and week out. It’s something different every week. Today it was pentalties, dropped passes, missed blocks followed by a sloppy turnover.
I guess we could assume Mike Evans, OJ, Marpet, Hump and Winston all were just off their game today and that each week it is new players being off theirs. Safer bet IMO is that the HC doesn’t know how to prepare a football team for an NFL game
October 29th, 2017 at 4:32 pm
It’s getting so bad that I’m openly blaming Dirk now for our problem with K Argaryo.
This team has a losers mentality and it’s infectious.
If you can’t teach your team how to have a winning mindset you get get garbage performances like your slot receiver fumbling a ball when you have a chance to win.
It’s not bad luck……Luck is the residue of design
October 29th, 2017 at 4:38 pm
Gruden would not be putting up with this first half BS. Koetter says every week after every loss that we need to get off to faster start. He’s not calling these plays any faster and playing faster doesn’t mean having to call an “explosive play” every down which is what he constantly is trying to do. And his running plays that he calls are the most obvious plays I’ve ever seen. I call it every time and I’m certainly not a professional football player.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:54 pm
Here are some things Koetter can do. Jameis needs to appreciate that he is the franchise. Banch the guy for two games. Bring him back in and see if he can start games better and put some damned TD’s on the board. If not then cut his rapist ass.
GMC made one play today. Once play per game from your franchise DT isn\t enough. You either bench his or cut him to let every player on the team know that productivity counts.
Not sure it is going to help as the Bucs just don’t look like they want to win.
If all else fails, the Bucs get thrown out of the city of Tampa. All player property seized as stolen from the season ticket holders and fans who buy tickets to the game, including NFL Sunday Ticket.
These people need to stop playing just for game checks and need to start playing to win.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:57 pm
@SOEbuc
There were also short passes that missed their mark. Jameis was leading receivers
with high passes into dangerous places that could lead to serious injuries.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:01 pm
How do you miss that ball to Evans running into the end zone? And Jackson was behind that defender and ball floated, I don’t know but Winston cannot estimate where to put the ball when these guys are beating coverage. Without that ability to get those easy touchdowns, the offense will never be stellar. Those balls OJ Howard caught he was wide open and had to wait for the ball to get to him.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:02 pm
I guess we are living in some sort of Football Fantasy land..
Winning Coach Lovie Smith
Winning Coach Greg Schiano
Winning Coach Leeman Bennett
Winning Coach Dirk Koetter
October 29th, 2017 at 5:02 pm
I wonder if they remove the ping pong tables?
October 29th, 2017 at 5:12 pm
At this point Joe is trolling us with the idiotic Winning Head Coach tag… evenworse than calling JW America’s QB
October 29th, 2017 at 5:32 pm
I tell you what this team is most consistent at doing is getting after top draft picks. Coach and quarterback not on the same page. But most of all the things that is clear to me, Dirk can call plays or be the head coach, he does not have the ability to do both. Self Scott and be real about who you are because ultimately people’s jobs are in the line and he needs to go all out because sometimes your first coaching job can be your last….schiano and Raheem need to talk to this guy
October 29th, 2017 at 6:13 pm
Not ready to start games or the season. Lets stop signing guys who dont wana practice…maybe find a coach who does. It cant be too late, too hot, too cold…every excuse in the book to cut practices short. It sure is showing now. Smith and koetter are gona be lucky to survive the glazer wrath.
October 29th, 2017 at 7:28 pm
Someone who obviously has enough brains and talent to start and then run a blog as successful as this one is surely can do simple math. Since when Joe is eleven greater than twelve??? Last I checked Koetter has 11 wins and twelve losses. The fact you still refer to Koetter as a winning head coach really tells intelligent readers all they need to know. You are definitely in the tank for Koetter.