Scapegoat?
December 24th, 2017
In cross-hairs.
There is just no way around it. The Bucs defense has been a train wreck this year.
Oh, to be fair, the defense at home hasn’t played that awful and in some cases, surprisingly very good. But on the road, the team turns into the cast from “The Longest Yard.” Why or how this defense is so schizophrenic, well, that’s on coaches to figure out. And they haven’t.
This puts defensive coordinator Mike Smith on the ledge.
In breaking down what went wrong for the Bucs this season, Jenna Laine of ESPN takes the defense to task — how could you not? — but believes if Smith is the only coach to take a fall, then he’s nothing more than a scapegoat.
As injuries have piled up, it’s easier to give Smith a pass in these final games, but when his unit was at or near full strength, it was just as bad, despite having what appeared to be an upgraded roster at safety and along the defensive line. They have not been able to pressure the quarterback. Players have struggled with gap integrity all season. Balls have sailed over defensive backs’ heads. They are still routinely blowing coverages.
To be fair, the offense has not put the defense in a good position all year and Bucs’ opponents have had the league’s 11th-highest time of possession.
Joe could rattle off stat after stat but what’s the point?
Two things absolutely doom Smith. One, Vernon Hargreaves went from being a competent rookie who started 15 games last year to a total afterthought. He was benched for getting roasted like a ham in the oven. How a guy can go from a decent rookie to scout-team-like in a few months? Well, Joe pins that on coaching.
Again, Joe will point out that inept Lovie Smith got 8.5 sacks out of mummies like Ghost Johnson, late-hitting, kneeling Akeem Spence and gun-totin,’ guitar-plucking Da’Quan Bowers in 2014. But with Robert Ayers, Chris “Swaggy” Baker and Will Gholston (who make a combined $19 million) Mike Smith has only squeezed 2.5 sacks from that troika.
No, Smith is not the position coach for Hargraves, Ayers, Baker or Gholston, but that still falls under his umbrella.
December 24th, 2017 at 3:24 am
Very nice job of cherry-picking stats yet again Joe. VHIII regressed this year so that’s on Smitty? News flash – VHIII didn’t exactly play lights out last year either, although he was admittedly better last year. Sophomore slump? Perhaps. More likely? Other teams got tape on him & figured out his weaknesses (hint: he has several & should never have been a high 1st Round pick).
And while we’re cherry-picking stats, let’s not leave out that Ayers is now, what, 33 years old. And Fatty Baker is what, 30 years old. As is McDonald, and McCoy is only 1 year younger than that. That’s an OLD OLD OLD DLine, brought to you by … oh wait, better not mention Licht’s name here. We’ve already found this year’s scapegoat.
Lovie squeezed more sacks out of Johnson, Akeem Spence & Bowers than Smitty has out of who? Aging 33 year old Ayers who can’t stay healthy anymore? Unproductive, tree-humping 30 year old Fatty Baker? Run-stuffing Will Gholston?
Yup, let’s find us a scapegoat. Make sure we play down what he accomplished with last year’s motley crew though and give full credit to Winning Coach Dirk Koetter for that 9-7 Winning record. Nah, those 4 games that the defense won while the offense snoozed last year were just an aberration. And for heavens sake, whatever you do don’t mention Jason Licht’s name as being the Architect of this Train Wreck of defensive talent … or lack thereof. Make sure everyone keeps praising him for his drafting prowess, even if he did draft against the wrong priorities and left us with giant holes in our defense (unless DT, DE & CB aren’t considered holes that is). No sweat though, we can always fill them with cheap, aging veterans in Free Agency … then find ourselves yet another scapegoat after we’ve run Smitty off.
December 24th, 2017 at 5:17 am
Vh was lucky to have a decent rookie year in smiths defense. His defense is set up to pressure the qb with 4 linemen. They cant get near the qb, and smith doesnt make adjustments. I dont care who the scapegoats are but I do care who loses their jobs. Better be dang near all these coaches. Even lovie smith is “verrrrry dissapointed” in these boneheads.
December 24th, 2017 at 6:15 am
Maybe it’s Christmas but I’m willing to give everyone another year…..adding Smith to that list is new. I was impressed what he accomplished in the Atlanta game with no one.
Hopefully, Licht has learned some lessons in FA…because that is where our problem lies….let’s quit hunting bargains and go for performers like Grimes….let’s offer him 2 years…that should keep him. Most will only give him one.
When a player doesn’t like practice…..stay the hell away from him. And, let’s give one of these old sack masters a shot……at least they can teach.
December 24th, 2017 at 6:40 am
Lets look where Jason Licht could have improved the defense by not signing some of the free agents.
first. Licht overestimated Jameis ‘s ability to throw the ball deep. He blew 11 mil
on the mistaken idea that Jameis and DJAX would somehow connect on lots of deep balls. Coupled with the fact that he drafted two very good addittions to the receiving corp,DJAX was not a necessity.
Second. 9 million guaranteed to Swaggy Baker. That a lot of bucks for a player
that rarely gets to the QB and has less than 30 tackles.
Third. 3 mil + to TJ ward who is a liability in the passing game defense.
Thats 23 million that could have been better spent on additions to this
defense that has repeatedly been put back on the field due to three and outs,
turnovers, and untimely penalties negating big plays.
December 24th, 2017 at 7:13 am
We need another front office personnel man to take over Free agent scouting,
selection and signings. Other than Grimes and Anger Licht has too many swings and misses in free agency. Dating back to the Lovie years, Licht hasn’t done a good enough job evaluating the roster and and adding the right players to take us to next level.
December 24th, 2017 at 9:42 am
LOL @ gun-totin,’ guitar-plucking Da’Quan Bowers , who was a supposedly a Man of God, it is said.
I suppose he will shoot you, then pray over your Body ?
He was awesome in College, then came here and fizzled.
I like Smitty, and in all fairness to him, no NFL Defense works, w/o a pass rush.
He pulled a Raheem Morris coaching us against Atlanta, with a bunch of practice squad players.
If his defense had any pass rush at all, this article would not be written.
December 24th, 2017 at 9:44 am
Mr.Licht should take a lot the blame for being so bad at picking free agents are NOT getting the needed players for the team. Coaches are an issue but it starts with him!
December 24th, 2017 at 9:55 am
I hear you Ben, a Fish stinks from the head down.
December 24th, 2017 at 10:22 am
Joe said: “How a guy can go from a decent rookie to scout-team-like in a few months? Well, Joe pins that on coaching.”
Not necessarily. It can on injury and amount of effort and concentration by the player. I agree coaching can be part of the problem, but they did bench him and he WAS injured. We need to see VHIII one more year.
On the other hand, Ryan Smith went from being just awful, to some improvement.
December 24th, 2017 at 10:58 am
Agree with some of you here. Licht should not get the tidy-bowl pass. He’s responsible for these free agent bust also. But as I’ve painfully watched my Bucs, its apparent the defense needs to be gutted and overhauled. Starting with the DC.
Koetter defends Smitty to the max. But if I were him, I’d go ahead and fire Smitty right now to send the message. Licht is crafty and will be here next year for sure. He;s already nickeled and dimed Koetter out to the Glazers to save face. He’s a..No 1 Spinner. We’ve scored enough points to win 5 close games this season. And in each one of those games, Our Defense just could not stop anybody. I’d luv to drive DC Smitty…to the airport for good!!!!!!
December 24th, 2017 at 11:07 am
Of course he will l would be a scapegoat. I haven’t complained the pass rush all year because it was an obvious need, there’s only so much he can do but licht sacrificed the defensive line to give koetter all these weapons and he barely score more than 7 points in the first half all year long.
Smith will be fired as a matter of principle and I think he’s more of a scapegoat for the players that we’ve brought in but koetter has to take full responsibility for the teams record and get fired too
December 24th, 2017 at 11:24 am
“Scapegoat” is definitely not the correct word here because it suggests being blamed for the fault of others.
There is no grey area here, Smith is the PROBLEM.
December 24th, 2017 at 11:35 am
The high priced free agents didn’t live up to their contracts and the future studs were hampered by injury or poor performance. The team needs more depth and stability and the fans need more patience. There were too many holes on this team for an instant turnaround.
December 24th, 2017 at 2:58 pm
I think you’re inflating VH3’s rookie year. He wasn’t awful, but nobody would have confused him with game changing either. I think it’s likely we spent a 1st round pick on a slot CB – which for the record I think he’s capable of playing well. But still, that’s not what he was drafted to be. Not his fault, it’s not like he has no business being on a roster (like say, Aguayo), but I don’t think he’s ever going to be a shut down corner. Hey, he’s better than Eli Apple though.