“Every Time They Lead With Their Chin, They Get Kicked In The Teeth.”
April 13th, 2018
BY IRA KAUFMAN
On this Friday the 13th, it’s only fitting that we discuss the horror show that has played out in Tampa for lo these many years.
Yes, I’m talking about the ghoulish record compiled by the Bucs since their inaugural 1976 season. The lost decade fans just experienced represents the second brutal stretch in franchise history, testing the resolve of even the most ardent supporter.
The Glazers have often described Buc fans as the most loyal in the league — and ownership has quite a point. Just look at what you people have been through.
Once Doug Williams departed in 1983, the Bucs were NFL doormats for the next 14 seasons until Tony Dungy and fellow Hall of Famers Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks sparked a revival.
Tampa Bay then made the playoffs five times in six years, capped by the 2002 championship season led by Jon Gruden. The Bucs also made the postseason in 2005 and 2007 before Gruden was shown the door.
That door now leads to a dungeon.
The Bucs will enter a new season with the longest playoff drought in the NFC. The Stick Carriers, mobilized by a 9-7 mark in 2016, lay dormant, hoping for an end to all this misery.
“Ultimately, we want our fans to be happy because that means we’re having success,” says Joel Glazer. “That’s the barometer. Fans want a winning team. We want a winning team. They want a team they can be proud of. We want a team we can be proud of. Everyone’s interests are aligned.”
Buc fans have absorbed more body blows than Floyd Mayweather. Every time they lead with their chin, they get kicked in the teeth.
Six Since The Super Bowl
By the numbers, this franchise hasn’t given supporters much to crow about.
Since the 1970 merger, the Bucs have the worst record in pro football at 255-404-1. They are second from the bottom at home (153-176-1) and second from the bottom on the road (102-228).
In the past 15 years, Tampa Bay’s fortunes under Glazer ownership have taken a sharp turn southward. From 1995-2002, Tampa Bay averaged 9 wins. Since 2003, the Bucs have averaged 6 wins.
That’s not a play here or a play there. That’s not a dropped pass, a missed kick or a blown official’s call — that’s a lot of bad football.
“I always say fans are smart,” Glazer says. “Fans know when something is being done right. They know when something is wrong. It’s always important to be in touch with your fans and know how they feel and see how they feel about things going on in the stadium, how they’re going on with the team.”
The stadium is holding up just fine. The football team?
Like our commander-in-chief likes to say, let’s see what happens.
Ira Kaufman is the most revered sports personality and writer in town. He has hung his hat at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters since July 2016. Tampa Bay’s only Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, Ira busts out columns here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and his award winning podcasts fire Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can also hear Ira on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio Wednesdays during football season, and see him now on Mondays at 10:30 p.m. on Spectrum Sports 360 (aka BayNews 9). Ira also is part of the FOX-13 Tailgate Sunday and enjoys beet salads, Riesling, Chiefs victories and needling Joe.
April 13th, 2018 at 1:55 pm
That’s why all this talk about getting this guy, dropping that guy misses the point. The discussion should be about why a franchise is so bad for so long.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:00 pm
Glazers need to find a president of football operations to act as a buffer between them and the team.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:15 pm
Tnew
They also need to find a GM or president who chooses the head coaches, or let the one they have now do it. Their philoshopy on hiring is obviously flawed. Theres guys out there who can do it well.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:15 pm
IRA? IS Tmaxcon sitting next to you?
April 13th, 2018 at 2:18 pm
goodness. That was a kick in the groin just to read… Sad life of a Bucs fan.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:21 pm
“Just look at what you people have been through.”
“You people”???
No wonder the Buccaneer franchise and its fans constantly feel discriminated against by the league – seeing as how the town’s only HOF voter has no qualms with going all Ross Perot while summarizing our franchise history… LOL
April 13th, 2018 at 2:27 pm
It would feel that much worse if we had never won a Super Bowl. Thank goodness it happened. Interesting that a Bucs fan who is now 20 years old would have no memory of that.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:28 pm
A good backdrop of Bucs franchise information here Ira. I believe that the Glazers are indeed firmly behind the enterprise, and may be inclined to see it through with Licht if another challenging season, but certainly allow him to pick a second coaching staff.
@Tnew…might have a good strategy for adding a President, but hasn’t necessarily worked in Washington there in the past, slightly in Atlanta.
Go Bucs!
April 13th, 2018 at 2:29 pm
@Ira … “Like our commander-in-chief likes to say, let’s see what happens.”
Really Ira, you really want to use that as your bottom line? You really want to equate a commander-in-chief who has his finger on the NUC BUTTON with the phrase “Let’s see what happens”? REALLY?
April 13th, 2018 at 2:32 pm
^^^LOL! As if they needed to pile on?!
Two words best sum up our woes: THE OWNERS!
Leadership starts at the top, there’s no mystery here. When you don’t have leaders that hold people accountable and who are not football people, well, this is what you get.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:57 pm
OW! My nuts hurt.
April 13th, 2018 at 2:58 pm
But I thought everything was great and that I’m just a troll?
6 win avg since 2003, JC and you people just blindly cheer that chit on, wow!!!
April 13th, 2018 at 3:11 pm
Been here through it all…..
April 13th, 2018 at 3:12 pm
Yeah that just about made me hate being born!!
I was born in Sarasota so I will always love the Bucs but DAMMMMMM!
Thanks Joe!!!!!!!!
April 13th, 2018 at 3:21 pm
All timing winning percentage….
20 Cleveland Browns .490
21 Philadelphia Eagles .489
22 Tennessee Titans .481
23 Buffalo Bills .467
24 Detroit Lions .461
25 Cincinnati Bengals .457
26 New York Jets .454
27 Jacksonville Jaguars .448
28 New Orleans Saints .447
29 Atlanta Falcons .443
30 Houston Texans .430
31 Arizona Cardinals .429
32 Tampa Bay Bucs .387
…and it’s not even close.
BUT on a positive note the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are tied with the New England Patriots in terms of team name length at 18 letters! So we got that going for us! (Also the Los Angeles Chargers also are at 18 but I don’t count them since they should be in San Diego still).
April 13th, 2018 at 3:29 pm
That’s why i have have mad respect for everyone on here and both Joe(s). We are the diehards.
April 13th, 2018 at 3:33 pm
Meanwhile did you guys read Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s ownership philosophy?
“Hire great people. Give them the resources they need to be successful. Let them do their job without interfering. And hold them accountable at the end of the day.”
Pretty basic eh? And how’s that working out?
Last night the Lightning clearly the better team beat the N.J. Devils 5-2 to win the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They are one of the top teams in the league and expected to make a competitive run to the Cup.
April 13th, 2018 at 4:05 pm
StPeteBucsFan – The Glazers have won a championship, Vinik has not.
However hopefully that will change this year.
April 13th, 2018 at 4:08 pm
I’m quite sure this is all GMC’s fault……even pre-birth….
April 13th, 2018 at 4:10 pm
My wife has constantly questioned my loyalty to such a losing team….I tell her that it all balances out because I’m also a Yankee fan.
April 13th, 2018 at 4:12 pm
The Glazers are just like fans and they don’t want to see the team loose…
Although unlike fans, when the team loses they still make like $100,000,000 per game….
So there’s that!
April 13th, 2018 at 4:49 pm
Leave it to Pickgrin to make this article a race issue…. Did it ever occur to you that Ira sees himself as a journalist and is giving his perspective from that position…and not of a fellow fan hence “you people”.
Looking forward to April 27 (day AFTER draft) so the silliness will slow down.
I have been pounding the idea that the Glazers are the worst owners in the NFL for a while…and this article just goes over some of the history. When your NFL team is second fiddle to a UK soccer team….it equals failure. NFL should force Glazers to sell the Bucs or the soccer team since they cant support both simultaneously. Is it a coincidence that the Glazers bought Man U in 2005 and this franchise has been in a tail spin since??? I think not.
April 13th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
Rod
The Glazers have owned the Lightning longer than Vinik. He’s rebuilt the Lightning into Stanley Cup contenders….the Conference Finals and then the Stanley Cup finals. When’s the last time the Bucs made any finals…oh 15 years ago winning the SB.
I also base this on my personal fan experience so in that sense you could say I’m experience. I enjoy the game experience in person better at Amalie than RayJay and I think Vinik is wired into this market way more than the Glazers.
April 13th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
Oops…Glazers own the Bucs longer than Vinik the Lightning
April 13th, 2018 at 5:35 pm
donuts Says:
“Leave it to Pickgrin to make this article a race issue”
Leave it to Pickgrin – eh? When have you ever seen me make a disparaging comment about someone based on the color of their skin?
Never – that’s when.
Settle down bad poster – it was a joke. I didn’t “make this a race issue”.
I view EVERYONE not by the color of their skin – but by the content of their character.
At least I like, support and root for our Quarterback – which is more than I can say for you with your continual Jameis hating comments…
April 13th, 2018 at 5:37 pm
The Glazers want to win as much as all of us do….they simply don’t know how….neither do we.
I do think it would be a good idea to hire a President of Football Operations…..seemed to work for Jax.
A good candidate for that would be Vince Lombardi
April 13th, 2018 at 5:47 pm
Yeah, the fans are smart!!!! I wonder about the owners….raising ticket prices after a year like last year? They don’t care about the fans….the decision to raise prices after that 2017 debacle is inexcusable…. the vibe is just not there for this team, unfortunately. This is from a former 30 year season ticket holder who departed after the 2008 season when twiddle Dee and twedle dumb explicitly raised price almost 30 % . Yeah, that’s really caring about tha fans!!!!
April 13th, 2018 at 6:18 pm
Ira – You hang around the Joes too much (although I appreciate JoeBucsFan alot) – they’re always in a hurry to write off a developing player – if Hargreaves performs to expectations and doesn’t have any hamstring issues ( remember he was 2nd ranked cb going into 2016 draft) and the Bucs add a safety and another corner via draft or free agency, and with defensive line upgrades- the defense will be better
The past is past- obviously the Glazers have faith in Licht and Koetter
– the key to Bucs becoming a playoff team is for Licht to focus on offensive and defensive trenches and secondary
– there are plenty of decent rb’s in this draft to be had with a high 4th rd pick or if they trade back a little and pick up a 3rd rounder.
RB’s rarely get you to the playoffs without a dominant offensive line.
April 13th, 2018 at 6:35 pm
A sh!t show of epic proportions, for sure. We are all just gluttons for punishment.
Sad thing is at this point, all a playoff season will do to me is make me even more of a sceptic. I’ll just be waiting the next season for the proverbial giant shoe to drop on them.
April 13th, 2018 at 6:56 pm
Pickgrin-
You got called out because YOU used the word discriminate and some odd reference to Ross Perot. lol Yeah you can try to spin it however you want but it is RACIST! You were trying to infer Ira was a racist by using the “you people” phrase.
In the words of Duemig, your full of spit.
We ALL see right thru your BS.
PS- You think I care about your lowly and uninformed opinion of my posts? More delusion. I see Winston for what he is…an average NFL QB and worst QB in the NFC South. This website and MSM has said the same thing several times in the off season. Sorry if that bursts your FSU colored bubble. I want Winston to be #1 in NFC South but I wont be blind fan that does not see reality. Go Bucs- Go #3!
April 13th, 2018 at 7:26 pm
‘ they get kicked in the teeth.’
I’ve paid for 2 of my dentists cars since 76′.
April 13th, 2018 at 8:05 pm
Ewwww – I got “called out” by a poster who normally only comments when he wants to spout something disparaging about our Quarterback.
Yea man – you burned me good. Saw right through my BS agenda didn’t ya? And called me out for the racist I most certainly must be… LOL
April 13th, 2018 at 8:14 pm
Keeping it real as always Ira. Lucky for you…your heart lies with the Chiefs and not necessarily the Bucs. Rockin’ a Lenny Dawson jersey and perhaps considering a Hank Stram toupee for your budding tv career 🙂
April 13th, 2018 at 8:48 pm
Here’s a nice depressing article to finish out your Friday with! LOL
April 13th, 2018 at 8:51 pm
donuts- I think you should reread that again. He was making a joke about the league sh!tt!ng on the Bucs all the time, not about anyone being racist.
Calm the f down.
April 13th, 2018 at 9:18 pm
Hey, if Bucs need an extra RB how about Alfred Morris?
April 13th, 2018 at 9:19 pm
Pickgrin
I’m black. I don’t think u said anything racist.
April 13th, 2018 at 9:21 pm
Jimmyjack
We need a RB1.
April 13th, 2018 at 9:29 pm
Ira remembers!! Thanks Ira! As a buc fan from..way back when ( some of these current Buc fans yes..were in Diapers), One of our biggest mistakes ever..was not paying Doug Williams. That was on past owner..Mr Culverhouse. We went on a downward spiral after that. Doug was worth every penny he was asking for..perhaps even more. Time for this ship to trulyright its way. Shore up this Defense! Give our offense a chance. Thats all we are asking.
April 13th, 2018 at 9:58 pm
We have to get back to basics. Oline and dline. It starts in the trenches and just like a home the foundation to stability. Put some nice cabinets in the kitchen with a technology upgrade in the living room and BOOM you have a winner. It’s all on the coaches this year…let’s hope they can deliver. Go Bucs! Season ticket holder for years during this crap yet I still believe! Don’t ever give up!
April 13th, 2018 at 10:07 pm
Friday The 13th Thoughts:
If Jameis is just “an average NFL quarterback” that should be alright as he will have Evans, Djax, Howard, Brate, Humphries, and Godwin to throw the ball to. He will have Barber, Rodgers, “who knows who” and maybe even Sims to hand-off to.
Either the Glazer triumvirate finally has seen the light re their decisions or they just figgered that they really had nothing to lose by keeping Licht, Koetter, and Smith for one more year. Dumping them would have guaranteed another “rebuild” starting this year.
Maybe, this team will do even better than the 2016 guys and we will have a real “dogfight” in the NFC South this year with this year’s winner in the Superbowl again.
Maybe the Bucs will finally emerge as a “perennial playoff” contender for years to come and then bring home a couple more Superbowl wins in the next 5 or 6 years. Maybe diehard fans will finally be rewarded.
Then the bandwagon fans will come back again and buy out all of the tickets. This will make the Glazers richer and keep many of the diehards at home watching because they can longer come by a ticket or two just like as in 2004 and 2005.
You never can tell! ->=:-)
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Go Bucs!!!!!!
April 13th, 2018 at 10:23 pm
I comment about more than just Winston so that tells me how much you know about my posting. He does play the most important position on the team so criticism comes with that unless you live in FSU colored glass houses like a few here. I’m glad my truthful and intelligent comments about #3 burn your biscuit. You’re not being honest with your Buc commentary/critique if you are not at least a little critical of his play. I mean he did lead the NFL in fumbles at QB. Its okay in football to be hard on the players/millionaires if the facts say something negative; just dont be a jerk. I’m tough on Kwon too. Kwon and Winston are the Bucs 2 best athletes and are the keys to this team winning.
Its all good dude you keep them glasses on and I will keep on loving this team and hoping #3 does well and makes a career here in Tampa with my honest critique and all. If you dont like what I have to say on #3, then do what I do when I see Pickgrin at the top of the post…skip it. Go #3!
April 13th, 2018 at 10:44 pm
Very well researched and put together. 15 years of frustration, of losing, can’t be attributed to bad luck or a single mistake. Truly, (let me check the thesaurus; I can’t come up with the word. Wait there it is.) sage-like.
April 13th, 2018 at 10:54 pm
….and because of all this historical losing it certainly has a negative impact on recruiting top shelf free agents. The only FA’s we ever attract are aging players trying to prolong the inevitable, or players in their prime looking to be paid a king’s ransom for a mediocre body of work. …cause and effect.
Of course having a franchise QB is essential and that’s why so many feel it’s now or never for Winston to turn it around. But now we have this cloud of his off the field behavior to account for a multi game suspension that could throw this season into a tail spin.
So I believe its silly to question the loyalty of a fan who has the gonads to claim they are a Buc’s fan when it easier to take less flack by jumping on a bandwagon team just to avoid criticism. If your a hardened Buc fan then you are a Superfan!
April 13th, 2018 at 11:16 pm
Donuts sounds like the kind of guy that hangs out at interstate restroom stalls with a drill in his hand.
April 13th, 2018 at 11:24 pm
StPeteBucsFan – I know the history, and I know who has a trophy and who doesn’t. Also, as I said, I hope this is the year Vinik gets one.
April 13th, 2018 at 11:50 pm
Donuts if I met you I would tell you to take a long look in the mirror. Your points about Jameis show you see the glass half empty. It’s always easy to point the finger when we think we know who is wrong when in reality we should probably question why we bash another. If you get to a point when truely your life can not be fixed I would challenge you to come with facts before judging another. It’s really that simple and yes excuses are for losers. Go Bucs!
April 14th, 2018 at 12:23 am
My comments on Winston were poorly worded. My point is that Jameis only needs to be somewhat average with his play as far as the passing side of his job.
He has not demonstrated that he is worthy to be called a franchise quarterback so far. People forget that the average starting NFL quarterback is in an elite category already by virtue of their positions.
(I wasn’t “piling on” as far as the previous discussions had gone.)
Of course, all Bucs fans probably want Winston to succeed and become elite within the NFL framework. We want a breakout year for him this year. …. Now, not next year!
We all want our Bucs to be winners.
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Go Bucs!!!
April 15th, 2018 at 10:40 am
Need to hire a team president, change the culture. Last year was one of the roughest I’ve endured. Thank goodness for #stick carriers, we are all in this together. Let’s Go Bucs!