Players Say Koetter Command Is Firm & Fearless
September 16th, 2018
Joe buzzed around the happy Bucs postgame scene looking for answers today, specifically how Dirk Koetter has guided the team out of NFL hell and into the glory of a 2-0 start and first place in the NFC South on lockdown.
Ryan Fitzpatrick emphasized that there’s a ton of confidence in the Koetter way and approach. The head sets a hard-nosed example and has the ear of the team, Fitzpatrick said.
“I just think again, confidence, the way that he works every day his work ethic. You know, when he speaks to the team about discipline and different things, guys are listening and we’re taking it out there,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We had a tough training camp, which I think helped, everybody didn’t want it. But he’s not afraid to make that tough decision.”
Joe got Mike Evans 1-on-1 and Evans was happy to shower the head coach and praise everyone’s consistency in 2018.
“We love Coach Dirk. He’s a players’ coach all the way and he deserves a lot of credit for the success we’re having,” Evans said. “Man, we just been doing what we’ve been doing all camp, since OTAs started and that’s executing in practice and it’s transferring over to the game.”
Another player who asked not to have his name on this said the team is wildly confident in Koetter and trusts the head coach. “When you know your coach is only about winning and not any other kind of sh^#, and cares about the guys, it’s a great feeling,” he said.
It’s fun to talk about “Fitzmagic,” but it’s Koetter who has pulled all the right strings through two games.
His Bucs are over their Week 2 woes, and now the path is set for a winning season and a drive for the playoffs. Sure, Koetter’s toughest work is head, but it certainly can’t be much tougher than digging this team out of deep ugliness to knock off the Saints and Eagles.
September 16th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
Sorry
but the 2nd half playcalling downright stunk……it had the signature stench of Koetter calling plays……just terrible
we will not win if we go turtle again in the 2nd half of the game….we gotta finish strong
September 16th, 2018 at 6:15 pm
So hard to believe that the sheep and so-called fans wanted Head Coach Koetter and the coaching staff on the hot seat or even a total regime change!!!!!!! The “real” fans have got to watch the most exciting football in Head Coach Koetter’s reign then all the years since Gruden walked the halls!!!!!!! Same on all the so-called fans that wanted to derail this!!!!!!!! and Great Job by Coach Smitty out-coaching the eagles defensive coordinator!!!!!! Even though Coach Smitty had less talent with way less experience!!!!!!!!
Hold them accountable INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 16th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
Anthem, go get a new team. No one will miss you and your negative attitude
September 16th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
TheBucsAnthem Says:
September 16th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
Sorry
but the 2nd half playcalling downright stunk……it had the signature stench of Koetter calling plays……just terrible
we will not win if we go turtle again in the 2nd half of the game….we gotta finish strong
________________________________________________________
Umm sorry,
But we just won two games in a row doing so.. just saying
September 16th, 2018 at 6:21 pm
1TheBucsAnthem Says:
September 16th, 2018 at 6:12 pm
Sorry
but the 2nd half playcalling downright stunk……it had the signature stench of Koetter calling plays……just terrible
we will not win if we go turtle again in the 2nd half of the game….we gotta finish strong.’
2-0. Be happy for a bit. Whine tomorrow.
September 16th, 2018 at 6:22 pm
Not sure the play calling stunk, dropped pass by Mike stopped one drive and also the fumble. Plus the heat and humidity probably played a part, you have to run the ball to keeep your defense fresh that was facing injuries
September 16th, 2018 at 6:24 pm
Bucs anthem what a trash fan you are – seriously after the Bucs go 2-0 after some predictions had us a 1 win season. Support the team Koetter coached this team to play this way. Otherwise go support someone else – don’t need your negativity
September 16th, 2018 at 6:26 pm
Rojo totally agrees.
September 16th, 2018 at 6:30 pm
Go sit on a traffic cone today, Anthem.
September 16th, 2018 at 6:37 pm
Beating the Saints there and the current Super Bowl winner here to start the season is BUC FANtastic. Beat the reeling Steelers!
September 16th, 2018 at 6:38 pm
I love him
Tells it like it is. Always been a fan of his. Trust me people he has Been heavily involve in the install
September 16th, 2018 at 6:38 pm
Ok but I’m sorry you wanks who are claiming that fans who thought Koetter and ranks weren’t up to the task last year are absolutely full of bunk. Come on. Seriously there was no reason to praise the play calling last year. Yes I’ll admit are skill players weren’t as good last year as they are this year (Godwin, Howard) but seriously we finally have a QB who’s hitting his targets and an offensive line that is protecting the QB. I’m sorry to say this but Jameis’ suspension is the best thing that could have happened to this offense. Kudos to Mike Smith for his game planning. I think the rookies played well and Ryan Smith redeemed himself (at least this week).
September 16th, 2018 at 6:41 pm
If bad play calling led to two commanding victories, then can we have 14 more of the same please?!?!? 😂😂
September 16th, 2018 at 6:54 pm
TheBucsAnthem – Completely disagree. Unlike in week 1 where Dirk shut down the game with 8 mins left, this week they kept up the pressure. You’re not going to win every single time you get the ball, this was one of the best defenses in football last year. You do need to run the clock, but you need to keep the teams off balance and they did so. To me it was another A+ game in terms of play calling. They stayed aggressive, mixed it up, the Eagles, outside of like 2 runs, never knew what was coming. In a few weeks we may start to see the play calling ruts that Monken gets into, but right now, the defenses are completely off balance for the most part.
However Monken if you see this, add a play action rollout keeper for Fitz, the defense was biting hard on the run and Fitz, would have had an easy 1st down a couple of times if he had held onto the ball.
September 16th, 2018 at 7:08 pm
Anthem
Stfu. You dont ever complain about winning in this league. What a crybaby. They lose the game then its an issue.
Great win Bucs. Surprised me. Beating the Iggles who had 9 days to prepare is huge!! Those coaches over there are great. Great job by Smitty today, and Monk and Dirk. Glad Dirk learned from his many mistakes last season. There is hope!! Go Bucs!! Fitz baby!!
September 16th, 2018 at 7:10 pm
What? They kept on passing when they usually ran the ball in years past. I LOVE the new play calling. We are a force to be reckoned with.
September 16th, 2018 at 7:19 pm
Game 2 and everybody is givin our Bucs the..annoitment. They have NOT done anything yet. 16 games people. Temper your excitement. As quick as you rise? You fall quicker. Defense was a little bit better today. We need more from our D..to get to the promise Land!!!!!!!
September 16th, 2018 at 7:31 pm
So glad 0-2 Gruden didn’t come here.
September 16th, 2018 at 7:40 pm
@Buc Realist. Agree completely! After last season, everyone was frustrated, but I think that frustration really showed up big-time here in the comments. This site, predominantly in the reader comments, became the real “den of depression”.
Amazing what a little winning will do! I’m confident the Bucs will keep it going. That offense is for real!
September 16th, 2018 at 7:42 pm
Cone TheBucsAnthem: Enjoy the win, its hard playing in NFL and scoring points, even great offence don’t score points in game. Also don’t forget we were playing top defense
September 16th, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Jon who??? Lol
September 16th, 2018 at 7:55 pm
Dirk is starting to win me over… I am never to much of a ego maniac to say when I was wrong and Dirk is making me think I was wrong about him.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:18 pm
Glad to hear that players respect Koetter and believe in him. Two wins against good teams. Too many people wanted to fire this coaching staff .
Fitz has performed well because players and coaches believed in him and
his ability to hit the open man and give them the best chance to catch the ball.
With key D lineman and D backs missing, Smith did a good job of gameplanning and not hanging the DB’s out to dry.And lo and behold there was developement
in the defensive backfield. We are now able to win games with starters out and
the backups stepping up.Wasn’t long ago, that was next to impossible.
September 16th, 2018 at 8:24 pm
The final game against New Orleans showed me all I needed to see about Coach K’s connection with his team.
Competing to go from 4-12 to 5-11 is not inspiring stuff. If ever there was a game that begged to have the players simply phone it in and pack up for home…it was that final game of the season.
But playing for nothing but pride…the Bucs acquitted themselves well proving that they hadn’t quit on their coach.
September 16th, 2018 at 9:03 pm
Stpetebucsfan is right!!!!!! That was just another feather in cap for some of the “real” fans!!!!!! But that game was just after that the Glazer gave a vote of confidence to end the Gruden rumors!!!!! Which many of the so-called fans were extremely upset of not having coaches “held accountable” and replaced!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 16th, 2018 at 9:12 pm
stpetebucsfan
^^^^^What you just said.^^^^^
September 16th, 2018 at 10:16 pm
We are truly BLESSED to have Coach Koetter.. He deserves much of the credit for committing this talent to Greatness no matter who lines up against us.
Awesome Job, Coach!
September 16th, 2018 at 11:54 pm
So glad they didn’t fire Koetter last year. Have to admit I thought Licht should have been canned though. It looked like he chose soft players last year. He needs to start drafting OL and DL in the next couple of drafts and bring in another veteran CB. We have no depth at any of those positions. Hope he can keep this team together for a couple of years. Too bad there are so many contracts to negotiate next year, especially 21 million to JW3. DSmith, AMarpet, and Kwon will demand big contracts too. We need to be able to keep these WR”s together and not lose Monken next year. Afraid Monk is going to land a head coaching job if the offense keeps humming like it is. Pull back the steel curtain! #GoBucs
September 17th, 2018 at 9:22 am
Beating Good Teams… huge difference and looking forward to seeing what Koetter and crew come up with next week. Defense must continue to get better (and healthy.)
September 17th, 2018 at 10:34 am
^^^^^Amen, Amen, stpete.^^^^