Falcons 45, Bucs 24
January 1st, 2012
If Team Glazer collectively hasn’t decided who will coach the Buccaneers next season, Joe would think this horrific game, the fifth consecutive blowout, should make their next move easy.
In what direction is this team headed? That should be obvious. Joe’s never seen a freefall like this. The Bucs were outscored 203-88 over the past five games, capping a 10-game losing streak to end the season.
This 2011 edition of the Bucs churned out the worst defense in Bucs history, with a defensive head coach at the helm. And the offense is embarrassing.
Today’s beating by the Falcons encompassed everything wrong with the Buccaneers and the coaching staff’s inexplicable inability to stop the hemorrhaging: slow starts, getting gashed up the middle against the run, atrocious tackling (does anyone wrap up anymore?), bad ball security, poor attention to detail, and a talented young quarterback seemingly not learning from his mistakes. At least they shook the costly penalites this week (sarcasm alert).
Joe is damn frustrated. Even upbeat, typically pro-Bucs John Lynch questioned the effort of defensive players not named Ronde Barber during the FOX broadcast.
Literally, Joe went over to Publix to grab some grub this morning wearing a Buccaneers t-shirt, and Joe was laughed at by the bag boy and fieled a snide comment from an old guy wearing a Bears t-shirt in the store parking lot. And that was before this season-ending humiliation in Atlanta. That’s how far it’s fallen; fans can’t even wear Bucs colors around town without taking it on the chin.
While Joe will tip his cap to Elbert Mack, Larry Asante, Preston Parker and Dezmon Briscoe for their efforts today, (minus Parker’s unflagged left hook to Dunta Robinson’s head), Joe looks forward to writing about massive changes this month.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Who I want for coaches:
Head Coach – Tom Clements
Green Bay QB Coach
Offensive Coordinator – John Ramsdell
Chargers QB Coach
Defensive Coordinator – Clarence Brooks
Ravens DL Coach
I’m curious, does anyone think that would not be a good set of coaches? Do the research first.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:20 pm
Seems like Lynch was saying, without saying, we need a new coach.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Its about time you came around, you sure dont rush to conclusions do you?
January 1st, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Raheem will be fired tomorrow, w/o a doubt.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:25 pm
I sure don’t. 😉
That said, the season is over officially and I’m offering an olive branch to you and others I’ve ticked off.
Doesn’t mean I won’t disagree though.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:27 pm
With all the success an offensive minded, task master style college to pro coach like Jim Harbaugh, why not go with a young, firey guy like Mike Gundy at Ok. St. Or Clements at GB and O’Brien from NE
January 1st, 2012 at 8:27 pm
i dont even know where to start, so i wont. what a waste of three years of my life.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Pete you thought Rah Rah Morris was a great hire and you wanted to extend him. If we listened to you we would be stuck with rah and suffer a decade or more of blowout losses.
I think that you have forfeited your credibility on the subject of proper head coaches. Tom Clements will be hired by Penn State.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Rejoice, gotbbucs, the worse season in recent memory is over. Now, hopefully, we’re on the road to improvement.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Hopefully this will not be a prolonged or protracted event
January 1st, 2012 at 8:30 pm
No harm Joe, you havent ticked me off I just couldnt see how others couldnt see the flaws in this coaching and plan.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Any one notice how fat the Gramatticas got?
January 1st, 2012 at 8:31 pm
You guys are nuts. Why fire Raheem? A new coach especially a big name coach will want the Bucs to spend money and the Glazers won’t be doing that until 2013. It isn’t about appeasing the fans either. The Bucs haven’t been selling too many tix in a while. They could care less about selling tix. The TV contract gives them a profit even with an empty Ray J.
Now you may argue that the Bucs would be leaving money on the table but there is no guarantee that spending more money up front will create a winner and fill the stands. Would you take that risk?
Come on Joe? If my logic is flawed then prove it. It’s just business folks!
January 1st, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Parker’s unflagged left hook was the 2nd best moment of the game, behind only Penn’s retaliatory shoving of that dirty Falcon turnstyle corner. At least those 2 guys have some pride and toughness after getting abused by teams week after week.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:32 pm
I counted Joe talking in the third person seven times. This should qualify him for a position on an NFL team. Jeez Joe, jeb says its about time you came around. Jeb is glad you finally saw the light.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Joe here,
@jeb — Welcome to JoeBucsFan.com
January 1st, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Well said Joe. I’m generally not in favor of wholesale changes, but this thing needs to be blown up. We need a new coach, 2 new coordinators, a new scat back, a completely new linebacking corps, 1 stud safety, a deep threat receiver and a franchise cb.
Anyone like the idea of reaching out to Herm to get this thing back on track?
January 1st, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Mark:
You have a point but unlike most fans, Joe does want — all together now — a big-name coach. Why? Of the six NFC playoff teams, five coaches were not NFL head coaches in their previous gigs. McCarthy, Payton, Tomlin, Harbaugh (both)… on and on the best NFL coaches today are in their first terms as an NFL head coach.
There’s also a reason why big-name coaches are unemployed.
Add to that Jeff Fisher makes Joe want to yawn. When was his last playoff win, 2003? Oh.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Joe here,
@Mark — If Team Glazer didn’t want to sell tickets, then they wouldn’t have slashed ticket prices repeatedly during this regime, plus parking and concessions. If you want to say the Glazer’s only care about money, then you can’t have it both ways and say they don’t care about ticket revenue and the potential growth in that area.
As for money spent not putting butts in the seats, well, Joe’s quite sure not spending money and/or making other changes would lose butts in the seats. And no good business person is interested in lost revenue.
Lastly, any big name coach will be drooling by over the amount of money the Bucs will need to spend over the next few years. Plus they have legitimate talent in the trenches and a 23-year-old quarterback with all the tools. Don’t kid yourself. This is a very attractive job.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:42 pm
I would rather have a head coach with EXPERIENCE,this time! I hope Luvie Smith gets fired and they bring him and Marrinelli back to Tampa.There would be discipline and Exp. OC John Ramsdell would be OK I would rather have Clements as OC.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Martin Gramatica was at the game?
January 1st, 2012 at 8:43 pm
@Jeb – Enjoy this link and your banishment from JoeBucsFan.com … Ripping the host with lies is not tolerated. So you may want to get your facts straight a-hole. –Joe
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/19307/buccaneers-paid-for-own-practice-facility
January 1st, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Pete, coaching staffs aren’t fantasy teams. You can’t just pick and choose putting coaches together trying to make a super staff…Any HC who’s hired will have the ability to fill out the rest of his staff. So while the suggestion of Clements as a HC is a decent one, its extremely improbable that he doesn’t pick his own staff once hired. So your question while interesting just isn’t realistic if you follow the NFL.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Jeb:
So you are saying the Glazers didn’t spend one dime on the facility? See above.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Why would we hire another position coach and elevate to HC like we did with Raheem? Clearly that didn’t work. We don’t need a career assistant coach, we need a well defined and respected HC or Coordinator. The entire organization including the fans need a shot of adrenaline.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:48 pm
Mike Gundy!
January 1st, 2012 at 8:48 pm
HJH:
Because, if a Super Bowl is your goal, the odds are heavily in your favor by hiring a coordinator.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Joe,
I hear what you are saying but I believe the Glazers slashed ticket prices to make it apparent to the league that they were making an effort to show sensitivity towards the financial situation of the fan base. The ticket cuts were only done after the TV deal was in place.
I’m telling you. We are all being hoodwinked here. It will be the London or LA Bucs in a few short years complete with another sweetheart stadium deal.
You read it here!
Please try to come with accurate takes. The Bucs have been cutting ticket prices long before the new TV deal. Coupons from sponsors even emerged last year.–Joe
January 1st, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Mark:
If Team Glazer is as money hungry as some would have everyone believe, why wouldn’t they want to sell more tickets?
Joe grew up with Bill Bidwill as an NFL owner. Team Glazer is Danny Snyder by comparison.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:00 pm
@ Patrick, not @ the game, the commercial w/ the Buc fan that misses the field goal.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Joe – I hear ya. I just think we can see clearly now that the elevation of someone from being a position coach to HC over night doesn’t work. I agree that a hot coordinator is probably the way to go and the way we will go.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Joe,
To sell more tix they would need to invest in a new regime and free agents. They would have to spend up front. And if that pans out then maybe they sell a few more tix. In other words it isn’t a safe bet. Again the TV contract dwarfs the ticket sale profits
January 1st, 2012 at 9:08 pm
There is no doubt we have quitters on this team, if they don’t want to be here to fight for this team, then they don’t need to be here period
January 1st, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Joe wrote about that a month ago.
Money is money. Selling more tickets = revenue. Can assure you keeping Rah won’t sell one ticket.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Well, we gave up at least 30 points in seven games and mote than 40 in 4 of those. The talent level of all NFL players is too close to suggest that lack of it will lead to that. Even the Detroit team of 2009 didn’t play that bad. The talent is there on every team to be competetive. This is clearly a coaching issue. Bad tackling, players out of position, receivers running wrong routes and dropping passes and penalties equals lack of dixipline and game planning….and that equals coaching
January 1st, 2012 at 9:15 pm
The Bucs will not move to London. Ever.
No existing team will do so. If London gets a team, it will have to be a NEW franchise.
As far as L.A., Franchises are added in pairs…so there you go.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:18 pm
where is their evidence that freeman is a franchise qb? PLEASE WATCH THE GAMES WHEN IT IS RELEVANT.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Freeman is a bit handicapped when he is down 21-0 in the 1st quarter…in close games, he was fine. He can’t carry a bad team…he’s not manning or Brady. He can be an eli, flacco, rivers level.of qb.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Because hiring big name coaches hasn’t been panning out very well for teams around the league I look for us to hire a position coach or a coordinator. Certainly Tom Clements has been talked about and if the price is right I don’t think he would choose Penn State over a HC job in the NFL. One thing is for sure, this team and this coaching staff will not look the same next season. I really was stupid enough to believe it couldn’t get any worse….I was wrong. Even my dog was whining at half time. I finally turned the TV off and just now logged on to see how badly we got trounced. I was amazed we put up 24. What did Atlanta do…call up their practice squad?? Pathetic…
January 1st, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Last time we hired a guy with head caching experience we won a little thing called the Super Bowl.
Yawning is better than gagging Mr. Joe.
Id take Fisher or Turner if Cowher and Coughlin are unavailable.
And Dominik sorely needs walking papers too.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:55 pm
Simply put, this season was unexceptible . Changes have to be made as of right now, its time for the glazers to come out from their rock and take control of this teams future again.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Broncos, Rams, Pats, Bucs, Colts, Giants all had coaches who had previously been head coaches elsewhere.
A majority of Super Bowl winners since 98 by a wide margin.
If ever a team needed a tried and true experienced leader it is these buccaneers.
January 1st, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Joe, you shouldnt wear your “i love Mark Dominik” bucs t-shirt in public. Some folks might chuckle-even a bag boy.
save it for home.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 am
“Broncos, Rams, Pats, Bucs, Colts, Giants all had coaches who had previously been head coaches elsewhere.” Eric…I rest my point.