Bucs Had A Bad And A Good Offseason
July 7th, 2012
Just the fact former Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson left town means to Joe that the offseason was a success.
It seems as though just yesterday the Bucs just got pistol-whipped by the Dixie Chicks, nearly coughing up “half-a-hundred” points… in the first half!
It was the most brutal of brutal NFL performances Joe had ever witnessed. The coaching staff should have got on their knees and thanked Team Glazer for letting them board the plane back to Tampa it was such a slap in the face to Bucs fans.
The reason why if feels like that alley-beating happened just yesterday is because the Bucs offseason was anything but quiet. They hired a head coach, then some sort of czar of the football staff, then the trickle of assistant hirings, then big and small free agents, and then came the draft and then minicamps and OTAs.
It was a busy offseason.
Mike Tanier of FootballOutsiders.com took note of this and believes the Bucs had both a bad half, and a good half during the offseason.
The first half of this essay was written just before the Combine, when Greg Schiano cobbled together his band of unlikely coaching misfits. There’s Butch Davis, whose job title is carefully crafted so he can double dip on his North Carolina University severance. There’s Jimmy Raye, last seen mumbling into a headset and losing a power struggle to Alex Smith in San Francisco. There’s Bill Sheridan, who was so terrible with the Giants that he was fired before season’s end in 2010 by the most patient organization in the NFL. This is one garbled mess of a coaching staff, with guys like Davis and Raye holding vague titles that all but guarantee chain-of-command questions.
The second half is more optimistic, because the Bucs had a solid draft, made wise free agent acquisitions, and appear to have a decent young nucleus in place. The coaching staff may have some hiccups, but the Bucs will be better than they were in December of 2011. To get any worse, they would have to have all the bones from their bodies removed and live on as jellyfish people.
If the New Schiano Order is such a “garbled mess,” then what exactly would you call that schlock last season running the Bucs? Joe still cannot believe he didn’t rifle his remote through his (then) new HDTV for the notorious Benn’d-around play week after week, game after game.
Then, there was the weekly irresponsible if not dastardly mishandling of LeGarrette Blount.
Watching the Bucs last year was like watching a decent football team on ‘shrooms.
July 7th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
+1 on the Shrooms:)
I think Schiano has done a pretty decent job with his staff, considering.
July 7th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
I’m hoping they will turn Blunt loose and let him run like the Horse he is. He is such an exciting runner. Problem last year in my estimation was Olsen didn’t like Blunt and didn’t want him to have the highlight replays. Joe, do you know who reads this blog ( from the players and coaches ? )
July 7th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Shrooms can be a lot of fun and, depending on company, a great time. The Bucs last year, no matter company, were a complete letdown. Just sayin
July 7th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I like the Staff (full of teachers). Blount & Martin each Rush for a 1000 yards. Vincent Jackson gets 1000 yards. Mike Williams gets 1000 yards.
July 7th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
The Falcons could’ve scored 80 points if they wanted too!!
July 7th, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Sure Joe:
McCoy, Benn, Lewis, Clayton, Black, Nugent, Crowell, Ward etc would have all been great pros if it wasn’t for Olson.
If I recall, you were singing Olson’s praises after 2010.
I have heard numerous bucs from Gerald to Faine, even talib, blame RahRah – not one has blasted Olson. Yet you proceed with this stubborn agenda.
RahRah and domdom were the problems. Period.
July 7th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
So let me get this straight 2.2… you continually tell us you watch things with your own eyes and make your own assessments. But yet you are now telling us you believe the problem was rah and dom simply because nobody has blasted Olsen… so I take it you were completely happy with the horrific offensive play calling from olsen?… The fundamentals were great? Because from reading your post that is what you are suggesting. Dom gets the players here… It’s not his job to teach and get the players to play at there best…. You really are a moron lol
July 7th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
That is right Patrick, and that was all Olson’s fault. Lmao.
Sure dini -4 thousand yard producers at RB and wr. Someone is definitely on shrooms.
I would be surprised if this team has ever had 3 in a season.
Blount is a backup RB guys, give up the dream.
July 7th, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Thomas, Olson ran the offense….had complete control. Had a decent qb, good rb, good receivers and a good line. We watched that group under-perform last year. Bad play calls, no patience with the run even when we were in games, and a qb that regressed. Yet….you think he doesn’t own that?
July 7th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
The problem was NOT the play calling. Not saying it was perfect.
The problem was below average talent (especially on defense and at offensive skill positions minus QB, and absolutely dumb head coaching, no professional practices, idiotic game-planning which DomDom weighed-in on, horrid in-game decisions.
Olson could not overcome the lack of professionalism instituted by rah and Dom with the most ingenious play calling in history.
Yes, the Benn’d around plays were born out of rah and dom’s belief that Benn was more runner than receiver at that point.
Olson was not great, but he was way down on the list of culprits. Olson called plays the same way in 2010, Free regressed bc the team fell apart under no head coaching.
July 7th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Offense finished 27th in scoring.
Defense finished 32nd. Worst in our history.
Apparently replacing the D Coordinator was a bigger gain than replacing the O coordinator.
July 7th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Mikeck:
how did the guy who had complete control of the team and D do?
July 7th, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Benn end arounds and Blount being misused… Blah, blah, blah. Can we see some new content? Beating a dead horse.
July 7th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
If I die I hope Thomas hates me because he will keep the memory of me alive forever. Tommy, Tommy, Tommy…for the love of Pete can you let 2011 go and focus on the here and now?? Raheem is gone dude. We have a whole new coaching staff so it really doesn’t matter how bad he sucked or how good you think Olson was or any of that crap. All that matters is the 2012 season because the whole friggin league is 0-0 right now. We’re tied for first! I’ll even let you fantasize that Schiano controlled the draft if you’ll just not mention Raheem for a few posts.
July 8th, 2012 at 12:05 am
We typically have awesome offseasons followed by reality hitting in the regular season.
Cam, Eli, romo. Best tighten the chinstraps. Gonna be a long rough ride I fear……
July 8th, 2012 at 1:02 am
Come on guys, it’s time to practice some positive thinking. I like the idea that we are tied in first place right now. Let me hear some hope and positive expectations ( you know who I’m talking to). We are going to have a good year! Go Bucs !
July 8th, 2012 at 5:04 am
Last season wasn’t like eating the shrooms; it was more like eating the manure from which they grew. “Blount a “back-up” I hope, so since that will mean we have a pretty good starter. This new coaching staff couldn’t be any worse than the gathering led by Raheem Morris, whose coordinators couldn’t even get through one season before being shown the exit. Raheem then takes Bates’ place. Yeah, that was a step in the right direction. Worse defense I witnessed in 36 years of Bucs history. Time to move on.
July 8th, 2012 at 6:25 am
Speaking if beating a dead horse. Ill take a min to beat it as well. Wasn’t it our ” rock star ” GM who hired all these coaches? Where are you now joe? You articles are starting to contradict themselves. How can our “rock star” GM be such a rock star if he hired all these people who are so incompetent?
No i do not think our offense was olsens fault. But your QB hasn’t learned to throw a touch pass thats not a fade route yet. That’s the QB coach. And who brought him in? Given that our coordinator was limited. So no its not all olsens fault. But he does share the blame.
July 8th, 2012 at 6:37 am
This article is very disconcerting. I don’t have a lot of confidence moving forward.
I believe LaGarette will be used as a 4th string RB like Ernest Graham was. Drafting another RB in the 1st round was the end of him.
When you have a potential 2,000 yard RB riding the pine, it’s suicide for the morale of the team. I wish I had Thomas’s enthusiasm.
July 8th, 2012 at 8:37 am
Joe here,
@evo & others – Yes, Joe realizes many hate his nickname “rockstar” for Mark Dominik. The nickname was born from Dominik’s many national media apperances after the 2010 draft. Do all rockstars play great music? No. As Joe’s written previously, if Joe were assigning blame to coaching vs. general manager for the 2011 season, Joe would have given Dominik no more than 15% of the blame. https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=60040
Joe still stands behind that and is not in the camp that the Bucs were/are so devoid of talent. Coaching, thankfully, was the far greater problem.
July 8th, 2012 at 9:32 am
@joe.. Wow!! 15%?? How is that possible? Just this offseason alone he’s made two huge mistakes and were not even to training camp yet. Promoting Denns Hickey and signing Wright are two more to a list of mistakes that continues to grow by leaps and bounds. This guy hasn’t learned from his past mistakes and continues to give contracts to players that are either not good or don’t deserve it. I would find it difficult to find a worse GM in the NFL or one that an owner(s) allows this many blunders that Dominik has had. He’s made mistakes on players, coaches, personnel… This guy has to feel like the luckiest man alive to still have his job. I just hope this is is his last year and was only retained to help Schiano transition in getting to know what type of players he has. After that I cant imagine any reason the Glazers or the New Schiano Order would want this loser around.
July 8th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
I agree that the Buc organization will be much better off without the leadership of one Marcus Dominick. For all the premium picks we’ve had we still don’t have one elite player drafted since 09. Talib was a Allen/Gruden guy and he’s the closest thing we have.
July 8th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Signing Wright was NOT a mistake. We don’t even know if Wright was beyond the legal limit. He’d been drinking during the daylight hours and he was pulled over late at night.
Depending on how much he’d had to drink, at the time he was pulled over he may well have been below the limit.
And he didn’t submit to the breath test because all NFL Players are advised not to do so…that an independent test is best. And we have not heard the results of his independent test yet (if he got one).
And why is promoting Dennis Hickey a mistake. I’d like to know. Really.
As to THOMAS…
…you criticize people for defending Rah or Dominick, yet you defend Olson? Talk about a double standard.
Listen, we don’t know if the decision to hire Morris as head coach was the choice of Dominick or the Glazers. The Glazers may have felt they’d lost Morris once, promised him a bright future to come back, and felt obligated to promote him.
Certainly, Dominick has made some poor choices in the draft, but not all of them were poor. This is the third year on his first Dline picks…lets get this season behind us and then decide if Price or GMC are truly busts. Look at it this way…after this season, if you are right about GMC, you’ll have bragging rights. Justified bragging rights.
MY PREDICTIONS THIS SEASON
a. At least one 1,000 yard rusher. I would love to see two, but I’m still skeptical about the upcoming commitment to the running game.
b. At least one 1,000 yard receiver.
c. A 800+ yard Reciever.
d. 3-7 Possible probowlers. Nicks, Jackson, Zuttah, Williams and one of our running backs. If Foster improves his game dramatically, we could see him make the PB this year of next.
e. Regardless of how well he does, Talib will be snubbed from the Pro Bowl.
f. Josh Freeman will improve dramatically. Will he make the Pro Bowl because of it? I think that depends on his areas of improvement and how much. If it’s just a lack of mistakes (or reduced) he probably will not make it there, but if he racks up the yards and looks like he can come out fast and hard in games, he’ll make it.
July 8th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
FreemanBomb5 Says:
July 8th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
I agree that the Buc organization will be much better off without the leadership of one Marcus Dominick. For all the premium picks we’ve had we still don’t have one elite player drafted since 09. Talib was a Allen/Gruden guy and he’s the closest thing we have.
.
I disagree that Talib is close to an elite pick. He’s a starter, no doubt. But near elite? I actually believe that Wright might be a better CB this year. Talib blew play after play last year.
E. J. Biggers will have a few starts thanks to suspensions. If he’s smart, he’ll give 150% during all his plays, because he’s got a quiter label on him now.
So far as the closest player we have to elite? My money is on one Adrian Clayborn.
July 8th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
@Pete Talib was playing a little banged up and had terrible safety play above him. No way is Wright a better player this year or any year over Talib. Wright would start for probably 2/3s to half of the NFL based on his play so far in the league. Talib would start for all but a very few teams in this league.
I would like to see some evidence of quitting by EJ. I remember watching him scrap and claw to get guys down (Roddy White to be specific), run hard to make special teams blocks, etc and I remember people like Sean Jones miss a tackle and just lay there. I would like to see some evidence of him quitting.
and Clayborn over Nicks as the closest to elite? I think the two time All Pro wins that one.
July 8th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
The staff will look substantially different in 2013 or 14. Butch is the pregnant elephant in the room.
July 9th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
“Mikeck:
how did the guy who had complete control of the team and D do”
Uhhh..Thomas…guy in control of the team and D did horribly…which is why he was fired. Rour point was that Olson should not have been. Mine is that they all should have gone. You seek to always be the contrarian and now seem to believe that Olson was some tupe of misunderstood offensive genius