“He Wants To Prove You Can Still Win 17-14”

July 22nd, 2014

lovie smith 0106bIt’s been made very clear that the Bucs will be playing old school, Tampa-2 defense under Lovie Smith.

Most Tampa Bay fans pray the hire of offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford means the Bucs won’t be delivering old school Tony Dungy offense, but don’t count on it.

That’s the word from noted NFL and Bucs scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman, of The Tampa Tribune.

“I think the way Lovie wants to win it … he wants to prove you can still win 17-14 football games. I don’t know that you can, but he’s going to give it a heck of a shot,” Kaufman told Steve Duemig on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

What that really means is unclear. Kaufman went on to say the Seahawks Super Bowl win reinforces Lovie’s philosophy.

But that’s almost hard for Joe to believe, based on how the Bucs approached building their offensive line this season.

Seattle had the No. 4-ranked running attack. Does Lovie expect to pound the rock like the Seahawks behind such a suspect O-line? It’ll be fun to watch this all develop.

You can listen to the entire Kaufman-Duemig conversation below. Very entertaining.

19 Responses to ““He Wants To Prove You Can Still Win 17-14””

  1. BUC4LIFE79 Says:

    The MAJORITY of NFL games are decided by 3 points or less…but the gr8 I-rah doesn’t know if Lovie can win those games?? Or he just doesn’t know that most games are in fact decided by 3 points or less… Hey EYERAH…SHUT UP!! Or keep talking, I’m sick today so I needed a good laugh.

  2. Buccfan37 Says:

    I guess Buc fans are in for a season of nailbiters. Not that it would be a bad thing. No glory in losing a bunch of close games, unless keeping it close will satisfy some.

  3. Joseph Mamma Says:

    I think all the pass catching draft picks this year prove otherwise. Those picks suggest that Lovie wants to score some points through the air.

  4. biff barker Says:

    The Glazers want offense because the excitement sells seats and wins games too. Anybody really think we can hold NOLA to 14 points?
    Lovie was canned over that same core defense first philosophy. Times change and he had the offensive mind in Tedfprd lined up before he was hired. Every single draft pick went to that side of the ball too.
    Dungy ball is dead. You can’t settle for an average offense in today’s game Ira.

  5. BirdDoggers Says:

    It’s fine to have a strong defense. It’s better to have a strong defense and an offense that can score more than 17 points.

  6. INDYbucsfan Says:

    No way lovie wants close games. Every sign points to a high powered O. Like joe said, why invest so heavily on O if you want to keep your own score low?

  7. Couch Fan Says:

    Though this is true I hope he plans on scoring a lot more than 17 points. Ugh.

  8. tiny tim Says:

    Boy, its good to know the Ira is in the coaching room with Lovie. Or better yet, inside of his head.

  9. Espo Says:

    “Anybody really think we can hold NOLA to 14 points?”

    I do!

  10. Louis Friend Says:

    Nobody spends an entire draft and major components of free agency hoping to score 17. I like Ira, usually, but on this one I think he’s missing the point of the build up so far. You don’t draft Evans then Jenkins right off the bat, sign linemen better known for pass blocking than run blocking – and bring in a QB from free agency just to plan for low scoring games. Makes no sense, so I don’t believe that’s the goal.

  11. Pcolabucfan Says:

    Come on man !! Hey buc fans lets get behind OUR squad and have a fun season I feel it we are going to win the division

  12. QQQ Says:

    Winning 17-14 is good. Winning 31-14 is better.

  13. Eric Says:

    Dungy Ball is fine with me. Created the greatest era in franchise history.

    Sure beats Dominik Ball.

    Or Raheem Ball.

    Or Schiano Ball.

  14. Mike J Says:

    I may be a minority of one, but I LOVED seeing Alstott run the ball 2nd half, & pound the other team into submission.

  15. SoonerninTampa Says:

    Winning 17-14 is fine by me…it sure beats hell out of losing 31-13, 31-23, and 31-20!!!

  16. Bill Byrne Says:

    Who in the world would want to listen to a Kaufman-Duemig conversation?

  17. tickrdr Says:

    Just a reminder: during the last 13 games of last year, the Bucs scored 254 points = 19.5 points per game, and that was with MG8 @ QB, and without Evans, ASJ, Sims, Herron, and all the free agents and other draft picks on the OL. So they have to do better than that with Josh McCown and all the new weapons.

    These are the average PPG allowed by the defenses McCown played full games against in 2013: Balt 22.0, GB 26.8, Dall 27.0, Wash 29.9, and Minn 30.0!

    These are the average PPG allowed by the defenses that MG8 faced in his 13 games:
    Atl x2 ~27.7, Buff 24.2, Pha 23.9, Det 23.5, StL 22.8, Mia 20.9, Ariz 20.2,
    NO 19.0, SF 17.0, Car x 2 ~ 15.1, and Sea 14.4!

    So what’s the point? 4 of 5 of McCown’s games were against opponents giving up ~ 27 ppg or more. Was he that good, or were the opposing defenses that BAD?
    On the other hand, 7 of the 13 defenses that Glennon faced gave up less than 21 PPG on average, and five of those games were against the TOP FOUR scoring defenses in the league. Meanwhile, the Bucs defense allowed 25.5 PPG over that same time. Was Glennon that bad, or were the opposing defenses that GOOD? Peyton AVERAGED more than 3 TDs/game last year, but LOST to Seattle. Was he that bad, or was the Seattle D that GOOD?

    tickrdr

    tickrdr

  18. PRBucFan Says:

    Tedford’s Offense

    Lovies Defense

    Crystal Clear, the whole reason Lovie went and sought him out was because he knows his philosophy didn’t quite work lol. Tedford came with a clear goal and task given to him by Lovie. Run the offense and make it successful.

    Don’t expect restrictions from Lovie.

  19. BoJin Says:

    Mike J Said:

    “I may be a minority of one, but I LOVED seeing Alstott run the ball 2nd half, & pound the other team into submission.”

    I loved when he would run into the pile and you thought the play was over but Alstott would burst out dragging two or three guys with him. That’s why I disliked Gruden. He stopped using him.