Melton: Titans Didn’t Surprise Bucs

September 13th, 2015
The image of Titans QB Marcus Mariota will haunt the Bucs for many years.

The image of Titans QB Marcus Mariota will haunt the Bucs for many years.

The way Marcus Mariota and the Titans riddled the defense of the Bucs, you would have thought the Bucs were instead preparing for Peyton Manning’s bombs-away offense.

The Bucs looked totally lost, unprepared, inept in every defensive phase.

But hold on. Bucs defensive lineman Henry Melton said coaches had players preparing for short passes and read-option-like throws from rookie quarterback, Marcus Mariota. At least, that’s what Melton told Joe in the Bucs’ locker room this evening after a galling season-opening beatdown.

JoeBucsFan: When [the Titans] came up with short drops and some variations of a read-option, did that throw you guys off? Were you expecting that? Was that something they just pulled out of a hat?

Henry Melton: Yeah, we went over the option. We did all of that.

Joe: So you expected some of that?

Melton: Yeah. That was his game, even in college. So, it didn’t work out for us today.

Melton later said the Titans didn’t call any plays that surprised him or his defensive teammates.

“We had a thorough walk-through. We had a thorough practice,” Melton said. “It just didn’t happen for us.”

Joe is going to go out on a limb and suggest whatever the Bucs practiced to combat Mariota was woefully inept. Maybe next time, Lovie might want to go talk to Nick Saban or Urban Meyer to try to learn how to defend such an offense.

But that might mean Lovie would have to adjust his defense. We know how likely that is.

Then again, will Lovie get another chance?

22 Responses to “Melton: Titans Didn’t Surprise Bucs”

  1. Broy34WantsHardyornowatch Says:

    Seriously Joe I mentioned on Twitter what are the chances because it will spark this team if he’s canned. Not firing him is accepting mediocrity. No different than if they kept the ghost

  2. richbucsfan Says:

    We were told since OTA’s that the Bucs were preparing for the Titans. We told the same in preseason. And, after all those months of prep, we get this? Are you kidding me? What will it look like when there are just a few days to prepare? Looks bad to me.

  3. Elle Says:

    Is that a joke? So they weren’t surprised and they got beat like that anyway? Either Melton is spinning lies and he doesn’t know what he’s saying or we have a bunch of morons who will always get outplayed, no matter how much they prepare for a game

  4. Kalind Says:

    They gotta let him go. They got Frazier. Why keep him? I’m serious. Ask the question. Why keep him? I’d like an answer.

  5. Ray Rice Says:

    Sooooooooo….. Tell me what exactly happened then Henry! You guys sure as hell looked confused to me.

  6. The Dom Must Go Says:

    Defense looked lost against rookie QB ” not nfl ready ” going to be a long season. No talent on this roster, looked totally out coached! Go back to your BASEMENT Lovie….

  7. Bucs53 Says:

    I don’t see Lovie getting canned during the season. Who replaces him—Frazier? Our OC? None of those seem like great options, and after surviving the Arroyo debacle last year I just don’t see the Bucs choosing to get an interim HC.

  8. BrianBucs Says:

    So “America’s Quarterback” turned into “America’s Disappointment” and the defense couldn’t stop a 2-14 offense with a rookie QB. I wonder what rock Jason Licht is hiding under this evening

  9. Yungry Says:

    People laughed at me for saying Marcus>Winston… All those that said Winston is more pro-ready back around draft time proved today you have no idea what you are talking about. 1-15 this year! Maybe beat the Jags

  10. BucFan20 Says:

    So he is better than you thought he was?

  11. The original "Kevin" Says:

    This is not why the team lost obviously….but back to the article joe had about the glaziers being irrelevant. Isnt it funny how Marotta had “forward progress”while he was still in the pocket. Or funny how the clean hit early in the first quarter was a personal foul yet the cowboys just laid a worse hit on odb and its perfectly fine? Or how weisenhunt challenged our 1st down conversion yet any other prime time game it would have been inconclusive evidence. Back the the hit lavante laid the jets last season and lost us the game….yet we see that same hit in almost every other nfl game.

    Look Lovie cant coach this team…we need an offensive minded head coach and a dc that blitzes and plays man coverage. MAYBE if that happens AND we get owners that actually come to the stadiums where theyre teams play….than MAYBE Winston has a chance. But lets face it I dont give a sh! Who you are….everyone that watched that game knows who yhe better qb was long term and present and it sure as hell wasnt ours. HE SUCKED!!!WE SUCK…UNTIL THEY WIN GAMES SCREW THE GLAZIERS AND SCREW THE PLAYERS SCREW THE COACHES. UNLIKE THEM I WILL BE DOING MY JOB AND DOING IT WELL TOMORROW AND EVERY OTHER DAY I GO TO WORK. SEIGE THE DAY !!!!YEAH!!!!! So glad to be a friekin BUCS FAN!!!WWHOO HOO!!! SCREW THIS TEAM!!!

  12. BucGator Says:

    Or maybe Mariota is just that good and we let the future Aaron Rodgers go with the second pick?

  13. Posey99 Says:

    DIRK KOETTER FOR HEAD COACH. Also fire whoever is in charge of reviewing plays upstairs for the bucs.

  14. The original "Kevin" Says:

    FIRE HIS ASS RIGHT NOW AND PROMOTE KOETTER. WE HAVE TWO CORNERS PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF PLAYING MAN. WE HAVE GUYS CAPABLE OF BLITZING. WE HAVE DIRK KOETTER. I JUST HOPE IF THAT WERE TO HAPPEN THE GLAZIERS PLANE WOULD GET LOST ON A DESERTED ISLAND FOR TWENTY YEARS. I WONY WISH HARM ON THEM CUZ ITS WRONG BUT IF THEY WERE TO VANISH OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH I WOULD BE VERRRRRY HAPPY. STARTS AT THE TOP AND THE FANS ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RAIN BARREL

  15. StPeteBucsFan Says:

    Bucs53

    Exactly! Odds are strong Lovie is not going to get fired till the end of the season.
    He certainly won’t get fired after one freaking game!

    How many coaches in the NFL get fired in mid season? Most get fired on “Black Monday” after the season ends.

  16. nate_tweetz Says:

    @BucGator We played Rodgers last year and held him to 1 passing TD. So Mariota would be 4 times greater than Rodgers if your comparison holds true.

  17. jj Says:

    Poorly coached team That makes poor draft choices. Lovie and his chuckleing belly laughing GM should be held responsible for takeing the second best QB in the draft and letting a unique talent like Mariota go to another team. Doesn’t look like we can compete at the NFL level.They looked a lot like last years team

  18. BucsFan85 Says:

    Some fans, SMH, yeah start all over again. That’s the answer.

  19. Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Says:

    BucGator Says:
    September 13th, 2015 at 9:09 pm
    Or maybe Mariota is just that good and we let the future Aaron Rodgers go with the second pick?

    ——————————————————————————————-

    Mariota is that good BucGator, and we let him get away, what a terrible mistake.

  20. Don Says:

    Did any of last years games look this bad?

  21. Phred Says:

    “It just didn’t happen for us.”

    Does that mean he has no idea what went wrong or how to fix it?

  22. Jim Palm Harbor Says:

    The Bucs are on the clock! Trade the pick for a Gm & coaching staff.