Hard To Believe

November 2nd, 2017

Difficult to imagine.

When the Bucs finished 9-7 last year, narrowly missing the playoffs, Bucs fans if not national pundits thought Tampa Bay was just a hair away from the postseason.

But a combination of injuries, inconsistent if not half-arsed play, and soiling their briefs, has the Bucs finding themselves much closer to a top-five draft pick in April than they do a wild card berth in January.

So when America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, took the lectern and talked about the current state of the Bucs today, Joe is pretty sure he spoke for just about every Bucs fan out there. Jameis said, looking back on training camp, if he were to project where he expected the team to be as November began, he “couldn’t even imagine” being 2-5.

Only devout haters would have.

Jameis added a big reason why the team is 2-5 is on him. He needs to look in the mirror, Jameis said, and find ways he can improve in all aspects of his game, though he cited his numbers on third downs would be a good place to start. Jameis also noted each of his teammates needs to do some mirror-gazing as well.

When Jameis was asked if there was still a culture problem in the locker room as he memorably described following his final rookie game, Jameis initially stated “no,” but explained with an answer that was a non-answer.

Sometimes, what is not said speaks volumes.

20 Responses to “Hard To Believe”

  1. darin Says:

    When Dirk tossed in the towel in the first half of the cards game I gave up on him. Im sure thats when he lost alot of respect from the national pundits too. Then giving up points gave up that game. In my eyes its time to move on from dirk. Never seen a coach give up before, probably never will again. That was hard to believe too.

  2. Dewey Selmon Says:

    Just turn 2-5 into 3-5 and we’ll talk next week. One game at a time.

  3. DB55 Says:

    It’s not a devout hater it’s people who analyzes data while other discard the data as rubbish. The preseason told us that we couldn’t score TDs. And when you compared our performance/effort with other teams playing the same opponents we seems to work much harder for simple things like a first down.

    I told you then and I’ll say it again neither Monken nor Bajakin are nfl caliber coaches and are doing nothing for this offense. Furthermore, our offensive line is going to get Jameis hurt, oops too late, But wtf do I know?!

  4. Bob in Valrico Says:

    Fix what you can fix,Jameis and let the coaches worry about the other stuff.

  5. unbelievable Says:

    DB55 I agree with you on Monken / Bajakian.

    I think Monken is fine as a WR coach, but the truth is Dirk needs a real OC. He can’t seem to do both jobs. And Bajakian is not getting any consistent improvement out of Jamies yet. That is a huge problem.

  6. Joe Says:

    I told you then and I’ll say it again neither Monken nor Bajakin are nfl caliber coaches and are doing nothing for this offense.

    You really have no clue if you are suggesting this about Monken.

    Bajakian? Will agree there. Don’t see anything that he has done (past or present) that merits results. Might be able to argue working on Jameis’ mechanics screwed him up.

  7. Not there yet Says:

    Injuries are not an excuse for this team. This is all about production because if I’m not mistaken Carolina just got their middle linebacker back when they beat us. The defensive line is being outplayed, corners getting burned and the scheme sucks. The media spends all we’ll making excuses and trying to put a positive spin on bad football and bad play calling. Like Kwon said as a rookie if you can ball you can ball, it’s all the same it’s all football so no excuses was what I heard all off-season so don’t start now that they can’t live up to the hype because that’s so common, it’s the one thing they are consistent at.

  8. Duke Says:

    DB55

    Thank you for bringing the two coaches up. It’s boring to read reread and reread 100 times again the exact same posts from the same people. Seldom if ever is there a modicum of depth in these ridiculously time wasting redondit posts. Today you’re bring up something that has bothered me for awhile. Coach Bajakian.

    This guy’s resume is rice paper thin and unless there’s a hidden side to his expertise I frankly don’t see it. JW’s accuracy issues is the first thing that identicated to me that this hire isn’t a great one.

    Thanks for not bringing the standard cut and paste pornography.

  9. Michael Wright Says:

    Dirk Koetter..Like I said before his hire is a very good OC. He’d fit well into the college ranks. I don’t nor have I ever thought, he was NFl head Coaching material. He’s like a players coach…more in the Raheem mode. Let him call a few plays and devote himself to one thing only and he’s fine. But he’s in over his head with the Bucs as you all will see in games to come. Again, theres big cause why Atlanta’s owner Arthur Blanks let him and Smith walk. We are seeing why now.

  10. DB55 Says:

    Joe Says:
    November 2nd, 2017 at 2:05 pm
    I told you then and I’ll say it again neither Monken nor Bajakin are nfl caliber coaches and are doing nothing for this offense.

    You really have no clue if you are suggesting this about Monken
    ——
    Well then educate me bruda man. Drop some knowledge on me. Bc the way I see it the Panthers just traded a first round WR and replaced him with a guy that you said ” is a nice story, but Joe’s standards at receiver are much higher and it will take a hell of a lot for Shepard to convince Joe he’s the real deal as a wideout.”

    Enlighten us, tell me more about the great white hope Rudy Humphries.

  11. Getaclue Says:

    This season isn’t much different from last season, we started out 1-3 then improved to 3-5 last year . We pulled our head out our asses a little too late, just like we have this season during games we should have won. Too little too late

  12. DB55 Says:

    Duke

    I aim to please.

  13. LakeLand Says:

    I guess I was one of those “Devout Haters”, because I picked them to go 7-9.

  14. Lord Cornelius Says:

    Russel Shepard iis averaging like 1-2 catches a game this year … I have no problems with him being gone. THe Panthers didn’t trade Benjamin because of how awesme Rus is.

    In regards to Monken – he did fix Mike Evans last year; if you want to point to an obvious improvement. In general he seems to have been a huge catalyst for ME going from a big guy with potential / dropsies into a top 2-3 WR in 2016. He’s regressed a little this year; but really other than Carolina hasn’t had big drop issues.

    I duno about Bajakan. I’d be fine with trying someone else out there.

  15. DB55 Says:

    THe Panthers didn’t trade Benjamin because of how awesme Rus is.
    ———-
    Liar liar pants on fire.

  16. unbelievable Says:

    I’ve spent most of this season thinking Dirk is overwhelmed as HC and OC, so maybe it’s time to let Monken be the real OC and see if he’s any good at it.

    However, Dirk called a great offensive game plan against Buffalo. And I would even venture to say he called a good game against Carolina, the players just couldn’t execute. At all. But I guess that goes back to him at a certain point?

    I dunno, I’m just so sick of rebuilding and firing coaches again and again, I’d rather give Dirk another year and see what happens. Maybe make him bring in new OC and DC though…

  17. 813bucboi Says:

    I told you then and I’ll say it again neither Monken nor Bajakin are nfl caliber coaches and are doing nothing for this offense.

    don’t be shy….throw dirk in that mix too!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!

  18. Bucs4821 Says:

    I love Jameis’ competitiveness but I think his coaches should put together a reel of Brady and Manning throwing the football out of bounds or taking a sack to protect the ball. I remember Joe pointed that out as one of the best aspects of Jameis’ game vs Chicago and when I saw it during the game I felt the same way.

  19. Kobe Faker Says:

    Kobe told the sheep here we needed a real OC/playcaller and different scheme over a year ago

    Koetter schemes suck and he doesnt know how to use our players to their best abilities

    Hump should be cut immediately. This slow mo is taking important targets from our rac playmakers OJ and godwin

    Kobe shamed koetter to target OJSTOCKER with 6 targets and our offense flowed like we all thought it can in preseson…

    But the Klown went back to hardly no targets for OJ. 6 out of 6 catches, 100 yards and 2 tds isnt good enough?

    Monken isnt the OC. He doesnt even have a playsheet jn front of him during the games since hes been here. He is the wr coach and thats it.

    I would bet my life that koetter would never ever be successful in the NFL as a OC in the future. Ever

    Its worthless talking about this. Ive been posting this over a year ago

    Koetter sucks

  20. derrickbrooksforGM Says:

    Great to hear someone asked about culture. What else can it be? You have the weapons the talent but they still suck. If Raheem can go 10 and 6 with a much less talented team and get canned half way through the next year they sure as hell can fire Koetter. Needs to happen soon.