“The Best Playcalling Performance Of All The Games So Far This Season”
November 14th, 2018
Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dirk Koetter has not earned a pink slip.
That was the clear and detailed message from Anthony Becht as the former Buccaneers, Jets, Rams and Cardinals tight end explained on his podcast Spittin’ Fire.
Becht did call the Bucs offense against the Redskins “disgraceful,” however. And His finger-wagging was directly specific players while he praised Koetter for being a difference-maker as a playcaller.
Remember, it was Koetter’s first game calling plays this season after he asked offensive coordinator Todd Monken to replace him in that role.
“I thought this game, from a playcalling standpoint by Dirk Koetter, was the the best playcalling performance of all the games so far this season,” Becht said. “I thought that the team was smooth. I thought Fitzpatrick was slicin’ them up. But there were crucial mistakes in this football game. Crucial mistakes in this game that were player, player happenings. The player.”
Becht outlined seven key screwups that weren’t on the head coach/playcaller.
To summarize, there was Ryan Fitzpatrick’s overthrow in the end zone early in the game (intercepted), and Fitz’s early underthrow in the end zone to Mike Evans, which was broken up.
Then there was the scramble run by Fitz when he ran backwards as he approached the first-down marker to avoid a defender. And Becht followed that up with center Ryan Jensen’s rolled snap for a huge loss, and then the second Fitzpatrick interceptions. The Bucs’ seven deadly sins (not including the brutal kicking) were wrapped up with Jacquizz Rodgers’ lost fumble and the Mike Evans TD drop (Becht noted Fitzpatrick had bad balance when throwing it).
Becht was adamant that Koetter doesn’t deserve to be fired right now, though he acknowledges that the team record does fall on the head coach. There’s no quit visible in the team, Becht said, and he’s good with Fitzpatrick continuing to start at QB.
November 14th, 2018 at 9:49 am
I never thought the playcalling was bad. It was the first time in a while we moved the ball consistently, not just when we were down 3 TD’s. I don’t blame Koetter at all for that. There’s still plenty to blame him for, but I’m just not going to pile on with stuff that isn’t his fault.
November 14th, 2018 at 9:50 am
How about only giving OJ two targets all game? Is that not on the play caller either? Bucs need to do what the 9ers are doing for Kittle, move him around. Koetter is in over his head and it really shows.
November 14th, 2018 at 9:51 am
Something I posted on another website after being at the game on Sunday. Shout out to your boy, Florio and Crew!
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I am not really a fan of Koetter and his decisions as Coach (always bringing back Bernard Reedy & Freddy Martino, keeping Mike Smith a year and a half too long, keeping Catan-ZERO -FGs-made, etc.), but the guy isn’t the one that threw the picks in the Red Zone or fumbled the ball. He’s not out there at RT/LT/RG whiffing on blocks left and right. He’s not CONSTANTLY having pre-snap %^%^&($$(%# penalties! He’s not the one missing tackles and not filling run-fits.
Those are all on the players.
Bucs are cursed as far as I am concerned. It’s a Buc’s life!
November 14th, 2018 at 9:52 am
He’s right
Best offense ever in teams history.
Wins are coming soon.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:02 am
Agreed shooter.
Glad some of us are trying to stay positive and get behind this team. Worst fan base in the NFL.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:05 am
Good playcalling isn’t calling a 5’7 rb deep out in the red zone between a lb and a safety. A play dirk admits was just installed and barely practiced.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:09 am
Something is making this team CHOKE at the worst possible times. ME’s drop of the TD…Brates drop of what could have set up another TD…I could go on and on here but I appreciate Anthony Becht straightening it our.
Players play…coaches coach…if the players play like sheet then it doesn’t much matter about the play calling.
This does not absolve Koetter in any way however. Where does choking…lack of concentration come from on a team. I gotta believe a lot of that is on Koetter…why do his teams choke so regularly?
November 14th, 2018 at 10:11 am
3 points = good play calling game?
November 14th, 2018 at 10:12 am
Maybe Dirk’s playcalling was stellar, maybe it wasn’t. The bottom line is he is responsible for ALL aspects of the game.
If his players aren’t getting the job done, it stands to reason that they aren’t particularly well coached, from coordinators to position coaches. Those people are Dirk’s responsibility as well.
Mike McCarthy essentially cut Ty Montgomery for failing to follow his orders. Ty Montgomery is a pretty good football player, but if you defy the coach..you gone. I find that refreshing.
Point is this team isn’t disciplined. Teams take on the personality of their HC. This team has definitely taken on Dirk’s. Soft, indecisive, not really sure of what they are doing..defininetly NOT DISCIPLINE DRIVEN.
You can have the greatest players on earth, but if you don’t know how to coach them, they will not get the job done.
Dirk wants to be a play calller, not a head coach.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:13 am
Becht makes some good points about players playing and the offense consistently moving the ball, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Here’s why. Koetter doesn’t have a fundamentally sound football team and that falls on the COACHING. His red zone playcalling is putrid and was putrid last year and the year before that. Koetter cannot evaluate talent and his decisions on who’s playing in specific situations in just mind-boggling (eg no Howard in the game in the red zone). This is a scheme issue and that again is on the COACH. It’s fine to call out players for not doing there job, but even after playing horribly week after week, like Benenoch, the guy still gets run out there week after week. Again, that’s on the COACH.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:14 am
Wins coming. Bold call given playing the Giants then the 49ers.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:20 am
Eric — Yes.. Can’t turn the ball over… I don’t think Koetter has a play called “overthrow for pick in red zone on 3.” Or “fumble shotgun snap on two”. The players were sloppy and it cost us.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:22 am
the philly game was the best of the year imo…..its dirks playcalling in the red zone that is horrible…..and the lack of run game between the 20’s is why we cant score in the red zone…..teams know when we get into the redzone its pass pass pass…..
dirk deserves to get fired right now if not last sunday……
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
November 14th, 2018 at 10:25 am
HE’S THE HEAD COACH NOT THE OC!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLAY CALLING IS THE LAST ISSUE THIS TEAM HAS
HIS PLAYERS ARE UNDISCIPLINED, ROUTINELY LACK EFFORT AND FOCUS
IT IS 1000000000000000% ON THE HEAD COACH!
WAKE UP SHEEP!!!!
November 14th, 2018 at 10:25 am
The head coach has no input over the execution of his team on designed plays?
I guess no head coach can ever be fired. “I’m calling the right plays but they keep screwing them up”
This sounds like complete BS to me.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:29 am
Regarding play calling. I never thought Dirk was a bad play caller. Never. I do think he has a poor scheme that leads to high pressure on the QB and red zone struggles. Funny how the same things Given his scheme, he calls a good game. Still not a good head coach. Two very different things.
Want to have some fun???? Go back and google 2014, Mike Smith fired. Read about the league worst defense and losses despite the team putting up big yardage behind Matt Ryan. Want some more fun. Look up Matt Ryan and check out his stat line especially yards, Ints and QBR after Koetter left. Things that make you go hmmm.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:35 am
All I know is Godwin and Howard were invisible in the red zone that game and are our best most efficient red zone targets.
Definitely left TDs and plays on the field due to players sucking 4ss when it counted… but Koetter’s red zone inefficiencies are going on 7 years now through various teams/personnel.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:36 am
Just because OJ didnt get the ball it is not on Koetter the other team gets paid to play and scout as well, i fthe film said djax and ME are lazy on their routes and OJ and hump are running hard and getting open then maybe the skins game plan was not let those 2 get the ball and looks like they did that. Koetter probably needs to move OJ around in the next few weeks like out wide and then move djax and ME around to take advantages of mismatches…this week i am guessing collins is on OJ
November 14th, 2018 at 10:38 am
Dirk’s an excellent play caller against 11 players on defense. However, when he sucks at play calling when there’s a 12th man (the back of the end zone). That has been consistent since jump street
I’m thinking, at large, the red zone is where you win/lose games.
What’s Koetter’s record as a head coach again?
Lincoln Riley, please.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:39 am
Dusthty
“djax and ME are lazy on their routes”
THAT is bad coaching
November 14th, 2018 at 10:44 am
Some of you don’t understand that playcalling doesn’t mean that Fitz is making the correct read. Throwing to OJ only twice is on the QB, not the playcaller. Fitz wasn’t even looking at Evans in the second half. That’s not on Dirk, that’s on Fitz. Plenty of blame for Koetter, but not on playcalling in my opinion.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:50 am
I think Becht nailed it……I dont think the problem is on the coach……. We do not have a running game, we have lack of talent on all areas except WR and TE, and we have to very incisistent QB….., Where I find Koetter 100% responsable is on keeping Smitty for to long……… I think the hot seat should be on GM, and on several so called leaders……
November 14th, 2018 at 10:56 am
^Agree with zzbuc. Koetter doesn’t get to pick the players…he simply gets to say who is on the roster. Licht brings in garbage, then we wonder why the team looks like trash week in/week out. The o-line has been a revolving door of “talent”…how can they ever gel when Marpet has played 3 different position in 3 yrs…We’ve had how many RGs? That’s on Licht….Same with the secondary and d-line. Licht has no clue of what hes doing. He’s ok, not great, but ok at evaluating talent but he doesn’t know how to build the roster properly.
November 14th, 2018 at 11:09 am
I dont blame the playcalling as bad coaching. I blame the lack of accountability for players quitting on plays as bad coaching
November 14th, 2018 at 11:41 am
It’s honestly pretty sad that Fitz is currently the best QB on our team.
But it is what it is. Jameis sucks worse than Fitz.
November 14th, 2018 at 11:42 am
“Throwing to OJ only twice is on the QB, not the playcaller.”
It’s kind of on the playcaller when OJ isn’t in on any red zone plays basically; despite being our best red zone weapon. Unless Fitz wants to throw to OJ while he’s on the sideline.
November 14th, 2018 at 11:43 am
I agree with Becht. The Deadskins loss was not on the coach.
November 14th, 2018 at 12:00 pm
I dont know what game becht was watching. red zone play calling was terrible.
November 14th, 2018 at 12:41 pm
What????
Such a dumb statement by Becht. The Bucs dinked and dunked and took loooooong drives with an error prone WB eh, if given enough plays in a drive, is going to make a mistake.
He had success early in the year on hurry up quick strike attacks. These radio dudes just blab to hear themselves blab. Utter nonsense.
November 14th, 2018 at 1:14 pm
We have a really stupid fan base. Becht, who played the game, is absolutely correct. A minimum of 16 points (2 missed FG’s, fumble in red zone and dropped TD by Evans) was left on the field. That game was easily won if the players did their jobs.
November 14th, 2018 at 1:40 pm
Why can’t they hold players accountable when they underperform. The whole offensive line needs to be put in timeout with no BBQ for the way they played. Jensen needs his grill taken away for a week so he can learn to snap the dang ball.
November 14th, 2018 at 2:15 pm
“”BucDan Says:
November 14th, 2018 at 9:51 am
Something I posted on another website after being at the game on Sunday. Shout out to your boy, Florio and Crew!
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I am not really a fan of Koetter and his decisions as Coach (always bringing back Bernard Reedy & Freddy Martino, keeping Mike Smith a year and a half too long, keeping Catan-ZERO -FGs-made, etc.), but the guy isn’t the one that threw the picks in the Red Zone or fumbled the ball. He’s not out there at RT/LT/RG whiffing on blocks left and right. He’s not CONSTANTLY having pre-snap %^%^&($$(%# penalties! He’s not the one missing tackles and not filling run-fits.
Those are all on the players.
Bucs are cursed as far as I am concerned. It’s a Buc’s life!
–Amen to BucDan for posting. I’ve been saying this since we fired Schiano, coaches can’t go on the field and make the plays for them. It’s past time to clean out the roster and send a message. Anyone making over 8 million needs to be in the history books. This will send a message to the younger players on roster and molding to roster moving forward.
November 14th, 2018 at 2:32 pm
If you call a fantastic game… and the offense puts up 3 points… then you have an issue somewhere.
I this case it’s obvious where the issue lies, it was with Fitz, who is 0-4 in his last 4 games. He looks like Fitz, you know the guy who has a career of looking good in a game or two, then looking like Fitz.
Dirk digging in his heels on Fitz tells you everything about Dirk and his desire to win. He has none. Dirk wants fired because he wants that paid vacation his buddy Mike Smith is getting.
November 14th, 2018 at 2:37 pm
Agreed on the paid vacation thing….
November 14th, 2018 at 3:04 pm
Did my eyes deceive me? Did two of our very best receivers drop catchable balls in the end zone and just outside the end zone?
Were we marching towards a TD when our RB loses the ball at the 12 and it rolls into the end zone where it’s recovered by the other team.
That’s not Fitz’s execution…nor Koetter’s play calling….it’s two players choking and a third victimized by an excellent defensive play…they pay the other team too!
Again…EVERYBODY has a hand in this disaster. It’s a total mess. As we used to say in the Army….The Bucs have become FUBAR!!!!! Feffed Up Beyond All Recognition.
November 14th, 2018 at 3:08 pm
I thought it was the worse playcalling of any game this season. We were not aggressive enough. With the talent we have at receiver we need to keep our foot on the gas for 60 minutes and hope at the end that we have more points than the other team. That should be our game plan every week period. Nothing else will work with this team.
November 14th, 2018 at 9:45 pm
Crap podcast. Can Koetter. Fire Light!!
November 14th, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Drawing up plays for Shaun Wilson and Adam Humphries in the red zone while Howard and Godwin watch from the sidelines is NOT good play calling.