“Absolutely Not”

October 14th, 2014
Lovie Smith was emphatic with Joe today

Lovie Smith was emphatic with Joe today

The Bucs have a questionable situation at offensive coordinator. Quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo, an NFL newcomer, has been filling in since late in the preseason.

Considering Lovie Smith often will say he’s always focused on improving the Buccaneers, Joe thought it was reasonable to ask the head coach if he’s starting the preparation process to potentially hire a new OC when this season ends.

Joe seized the opportunity this afternoon.

JoeBucsFan.com: Coach, do you plan to invest any time during the bye exploring potential offensive coordinators for next season?

Lovie Smith: Absolutely not. What I’m trying to do right now, is get our football team, this football team ready right now. As far as next year, of course we won’t be doing anything like that. We’re doing everything we possibly can, coaching staff, player-wise to play better once we come back out of the bye week.

Frankly, Joe’s not sure why the Bucs would not invest a little time looking around. To be able to pounce on a top candidate, it helps to be ready on “Black Monday” in late December, kind of like the way Team Glazer pounded on Lovie.

49 Responses to ““Absolutely Not””

  1. Buc1987 Says:

    I think the Glazers secretly had Lovie locked up by mid-season last year.

  2. RastaMon Says:

    Leave th hiring of the next offensive cooridinator…to the next HC…..

  3. lightningbuc Says:

    Lovie’s answer should have been:

    “My head is so far up my ass right now, I’m going to use the bye week to try and get it out.”

  4. gatrbuc17 Says:

    We haven’t seen our OC so how will us Bucs fan know if he is any good or not?

  5. Ray Rice Says:

    He rear meant… Absolutely not. I dont plan on fielding a competetive football team in two weeks. I’m going to stay the course and keep it status quo. They are all turning the corner. We are this close (As Lovie pinches his thumb and index finger together) to being 3-3. Lmfao. This old a$$ man is too stuck in his ways to improve.

  6. Ray Rice Says:

    really meant***

  7. Captain Stagger Says:

    Why are we worried about 2015 and not finding an OC for 2014?

  8. DB55 Says:

    Joe quit bothering the man with silly questions. Can’t you see he knows exactly what he is doing? He should have one standard answer for everyone except Jenna cuz he likes her questions. His answer should be “shut up stupid I know what I’m doing.”

  9. DB55 Says:

    Joe

    Your follow up should be – are you planning on finding a new dc in the next 2 weeks?

  10. Buc1987 Says:

    I bet Jason Licht is already licking his chops at first pick in the draft. Oh wait that’s right all Jason does is make phone calls, answer phone calls, and get Lovie coffee.

  11. Espo Says:

    Joe, I agree it should at least be explored, but how did you expect him to answer? Pushing an employee is one thing but publicly letting it be known that just a few weeks after his “promotion” that he’s looking to replace him is a bad move.

  12. DB55 Says:

    87

    And sit on his lap

  13. Buc1987 Says:

    DB55…that question would sting. That’s like laying the smack down. Joe might get his press pass revoked for that question.

  14. DB55 Says:

    1-5 w 2 blowouts stings worse.

  15. CB Buc Says:

    Lovie should have said:

    “At the end of the season, every job on this team will be reviewed for upgrade, including mine. If we can’t get this righted, there are alot of people that won’t have to worry about 2015 in Tampa”

    Send a message to the fans that you have a sense of urgency about this.

  16. Robert 9 Says:

    the fundemental problem here, besides clowns running the circus, is that the bucs gameplan for what they have seen other teams do. The other teams gameplan for our weaknesses.

    This translates into teams coming out and doing what we have not prepared for because they are not doing what we have seen on tape. essentially they are creative, and adaptive, changing the plan from week to week.

    this is what successful teams do. lobamas team does the same thing on defense every week. it’s a field day for the opposing teams, they could pull an all night bender and still beat us.

  17. Robert 9 Says:

    i have never seen a team this bad in all my years. imagine the horror of haveing to show up as a player on gameday.

    they should give out antidepressents with lunch

  18. HawaiianBuc Says:

    You can’t expect Lovie to admit he’s looking for an OC now. That would get him even more criticism. Obviously he’s going to say he’s focused on Minnesota. I guarantee you, however, that he’s not telling you the truth. At least I hope not. But there’s no other way for him to answer that question. Next season shouldn’t be discussed until this season is officially over (I say officially because we all know it’s already over).

  19. FLBoyInDallas Says:

    Ever since Malcolm Glazer stopped being the primary decision maker this franchise has been a relentless, unending parade of ineptitude. It’s ironic that the season they wear the “MG” patch is looking like the worst one ever. What a confirmation that the glory days are past. With the three stooges at the helm this clown-car circus fiasco will just keep on stumbling and bumbling its way to record-breaking irrelevance. What a friggin’ sad, sad joke and a never ending nightmare for Bucs fans.

  20. billy buckaroo Says:

    I think Arroyo would simply handle the game situation better from upstairs
    without all the people in his face and Lovie looking over his shoulder.
    Whoever is upstairs now telling him what defenses are doing doesn’t seem to be helping much anyway.

  21. ElioT Says:

    Don’t panic, give Lovie time, he’s “been here before”…

    Oh, except the whole SETTING F**KING FRANCHISE AND LEAGUE RECORDS FOR FUTILITY that is!

    JOKE!

    Bucs Suck!

  22. OB Says:

    Joe

    There must be a good OC on the sidelines somewhere at some level. Plant High had a blow out last week, maybe they are available as coaches.

    Who do you think the next practice squad change will be that will help the team win?

    Do any of the Glasers go to the games?

  23. lightningbuc Says:

    “imagine the horror of haveing to show up as a player on gameday.”

    robert9,

    At least the players get paid. Imagine the horror of the few thousand fans who braved the heat this past Sunday and actually paid to watch that drivel. Should have been given a refund.

  24. PFUDOR Says:

    So I take it that Tedford is gone for good?

  25. bucrightoff Says:

    Either Arroyo or Frazier are getting fired to buy Lovie more time. Frazier obviously should be the one and then you remember him and Lovie are boys and Arroyo and Lovie have no connection, and it gets less clear. But one of them will be fired, you can mark it down.

  26. TBFAN813 Says:

    @FLBoyInDallas Finally somebody sees what I have been trying to say for a while now. The real problem with this team is, and has been for a while, the Glazer boys and their complete incompetence in running a professional football team. They’re the ones that fired Gruden right after they just gave him a contract extension and were then forced to pay the length of the contract b/c instead of going back to coaching Gruden went to MNF.
    Glazers then hired a position coach as their HC b/c he came for cheap since they were already paying Gruden as well. Morris had no chance to succeed when everyone knew the team wasn’t going to spend any money to acquire good players. Glazers fired Morris and hired another inexperienced coach in Schiano, again for the cheap, then didn’t give him a chance to really implement his program. Finally, in an attempt to curry favor with the fans ownership hires a familiar name to Bucs fans in Lovie Smith instead of actually looking for what the team has needed for years, an offensive minded HC.

  27. PFUDOR Says:

    @ TBFAN813

    Yep. That about sums it up.
    All decisions driven by money.
    Zero decisions driven by the love of football or building a lasting winner.

    Ironically, If you make decisions based on the latter the money will
    come. The soccar-brats tenure has literally been a Shakespearean tragedy.

  28. HawaiianBuc Says:

    What exact connection do Lovie and Frazier have? They’ve never coached together.

  29. HawaiianBuc Says:

    Arroyo isn’t and shouldn’t get fired altogether, but he should be relieved of his OC duties. He clearly isn’t ready at this point in his career.

  30. buc tooth Says:

    i came to the conclusion what the MJ patch stands for on the players uniform it’s MAJOR JOKE come on man.

  31. Tye Says:

    If he wanted to excite the fans base his response should have been:

    I am going to do what is best for the team…. Retire after this season….

  32. Espo Says:

    It’s MG. Use your letters….

  33. ddneast Says:

    I like Lovie and believe he is very competent, unlike a lot of you morons but leaving this job in Arroyos hands is completely crazy.
    This is like giving the keys to a Formula 1 Ferrari to a texting crazy teenage girl and putting her on the track to compete with seasoned veterans.
    I do believe the Bucs would be no worse than 3-2 if we had a qualified OC calling the plays and dissecting the opponents defense.
    I will leave it to you Einstein’s out there to figure out where those two additional wins would have come from.

  34. MadMax Says:

    EXACTLY WHY I WOULD BE OK WITH FIRING HIM NOW!

    Screw, time for this and patience for this and that…..at least fire Leslie and install Schiano in his place as DC…he IS still under contract….FRIGGIN USE HIM GLAZERS!

  35. OneLove Says:

    @ddneast HAHAHAHA!! Touche….

  36. Jimbo Says:

    If Lovie was looking for an OC right now, does anyone on here really think that he would make that public information? Of course not. Did he make it public information before he got rid of Revis? No, not his style.

    For anyone who says we should fire Lovie right now, what kind of message would it send to any decent coaching candidates when you had a coach for 3 years (fired), then two years (fired), and then fired the next one after 6 games. No good coach would ever come to a place where they don’t give the coach a chance to succeed.

    Lovie’s first year in Chicago, he was 5-11 and his second year he was 11-5. Tony Dungy was 1-8 at the start of his first season and went to the playoffs his second season.

    Lovie got Head Coach of the Year one year, took two different teams to the Super Bowl (as coordinator and head coach), kept a head coaching job in the NFL for 9 years with the same team, and finished with a winning percentage over .500. Find me a better coaching candidate walking the streets and you are better than every GM out there.

    PLEASE SOMEONE DISAGREE WITH ME, because I don’t get the fire Lovie talk

  37. sho-nuff Says:

    Dungy clone….another overrated member of Dungy’s overrated tree….that’s right I said it. Dunge was overrated because of his own hubris…which is what we see now…remember Clyde Christensen or Mike Shula? He won in Indy for 1 reason… He had to agree to have ZERO say so in the offense…..

  38. sho-nuff Says:

    @Jimbo…do you honestly think he is that clever?

  39. Quick66 Says:

    Lovie isn’t going anywhere. He has 2 years minimum to fix this mess. He will wait for Tedford for to recover so get used to Arroyo. The defense is horrible and if that continues someone will take the fall but it wont be the HC.

  40. clafollett Says:

    Both Line coaches need to go. Just turrable! Those heads need to roll. His son needs to go. The DBs suck. The dropped passes most definitely need to go and dare I say so does lack of leadership VDrops.

    Someone on this team needs to step up and demand better. That should be GMC but he is only a self appointed leader. If he were a real leader, he’d drag the others up to his level. And why doesn’t he know what the back field is doing?

    LVD is doing pretty good but he is no longer a one man wrecking crew. His tackles are on par but his other stats are way down. New scheme? Maybe. Lovie need to step up and game plan to let him make plays. Study some film from past two years. Use that man.

    Neither 99 or 55 would tolerate this. I don’t see anyone on the sidelines getting in faces. Someone step up please. Take friggen control.

    Lovie gets a pass for now but this team better show much improvement the rest of the season.

  41. james Says:

    lovie is outdated, inept, uninspiring, non emotional fucking CLONE(clown) of t dungy. who I freaking know would not have won a superbowl in indy if not for peyton, was probably told to keep his stinking hands off the offense. getting back to LSD(lovie smith disaster) how many superbowls has he won as head coach? fucking zero!!! he cuts joseph-penn -zuttah- for an underachieving group of want to be’s. he brings in a QB that sucks, and that’s being nice, hands a man 24 million who had 3.5 sacks last year. what the hell, is this moron thinking. fraziers running of this defense, and its schemes is an absolute failure. and in my opinion the coaching staff has lost this locker room. because it is obvious they are not buying into this nonsense. and going thru the motions, in other words getting paid. this team will be lucky to win another game, and their star player GMC is not hanging out for another 5 years of stupidity. oh well after a lifetime of this B.S. I do not care! this team their stinking coach, ship and organization can go straight to HELL

  42. HawaiianBuc Says:

    Speaking of leaders, I was at the Atlanta game. After it was I believe 28-0, Lavonte David came off the field, got in every single guy in the defense’s face, and was screaming and hollering for a solid couple minutes. Guess what happened after that? We gave up 4 more TD’s! There’s only so much you can do as a leader if the guys around you are crap. If I was out on the field with Brooks and Sapp, no leadership they could give would make me worth a damn. It’s as simple as this – the guys around our very few players aren’t good enough. I don’t care what kind of leaders we have, we suck. I hate saying that, but it’s absolutely true. Yelling at Mark Barron isn’t going to make him cover TE’s better. Screaming at Leonard Johnson isn’t going to make him fast enough to keep up with slot WR’s. If you want to point to a lack of leadership, you have to start at the top. The very top. Spend every penny we have available on bringing in the best players possible. Stop value shopping for free agents and bring in prime free agents. And no, I’m not excusing Lovie either. He is very much to blame, but he has to be given time. However, too many more losses like Sunday and my patience for him is going to grow shorter and shorter.

  43. Flmike Says:

    Jimbo, the team Lovie was given in Chicago was built by Jerry Angelo, that’s the one that went to the SB, that year (2006) Lovie was given a new contract with power over personnel decisions, they went to the play offs just once after that and he was fired after a 10 win season in 2012 because of his inability to get back to the post season. He had 5 winning seasons, but only had back to back winning seasons once, he is the very definition of inconsistent. I can name three guys right now who are better and can be had for the right price….Sean Davis, Marc Helfrich, Kevin Sumlin

  44. Flmike Says:

    Sean Davis = David Shaw, damn iPad spell corrector sucks

  45. HawaiianBuc Says:

    @Flmike,

    Here’s my thing: I agree Lovie hasn’t done well. That seems like the understatement of the year. No on in their right mind, including himself, can honestly argue that point with the product we’ve seen so far. I agree with you that he’s been (moderately) inconsistent. However, he’s never fielded a team this bad. You have to be a special kind of a bad coach to do this, so I’m choosing to believe that it’s just a much the fault of the players (specifically having the wrong players) as it is his fault. This team looks incredibly unprepared and sloppy week in and week out. I just can’t believe he’s that bad. He never has been anywhere near this bad. Of course, if it is the players a great deal of the blame still falls back on him, but perhaps he is just as surprised by our lack of talent as we all are. I know for myself personally, I thought we were fielding a pretty talented team. I wouldn’t confuse us with Seattle or Denver, but I thought we had enough to compete with most teams. I thought we got some big weapons on offense, and we already had a lot of talent on defense. Boy was I wrong. Maybe Lovie was too, or maybe they are all just dumb as a sack of rocks and can’t learn what to do.

  46. Kevin#1 Says:

    I think Tedford will be back next season and they are not going to offer someone else a job for half a season. I would like to see Tedford calling plays for the bucs. We never got to see his ideas. Sucks to love the bucs

  47. Zam Says:

    if he said yes, it would be admitting that he made a mistake not to replace Tedford right away.

    It’s going to be a tough road ahead if he has to be infallible.

    Meanwhile his de facto offense coordinator is polling the players for suggestions?

  48. Don Says:

    Stop being bandwagon fans and give somebody a chance before you whine and bitch.

  49. sho nuff Says:

    yo don…how many years of futility does it take before supposed “real fans” as yourself quit being the bottom for this organization…just because we have the audacity tompint out the elephant in the room it doesnt make us “bandwagon”…