At Quarter Pole, Schiano Hitting Firing Points

September 29th, 2013

Any 0-4 head coach goes on the proverbial hot seat. That’s life in the NFL.

Greg Schiano, however, has failed in ways that makes his seat hotter than most.

1) Team looks undisciplined.
2) Regression from the previous season.
3) Lost nine out of 10.
4) Look thoroughly inept in one phase of the game: offense
5) Coach is getting clobbered by local and national media and fuels a circus atmosphere.
6) Losing despite a load of talent.

Schiano is now 0-6 in close games during his Bucs career. That’s not a coincidence.

Barring a miracle revival, the only thing that could save Schiano is his defense. It’s impossible to ignore how the Bucs defense has been overhauled under the New Schiano Order.

The Bucs have allowed a flimsy 70 points. That’s less than 18 points per game.

The Bucs offense has been abysmal all season, further magnifying what Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, Darrelle Revis and friends have accomplished. Today’s effort was dynamite, just the way the Bucs fantasized in the offseason, blitzing pressure with raw talent and skill on display with interceptions by Johnthan Banks and Revis.

It was made clear by everyone when Greg Schiano was hired, including by rockstar general manager Mark Dominik on last week’s radio pregame show, that the Bucs are running “Greg Schiano’s defense.” Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan said it shortly after he was hired, and new linebackers coach Robb Smith told Joe in the spring that the Bucs defense was nearly identical to what he ran under Schiano at Rutgers.

The point is that Schiano deserves the credit. And the defense’s performance, assuming it continues strong, could very well keep Schiano employed in Tampa Bay, even if the Bucs struggle to five-win season.

Perhaps Schiano’s biggest challenge is keeping the defense playing at this level. Because to get those wins, they’ll likely have to play even better.

29 Responses to “At Quarter Pole, Schiano Hitting Firing Points”

  1. BucFanForever Says:

    44 points by the offense. dismally bad.

  2. Buc Neckid Says:

    Why is the Fire not under Sullivan?
    Defense (which we all have heard is Schiano’s) is rocking,
    Get rid of Sullivan during the Bye
    Promote McNulty and see what happens

  3. RastaMon Says:

    Hey… It Is The Players !

  4. BucfaninMi Says:

    5 wins? I don’t see it How’s that gonna happen?

  5. IdahoBucsfan Says:

    They will get this fixed! Last year the offense was so good people were worried about losing our OC, we will get back to that point this season. Greg will be back next year. GO BUCS!

  6. snookau Says:

    Demote Freeman last week.
    Fire Schiano this week.

    Thatd be real progress.

  7. BustaCherry Says:

    I love my Bucs, but could somebody name those 5 wins?

  8. JonBuc Says:

    Prop up Malcolm a la Weekend @ Bernie’s and pull the trigger. The team has circled the drain w/o him.

  9. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    The heat should be on Sullivan unless Schiano isn’t delegating.

  10. SadBuc Says:

    We’re probably better off with the #1 pick and a new coaching staff anyways.

    1-2 wins if we get lucky…

  11. blackmagic00 Says:

    I have to give rah some credit, when the offense struggled he helped make a change at coordinator. He still failed, but he wasn’t insane.

  12. NJBucsFan Says:

    Schiano is a D coordinator at best in the NFL…

    I will be more than happy to be one of the many Bucs fan waiving good bye to him.

    There’s a reason he’s never won in college. Too many holes in his coaching game.

  13. coolman Says:

    schianoe over rules mike Sullivan playcalling he wants to run the ball play conservative schiano is bonrhead and will never win in tampa lets fire him and promote a coach on the staff until next year

  14. Illuminati Says:

    Schiano has done a lot of good things to get this team back on track from where it was in 2011. Under Raheem, 42 percent of all Bucs games resulted in a loss by more than a touchdown. Under Schiano, it’s only 21 percent, back to where it was with Gruden.

    But good God, Schiano has just not been a good game day coach. Same knock people had on him at Rutgers. His inability to win close games is glaring, and I can easily see Wannstedt being named interim HC by mid-season.

    We’re not paying Schiano Gruden money, so the Glazers might not be so reluctant to pay two coaches salaries for a couple of seasons.

    On the other hand, I don’t know how much of our offensive ineptitude is on Sullivan, because I don’t know how involved Schiano is in the offense on game day. Maybe a change at OC would fix things, but I don’t know if McNulty would be an improvement.

  15. White Tiger Says:

    7) In an effort to do things his way – he has weakened our franchise by adding elite draft picks to OTHER NFL teams (i.e. Aqib Talib, Josh Freeman).

    8) His intractable positions cost this franchise it”s future – because of his insistence on treating proven veterans with disrespect in order to justiify getting his own way , results in getting NOTHING in return for those two EELITE picks.

    This means Schiano will cost this team/franchise well beyond his dismissal

  16. Rob Says:

    College coach experiment a disaster. Fire Sully and Schiano tonight. Another very winnable game lost due to horrific predictable gameplan. Enough us enough. Go Bucs!

  17. al121976 Says:

    njbuc, you are totally wrong. the Bucs lost today because of turnovers and not being able to score. I didn’t see much wrong with glennon until the 2nd half and I have a feeling it was because of the play calling, it was too predictable. I like the scheme, just not how it is called. And why are people blaming schiano? our offense is the issue, there was a time when holding the opposing team to 13 points would be a “W”. I hope we can get our offense rolling or we might need a new coordinator in the off season. One other point I would like to make is that because Schiano was a late off season hire, he didn’t have many options for coordinators or assistants.

  18. Jimbo Says:

    Exactly as expected, our problems run deeper than Freeman. Not ready to write off Schiano completely just yet – our D is playing lights out.

    But surely Sullivan’s job must be on the line? His play design and play calling in the passing game is HORRIBLE. He can’t think past looking for 1-on-1’s on the outside with Jackson and Williams.

    And seeing Ogletree and Tim Wright over the middle makes me physically sick. We NEED upgrades at TE and slot WR more than anything else. Until that happens our offense will stink even if by some miracle Sullivan DOES improve his play calling.

    Furthermore, what an overpaid and underwhelming O-line we have. The Cards were in Glennon’s face all day.

    Yuck.

  19. NJBucsFan Says:

    Al

    All the more reason why Schiano is a D coordinator and not a head coach. Schiano is a power hungry coach that is lost on the O side of the ball. Please look at his Rutgers years. He never developed a QB. He had a stacked team with Britt, Rice, and Teal. It’s not on the O coordinator if the O coordinator is not allowed to do his job. Schiano needs to be fired before the year is done. I also disagree with your O coordinator assessment. This is yr number 2. He had the opportunity to replace the O coordinator, much like what he did with Freeman, he rather sabotage the situation then allow someone else to handle it.

    He is not NFL material. Let him go coach a college in the Midwest and let us move forward with a real coach.

  20. RastaMon Says:

    http://www.fema.gov/apply-assistance

  21. Free's A Boob Says:

    Joe I forgot. What DB had Fitzgerald on the Cardinals TD?

  22. al121976 Says:

    you r not making your point nj, as I said earlier, he didn’t have much to choose from when he was hired. most of us thought he did good hiring Sullivan but the fact is, we are not scoring no matter who is under center. we are better on special teams, we are good in a lot of areas minus the offense. overall I think we are better, imagine if we had a top notch qb with a good coordinator? we would be a 4 and 0 or a 3 and 1 team at worst. if the offense doesn’t get turned around and we still keep Sullivan after the season, then yes I will question schiano, but until then, I think he is a good nfl coach.

  23. Trubucfan22 Says:

    Schiano needs to stop turning Tampa into Rutgers South. Half of this team either played for Rutgers or was was unsuccessfully recruited by schiano while he was at rutgers. Dom needs to take back the reigns and build this team in his own vision and not with a bunch of Rutgers rejects.

  24. Cdog Says:

    Guy’s our offense is worse because the two offensive coach we lost this where replaced with more Rutger’s lame ducks. This is all on Schiano

  25. RichBucsfan Says:

    when a team has no TE, no slot receiver, two guards still getting over injuries, one tackle that used to be Pro Bowl caliber, the other still learning foot work, a rookie QB this is as good as it gets

  26. MadMax Says:

    Why Sully and Coach resist changing the run up the middle when the box is overloaded is beyond me….smh.

  27. Horice Says:

    Joe this article was heading in the right direction, up until the time that you suggested 5 wins. How inthe hell do you see us winning 5 games with this HC? If we’re lucky and the other team totally collaps, we should win 1 game. That’s it! But if I had to bet my house, I would call 0-16 unless Schiano is fired sooner.

  28. BigMacAttack Says:

    I agree with Neckid Buc. If Schiano is so great on defense them throw Sullivan under the Bus. Something had to be done about the offense.

    But Napoliano is not a good HC or game manager. He’s a moron at best and if they want him keep him as a DC but fight now he’s a useless FUHC.

  29. White Tiger Says:

    I think if Schiano was allowed to fire Freeman to get what he wanted – even if the price was losing another year in order to break-in his “new” saviour…then we should take a lesson from him – lets accept that we can get what WE want and by firing Schiano, that way we will get a new QB and a new head coach – that way we can all be excited to watch ANOTHER rookie waste our money and our time – becoming someone elses idea of a good QB…before he’s not…

    I’m getting close to tapping out – I simply don’t have time for stupidity anymore – especially when it’s those fools wit the two papers in this town – telling me whats “REALLY” wrong with the team.

    Schiano will be a business decision – the Bucs have any future/interim coach already on staff. To fire him now – the Glazers pay a former college coach for another 5 years (they just finished paying chucky).

    They do have Butch Davis and Jimmy Raye as advisors – but since Butch is still technically being paid by the University of North Carolina, it’s unlikely that he will be named “interim”.

    Nope, it’s either stick with the dunce you overpaid – or go with Jimmy Raye – whom many have alleged should have been a head coach – but for some reason he hasn’t become one yet…this is also, NOT Mr Raye’s first go ’round in Tampa…

    But, I don’t expect any changes to be made – Schiano’s contract is too heavy – we will sacrifice players and wins until it is so painfully obvious what the problem is that the owners can no longer pretend the coach is right.