Odd Timing For Sullivan Move Upstairs
October 16th, 2013
Offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan spent his first Buccaneers game coaching and calling plays from the press box area Sunday against the Eagles.
Was he banished upstairs by Greg Schiano? Not at all. Sullivan said today it was his idea to get back to the bird’s-eye view.
Sullivan was asked about the move at his weekly news conference this afternoon, and Sullivan stressed that he spent “two years in Jacksonville and then eight years with the [New York] Giants, I was always in the press box.”
Sullivan was clear the move upstairs was his idea discussed during the bye week, and it was beneficial and will continue.
“I know from all those years being up in the press box there’s a perspective and a vantage point that you get that I felt would be beneficial,” Sullivan said. “So I just switched with John McNulty, who is the quarterbacks coach. So he’s now on the field and I was just relaying the calls in to him. And so it’s something that gives an added vantage point that I think is helpful from the standpoint of not seeing at ground level but having that bird’s eye view so to speak.”
This really struck Joe as odd.
Why did Sullivan make this move 21 games (plus eight preseason games) into his Buccaneers career? Was he not permitted to call plays from upstairs previously by Schiano? Did Sullivan feel Josh Freeman needed 1-on-1, face-to-face coddling but Mike Glennon doesn’t?
Hopefully, this will help the Bucs’ bottom line on gamedays. Something has to take this offense out of the NFL cellar.
October 16th, 2013 at 3:35 pm
Lol Does everything have a hidden meaning these days?
October 16th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
He probably moved upstairs because he has the same problem I do. He can’t hardly stand to look at that puke box known as Schiano anymore.
October 16th, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Anything to start winning.
For all we know they want the Government lockout to end, so we can focus on football.
October 16th, 2013 at 3:48 pm
When you’re 0-5 you look at all the different ways you can make changes.
October 16th, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Maybe Sullivan wanted to be in the press box all along. It wouldn’t surprise me if Schiano demanded him to be on the sideline for some goofy reason. Maybe it’s a sign that Schiano has come to the realization that his methods aren’t working.
October 16th, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Or may be that Schiano is planning to fire Mike Sullivan and get McNulty as the OC and he is getting his seat warmed…
October 16th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
I think Sullivan just knows his job is on the line if the offense doesn’t improve, so he made the decision to trust his own calls about what the defense is doing instead of McNulty’s (whom Schiano is rumored to want at OC anyway). Besides, putting the QB coach down with, you know, the QB, is a much better idea anyway. Let’s hope it works.
October 16th, 2013 at 4:57 pm
Nice to know the league takes ‘coach safety’ as serious as players health and safety…
October 16th, 2013 at 5:33 pm
Well, the move did add 8 points to the offense’s production against the Eagles.
If the higher you go, the better the vantage point, and the better then playcalling, then that man needs to anchor his behind up in the Goodyear blimp.
October 16th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
I swear Joe if I had a nickel for every time you thought something seems odd.
Why is it so hard for you to accept someone’s explanation of things? It’s not always a CIA conspiracy. If you haven’t noticed the Bucs are 0-5…odd would be continuing to do the same things they’ve been doing.
October 16th, 2013 at 5:58 pm
Because on the field he had the runs
October 16th, 2013 at 6:00 pm
And got tired of hearing hit them with another run sully
October 16th, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Chef Paul- lmao!!
Mvermulm- think your take is right, opposite of joes
The QB coach has been brought down to be near Glennon. He’s a rookie.
That move makes sense. Plus standing near Shiano has to make Sullivan Sick!!
October 16th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
I think Glennon already has a better grasp of this offense in two games than Freeman had in 19. Sullivan was constantly showing Freeman photos and in his ear. Glennon doesn’t seem to need the one on one time. Could have been the ADHD, who knows. Also, with Glennon actually going through his progressions Sullivan probably thought, “This is something new….I want a better view of this.”
October 17th, 2013 at 6:55 am
Didn’t help… they still lost.