Lovie Is All Smiles, Optimism And Confidence
May 2nd, 2014NFL.com writer Michael Silver got exclusive time with Jason Licht and Lovie Smith for a new feature on the Bucs’ head coach.
Silver was all pitchforks for Greg Schiano shortly after he was hired, but Silver is all-in with Lovie. He paints a picture of nirvana in the bowels of One Buc Palace.
Joe recommends you read it. Licht even says Lovie’s unwavering confidence let’s him play a tough-guy role.
Though Smith is regarded as the quintessential players’ coach, Licht says his colleague’s perpetually sunny outlook gives the organization a somewhat counterintuitive edge when it comes to things like contract staredowns.
“Oh, it’s great,” Licht says. “If we have a player targeted in free agency, and negotiations are breaking down because the player wants too much, it actually works to our advantage. An agent might expect Lovie to come in and say, ‘Hey Jason, do whatever it takes to get him.’ Instead, he’s like, ‘Hey, if it doesn’t work out, just go on to the next guy. It’ll be fine. It all works out for a reason.’
“It gives you the Man Card.”
Among other interesting nuggets is that Lovie was troubled he didn’t get a job offer last year and that Aaron Rodgers pitched Jeff Tedford to Lovie.
Joe appreciates Lovie’s supreme confidence. But this is nothing really new revealed by Silver. Lovie boldly told local Tampa Bay media the day he was introduced that he could win 10 games with a turnover-machine defense, nasty-good special teams, and a nothing-special offense.
There’s definitely a clear confident plan in place at One Buc Palace. The biggest question mark is who will be throwing the football and leading the offense — one Lovie will need to get more than 10 wins. Thankfully, that answer should be much more clear next week.
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:11 pm
I think who will be catching the football is a much bigger question than who will be throwing it.
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:15 pm
Love you, Joe, but the typos in this article occurred at an alarming rate. Not that you usually need it, but if you need a proofreader, I know an English teacher that is willing to help.
Joe corrected. Joe appreciates your heads up. Joe doesn’t need the English teacher. Joe shouldn’t type outdoors with bad glare again. –Joe
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:30 pm
Cant stand Mike Silver. The way he talks on that camera makes it feel like he has a vendetta. He is a fish out of water as far as I’m concerned. I think National Enquirer or TMZ would fit his dirt digging ways.
The way he talked about Shciano got under my skin. It seemed like he was enjoying himself calling Schiano a jerk during the Freeman fiasco. Really enjoying himself. Reminded me of how they say Hitler got sexually aroused while giving his speeches. I kept thinking, “Hey buddy. We can hate on our coach, but you are crossing a line here.” The old “I can call my sister a whore, but you better not” was the mentality I had.
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:47 pm
Life is good before the season starts. Personally I see a better shot at 6-10 than 10-6 this year, but I’m as hopeful as the next optimistic homer that Lovie can deliver on that statement. I will be more optimistic if we go WR or OT in rounds 1 and 2, but best available might work too
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:54 pm
The ONLY thing I’ve ever heard Lovie say that I would disagree with is his statement about winning 10 games being in essence easy to do. Tell me 8 games, okay, with a lock-down defense and special special teams, I can MAYBE be convinced 8 is possible. But to get past that mark it will take more than a not-very-special offense.
Truthfully, that is the only thing I’ve heard since the Lovie-fest started that someone deep down inside the words “Oh-oh” are lingering. Did Lovie really learn anything during his one year hiatus from coaching? Has he really changed his mindset regarding the offense side of the ball?
Having Confidence is great, but winning in the new offense oriented NFL is more about having a balanced attack on all sides of the ball, maybe even more so on offense. Yes, a league dominant defense can make a team a playoff challenger as we’ve seen in the past, but we’ve also known the frustration of having a dominant defense that lacked an offense good enough to go out and finish games in the win column on a consistent basis when the ball was in their hands. Sure, the defense dominant formula did win us one Super Bowl, but the Bucs team of 12-15 years ago should have won more than one and would have with an above-average offense.
It’s time for the Bucs to have a dominant offense too, that way when either side of the ball is struggling, the other has their backs without having to do anymore than they do on a regular basis. Then we can all talk about 11-13 wins rather than 10. After all, Bucs did that just a few years ago and didn’t get to playoffs.
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Is this a rerun of the Dating Game or football?
May 2nd, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Oops, “somewhere, not someone deep down inside…”
May 2nd, 2014 at 1:27 pm
ToesOnTheLine Says:
“Life is good before the season starts. Personally I see a better shot at 6-10 than 10-6 this year, but I’m as hopeful as the next optimistic homer that Lovie can deliver on that statement. I will be more optimistic if we go WR or OT in rounds 1 and 2, but best available might work too.”
You saved me the trouble of having to type all that out. I’m on the same page as you verbatim.
I’m coming around. Maybe after the draft and the 2nd wave of free agency, I’ll be more optimistic. I definitely love Lovie and Licht so far over Schiano and Dom. Then again that could change after the draft too.
May 2nd, 2014 at 1:30 pm
As someone who frequents ProBasketballTalk, you still get an A for grammar Joe.
May 2nd, 2014 at 2:01 pm
That approach of ‘Hey, if it doesn’t work out, just go on to the next guy. It’ll be fine. It all works out for a reason’ will certainly ensure that the players that sign here will be here because they really want to be. To me, that makes for a better “team” than overpaying and signing players that came here because they got the most money. In the long run, more solidarity perhaps.
May 2nd, 2014 at 3:26 pm
I really like Lovie’s approach to his players and the media as well. Confidence is the key to winning for players and coaches as well. With Love’s NFL experience he knows what it takes to win and he puts in the hard work and dedication to turn this team around. Joe can see the difference in the confidence our players have this year too!
May 2nd, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Again it’s the part of the season when everything is great, players love the coaches, the schemes are all brilliant, and every draft pick will be a superstar. Let’s see what the team’s record is in December and how the mood of the player’s is before anointing Lovie the next Belichick. Not saying he won’t be, but to heap all this confidence and praise on a guy who is 0-0 as the Bucs HC is a bit premature
May 2nd, 2014 at 5:55 pm
That’s Toe on the line. I would be willing to give Lovie a longer term than Raheem and Schiano, because of the experience and an actual winning record.
May 2nd, 2014 at 5:58 pm
That’s right***
May 2nd, 2014 at 9:43 pm
Left_Coast_Bucs_Fan Says
“The ONLY thing I’ve ever heard Lovie say that I would disagree with is his statement about winning 10 games being in essence easy to do.”
Well, from his persspective he got fired after winning ten games.
Besides, he might be right with the defense he’s building.
Question for everyone…when two great defenses meet, what position becomes the deciding factor?