“Wrong”

September 15th, 2015
Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton chimes in.

Veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton chimes in.

Bucs fans were galled at the Den of Depression by what they witnessed Sunday.

It will take months — years? — of expensive therapy to somehow deal with that embarrassing display of defensive football, a defense whose charges were allegedly prepared (coughcoughcough) by a defensive mind.

This team had four months to prepare for a friggin’ rookie quarterback making his first start, a spread-option guy at that, and Lovie Smith’s defense made the guy look like Joe Montana and John Elway wrapped into one.

Shameful!

One person who was sickened watching the game was veteran sports columnist Gary Shelton. Writing for his own site, GarySheltonSports.com, Shelton noted one person and one person alone is to blame for Sunday’s drek, and Shelton wonders if Lovie is just, well, wrong?

So were they wrong in picking Winston? Or were they wrong in preparing him?

So far, Smith has been wrong on Josh McCown, and wrong on Anthony Collins, and wrong on Michel Johnson. He was wrong on rebuilding the offensive line last year. He was wrong when he let Darrelle Revis go for free. He was wrong on Jeff Tedford, and in not hiring an experienced offensive coordinator when left. Coaching wise, he was wrong 14 times in a 16-game season.

Sooner or later, doesn’t he have to be right?

Of course, Lovie said yesterday he had his team prepared. Well, if you believe that, then only two possibilities remain: One, Lovie’s gameplan was not unlike Curly fixing the wiring, or this little story Joe heard once from Bill Parcells.

When he was a college assistant, Parcells worked on a certain move with a defensive player that Parcells knew would work to stop a specific play Parcells was convinced was coming. So at a particular point, Parcells put the player in with specific instructions. The player, well, didn’t perform.

Parcels railed on the kid on the sidelines, tore him a new youknowwhat. During the berating, Parcells screamed, “I told you… ” and was interrupted by the head coach, who told Parcells, “Well Coach, you didn’t explain it to him well enough because he didn’t get it.”

If, as Lovie wants you to believe, he had the right gameplan and the team was prepared (pardon Joe for not believing it — Joe saw the game with his own eyes), then it is crystal clear Lovie’s message isn’t getting through.

How else do you explain getting shamefully raked over the coals that badly by a 2-14 team with a rookie quarterback with four months to prepare?

79 Responses to ““Wrong””

  1. Ray Rice Says:

    Atlanta with a new coach and new defense. Somehow their players learned the new defense in one offseason. I feel so much better now. The YUCS defense is so sophisticated it takes an eternity to learn. Man once they learn that new defense they are going to smash opposing offenses. Until then I will just keep watching everyone else get better. #sarcasm

  2. Kevinm Says:

    Bring back gruden pay him whatever he wants

  3. Vincente Says:

    I don’t want Lovie coaching this team. He hasn’t made one right decision since he got to Tampa. Please will someone who is planning on going to the next home game, I know there isn’t many who will be in attendance, but make a sign that say COME BACK GRUDEN!!!! We miss you!!!!

  4. ChanEpic Says:

    By prepared Coach Smith means: We’ll leave the middle of the field open for TEs and WRs to exploit over and over again and we’ll prepare to get pressure on the QB, next game.

  5. Pat Says:

    Incomplete sentence. The team is well prepared…to pick number one again…maybe the slogan this year is >> slack for Hack.

  6. Simpleasthat Says:

    THAT ARTICLE REALLY SUMS IT UP. ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT. TERRIBLE PLAYER EVALUATION AND STAFF DECISIONS. REALLY PISS POOR.

  7. Armybucsfan Says:

    Can we put together a fundraiser to bring GRUDEN BACK? If all of the nice fans chipped in just a $20 I’m sure we would force the hand of the glaziers (WORST OWNERS IN THE NFL) to hire GRUDEN!!

  8. unbelievable Says:

    Even though they lost, did you see how tough the Vikings defense was playing last night? Look how hard they hit, tackle, how much they were flying around and playing pumped up. Check out the hits their cornerbacks and safeties were laying out, and their aggressive style. Obviously the niners defense was playing just as hard and fast, and they had half their roster turned over as well.

    All I could think was damn, I haven’t see one guy on our defense play that hard. Not one. That’s on the coach. “Simple as that”.

    Our team looked like they hadn’t stepped foot on a football field in about 10 months. They looked allergic to making tackles. I saw them trying to make arm tackles and get strips instead of manning up and making a stop. Do we need Greg schiano to come teach fundamentals again? Or maybe ronde can come down from the booth and explain the “T” tackle zone.

    I gave Lovie a pass on last year, but to come out week 1 looking that bad against another garbage team is simply unacceptable. Lovie, figure it out or get the f*ck out! This fan base is sick of your garbage. I posted this yesterday, and it’s the first time I’ve ever said this, but fans should not go to the games right now. The glazers, coaches, and players no longer deserve our money or respect until they can put something respectable out on the field.

  9. Big Irish Says:

    If we are gonna play like that then we need to wear the old uniforms.

  10. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    Too much freaking out around here.

  11. passthebuc Says:

    Joe.

    You are saying everything but the one thing you need to say. You need to say flatout. Lovie needs to go and go now. I realize it is tough for a writer that wants access to players, but you cannot write a believable column and not speak out.

  12. Tampa Tony Says:

    All three never been head coaches won this weekend and all three now have more home wins than Loser Lovie does as a Bucs coach.

    Joe is a fan of nicknames so please take ‘Loser Lovie’ and run with it. If Rockstar, America’s QB and others are fitting in your eyes ‘Loser Lovie’ fits right in with those

  13. BirdDoggers Says:

    The team seems to have taken on the personality of the coach. At least that’s the way tey played on Sunday. No fire, no passion.

  14. CreamsicleBananaHammock Says:

    I said it earlier, but the old cliche is that a team takes on the personality of its head coach

    This teams performance on Sunday was the physical embodiment of a Lovie Smith press conference. No passion, no energy, just didn’t care

    It was a freaking embarrassment

  15. Bucco Brice Says:

    EVERYONE AGREES, LOVIE SUCKS, BYE BY THE BYE…”simple as that”…

  16. Buc1987 Says:

    Bonzai…I think the freaking out is coming from the Titans not being on the same level as the Pats, Seahawks or Packers, yet Lovie made them look like they are.

  17. ChanEpic Says:

    Unbelievable – to your point one of the hardest hits I saw was the crack back block Jamies laid on a pursuer during a run. Let me reiterate: The QB was hitting harder than some of our LBs and DLs.

  18. Clodhopper Says:

    Ha! As Rick Perry would say, even a broken clock is right once a day

  19. Buc1987 Says:

    Confidence poll Joe?

  20. Casual Observer Says:

    A greater problem might be that of GM Licht. He actually concluded that Winston would be a better NFL QB than Mariota. Did you see the contrast between these two rookies? One bumbling and stumbling (can’t blame the OL) and the other poised and throwing darts. MM probably has the best QB day in the league on Sunday. I think some on this board were equally deceived. There is not a little difference between these two, but a huge one.

  21. unbelievable Says:

    @Bonzai, people are freaking out b/c we lost.

    They are freaking out about HOW we lost. And WHO we lost to. When a team goes 2-14, you can’t come out the next year and look worse. It’s simple unacceptable.

    I have a been a Love supporter (even though he was not my idea choice) since his hire, but he has lost me. This team is embarrassing. It’s disgraceful and disgusting to watch.

    I’m not one of the idiots yelling that we drafted the wrong QB, I’m not passing any judgement on JW. I’ll even give the offense a pass for the first game. But the defense? There is no excuse. This team plays like Lovie’s personality— boring, flat, and uninspired, with no fire or passion. I’m sick of it. This defense looked worse than when we had the ‘fearsome foursome’ out there. That is truly pathetic.

  22. Buc1987 Says:

    Casual Observer…I’m waiting to reserve my judgement until Mariota plays a below average NFL defense and not a garbage one.

  23. unbelievable Says:

    @ChanEpic, exactly! Maybe we let Glennon start, and have JW take over coaching hahaha. At least he would light some fire and passion into the players! LOL.

  24. tmaxcon Says:

    Maybe Lovie just needs a hug

  25. cmurda Says:

    I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it once more. The Tampa – 2 is a dead defense. It’s done. The version the Seahwaks run, which is sometimes the Tampa – 2, but more so a blanket cover 2 works because they have talent particularly along the D Line and secondary. Notice that the Hawks did not get pressure and had a terrible game defensively in Week 1. Also, of important note is that Dan Quinn, Seattle’s previous D Coordinator and current Head Coach of the Falcons is unafraid to bring some heat from the Linebackers. Well, we have no talent on the D Line minus McCoy. The Tampa – 2 will get eaten alive without a pass rush. Inexplicably and inexcusable is the fact that we generated zero pressure from the front four and Lovie Smith, stuck in his caveman mentality, refused to bring blitzes. I’m all out on Lovie. I have zero confidence in him and his failures are his own doing right now. There are coaches that can adapt the system to fit the player and then there’s Lovie Smith who will force a team to play his system even though we are anything but loaded with the talent able to do so. We ran Schiano out of town but at least the guy was willing to try to adjust to not having a Dline. Our D Line still sucks and our O Line is marginal at best. Lovie’s failure to evaluate personnel is already well-documented. So, the Lovie supporters, please tell me why we should be patient with Lovie? We are 2-15 in our last 17 games. Go ahead and let me know. I’ll wait. The Glazers are going to be hesitant to fail again with their coaching hire and have 2 coaching salaries on the books. Man, the Glazers have absolutely destroyed this team. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the kids inherit Dad’s team and send said team right down the crapper.

  26. Casual Observer Says:

    Buc 87 – Fair enough. But I never saw a QB with a quicker release. More TDs than incompletes. No wonder he had so few INTs in college. I think he is a once in a generation talent.

  27. Bucco Brice Says:

    @ChanEpic…
    Umm, I said it first in June when Jaboo was working on the cheeseburger gut…put him at Right Guard 🙂

  28. Joe Says:

    You are saying everything but the one thing you need to say. You need to say flatout. Lovie needs to go and go now.

    That would be rank overreaction which Joe is trying not to get sucked into.

    Lovie is right. It’s just one loss. Problem is, that was a damning loss. The next few games — through October — will speak volumes about Lovie’s ability with this football team.

  29. BrianBucs Says:

    @ Joe

    Did you ever think that you have this backwards?
    Maybe instead of Lovie’s defense making America’s Quarterback Marcus Mariota look that great, that maybe it was Americs’a Quarterback Marcus Mariota that made Lovie’s defense look that horrible?

  30. cmurda Says:

    LOL @ 1987. What happened to our team? We never really had a super potent offense but we could always rely on our defense showing up. From the early 90’s to 2008, we always had at least a decent defense. Our defense is bottom feeders now. Our offense certainly hasn’t picked up the slack. Th emedia hates Winston so they overreact to his performance. His performance wasn’t pretty but it wasn’t awful as they would have you believe. The important factor is how he rebounds after the bad game. The Aints are ripe for the rebound. That team sucks too and their defense is soft. The Bucs either show up or the fans will really turn the cheek on this team.

  31. MadMax Says:

    Im “Wrong” for buying into this hype….I mean wth was that Cinci game? The players and coaching looked pretty good IMO.

    At some point, yes you can blame coaching, but my gosh, the PLAYERS also have a lot of blame to go around! I’ll give the rooks their excuse, they’re rookies, and I’ll even extend that to the 2nd year players……but at some point, the players MUST ALSO be blamed, especially those who just cashed big checks…..EARN YOUR PAY!

  32. mjc Says:

    Lovie on his Radio show said Gosder had a good game at tackle. If the definition of a good game is

    * 5 penalities
    * 2 sacks that came from him
    * poor run blocking

    No wonder the team sucks. I wonder what a bad game would be?

  33. CAN'T FIX IT Says:

    Will someone please Bring some lunch bags to the next home game an few extra larges for fat heads and also a few smalls for kids too and pass them out to every one to put on there heads and chant Throw Lovie Dovie in the Bay you stink !!!!!!! lol lol…

  34. passthebuc Says:

    Joe we must agree that we disagree

  35. mike10 Says:

    Great article. Covers just about everything. I’ll add: keeping Warhop, booting Zuttah, bringing on several former Bears and slotting them immediately as starters, and not bringing on former Bears that want to be here (Hester), not fully evaluating Mariota, drafting Simms in the third, continually making excuses and never having the right answer, failing to make adjustments at half time for 17 games, hiring Licht, raining out golf on Sunday, burning the burgers, and running up my credit card bill.

  36. rayjay1122 Says:

    I think Winston and the offense was not ready and looked good in camp because they were playing against the Bucs defense.

  37. Rob S Says:

    One thing everyone old enough should remember is the huge mistake that the Bucs made in bringing in an ‘offensive genius’ in Sam Wyche in the early 90s. Lovie’s regime very much reminds me of Wyche’s, where a coach is living on reputation while the game has passed him by. You can’t watch all these young new coaches be immediately successful and believe one word of Lovie’s talk. He’s right….it’s only one game, but unless there’s a major turnaround, he’s gone at the end of the year. The best thing the Glazers can do is hire a proven up and coming assistant coach that bring new ideas and can be flexible with the personnel he has. Really a joke that I’m still interested in this team considering the years of abuse! Hard habit to break…

  38. Casual Observer Says:

    BrianBucs has a strong point. Mariota was better than advertised. He throws accurate darts. Killed our defense. And that won’t be the only defense he shreds.

  39. Curse of Gruden Says:

    Shelton’s list of Lovie’s “wrong’s” is scary. Lovie has only been HC for 21 months. If the team doesn’t show some life by the bye week, Lovie should be FIRED.

  40. Brent Says:

    It’s just infuriating to get blown out again. I’m going to give Lovie til the end of the year before I make a decision but I’m very disappointed in him this far. It was 28-7 early in 2nd quarter and it clearly looked like one team was ready and one wasn’t. I’m sure bucs will play well against saints because we’re familiar. What bothers me is this coaching staffs inability to game plan and make adjustments. Also mr shelton add Bruce carter to wrong list? Why isn’t this guy starting? He has experience and supposedly is great in zone coverage see 5 picks last year??

  41. DB55 Says:

    I’m beginning to think they are losing on purpose no team can be this bad.

  42. Cannon Says:

    Which is worse?

    Lovie’s D getting blown out after allegedly months of preparation

    Or… the possibility that Mariota is an amazing QB? (who we could have drafted)

    Either concept is damning, and a complete failure by Lovie.

  43. bucrightoff Says:

    His timeline in Chicago shows he sucks at drafting and developping players

    First 3 years in Chicago, mostly inherited players: Playoffs in 2/3 seasons
    Last 7 years as a coach, mostly his own roster: Playoffs in 1/7 seasons.

    If you ever want this guy as a coach, have a semi ready roster and a strong GM in place. But he has control here, so how can we be surprised its a disaster? That’s why he has to go now, he’ll probably trade Glennon for a 7th round pick and Glennon will have a better career than Jameis. It is the Lovie talent evaluation way.

  44. Buc1987 Says:

    rayjay1122 Says:
    September 15th, 2015 at 12:58 pm

    “I think Winston and the offense was not ready and looked good in camp because they were playing against the Bucs defense.”

    Bingo!

    DB55 Says:
    September 15th, 2015 at 1:07 pm

    “I’m beginning to think they are losing on purpose no team can be this bad.”

    LOL are you being sarcastic to get after the tank theory guys like me or do you think this team’s not buying into Lovie? Something’s wrong that’s for certain. There’s no fire on the defense at all. Not even a flicker or a spark. They looked worse than last season just as I said after the dress rehearsal 3rd preseason game. We were worried about the o-line and they played pretty decent. Lovie’s defense on the other hand….is going backwards and they look slow. Slow in the mind and slow in their play.

  45. Buc'n Enough Says:

    Why is there no finger pointing at the GM…this guy has not done his job either.
    Another POOR hire by the Larry, Moe & Curly Glazer. “Hey Moe, Hey Curly..WHoop…Whoop..Whoop Whoop, yuch, Yuch….

  46. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    unbelievable Says
    “@Bonzai, people are freaking out b/c we lost.”

    Yup. We lost badly. ONE GAME.
    The first game of the year.
    The first game of several starter’s careers.

    I predicted 2-6 in the first half of the season. After that? It depends of how the oline, dline and QB develop over those 8 games.

    Going 2-6 ain’t pretty.

    But it is expected. Blaming Lovie because his rookies are not well developed yet is wrong. People are over reacting because their expectations were set way to high.

    They were not being realistic. They assumed that because positions were filled, the rookies would come out blazing. Not possible.

    Winston will settle down. Marpet will excel. Smith (OT) will not be so nervous in the next game and will start coming along. Kwon will get steadily better at his job.

    Also, you guys seem to forget that 22+ new players were brought in. That is nearly half the team. Each of those players need to get their schemes down still, and learn to trust their teammates to do their jobs (or they will jump off their assigned roles in attempts to make plays).

    Time.

    Certainly, another head coach is NOT what we need. We need stability. Not more Chaos.

    Besides, no coach wants a job where they’ll likely be fired within 2 years, which is what you guys are suggesting.

    Heck…most of you are suggesting 1 year and one game he be fired. Completely unreasonable.

    I know no one here will admit it though…because, well, if you are stupid enough to give up already, you are certainly not intelligent enough to get that it is far too early to want Lovie fired.

  47. cmurda Says:

    My bad Joe. Just realized I used a bad word on my previous post that went to moderation. I got all heated up and didn’t realize it at first.

  48. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    A little stat you all should have noticed before this week:

    Buccaneers Record in First Games of Last 10 Seasons

    2015 – LOSS
    2014 – LOSS
    2013 – LOSS
    2012 – WIN –
    2011 – LOSS
    2010 – WIN –
    2009 – LOSS
    2008 – LOSS
    2007 – LOSS
    2006 – LOSS

    A record of 2-8. Why anyone expected anything else is beyond me.

  49. bucrightoff Says:

    Buc’n Enough Says:
    September 15th, 2015 at 1:21 pm
    Why is there no finger pointing at the GM…this guy has not done his job either.
    ______________________________________________________________

    Because the GM is mostly impotent since Lovie has total roster control. He’s a puppet for the most part, so I guess he deserves blame but it’s not like he can do much anyways.

  50. Buc1987 Says:

    Bonzai…I predicted 4-6 wins this season, but that loss was atrocious. It was the score that was the problem. I don’t expect much to happen this season until like you said by midseason. Too much youth, and they’re learning now, I’m NOT giving Lovie a pass though. There’s veterans on the D that didn’t show up, not to mention the FA’s on D that looked unprepared. The team looked unprepared for the first game of the season. Live said that they are Tenn. ready before the game. How does anyone have any faith in his words anymore? Anybody. From last season’s “we don’t expect our fans to be patient” line that gave us 2-14 to “we’re Tennessee ready” that gave us 42 -14 in the season opener. Lovie seat is on FIRE right now.

  51. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    We went .500 in first games the four games before that, including the Super Bowl year, which we lost the opening game.

  52. Buc1987 Says:

    Live said that they are Tenn. ready before the game.*

    Lovie said that they are Tenn ready before the game.

  53. cmurda Says:

    @ Bonzai. I respectfully disagree. One game or not. We got throttled out of the building in that one game. That one game was also the first of many rookie careers on the Titans and they looked smooth and prepared. There is no excuse for getting skulldrug in our house to what was the 2nd worst team last year. I am not buying any of the excuses or the it’s only 1 game crap. Lovie said that we wouldn’t be printing out Superbowl tix if we won by the same score. That may be true but it would show us that we have hope in the near future. It seems year after year we regress when regression is near impossible. Judging by Week 1’s performance, we could possibly be even worse than last year.

  54. Buc1987 Says:

    Bonzai…AND It’s not the fans I’m worried about when it comes to believing Lovie’s words. It’s the entire team believing his BS. If we don’t believe it, do they?

  55. DallasBuc Says:

    Discouraged?…disappointed.

  56. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    @Buc1987

    I agree that the score…and the playing & coaching….was atrocious. However, the team still has to respond to the loss on the field.

    Don’t expect a win this coming week either. Brees is going to do his best to get 3 touchdowns to hit 400 TDs in his career.

    Our best chances for wins in the first half of the season are against the Texans and Redskins. Possibly the Jags, but they always seem to have our number.

    But by game 7, our offensive line should be improved enough to compete against the Falcons. Maybe not win, but compete, depending on how the new coach is doing there by then.

    By mid season, I think things will have developed enough to win a few games…POSSIBLE wins being against Eagles, Falcons, Saints, Rams and Bears.

    Like I said, it will all depend on how the team develops over the next 7 games.

    If we win those games, and 2 in the first half of the season, we go 7-9. Acceptable.

  57. bucrightoff Says:

    BuccaneerBonzai Says:
    September 15th, 2015 at 1:32 pm
    A little stat you all should have noticed before this week:

    Buccaneers Record in First Games of Last 10 Seasons

    2015 – LOSS
    2014 – LOSS
    2013 – LOSS
    2012 – WIN –
    2011 – LOSS
    2010 – WIN –
    2009 – LOSS
    2008 – LOSS
    2007 – LOSS
    2006 – LOSS

    A record of 2-8. Why anyone expected anything else is beyond me.
    _____________________________________________________________

    And of those 10 seasons, there’s 1 playoff berth, 3 winning seasons, and 4 seaons of 4 wins or less. All this shows is how truly horrible this franchise has been the last decade, with no end in sight.

  58. bucrightoff Says:

    And actually I’m wrong, HALF the last 10 seasons have had 4 wins or less. The only thing the Bucs are competitive in right now is the race with the Raiders and Jags for worst franchise in the league.

  59. Buc1987 Says:

    Bonzai….well, we’ll see.

    Then again, I’ve typed those 2 words the most in here over the last 3 seasons.

    “We’ll see”

    It’s always…we’ll see, but it’s always the same outcome for us Buc fans.

    So we’ll see what’s happening by midseason, the season is still young.

  60. Buc1987 Says:

    If they go into the Jags game that I have tickets for at 0-4. Then I’m bringing 2 signs to that game. If they lose to the Jags the signs are coming out.

    First sign will read : AND YOUR UNIFORMS SUCK TOO!
    (My wife’s sign)

    Second sign will read : I Miss Greg Schiano
    (Of course that will be me sarcastic sign)

  61. DallasBuc Says:

    Would love to be a fly on the wall of those private owners meetings this week. You know there are lists being prepared already of people they would be interested in talking to about taking over football operations and HC candidates at the end of this year if not sooner depending on the continued level of humiliating effort and results that Incompetent rube puts on the field on gameday the rest of the season.
    Rank overreaction Joe? Does that trump rank incompetence and rank humiliation of the organization, fan base and city of Tampa?

  62. Bucs53 Says:

    He needs to go, unfortunately, you just can’t fire him right now. There’s no one proven enough to step in.

    Let’s say that hypothetically the Bucs fire Lovie right now, who steps in? Frazier? Koetter?

    First, there’s so much to be fixed on both sides of the ball that it will take the full attention of the OC and DC to try and remedy it—you don’t want either to have to divide their attention (once again, hypothetically Lovie’s gone).

    Second, Frazier was an awful HC and basically neutered as a DC (right or wrong, we don’t know). And Koetter has never been a HC—so some of you brilliant minds out there (you know who you are) want Koetter to fix the offense, the QB, all while figuring out the HC job for the first time???

    It’s called common sense. Unless, they’re willing to turn the defense over to an Assistant Coach and make Frazier Interim HC (which isn’t necessarily any better than Lovie) we are stuck with Smith for the season.

    It is what it is. Go Bucs! Let’s see some progress!

  63. DallasBuc Says:

    A couple more gameday embarrassments this season, especially at home, no one is going to say that the notion of replacing the incompetent HC is an overreaction. Not even Joe.

  64. unbelievable Says:

    @Bonzai,

    Again, not this upset about just a loss. It’s HOW we lost, and WHO we lost to. The team looked straight up pathetic. No fight, no fire, no edge, no passion.

    I’m not saying Lovie should be fired, in fact I agree with you about stability. I was on here the other day harping about stability and giving coaches 3 years, etc. But Lovie needs to turn things around in a big way, and soon.

    Marginal improvement ain’t gonna cut it. And I don’t want to hear that these new players need more time to learn Lovie’s system. We heard that last year. He said this year he has the roster and his guys to run his system. So let’s see it. The team out there sunday was a joke.

  65. Cannon Says:

    I’m not saying that NO will have a strong game against us this week… but I’m picking up Brandon Coleman (NO’s 3rd WR) for my fantasy team this week.

    The tactic paid off for me with Kendall Wright :o(

  66. Buc1987 Says:

    Bucs53 Says:

    “It is what it is. Go Bucs! Let’s see some progress!”

    Yes let’s. I’m done with calling for Lovie’s head for right now. The more blowouts that they receive the more times JW is on the field and learning. Cut down on stupid mistakes (we’ve been saying that no matter who the coach is for years now), let the rookies grow and we’ll see you next year. But let’s show progress.

    Yes let’s show progress. Sunday was a regress from last season, so like I said on my last post, once again “we’ll see”.

  67. AbandonShip Says:

    All I have to say is compare MM8’s footwork, eyes, release, poise, and accuracy to No 3’s on Sun. Yucs took the wrong guy. I mean one looked flat out ready for the NFL, and the other looked like an overhyped, overweight, over matched high school “hero”. Lovie is a TERRIBLE excuse for a HC and he drafted a TERRIBLE excuse for a QB. This guy is supposed to know defense but he dropped Gholdson(not the greatest) for Conte(the worst)?!?!?!? He got rid of Revis(the greatest) for Verner(hot garbage)?!?!?! Why would we expect him to evaluate a QB when he cant even make good evaluations on defensive players as a supposed defensive genius.

  68. Buc1987 Says:

    @Joe Tavares King didn’t get us Jameis Winston….Lovie Smith did. That’s about the only thing I’m thankful for Lovie after he leaves. He got us Jameis.

  69. Buccfan37 Says:

    The Bucs would have lost if Mariota wasn’t playing anyway. 2-14 Tennessee is way better than the 2-14 Bucs. I don’t think the Bucs could of beat any NFL team Sunday. This team is clueless.

  70. Buc1987 Says:

    AbandonShip…I stopped trusting and listening Lovie by week 6 of last season. But Jameis will be fine. Give Mariota time to play up against even a below average NFL D and then start screaming about how we got the wrong QB.

  71. Buc1987 Says:

    Buccfan37…correct. It’s gonna be a looooong season. Then again, I knew this coming into the season, so I’m not “freaking out” like some fans are.

  72. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    I just did the research on the claim that the Titans had just as many rookies starting.

    WRONG.

    In point of fact, the Buccaneers had 3 times the number of starting rookies. # TIMES!

    TITANS
    Offensive Starters

    LT – Taylor Lewan – Veteran
    LG – Byron Bell – Veteran
    C – Brian Schwenke – Veteran
    RG – Chance Warmack – Veteran

    RT – Jeremiah Poutasi – Rookie

    QB – Marcus Mariota – Rookie

    WR1 – Harry Douglas – Veteran
    WR2 – Kendall Wright – Veteran
    TE – Delanie Walker – Veteran
    TE – Anthony Fasano – Veteran
    RB – Bishop Sankey – Veteran

    Defensive Starters

    DE – DaQuan Jones – Veteran
    NT – Sammie Lee Hill – Veteran
    DT – Jurrell Casey – Veteran
    OLB – Derrick Morgan – Veteran
    OLB – Brian Orakpo – Veteran
    ILB – Zach Brown – Veteran
    ILB – Avery Williamson – Veteran
    CB – Perrish Cox – Veteran
    CB – Jason McCourty – Veteran
    SS – Da’Norris Searcy – Veteran
    FS – Michael Griffin – Veteran

    Special Teams
    Kicker/Punter – Brett Kern – Veteran
    Long Snapper – Beau Brinkley – Veteran

    They list 2 TEs and 2 ILBs as starters for some reason, so total likely off by 2 for vets.

    STARTING TOTALS
    Veterans: 22
    Rookies: 2

    BUCCANEERS

    Offensive Starters

    WR – Vincent Jackson – Veteran
    WR – Louis Murphy (backup) – Veteran
    LT – Donovan Smith – Rookie
    LG – Logan Mankins – Veteran
    C – Evan Smith – Veteran
    RG – Ali Marpet – Rookie

    QB – Jameis Winston – Rookie
    RT – Gosder Cherilus – Veteran (recently signed so doesn’t know offense yet)
    TE – Austin Seferian-Jenkins – Veteran
    RB – Doug Martin – Veteran
    FB – Jorvorskie Lane – Veteran

    Defensive Starters

    DE – George Johnson – Veteran
    DT – Gerald McCoy – Veteran
    DT – Clinton McDonald – Veteran
    DE – Jacquies Smith – Veteran
    OLB – Danny Lansanah – Veteran (injured in game)
    ILB – Kwon Alexander – Rookie
    OLB – Lavonte David – Veteran
    CB – Alterraun Verner – Veteran
    CB – Johnthan Banks – Veteran
    SS – Major Wright – Veteran
    FS – Bradley McDougald – Veteran

    Special Teams
    Punter – Jacob Schum – Rookie
    Kicker – Kyle Brindza – Rookie

    STARTING TOTALS
    Veterans: 18
    Rookies: 6

    Just another example of people making assumptions and not being realistic.

  73. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    Those totals were for this past game. Obviously, going forward Mike Evans will start at WR, but he’s a vet anyway now.

  74. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    @AbandonShip

    Winston’s release is faster than Glennon’s release. Winston also processes things much faster.

    Unfortunately, he also acts too quickly AT TIMES. This is a common gunslinging rookie QB mistake.

  75. Joseph Mamma Says:

    The game showed what I knew all along. Mariota is a quick twitch athlete that has a quick release and he knows how to read defenses quickly. Jameis is slow footed, has a longer wind up throwing, and constantly misses defenders or misses throws when targeting a receiver, especially underneath defenders. Scheme they played in college means nothing in the long run.

  76. bucrightoff Says:

    Bonzai did all that work not realizing

    A) no one cares
    B) It’s totally irrelevant to the horrible coaching.

  77. J Says:

    @Buccaneer Bonsai

    MCpurty, Cox and the starting nose tackle were out leaving a garbage secondary to throw against. The spin is over

  78. cmurda Says:

    @ Bonzai,

    3 times the amount of rookie sounds like we started a lot more rookies until you break it down. First of all, I don’t count the punter and kicker as players (signed Kenny Powers) because we naturally think offense and defense. The kickers wouldn’t matter if we actually scored TD’s. So there goes 2 of our rookies. The biggest factor is just as we started a rookie Qb, so did they. Naturally, a team should put a lot of pressure on a rookie QB to see how they respond. We put zero pressure all game long with the exception of the McCoy sack, which by the way could have easily been ruled a fumble. Per usual, we get the short end of the stick with the refs. Anyhow, I’ll give you the fact that we started 2 rookie O Linemen ( whom played very well actually). Beckles hates D Smith but he looked pretty solid to me and Marpet was spot on. That’s about where the bright spots ended on Sunday.

  79. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    @cmurda

    Oh that’s right. Start ruling things out. Even though it is accurate. Just admit it…you already hate Lovie and nothing he does will change that.

    The kickers DO count. They are rookies. And FYI…a kicker is usually the leading scorer on a team.