“Panic!”
October 26th, 2015
BSPN cites a Bucs defensive lineman as reason to panic.
There were so many fails yesterday by the Bucs’ defense, Joe doesn’t know where to begin or where to stop.
The more Joe thinks about yesterday’s effort, where the Bucs defense puked all over the grass of FedEx Field, the more Joe wants to puke himself.
For Jim Corbett of BSPN, he believes Bucs fans have a reason to panic, and that is defensive lineman Will Gholston.
One reason to panic: In an alarming continuance of the Bucs’ red zone woes, defensive end William Gholston bit hard on Cousins’ play-action fake to tailback Matt Jones late in the first half. Cousins ran the read-option fake to perfection as Gholston crashed in and Cousins easily outraced safety Bradley McDougald for an 8-yard touchdown run around the left side. It was another sign that despite their fifth overall defensive ranking, the Bucs remain a flawed unit that ranks 31st in scoring defense.
Simply put, Gholston was out of control yesterday. Sure, he made two tackles — whoop-tee-do! — but he made up for that weak effort by committing three personal fouls.
Normally, that’s ample evidence to bench a player, but Bucs coach Lovie Smith was so desperate, he kept Gholston in the game.
Joe isn’t blaming Gholston for the loss, but let’s not forget on each Redskins drive in which Gholston was flagged — two unnecessary roughness penalties and one roughing the passer — all three ended in a touchdown.
Gholston may not be the reason the Redskins scored, but he sure helped.
October 26th, 2015 at 10:07 am
A good coach would’ve benched him after the first penalty…
October 26th, 2015 at 10:15 am
Fire Lovie Now
October 26th, 2015 at 10:15 am
Joe,
I am for the firing or Lovie but only under the following circumstances. First, if you are going to do it then it must be done now if you are intending on hiring an entirely new staff. Jameis and this offense are beginning to show real promise and the worst this you can do to this kid is stunt his development with revolving door of OC’s.
Second, I would put the team in the hands of Dirk and let him run this team for the remainder of the year so you can see what he in terms of an HC. You need to pull a Dolphins here because I think we have some real talent and you need to see some players play for their jobs.
I would also keep our GM because I feel like he has done a good job evaluating talent and managing the cap.
October 26th, 2015 at 10:18 am
JabooBuc: i think you make a great point: getting rid of Lovie now gives Winston a chance to prosper under Koetter. Leaving lovie to run this team to a 3-13 or so record will just get everyone fired and Winston will have a new system to learn for 2016. Glazer’s: take care of the obvious problem: L&L and keep the coordinators on an interim basis!
October 26th, 2015 at 10:22 am
Really TT.. You really think a “good” benches players after 1 penalty. Really… You really think so… ‘Tard!
October 26th, 2015 at 10:25 am
Granted, Gholston had 3 penalties (dumb ones at that), but the team had 16 altogether. And that doesn’t count the ones that weren’t accepted and where we had 2 penalties on the same play. That was a totally undisciplined Bucs TEAM out there yesterday. Singling out one player isn’t the answer.
The ridiculous penalties, the poor clock management, the indescribable pass defense, and the continued overly-conservative play-calling all contributed heavily to the loss. All of those factors fall back on coaching in one way or another (to include not having your special teams being prepared for an on-side kick when most of the kick-offs are touchbacks anyways).
Firing Lovie mid-season and replacing him with Leslie Frazier won’t change how this season ends up (Leslie will continue to run the same defense with the same players). Firing Lovie and promoting Dirk Koetter to HC (if he’d accept it anyways) would only reduce the time he could spend with the offense and may well hinder its continued improvement. Firing Lovie and bringing in someone from ‘outside’ mid-season puts that HC in an untenable position (inheriting someone else’s staff and a losing team). Like it or not, Lovie’s here for the remainder of 2015 … unless the locker room up and quits on him (which I don’t think they’ve done … yet).
October 26th, 2015 at 10:29 am
Scott Reynolds has a good article over on Pewter Report calling for Lovie to be fired now. Its a good read, unlike that apologist (and totally hilarious) article over on BucStop by Nick.
October 26th, 2015 at 10:35 am
Ro- sounds extreme but you gotta send a message!!! Stupid penalties won’t be tolerated. Yet Loser Lovie doesn’t hold these guys accountable
October 26th, 2015 at 10:36 am
FIRE LOVIE and move forward…poor coaching is holding this team back now…
October 26th, 2015 at 10:42 am
I’m torn.
Most years, by midway through the season, I can just stop watching entire games or at least change the channel by halftime, when the product is clearly inferior. There’s better things to do when the weather is nice, and I don’t need the frustration.
But, I want to watch Jameis progress, and it’s nice seeing the offense come together. This offense has a future.
But, that means I have to watch the defense get picked apart, and watch special teams screw the pooch (Rainey is a bright spot).
This isn’t Lovie’s best, but, even at his best, it will never be elite.
October 26th, 2015 at 10:49 am
I thought gholston was ejected for kicking. He got benched immediately after the call then a few plays later he gives up the terrible TD.
My question is why not roll with Howard Jones? The kid has only been making huge plays the past two weeks!
Thank gawd we have THE defensive guru leading this team, lol.
October 26th, 2015 at 10:52 am
The only way to win with a defense like we have is to score 40 points on offense. Our defense is supposed to be our strength and we can’t even stop Kirk freaking Cousins. 3 defensive captains and leading the league in penalties shows how great our coaching staff is, starting with LS. Try and get Harbaugh from Michigan some how some way. Coaching is everything just look at San Fran for example. Not going to lie Shiano looked better with less talent. I think Lovie should be fired if we have another defensive performance like yesterday. I feel the defence did better when Lovie let Leslie do the play calling. Keep Dirk in there for now and leave him if we do plan on getting a new HC so our offense can at least keep gelling. I’m sure there will be some better defensive coaches available later on.
October 26th, 2015 at 10:56 am
Wow ! Not one Lovie supporter in all then rants shown above. Quite unlike the last 2 weeks. Being from Chicago and seeing what he did up there, I’ve been calling for his head since his first game. At the end of Lovie’s term, Chicago was a total mess and they are still wallowing in it now! He is a terrible 2nd half coach, If he’s behind, no clue on how to come back. If he’s ahead, look out below. His firing couldn’t come quick enough for me, I know he took Chicago to 1 super Bowl but he has been living off of that for years now and the game has passed him by.
October 26th, 2015 at 11:01 am
And while we’re on the subject of coaching: guess who the safeties coach is…..
Answer: Mikal Smith, Lovie’s son!
I guess he was hired because he interviews well!
October 26th, 2015 at 11:42 am
Benching him wouldn’t be extreme. Kicking a player was extreme. Classless.
October 26th, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Most NFL receivers can catch on a regular basis. The Bucs defense depends on stopping “YAC”. The problem is that we aren’t tackling after the short catch.
Clearly, you can’t generate any pressure from the front 4 when the offense is in short pass mode. The Bucs defense has countered with more man 2 man coverages. Sadly, our DB’s were selected because of their ability to play zone.
The coverages now include dropping DL into short zones. We’re throwing the kitchen sink into coverage and still allowing YAC. The frustration is showing up in penalties.
October 26th, 2015 at 1:30 pm
What makes anyone think that changing coaches will make it all magically be better? When no coach can succeed what do you do? Gruden, Morris, Schiano, and Smith all failed. Vince Lombardi could not turn this organization around!
October 26th, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Bench Gholston and replace him with whom? The Bucs defensive line is thread bare due to horrible drafting under Dominik and Lovie/Licht focusing on offense in their first two drafts. It’s going to take some time to rebuild this roster through the draft. Replacing Lovie with anyone else, including Dirk Koetter, would likely trigger yet another round of rebuilding turmoil.
October 26th, 2015 at 3:43 pm
Gholston is actually one of the players most responsible for yesterday’s loss. I like the kid, but his 3 personal fouls absolutely killed us. You said it right Joe, the redskins scored on all 3 of those drives, and all 3 of those penalties gave them a 1st down when we had actually stopped them on the play.
This team is just so undisciplined it blows my mind. And the things is, it’s been like this for years! Even in the last years of Chucky, through Raheem, Schiano, and now Lovie, this team just piles up penalty after penalty! Same ol sh!t, just a different coach / roster. It’s sickening to watch us defeat ourselves week in and week out.