Koetter Climbing The Class Of 2016
November 21st, 2016
Urgency
Lovie Smith kept telling Bucs fans things would take time, specifically his defense, as he and Josh McCown set out to forge a strong and healthy foundation on both sides of the football.
Well, Lovie squawked about patience while his fellow members of the head coaching class of 2014, Bill O’Brien, Jay Gruden and Mike Zimmer, had major league success.
Joe still can’t believe what Brother of Chucky has done with the Skins and Kirk “Freakin'” Cousins. of all people.
Dirk Koetter has a coaching fraternity of his own, and the Class of 2016 is looking very solid to date.
Koetter is hanging tough in third place in the seven-member group. Here’s where they stand:
Ben McAdoo, Giants (7-3)
Adam Gase, Dolphins (6-4)
Dirk Koetter, Bucs (5-5)
Doug Pederson, Eagles (5-5)
Mike Mularkey, Titans (5-6)
Chip Kelly, 49ers (1-7)
Hue Jackson, Browns (0-9)
Joe predicted the Bucs would be an 8-8 team this season. Joe’s hopes for better, but Joe’s not wavering from that call — and 8-8 would be a heck of an accomplishment for Koetter’s inaugural season.
Joe is most impressed with where Koetter has the Bucs mentally right now. The team didn’t fold when it easily could have yesterday in Kansas City, and the mentality overhaul over the past two games appears significant and lasting.
As Doug Martin explained, these Bucs are different.
November 21st, 2016 at 12:17 pm
Lovie win total year 1-2
Dirk win total year 1-5 and counting
Glazer Bros made the right move. Especially since Lovie had 100% roster control and Dirk is handcuffed by a bad GM
November 21st, 2016 at 12:21 pm
Keep the head coach and fire the gm !
November 21st, 2016 at 12:26 pm
Very Interesting debate between Koetter and Winston’s franchise changing abilities. Maybe they both turn out to be superstars together. Unbelievable difference in coaching staffs. Lovie made me hate football, Koetter makes me believe again.
November 21st, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Firing the GM is a strange call to make, considering the biggest contributers to the game were Licht picks, not dominicks. Winston, Evans, and Conte were the best contributers. Where are domi-picks? Martin, GMC, LVD were unspectacular today. Not the time to call for Lichts head, the day Aguayo makes 4 fg kicks in one game on a record setting missed PAT day.
November 21st, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Definitely not calling for Licht’s job just pointing out how one coach had full roster control and got 2 wins. While Dirk is hamstrung by a GM who fails in free agency and puts together a subpar roster
November 21st, 2016 at 12:42 pm
We lose that game with Schiano and Uncle Lovie in charge. Nice win for Koetter.
November 21st, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Tampa Tony is about time you go the way of your friend Kobe.
November 21st, 2016 at 12:51 pm
Glennongrad- you are aware that each of the three Dominik picks you mentioned were all offered yuge contracts by the Ego-in-chief Jason Licht? Not helping your argument, just saying.
November 21st, 2016 at 12:55 pm
Ndog- I’m not going to your house to please your wife. I’ve been here awhile, and I’ll be here a bit longer as well.
November 21st, 2016 at 1:00 pm
Ndog- The only Kobe I’m friends with is the Central FL based Jana hibachi restaurant
November 21st, 2016 at 1:05 pm
get rid of licht and get a competent person in charge pf player personnel great win and hopefully it moves forward but I am still all for trading GMC for some future picks
November 21st, 2016 at 1:32 pm
For every licht bad vall in f.a. is a good call in draft. He has built depth at oline and rb. I think the issue is a lack of consistency. Give both these guys at least 3 years working with each other. If it doesn’t work by year 3, fire em both and start all over.
November 21st, 2016 at 1:38 pm
WARCHANT AT RAY JAY THIS SUNDAY! I’m flying in from Texas and I hope I hear it at every home game from here on out.
November 21st, 2016 at 1:56 pm
Hey Joe: could you PLEASE put the countdown clock on the masthead Sunday??? Pretty please??? The only time you did so was our first game against the Dixie Chicks, and we won!! We outplayed them!! How ’bout it? BTW, the fact that Jay Gruden is making winners outta Washington is no surprise. Anyone who followed Arena Football knows Jay’s record and pedigree. I’m glad for him. He and his wife, Sherry, are good people.
November 21st, 2016 at 2:32 pm
I lost complete confidence in Dirk after his meltdown playing against Denver when he quit on the team. BUT I got a ton of respect back for him based on how he handled the Evans situation – making sure something that stupid didn’t happen again. Also Dirk finally seems to be loosen the reigns on Winston and letting him play. As I said, yes me, early in the year playing on the road in Arizona and then at home against Denver, those were elite defenses and Winston, with no running game and only 1 NFL level WR, he’d struggle – but it would be how he did in the strech afterwards that would determine his year. Not shockingly since that Denver game he’s been very good – and even that Denver game wasn’t a disaster – they did the same thing to Winston that they did to Luck a week before.
Now this week will again be a struggle, in particular since Seattle gets away with more PI than any team I’ve ever seen in my life. The Seattle DB’s yanking down Evans on a play will lead to a big INT and the refs won’t call it because they just never do. Lets see how Winston does if that does indeed happen, lets see what Evans does as well. Evans is one of the bigger WR’s those Seattle DB’s will face and if the refs are going to let Seattle hold on everyplay, I hope Evans gets his chance to create offensive PI on every play in return. But we know how the calls go – and they’re generally not in Tampa’s favor.
Anywh big game coming up. The defense will most likely get eaten alive as they do against every good QB – but hopefully the Bucs offensive line can keep Winston upright long enough to throw to Evans, who despite the matchup should be a solid daily play as he’s the only NFL WR the team has.
November 21st, 2016 at 3:11 pm
I’m often confused as to the original subject of these threads because there’s always some “other” agenda.
Yes, the record shows improvement and we played a great game yesterday. Hopefully these are all indicators of what the future holds.
November 21st, 2016 at 5:34 pm
Dirk Koetter just needs to keep winning..period. The rest will take care of itself. Wanna really impress the sports world? Whip Seattle on Sunday. Show us fans the last 2 wins were not a fluke. Sometimes you guys get so caught up in the praise/Holly rollin thing, you forget we still got a lotta games left…to win.. or lose. Stay focused and let the BS take care of itself.
November 21st, 2016 at 7:31 pm
What the Phuck is there to argue about guys? We are better than we were last yr. Just rejoice and stop pointing fingers
November 21st, 2016 at 8:24 pm
I don’t get these pseudo fans calling for Lichts head. WHY?
Do you hate the LB’s? The depth being developed along the OLine and DLine? The awesome RB depth? The massively improved CB play?
He has done a superb job and is basically in need of another pass rusher, a safety and a speedy WR…. along with ALWAYS adding linemen. That’s it. One off season and they are perennial playoff contenders.
You guys act like every single move should be a pro bowler. You also like to point out mistakes in hindsight. Whatever. Get a clue, not every move will pan out out, but the last few drafts and pickups overall have been fantastic in building this team for the long haul.
November 21st, 2016 at 8:31 pm
As for WRs, Sheppherd and Humphries are becoming damn reliable. Shorts is starting to look like a good pick up. They still need another WR, a speedster, in the draft next year in the first 1-3 rounds. Not to get off on a tangent, but I suspect 3 of the first 4 picks will be a WR, safety, and another pass rusher. The other top pick may be another OLinemen. Of course all that varies because of FA but I digress!!!
Playoffs first!
November 21st, 2016 at 8:49 pm
Mike Johnson are you going to call every win a fluke u less we go 16-0?
Geeze man Lovie is gone, get the f@ck over it or go root for Illinois
November 21st, 2016 at 9:13 pm
For thexample record, I was shocked that Tampa beat KC. The offense played a very good, but not great game, due to the inability to find paydirt (kudos to Aguayo). The defense bent but didn’t break. The defense will break, because Wilson is an MVP level quarterback, which Alex Smith is nowhere near and Seattle’s receiving corps topso the Chiefs. I think Tampa won’t quit, but I do not think that they’ll win. I say 35 28 Seattle.
November 21st, 2016 at 9:14 pm
Not to mention that Seattle might be without a few great players this week. I believe it’ll be close
November 22nd, 2016 at 12:06 am
Why is everyone bashing LVD, GMC, and now the general manager? You guys do know that it’s a team sport, not just a few guys. GMC is a game changer no matter how you look at it. The guy get double team almost every play for several years now. Now that translate to me that he a constant threat. LVD, from what i’ve seen, looks like a victim of the defensive scheme. But he does his job, and is actually around the ball a lot, even if he didn’t directly make the tackle first. My final opinion is that we can not build trust, if we keep dumping key personnel. Stay positive#GO BUCS