Badass Coaching
September 17th, 2017
Walked the walk
Legions of Bucs fans and Joe want to buy Dirk Koetter an ice-cold beer.
What he did at the end of the first half today brought tears of joy to tens of thousands.
Leading 23-0 after forcing a Bears punt with 64 seconds remaining in the half, the Bucs had the ball at their 20 yard line following a touchback.
Run a draw play to eat the clock and force the Bears to burn a timeout? No. No. No. Remember, Koetter told the world in April he wants a badass football team.
Instead, Koetter put America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, in the shotgun and he fired a 21-yard strike on an out route to DeSean Jackson, who hauled in the pass and stepped out of bounds.
Joe almost wept.
You see, nearly three years ago to the day, the Bucs trailed the Rams 10-7 at home with 11 seconds remaining in the first half. The Bucs had the ball at their 40 yard line and multiple timeouts. And they took a knee.
That triggered one of the most weakass quotes in the history of football.
“Right before the half, I didn’t want to put more points on the board. I didn’t feel like we could, only thing that could happen was something bad then,” said head coach Lovie Smith.
Thank goodness it’s a new day in Tampa Bay, with a head coach who is up 23 points just before halftime and tries to stomp the throat of his opponent without fear of consequences.
Nick Folk gave Koetter a happy ending with a 50-yard field goal to close the half. But it wasn’t about the three points. It was about a mindset Bucs fans have been begging to see arrive.
September 17th, 2017 at 10:59 pm
Amen Joe!
September 17th, 2017 at 11:00 pm
We are not the weak arsed do golfers Lovie wanted. We are not the run of the mill team everyone expected. We are ” One Family ” and as long as the players and fans are TOGETHER we will not be stopped! Time for a new tattoo “NFC CHAMPS 2017”
September 17th, 2017 at 11:04 pm
I was at the stadium and referenced this very difference on this very play. Very true Joe. That really was the weakest thing i ever saw in my mife. Lovie truly might be the worst coach in bucs history.
Thank. God. Lovie. Is. Gone. For. Ever.
Good mfng riddance and thank the football gods we have a coach that actually has a pair.
September 17th, 2017 at 11:04 pm
Amen Joe indeed!
#NotYourSameOldBucs
September 17th, 2017 at 11:06 pm
I was weeping uncontrollably. I could barely gather myself. Just beautiful
September 17th, 2017 at 11:08 pm
It’s on like Licht switches and drunk bitchez!!!!! Bring on the NFL, weeeee ready!!!! Tampa baaaaay!!!!!
September 17th, 2017 at 11:10 pm
Pitched a shutout minus garbage time, pencil neck was out first casualty
September 17th, 2017 at 11:11 pm
I love incompetent Lovie Smith.
LEAVE LOVIE ALONE
September 17th, 2017 at 11:24 pm
i think this says a lot about him and winston too. last year i feel like he would of just ran the clock out. if he wants winston to be an elite qb he needs to treat him like one. thats what he did here.
September 17th, 2017 at 11:37 pm
That was clutch…and allowed Folk to redeem himself after the PAT…confidence restored.
September 17th, 2017 at 11:47 pm
I just wish we had kept Schiano and built a team around Glennon.
September 17th, 2017 at 11:50 pm
“Nick Folk gave Dirk Koetter a happy ending”
……….and he kicked pretty well too, huh Joe?
Go Bucs!
September 17th, 2017 at 11:52 pm
i think can beat anyone in the league after watching todays games
September 17th, 2017 at 11:56 pm
I think he repeated that same speech to his team before the game the other night… Must be something about that field he doesn’t like.
September 17th, 2017 at 11:56 pm
You don’t need to go back to Lovie to find an example of awful cowardly coaching, just look at last year versus Denver when Dirk quit on the team and punted the ball from his side of the field down by 2 scores late in the 4th quarter and said it was because the team had no chance to get a first down (despite on the prior play getting a huge 3rd gain).
In the second half of the game rather than putting his foot on the Bears throat he just ran the clock out. The Bucs were up so big it’s hard to complain to about it but I was really hoping for a nice 50-point opening day win based on the way the first half went, but alas it wasn’t to be. I’m really not complaining and was fine with the way it all went, just from a purely selfish stat perspective I’d have loved to see the Bucs stay on the attack, but I certainly understand why they didn’t.
September 17th, 2017 at 11:57 pm
Hey if you see a Falcons fan make sure you congratulate them on not collapsing again…. I mean they might have lost the SB but at least they didn’t choke away a week 2 SNF game. LOL!
September 18th, 2017 at 12:30 am
Really Dustin?
How so? Jameis needs to get in sync with his WR’s first….
IF that happens….the league is screwed. I still worry about our secondary a little after I saw how well Glennon was able to throw on them. Where’s the pass rush?
This was the Bears. Have you seen the Bucs schedule?
I saw Brate pull up on one bad throw from Jameis cause I rewound it. But damn he had clean pockets most of the day. Some of those throws were atrocious. I expect it to get better.
Sorry but that’s just me. They play MUCH better teams than the Bears.
Are they ready? Not from what I saw yesterday.
Go Bucs!
September 18th, 2017 at 1:33 am
That was a thing of beauty. Don’t forget. Folk first kicked a 45 yarder that was nullified by a dumb penalty. I’ll chalk up the shanked xp as a fluke. Folk looks the part.
September 18th, 2017 at 5:43 am
1987 – That is the beauty of that game. Jameis did not have his best game and it didn’t matter. We have a team of good players, not just one. I’ll take that any day. After not playing for a month they certainly looked better than against the Bears than Atlanta did last week and they should just get better from here.
September 18th, 2017 at 5:54 am
Besides for Jameis getting his deep ball working, I would also like to see him and Koetter get smarter on running downs where the opposing D loads the box with 8 men on running downs. Audible out and make them pay for that BS. We have plenty of weapons and absolutely no need to just run up he middle into that pack of bodies. Perfect opportunity to complete a 10 yard pass, make one guy miss and turn it into a huge gain.
September 18th, 2017 at 6:29 am
Go to love Koetter’s attitude. 180 degree reversal from the “play not to lose and get the L” attitude of Lovie Smith against teams…. So ****ing refreshing to see the Bucs move the damn ball instead of running out the clock at half. Great win! What a statement! I think the Bucs sent a message to the rest of the NFL!
September 18th, 2017 at 8:15 am
Honestly, not to feel or sound like a downer, but I was waiting for our offense to turn the faucet on and keep dropping points. Great first game, but we gotta start touching down in the end zone once we break the 25
September 18th, 2017 at 8:34 am
Difference between playing with a rookie QB and a 3rd year starter.
September 18th, 2017 at 8:38 am
“Nick Folk gave Koetter a happy ending ”
Pablo says I know all about happy endings living here in TJ
September 18th, 2017 at 8:47 am
Lets see Dirk improve his red zone play calling.
September 18th, 2017 at 9:33 am
Outside of giving up that sack – Marpet had a good game.
Very impressed with Sweezy as well. Donovan Smith not so much.
September 18th, 2017 at 10:00 am
Jameis had plenty of time to throw to his receivers. He was sacked once and hit six times. All six of those didn’t come from the left side. So be specific, what is it about Donovan Smith’s play that was so terrible?
September 18th, 2017 at 10:07 am
One thing nobody seems to have noticed…one of the reasons #3 had a nice pocket most of the game was our RB’s did a great job of picking up defenders.
I thought Quizz especially did a nice job of blocking in the backfield.
They pay the other guys too. This is not touch or flag football! If we think we’re just going to line up and score 30 points per game I think we’re delusional.
The bottom line is that we simply need to score ONE more point than our opponents. Given what we saw yesterday…our FG kicking…punting…ran the ball effectively if not great…and we had some good passes as well.
We’re good to go…we did some things the Bucs have had difficulty pulling off…beat a team we should beat..and we kept penalities to a minimum.
September 18th, 2017 at 10:17 am
@D-Rome
• Sack
• At least 4 pressures – (*2 Resulting in Jameis getting blasted)
• A couple times he failed to cut off the backside pressure – when the run was going away. Resulting in the Edge Rusher blowing up the back in the backfield.
• Whiffed on a couple run blocks
*Keep in mind next week he goes up against – Everson Griffen.
September 18th, 2017 at 10:18 am
@D-Rome
• Sack
• At least 4 pressures – (*2 Resulting in Jameis getting blasted)
• A couple times he failed to cut off the backside pressure – when the run was going away. Resulting in the Edge Rusher blowing up the back in the backfield.
• Whiffed on a couple run blocks
*Keep in mind next week he goes up against – Everson Griffen.
September 18th, 2017 at 2:17 pm
I’m by no means a Smith hater but he didn’t have a good game – the only sack was the DE just running straight around him and he was getting pushed back quite a bit. I didn’t really notice Sweezy, which is generally a good thing.
September 18th, 2017 at 3:00 pm
I don’t post much, but read here everyday!!!!!
I could not agree more about how I felt at the end of the 1st half!!!!!!
Thank you Coach, for finally putting an end to my misery……
I told my son, at that moment, It Was Now A New Day In Tampa Bay!!!!!!