Unreal Call On The Final Play

October 14th, 2018

What the hell was that, Dirk Koetter/Todd Monken?

From the 21 yard line of the Falcons with seven seconds remaining, you approve a high school trick play when the Bucs are loaded with big receivers and a quarterback very capable of throwing the football?

Joe can only imagine what Team Glazer was thinking seeing that hot mess of a call. And please don’t try to tell Joe it nearly worked; yeah, if only Mike Evans had thrown a better backwards pass while he was getting hit.

Heck, if you throw it in the end zone, at least you have a shot at a penalty. Again, the Bucs have the huge athletic bodies in Mike Evans, O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate and high-flying Chris Godwin.

You pay those guys for a reason.

C’mon, Dirk. You were at the 21 yard line, not the 50!

Joe really doesn’t get it. Koetter talks about deferring to analytics on various calls. He’s no slave to them at all, but he does use them.

Joe would love to know what the analytics say about Jameis running up the gut and then intentionally fumbling backwards to set up multiple backwards passes.

82 Responses to “Unreal Call On The Final Play”

  1. Season Is Over Says:

    Don’t blame that on Monken. Lmao! We know who the culprit was. Winston wasn’t supposed to run up the middle.

  2. denjoe Says:

    Koetter=idiot or he was paid off.

  3. Lamarcus Says:

    We chose to suck

  4. Rod Munch Says:

    Maybe as a team the coaches have a vision problem. So how they think they’re at the 50 on this play instead of the 20, Mike Smith thinks his corners are only 5 yards off the line of scrimmage instead of 15. Not sure how that works on a team level, but perhaps like how women get their periods synced up, perhaps that same thing is happening with yardage estimates? Just a wild guess.

  5. EA Says:

    We don’t know for sure that was a called run for jameis, he probably decided to run after everyone was covered.

  6. Jim Says:

    This team needs more work. Jus’ sayin’…

  7. BushidoEvans Says:

    It was designed if you look at the play D Jax was lagging back from the snap.

  8. Rod Munch Says:

    Anyone that doesn’t think it was a designed play is dumber than Dirk and Mike combined (and remember 0 times any number is 0).

  9. Dewey Selmon Says:

    I don’t think this was on the coach. Jameis could of thrown it. The WR’s were in the end zone and didn’t come back to try that until they realized Winston was running.

  10. Dewey Selmon Says:

    I don’t think this was on the coach. Jameis could of thrown it. The WR’s were in the end zone and didn’t come back to try that until they realized Winston was running.

  11. Kalind Says:

    That was 100% a designed play call. Just stupid

  12. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    7 seconds is enough for 2 throws in the end zone from the 20…..& we need to discuss Mike Evans not getting out of bounds earlier when he clearly could have.

  13. Rod Munch Says:

    Dewey Selmon – kewl story cupcake, thanks for sharing.

  14. Turbo Says:

    We nearly caught them out with something completely different. The entire point of calling offensive plays is that you take advantage of what the defence gives you. We did that, but didn’t quite execute it.

    It was a higher percentage call than throwing it into the end zone from outside the red zone with 7 defenders standing at the goal line.

  15. gp Says:

    Falcons decimated defense outplayed our healthy defense (with some help from the refs)
    And were going to blame this on Winston?

  16. Conte Piscatelli Says:

    I actually liked the play call, it was the most creative call on either side of the ball from this staff ever.

  17. D-Rome Says:

    Meanwhile, the Joes love Koetter because he’s a better quote than previous head coaches. This team is a disgrace and regardless of what the statistics say, Jay-Miss is not going to lead this team anywhere.

  18. Silent_Partner Says:

    High school coaching. Now do you fools see what your real problem is?

  19. Conte Piscatelli Says:

    Want to know if it was designed, watch the oline head up field. It was absolutely a designed play.

  20. First Down Tampa Bay Says:

    Honestly, at least they were trying to be creative. If DJax woulda caught the ball he could’ve walked into the end zone. Good design, poor execution.

    At least it was better than Jameis chucking it to ME in triple coverage out of the back of the end zone.

  21. Dewey Selmon Says:

    You really think Jameis was told to hold on to the ball and then try and run. lol and then pitch it. That was plan B. lLan A was to get the ball into the end zone.

  22. Ndog Says:

    I just cannot believe anyone that actually watches football would think that was not a called play. Please for the love of all things holey find something else to spend your time on cause football is not your thing.

  23. ChicagoChris Says:

    Anyone notice the poor execution of WRs not getting out our bounds, Particularly Evans cost us 10 to 12 seconds on second play of last driver but fighting for a meaningless extra yard. Those precious seconds might have cost us the game….too many mental mistakes in a league where small things make the difference between winning and losing

  24. Mike Johnson Says:

    I missed the game. Did we do our due diligence to remain Last in Defense in the NFL? My neighbor said as I pulled into my driveway, You didn’t miss much. We are still the SOB’S (same ole bucs)!

  25. Calbucsfan Says:

    Evans should have gone out of bounds on his last reception, instead he advanced the ball 2 more yards and ate 10 seconds off the clock by the time the next snap occurred. Stupid, just plane stupid!

  26. Bucs fan #7423 Says:

    Stop hating Joe, that play would have worked if Deshawn Jackson would have caught that ball. Be honest, only plays that work are plays they didn’t expect

  27. JabooBuc Says:

    Actually thought it was a good call seeming as there are really no good options at that point. JW makes a lousy lateral which blows the play up. End of the day, two red zone pics and a missed PA loses that game.

  28. Silent_Partner Says:

    Just look at the dummies here still defending Dirk. Dude said after the game that they practice that all the time and had the players spouting talking points about the low percentage of throwing in the end zone. It was a designed run dummies. Your coach is an idiot, and apparently some of you are too because you still don’t realize it.

  29. El_Buc941 Says:

    Actually Joe it would’ve worked if Jackson wasn’t just standing there and from what I’ve heard about Evans, he was drafted to CATCH not THROW!He seen the play unfold and the second Jameis back lattered it he should’ve know they would eventually look his way for his speed. And this loss isn’t on Jameis. Sure he could’ve had better connections and what not but how do you allow that many conversions on 3rd down?! Its obvious Mike Smith doesn’t belong in Tampa. 1 of the 2 interceptions where Jameis’ fault. All in all, MIKE SMIT NEEDS TO GO NOW! Anyone else on the Bucs coaching staff can see you shouldn’t put the CBs 10yards away from the line of scrimmage. How many completions did we see today because of how dare off our CBs were?! This is getting old,if we keep it up I think we can only win 2-3 at most more games and finish with 4-5 wins this year.

  30. SKBucsFan Says:

    I know it’s early, but I am excited about a new GM and coaches for next year. We should be in line for a top 3 pick. ….I am joking of course. I see nothing good until 3 or 4 seasons from now.

    Licht, if you are reading this, please do us all a favor and trade a few players for some picks. I understand it will be a new GM making those picks, but you will be forever admired by future grateful fans if you do.

  31. denjoe Says:

    Dirk “theres not a lot of great plays from the 20.” LMAO

  32. Doctor Stroud Says:

    Some teams find ways to win; the Bucs finds ways to lose.

  33. Not there yet Says:

    That was a designed play, Winston dropped back and for the first time ever immediately took off and ran. That tells me these idiot coaches actually practiced that garbage. I see why Koetter won’t fire Smitty, he probably wouldn’t have made it this long as a head coach without him. Bye bye biotches you should spend less time game planning and more time on your resumes. If you can’t use two weeks of free time to get a win this team is doomed

    Down all those players but Atlanta has a scheme that works so they plugged guys in and just beat the number 1 offense in the nfl people. Don’t tell me it’s a talent issue, it’s an I’m too stupid to evolve with the league coaching issue

  34. Ted Kamensky Says:

    “Just plane stupid.” Says it all. That said, ME13 should’ve ran out of bounds.

  35. Dave Says:

    Why are you focused on that last play? That has just as good a chance as anything tried inside the 10 yard line or end zone. They probably have eight defenders back there, every ball thrown up is going to be triple teamed.

    The real problem is the defensive scheme.
    It took Mike Smith the entire first half to realize maybe defenders should not be playing 12 yards off every f@&*ing receiver, every single play, every single week!?!?

    He didn’t realize that after turning Chicago’s QB into an all world quarterback Doing the same BS all game?

    Dirk and the offense are fine.

    They have talent but need a defense and a real coordinator.
    Playing off and letting teams hit short stuff and waiting for mistake does not work anymore in today’s NFL, especially when most the time your pass rush is missing

  36. Im tired and 87 is right Says:

    We just suck all around. Simple as that. Can’t stand these coaches.

  37. Im tired and 87 is right Says:

    Oh and Mike Smith is either fires or I’m not coming to another game.

  38. Jim Says:

    They all should have run out of bounds, and just kept running…

  39. Pic Jordan Says:

    Remember how the Pats game finished last year, another game 5 points down instead of 3 or less from missed kicks. Ball out the 19 with one play left and an incomplete pass to O.J.

  40. Season Is Over Says:

    Koetter actually said there are not a lot of great plays for one play from the twenty. I disagree with the weapons on this team. Koetter is a weak coach. Maybe he is covering for Winston totally botching the last play. No play should be designed to not give yourself a chance to win on the last play.

  41. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    100% called because you can see the OL lead blocking and it was very creative for once, the falcons rushed 3 and had 7 standing on the goal line and julio doubling ME, creative play, just poor execution as usual, wish the bucs did more of the RPOs and motion with djax, rojo or something

  42. BucdUp Says:

    Any trained NFL eye can tell that was a “draw” play call on the last play. Please save it Jameis haters

  43. Calbucsfan Says:

    “Plain stupid”, that is (damn auto fill).

    And it sure looked like the old playbook is back after the first 2 games of the year when the offense was unstoppable. Is Koetter calling the plays again, or are we really just seeing the difference between how Fitz reads the defense prior to the snap vs. how Jameis does?

  44. El_Buc941 Says:

    Why is Mike Smith still play Tampa 2 defense?! And to top it off you play your safety 10yards off your CBs who are already 10yards off the line? 10+10=20 yards from the line of scrimmage! The commentators where right….the Bucs are playing scared defense. Time to start accepting resumes for the coaching roster. I say we keep Monken and Buckner, heck fire koetter and Smith nothing and promote Monken and Buckner to HC and assistant HC.

  45. Buddy Says:

    1- what happened to everyone with a hard on for the DUNKANEERS?? Haha what a joke.
    2- where’s all the people who were so confident of KLUEKESSKOETER after those 2 early wins?? Start the confidence poll today? I still will vote like have all along “no confidence” can’t waot to see all the bandwagon know it alls flip their votes.

  46. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Another Disgraceful performance by defense in 1st half. And Koetter seemed oblivious to numerous Falcon defensive holding on receivers and his qb taking a helmet to helmet on sideline and no flag thrown…SMH

    This is really looking like a coaching failure

  47. rrsrq Says:

    that final drive wee several questions, ME reception, get out of bounds. no moral victories, but would feel like dang, good try if we at least throw the ball in the end zone. but that not even trying is inexcusable.

  48. James Walker Says:

    Remember this guys….GRUDEN WOULD HAVE KICKED A FG AND LOST.

  49. GhostofSchiano Says:

    Maybe he received a “Blank” stare………

  50. Resurrection of Fitz Says:

    I think Koetter got the analytic report on passes over 20 yds by Jameis today and call that call. Jameis still needs to work on balls longer than 20 yds.

  51. bucanation Says:

    Dirt will be fired before the season is over

  52. Pops Malone Says:

    This whole coaching staff needs to be fired at seasons end, Enough already.

  53. Lunchbox Says:

    Look-let’s get to the real point. Is coaching a problem? Yep. Is personnel a problem? As far as free agency, I’d say yes for the most part. But to me the two biggest glaring issues, I’d say it’s coaching and believing this current QB is the answer. Sorry Joe(s), he’s not. I’m done cheering for Winston. He’s not the guy to get us anywhere, nor is Koetter the coach to get us there. I see us in the off season firing Koetter/Smith, retaining Licht, and pushing hard to get Harbaugh and looking to get Will Grier maybe. I think we’d be in better hands

  54. humbleathletics Says:

    Most definitely a designed play. Variation of “drag and ladder”. Jameis was supposed to Draw slot corner and safeties and pitch to Hump. Hump would have been running an option with DJax against 1 unblocked defender. Was actually tremendous design. Jameis screwed up the play by not pitching to Hump. Team probably only practiced the play once. Great design, Bad Call because it did t work.

  55. tickrdr Says:

    Even Winston’s first lateral back was nowhere near anyone, and destroyed the play’s chances.

    tickrdr

  56. Silent_Partner Says:

    Season Is Over ,

    Riiight. He’s covering for Jameis talking about how they practice that all the time, and obviously Jameis immediately took off running because he’s RG III. He also immediately criticized Winston’s turnovers as the reason they lost instead of the defense that gave up an average of 3rd and 9 at a 65% clip as the reason they lost because he was covering for him, lol. Open your eyes. Your coach is an idiot and is holding that team back.

  57. Bucsfanman Says:

    Maybe the dumbest play call i have ever seen! We’ve got a roster full of stud WRs and THAT is the call?!
    NOT good enough Koetter!
    Coaching, coaching, coaching!

  58. jay adams Says:

    1 Bad Defense (Bucs)
    1 Banged up Defense 3-4 starters out (Falcons)
    1 4x Pro Bowler, 1x MVP, 1x Super Bowl QB M. Ryan 3 TDs 0 Int
    1 1x Pro Bowler due to other QBs declining to go JW 4 TDs 2 Int

    Close game yes, lots of points yes, better run game yes,
    but playing against a banged up Defense that had given up 121 points
    in its last 3 games and we only can score 29 points. It’s not all on the QB,
    but considering we have more weapons on this team than any other in
    the NFL the Turnovers continue to pump out with our QB. The Falcons
    only had 2 sacks.

    But I know what all the Winston Homers are going to say.

  59. Badabingbucs Says:

    Why don’t the joes or ira ask tougher questions when at the press conferences? Is there a rule where you have to ask soft questions?

  60. admin Says:

    Why don’t the joes or ira ask tougher questions when at the press conferences? Is there a rule where you have to ask soft questions?

    What do you want asked? There is a modicum of professional decorum that has to be held.

    Press conferences are organized group interviews, not inquisitions.

  61. Cgmaster Says:

    Jay stats dont lie, yes that endzone pick was killer. But QBs since 1940 teams that have 100 yards rushing 350+passing yards and 4 passing tds have a record of 51-1-1. And our defense made us loss number 2, but we know what Jameis haters like you will say.

  62. Silent_Partner Says:

    jay adams,

    Yep, it has to do with Winston and not your clueless coach who didn’t even know to challenge the spot instead of using his last timeout right after the called first down on the field. Thus the idiot couldn’t challenge anymore because he had no more timeouts, even though he would have at least gotten the booth to look at it before losing the timeout if he did. Scoring 29 points on the road, yes, they should have done better. Even though Hall of Fame Drew Brees scored just 6 more in regulation in Atlanta two weeks ago with 37 (if your kicker didn’t continue to choke, that’s what you would have had at that point of the game). Maybe you should take your own advice since you want to blame everything on him when he was great today and got screwed yet again by his horrific defense and dumb head coach.

  63. Troy Says:

    If that play was called from the sidelines, the staff needs to be fired immediately. It essentially means that you have no faith in your players to make a play in the end zone.

  64. Calbucsfan Says:

    Koetter said in his post-game interview that it’s hard to call up a scoring play from the 20-yard line. Are you kidding me, with one of the top (and tallest) receiving corp in the NFL????

    Hey Koetter, try looking at the Steelers game winning TD with 15 seconds less, that play was a 31-yard play! Your team was in the RED ZONE and a backyard playground play is called???

    I have more often then not given this guy the benefit of doubt and stuck up for him here on JBF, but that comment was total BS and I doubt the brothers-in-charge see it for that too and order the galley-hands below to pull that gang plank out of the aft storage bin and clean the dust off.

    It’s bad enough Koetter’s been sticking up for Smith’s failing defense, but spitting out that manure to cover for bad offense play calling in the red zone to try and WIN the game is enough BS already.

    Unless this team turns it around very quickly, then the skipper better put on some arm floaties, because his future is looking pretty wet!

  65. Chris Cotten Says:

    Bunch of clown fans on this site, if we had any resemblance of a defense in the first half we probably roll to a win, but with that last play call I’m shaking my damn head

  66. AtlBuc Says:

    Harbaugh?????? UGGG! He can’t even win in the lame Big 10

  67. Silent_Partner Says:

    Bucs better go hire another one of the Andy Reid assistants. They seem to know what they’re doing. Just take whoever is the QB coach or offensive coordinator and give him the job.

  68. HomerSimpsonRocks Says:

    I liked the call. Just didn’t work.

  69. BrianBucs Says:

    It reminded me of back when I use to coach Pop Warner. Pitiful

  70. Badabingbucs Says:

    What do you want asked? There is a modicum of professional decorum that has to be held.

    Press conferences are organized group interviews, not inquisitions.

    That’s why I was asking, did not know how that worked, thanks for answering

  71. Eric Says:

    Im actually hopeful we can hang in there, provided we beat Cleveland next week. Looked like a spirited effort to me.

  72. mark2001 Says:

    I’ll make a prediction. This game will come down to which QB makes the most plays with the fewest turnovers. Which one will that be? Jameis or Baker?

  73. Gambelero Says:

    Put me down with the love the play call crowd. It took three guys messing up to fail, Humphreys, Brate and Jackson.

  74. Dapostman Says:

    All the idiot Monday morning QB’s would be calling Monken a genius if Evans had hit DJax with a better toss. Football fans who constantly start the wrong players in their fantasy leagues and they know better. I like to call these idiots the pile drivers. They jump on any pile and try to move it so everyone will think they are a genius. What they really are total idiots who know nothing about football but what they watch on TV.

  75. Knoxville Buc Fan Says:

    Too bad there’s not a money back guarantee for fans. We fly down to tampa a few games a year. Then being that where we live(Knoxville,Tn) we drive to Atlanta,Charlotte, and this year Cincinnati) $10 discount on tix through Fanretreat.com by using JoeBucsFan promo code. I drop approximately $500 each game we drive and right at $1000 when we fly to Tampa. Falcons fans all around us was laughing at that last play and saying “ Matt Ryan would’ve been throwing darts in the end zone” All we could do was just nod our heads in agreement, and say this is what it has come to for the Bucs. Obviously they practiced the final play numerous times and of course it worked every time cause of the defense they rehearsed it against

  76. BucEmUp Says:

    I have no p robelm with that final play no matter how yoth slice it it’s as crap shoot.

    Let’s talk about how our defensive coordinator had to wait until halftime to make an adjustment.

    DO YOUR JOB JASON LIGHT AND FIRE MIKE SMITH!!!!! EVEN NATIONAL T.V SUITS ARE POSTING HIS FAILURES!!!!!!!!!!!!

  77. Jay adams Says:

    Cgmaster, that historical stat you showed was probably heavy on the side of games before all the pass happy rules. It’s not unusual today to see teams putting up 450plus total yards. Both defenses gave up a lot of yards but we missed big plays to djax again just like last year and 2 picks killed drives for us.

    Silent partner, I never defended letter as he too is part of the problem.
    What I don’t get is why people call us who point out the obvious mistakes
    That carry over every season a jameis hater.

    We might win 6 to 7 this year.

  78. Thetruth Says:

    If You watch rugby that’s exactly where they got it from , it was designed but the loss of control of the ball on pitches effected it. It still almost worked , it was different and were hoping for element of surprise cUse no one has tried it like that before.

    Just sucks we lost to a terrible team

  79. Rod Munch Says:

    Calbucsfan – Yeah, that’s the same thing I thought at the time, you have Mike Evans, OJ Howard, Brate and Godwin, plus if you wanted to go under and try to run it in you have D-Jax, and this dummy Dirk calls a trick play. Also to add to that the Falcons did not play everyone back at the goal line, so that improves your chances even more on just a normal straight pass. JW did it to beat the Saints, when he ignored Dirk’s terrible call of playing for the FG and threw it to Godwin, and that’s what JW should have done here.

  80. Brandon Says:

    Calbucsfan Says:
    October 14th, 2018 at 4:56 pm
    Evans should have gone out of bounds on his last reception, instead he advanced the ball 2 more yards and ate 10 seconds off the clock by the time the next snap occurred. Stupid, just plane stupid!

    ——————————

    PLAIN

  81. lewis Says:

    The last play gave the bucs no chance of winning period this team has no leader at Head coach and its getting sad /note bucs will lose to browns at home then where do we go /starting over and dirt directly at fault ,I honestly hoped this work 3 years everything is the same bad/bad/bad and the bucs keep calling me to buy tickets ,and buc fans are grasping at hope just think are biggest highlights of the year is from the backup qb again just sad .

  82. lewis Says:

    And all of you are well we should of gotten out of bounds or this and that you guys don’t get it the coaches are at fault they should be screaming what is needed / Leadership and respect for the Head coach does not exist here . So SAD