“This Was Just Bad Football”
August 18th, 2019
Sometimes it takes a neutral, seasoned and typically optimistic observer to serve up quality perspective.
Bucs fans got that last night from SiriusXM NFL Radio host Alex Marvez, perhaps the hardest working and most savvy NFL analyst.
Marvez was talking Bucs on Late Hits after watching the Dolphins-Bucs game Friday.
First, the topic was general manager Jason Licht and his long contract extension. Marvez reacted like most people do; he failed to laud Licht for doing a fantastic job and earning the extension. Instead, Marvez talked about how Team Glazer either “acquiesced or agreed” to Bruce Arians’ desire to ensure Licht was locked into the GM job, likely as a condition of Arians’ hire.
Arians himself seems to be the only one to say publicly that Licht is a special GM worthy of a years of guaranteed Team Glazer loot. Team Glazer won’t even do it.
Regarding on-field happenings, Marvez shared the harsh reality that the Bucs and Dolphins looked awful Friday.
“That was as bad a preseason game as I had seen,” Marvez said. “No excuse. Wet field. This was just bad football.
“For Tampa Bay, you just wonder where is the pass rush coming from,” Marvez continued. “How good is the secondary going to be? Is Peyton Barber or Ronald Jones … where are they going to be at as far as a running game goes to complement Jameis Winston?”
Joe has similar questions about the Bucs, especially the pass rush.
Yeah, yeah, Todd Bowles blitzes often. Blah, blah, blah. It’s not a cure-all. Joe would caution any Bucs fans who looks up which defense forced more turnovers the last three seasons, Todd Bowles’ Jets defense or the Bucs’; you might not like the result.
Every defense still needs linemen who can manhandle guys lined up against them, along with experienced talent in the secondary. The Bucs don’t have a many healthy bodies that can do that with the necessary consistency.
Friday night against the Browns, Joe desperately wants to see the Bucs defense step up. Joe’s not worried about the offense. There’s great talent and better coaching on that side of the ball.
August 18th, 2019 at 10:47 pm
Marvez is a good, decent and fair fella. He doesn’t take pot/cheap shots and if anything leans towards being overly positive. He’s right on all accounts. The six month secret of Licht’s extension is funny if you ask me. “Hey…let’s keep this extension under our collective hats.” Hilarious.
August 18th, 2019 at 11:05 pm
No crap, Sherlock! Jameis has looked decent in two series in two games. Gabbert looked dreadful. Griffin is a slappy. This team will be lucky to go 5-11. Signing up for the NHL Center Ice package now. A Vancouver-Anaheim game will be better than watching the Bucs.
August 18th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
We are so bad as a team and so disrespected as fans. That the owners keep a 5 year extension a secret for 5 months so they can sell more tickets. And the worse part is they release the news after the bucs win a preseason game. Like every fan will be ok with it we just won a game. It reminds me of all the non nfl fans who brag to me at the grocery store when I’m wearing my bucs shirt because that’s all I wear that or rays. And say man the bucs suck they lost there first game my insert team here wooped the whoever’s. Because they do t watch football and even understand that it is meaningless preseason. But they drop the news after our first preseason win. So disrespectful to me I will never buy another ticket. You lock up the leagues worst gm to appease a coach who hasn’t won one game in Tampa that counts. In salary cap hell and have won more games than two other teams since he has became the gm. And that deserves an extension. This has me livid
August 18th, 2019 at 11:17 pm
It was like two teams battling to see who was going to take the Brown’s place as the most dreadful in the league… To close to decide!
August 18th, 2019 at 11:17 pm
Bucs never released anything. Joe never received any release about a contract extension nor did you see anything on Buccaneers.com about it.
August 18th, 2019 at 11:30 pm
One of the local fish wrap guys found out about it I believe. When asked…Licht answered with “no comment”. Pretty pathetic if you ask me…
August 18th, 2019 at 11:40 pm
Arians didn’t like the game. He’s the one I’m paying attention to. I never care what some disconnected talking heads who are paid to generate controversy babble about. I saw 5 sacks and a number of quarterback pressures on Friday night, so to my eye test, this is a far less nauseating experience than watching Mike Smith’s cover zero (as in no one) defense.
August 19th, 2019 at 12:02 am
The Dolphins scored 2 FG’s (one cause of us turning the ball over on a short field) a total of 6 points against us in 3 quarters. Why all the kvetching about our defense. What we should be concerned about from that game was our lack of scoring.
August 19th, 2019 at 12:21 am
Mike Smith’s cover zero
LOL!!!!!
August 19th, 2019 at 12:27 am
Joe! What happened to that Taysom Hill-type QB we picked up?
August 19th, 2019 at 12:46 am
No Lavonte, Vea, Suh…that’s almost half your expected front 7….add in JPP and you’ve got a quorum. I don’t blame the healthy guys if they were not trying to damage a ligament in the preseason on the rain soaked turf
August 19th, 2019 at 1:18 am
We will find out in the next two seasons on how much coaching makes a difference. I actually think Licht has drafted ok but without coaching you can forget it.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:38 am
And rember we have coaches teaching these guys now. So they will get better than what we’ve seen so far. Its a work in progress. And so is the roster.
August 19th, 2019 at 4:43 am
What is to be expected from the two teams that will go 1-2 in next year’s draft??? Although, Cincinnati does concern me a bit about sneaking in as worse….:
August 19th, 2019 at 5:12 am
Hard to disagree with Marvez that Friday night’s game was BORING. It was obvious that BA wasn’t going to take any chances of getting any starters hurt as a consequence of the sloppy field. Can’t say I blame him, BUT … the game showed what a big letdown there is between our 1st and 2nd teams. Lack of depth has killed us in the past when the injury bug struck. We’d all better HOPE that doesn’t happen this year because our backups have a ways to go before they’re ready for the big-time.
August 19th, 2019 at 6:21 am
Owners dont need to produce good teams to be successful anymore. The business model is totally changed now. Fans are now an after thought. most momey is made from TV as we all know and a good portion are gamblers not fans. NFL attendence is garbage and yet they make money hand over fist. Stop caring what these owners do, cause they sure dont care about you.
August 19th, 2019 at 7:00 am
Too much negativity for me to take on Monday morning. The number 1’s are ALL that matter right now. The twos and threes are in battles for back up and special teams. If this team can stay even somewhat healthy we’ll do pretty well. My concern on offense is the LT. Still not finishing plays.
August 19th, 2019 at 7:17 am
Well Bucnjim welcome to negativity central.
August 19th, 2019 at 7:20 am
For the record Pittsshore your comments make me sick. Just leave already.
August 19th, 2019 at 7:55 am
nDog: it is what it is my friend. Show me a super Bowl contender that has 24th or worse ranked starting QB.
August 19th, 2019 at 8:11 am
You have backups playing backups for roster spots on a sloppy wet field. No real game plan other than to see who wants a job in the NFL. Not the ideal sample to predict a contender or not. The game was a joke and any conclusion based on that is also a joke.
August 19th, 2019 at 8:16 am
Bucnjim, the 1’s are most definitely *not* all that matter right now. Part of the reason why this team has been so terrible for so long is because of depth. The mouth breathers around here say “Next man up” when someone goes down with an injury but if that next man sucks, can’t maintain a block on the O-Line, can’t shed a block on the D-Line, ect…those are the guys that are going to help win football games.
August 19th, 2019 at 8:25 am
Why is nobody happy are kicker made a 48yd field goal with 8 seconds left to win a game. Yea I hear ya it’s preseason but a confidence builder . GO BUCS!!!
August 19th, 2019 at 8:28 am
You are checking in three days too late. Shoulda been around late Friday night, early Saturday morning.
August 19th, 2019 at 8:32 am
Yup. People bellyache about the offensive line. Well, if you want Donovan Smith off the field so bad, wait till you get a load of Caleb Benenoch at left tackle. That will give people a reason to holler.
People better fall to their knees and pray none of the alleged rotten starters on the front line get hurt.
August 19th, 2019 at 9:06 am
Jason hasn’t been as bad a GM as some of you’ll try to make him out to be. He was young inexperienced coming in we all should have know there’d be a learning curve. I like the adjustments he has made. Lots of his draft picks that didn’t make it here are playing for other teams. He also successfully picked up some of theirs that didn’t make it and they’re doing well here. That’s the way it works. Players like VHIII, Spence and Bond are looking promising.
Maybe it’s because the draft has gotten more popular that all these people who’ve only recently started to pay attention think teams bat 100% or close on their picks. Nobody does. Don’t believe me, go look up any teams draft history. Jason has been above average and showing improvement. Free agents bust everywhere. Free agency is no teams first choice but when you change 3 coaches in 6 years it’s difficult to build your team through the draft exclusively. Different coaches have different needs. And Koetter & Mike Smith didn’t know what they wanted. They kept telling us (and Jason?) he was going to play some 3-4 D and needed man cbs than kept them in the zone.
I think we finally got things going in the right direction. I trust BA and this staff and if he wants Jason L. as his GM he should have it.
August 19th, 2019 at 10:33 am
Where’s the pass rush going to come from? Didn’t he watch the game? We had FIVE sacks in that game! They came from everywhere, D linemen, safeties, corners, and LB’s. What the hell is this guy talking about?
August 19th, 2019 at 10:55 am
Team look way different Defense is stepping up they might not be top 5 but certainly wont be in the lower third of the league! It’s going to be a hell of year Jameis is getting extended too bet! Stop hating fools life too short buy a ticket and pack that stadium!
August 19th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
A boring PS#2 game on a wet field when nobody of note plays for long?
I’m ~shocked~.
Dog bites man.
The PS is two games too long anyway.
August 19th, 2019 at 5:16 pm
What preseason game on a wet field, in August, in FL, is every actually good? I mean can anyone name any? They’re always awful games because teams are worried about guys getting hurt on the wet field, and the wet field means guys are slipping and falling and not playing full speed because of it. Also that game the year of Hard Knocks, in the rain, where that goat farmer QB came in at the end, that was the worst preseason game I’ve ever seen – this one wasn’t even in the top 1000 as it had an exciting ending.