When Will Team Glazer Call An Audible?

September 9th, 2019

Joe has had various interactions with Team Glazer over the years and Joe will confidently say one thing about the Buccaneers’ owners.

They’re realists.

They’ve experienced true greatness first-hand, and they’ve witness abominable football — on the field and from their front office. They’ve had Hall of Fame coaches and players on the roster, as well as historic NFL troublemakers. They’ve personally made tough decisions, and too often they’ve let others make those decisions while they endured the dire consequences.

Team Glazer is self-aware and knows all this and recognizes the failures and successes.

Team Glazer also has stood firm in the face of a barrage of criticism, preferring to let the pundits do their thing freely and for their hired Bucs gurus to work unfettered.

Joe has always been intrigued and perplexed by how Team Glazer just rolls with it when the haters, critics and liars do their thing. For them, it’s all part of the business. They don’t want to jump into the fray. Live and let live.

Win games, make money and stay out of the spotlight; that’s the Team Glazer goal.

No, there is no Team Glazer desire to become a face-of-the-franchise owner. But while they’re speaking very softly, they do carry a big stick.

Joe was told years ago that when Lovie Smith launched the 2015 season, his second season, by getting mauled 42-14 at home against the Titans and Marcus Mariota, Team Glazer was absolutely livid by the Bucs’ lack of readiness and the seed was firmly planted that Lovie’s tenure might end after that season.

With that in mind after yesterday’s horror-show performance by Jameis Winston, Joe has to wonder if Team Glazer is quietly preparing to call an audible on the future of Jameis if things don’t turn around quickly.

If the Bucs can’t scratch their way to a 3-3 record at the bye week with Jameis playing good football, then Joe absolutely could see Team Glazer conferring with Bruce Arians and making an organizational call to trade Jameis by the late-October deadline. Roll with Ryan Griffin or Blaine Gabbert for the final 10 games and position to draft a top quarterback, and maybe use the pick you got for Jameis to trade up in the draft.

The whole thing is a sickening thought, but Joe keeps coming back to that Lovie Smith “Tennessee-ready” game.

Those Bucs weren’t ready — and neither was Jameis yesterday.

64 Responses to “When Will Team Glazer Call An Audible?”

  1. Jason S. Mclaurin Says:

    Jameis will do better when everyone actually gets on the same page. I just think his team continues to hang him out to dry. The offensive line has been a mess for years.

  2. Ozzie the Sports Junkie Says:

    good point Joe….I could also see a jettison of the Future HOF qb that not only has been the face of futility ,but like yesterday the most responsible for the loss..2 of those picks he had no pressure..routes not run? ..pocket collapse?..global warming?..vapor lock?…pull the pin on this 4 year disaster if no signs of improvement are seen SOON…but if he goes to another team what helmet will he be enshrined in Canton??

  3. ElBajito43 Says:

    Glazers are weak bro. They never have the…. b a l l s….. to step in and say NO F$&in Way! Jerry Jones would never let people make a fool of him. Glazers just sick back and watch all hell break loose while the franchise has been destroyed since Gruden left. Being a fan of this team for life I deserve a more decisive and strong ownership group. Sad to see that NO ONE listened to posters like me who kept saying over and over DRAFT or TRAFE for a QB as an insurance policy.

  4. westernbuc Says:

    Jameis looked no different than the Bengals game. Even when we led, it felt like we were behind. I never thought we were going to win that game, and it was entirely because Jameis looked terrible.

    And what about Kangol Bruce? Isn’t this what he’s supposed to be good at? Closing out tight games? Whispering sweet nothings into the Quarterbacks ear? That was the worst debut by Jameis since his rookie year. Dirk Koetter won every season opener he was head coach.

    Bruce rides a golf cart all day and gets home in time for scotch. He’s Lovie 2.0. He looted the Glazers for one last payday just like Lovie. Just like when Greg hardy used them to drive up his price for the cowboys, just like Gruden using them to squeeze dimes out of Mark Davis.

    Face it, Jameis is a bust, and the organization is terrible.

  5. teacherman777 Says:

    Koetters offense looked way better!

    Ronde said it perfectly.

    “The Bucs let Kwon go and spent the money on Donovan Smith.

    Who would you rather invest in? A LB that loves the game? or a LT that loves to relax in bed?

    You guys think Jameis misses Adam Humphries now?

    Devin White looked lost as hell. He fell down all game.

    He has no length. He is very short with short arms.

    He doesnt look anything like Ray Lewis or Patrick Willis.

    We could have traded back and still got one of the Devins. Bush or White.

    #6 overall pick? He looked like a lost little boy out there.

  6. Todd Says:

    That game Warren Sapped my wittiness. At least I know I won’t be banned for being critical of the negativity within this site. Bring it.

  7. Jonathan Limpchimpi Says:

    What trade value would Jamies have if the losing and the poor play continues? This is a nightmare scenario for Bucs fans. Jamies may only truly improve on his next team. He appears to be done in Tampa minus a miracle turn around. And even then…the Bucs would be handcuffed to either a pricey franchise tag ( while already in a salary cap pinch thanks to my man Licht Weight) or a long term deal…which after yesterday…is extremely unlikely.

  8. Jonathan Limpchimpi Says:

    T-Man 777:

    Good point(s). And White was the 5th pick…which makes things worse.

  9. Pete I Says:

    “Win games, make money and stay out of the spotlight; that’s the Team Glazer goal.”

    Win games for Tampa or ManU? Cause neither is happening like when Team Glazer was run by Malcolm. You know the dad who actually built a business or two. Not the current team who simply inherited them.

    Team Glazer since Malcolm’s Stroke 77-133

    America’s QB 21-34

    No biscuit and his golf cart 0-1

  10. WalkdaPlank Says:

    Barring an injury to another NFL starter I don’t see anybody trading for Winston, and even if they did, it’d be maybe for a shot of jack and some Lays chips, but not any of the flavored ones just the originals. 6th or 7th rounder for a turnover machine?

  11. TDTB Says:

    Package Winston and Brate for Williams.

  12. Defense Rules Says:

    Teacherman777 and Jonathan Limpchimpi … Really? You’re gonna make that loss about Devin White? Bucs defense … with Devin White calling the defense & adjustments … held SF to 256 TOTAL YARDS and added a Pick-6 of their own. Of that, they held SF to 98 YARDS RUSHING on 32 attempts (a 3.1 YPC average). SF was 0-for-3 in the Red Zone and that’s after being continuously screwed in terms of field position by the Bucs’ offense AND S/Ts.

    And oh, by the way, White and ME13 were BOTH still experiencing that flu bug (or whatever it was) during the game by all reports that I’ve read. ME13 looked terrible out there, and took himself out of the game multiple times because of his illness. Mike caught 2-of-5 passes for a grand total of 28 yds, not his usual self for sure.

  13. Jonathan Limpchimpi Says:

    Whoa Defense/Devin White rules: Not blaming Devin White for the loss in the least. Does he look overwhelmed? Yes? Does he look worthy of a top 5 pick? Certainly not yet…not even close. It appears you may have the flu bug/ticklish colon this morning. Get well soon!

  14. Todd Says:

    Trade Winston for what lol a 5th rounder ? there not getting any value for him playing like this

  15. Defense Rules Says:

    Jonathan … How do you know that he looked ‘overwhelmed’? Did you key on him the whole game? Perhaps had your own cameraman feeding you? Do you know what defensive plays were called, or what White’s responsibilities were on each play? I seriously doubt it. More than likely you just jumped on something that Teacherman threw out there, like so many do on this site.

    Bucs’ defense will get tagged with giving up 31 points yesterday, and the Bucs’ offense will get credited with scoring 17 points. That’s how the system works. Reality? Bucs defense gave up 14 points, scored 7 points via their Pick-6, and played a helluva game IMO. Bucs offense scored 10 points and allowed 17 points via their turnovers. Try looking at the bigger picture instead of piling on.

  16. FairMinded Says:

    Coaches have to take some lumps here too for not playing starters much in the pre-season. We’ve all seen Jameis or Howard or Evans play much much better but they all seemed rusty. Hopefully the heightened sense of urgency with the short week will bring out the best in these guys

  17. Defense Rules Says:

    And Todd, I agree with you. Jameis has a $21 mil pricetag right now, and he’s certainly not playing like a $21 mil QB. At the end of the season that pricetag goes down to $0 and he’s free to negotiate his ‘value’ with any team. No team in their right mind is going to trade for him at this point with his current pricetag.

  18. Don_RyJo(e) Says:

    I wouldn’t be too upset if the Bucs parted ways with Jameis. People keep bringing up Steve Young and how he achieved greatness after being traded by TB. But Young only had two years! QBs mature their first few years. Jameis has had four years and hasn’t gotten there. He’s not a franchise quarterback. Period.

  19. Slugglife Says:

    To be fair we are tied for second place in the NFC south.

    Assuming the Saints win. Yeah Jameis looked like stir fried sht, but other teams with QBs youd like to have lost yesterday too.

    Whites firstNFL game and he’s a bust? Bridge too far man. As we say to the ladies, just calm down.

  20. buc up Says:

    I had season tickets for 41 years and did not renew this year. Looks like I made the right decision.

  21. BucEmUp Says:

    Been saying for weeks leading up to this that leftwhich is the problem. Still hardly atrwmpting screens to rbs, no intermediate slant routes.Jameis was under pressure ALL.DAY LONG and not.once did the offense adjust to get the ball.out quicker. It was.constant deep 5 step drops trying to push the ball down field. Lefrwhich is putting together the game plans and calling the plays..The entire offense looks slow.and disoriented. I wont disagree Jameis looked off early, but its hard.to.pull it togwther and.improve when your OC isnt making adjusments and caling plays that help you avoud getting pressured. The oline was struggling all day to pass protect all.four quarters.

    Like Ira said, we paid for Bruce Arians and.right now we are getting no part of him.Zero say in game plan zero playcalling. Arians is rolling around on his golf cart and throwing a few challenge flags. Thats not what we were supposed to get.

    BA at minimum.needs.to equally help.assmeble the game plan on offense..I would also prefer he calls the plays but if thats not going to happen at least help Byron with the plan and.in game adjustments because number 3 was getting swarmed.by white jerseys all day.

  22. Dewey Selmon Says:

    At this point you might get more for Gabbert or Griff than Winston in a trade.

  23. BigMacAttack Says:

    I still like Trevor Lawrence but it’s at least 2021’.
    I saw a whole lot of positive things yesterday.
    Defense basically only gave up 13 points as I said.
    Vea and Suh are strong inside. They’ll get better.
    Ronald Jones is gaining confidence.
    The O line had stamina late and run blocking was good.
    The refs screwed Dot on the first holding call.
    Jameis had a couple bad throws but he’s elusive.
    Lavonte Effn David is back.
    Todd Bowles is the Shiznit. Defense will get better.
    Yes the offense gave a game away, refs sucked, but I wasn’t upset because we finally have a defense and a run game.
    Peyton Barber shouldn’t have been a wide out. Leftwich made the same mistake Shanny did which VH3 got pick 6 on.

  24. Bob in Valrico Says:

    A franchise quarterback has to be resilient, and bounce back when things don’t go right. He has got to make good things happen and not commit so many errors. The first TD pass to Brate that was called back was reminiscent of the Joe Montana Dwight Clarke Super bowl victory. This started a meltdown that was
    depressing to watch. Jameis is playing scared,IMO. Its probably a combination of
    being afraid to make mistakes and not knowing what to do when he loses his go to guys (ME 13) and lastly being forced into unnecessary errors because good defenses usually have his number. Its not going to get any easier in Carolina folks, they have a good defense also.

    Replacing Dot has been my main concern with O line. OJ needs to spend more time blocking, until he gets it right. Let him block and slip out in the flat, or go deep where he is a mismatch. He is prone to fumbles when he goes over the middle.
    With the exception of Carlton Davis 3 pass interference calls the defense
    pretty damn well.

  25. isrBuc Says:

    These are the guys that authorized the jerseys.
    What else needs to be said?

  26. Bobby M. Says:

    Mark my words…..Suh and JPP wont put up with the offense giving away games when the defense is playing solid ball. This thing is about to turn into the old bucs where Sapp would scream at Dilfer to not throw an interception. Winston is no leader….he cant be. He cant hold anyone accountable when his own play is routinely the highlight reel for the opposing defense. This team better get their horses ready to ride because running the ball is the only way you can ensure Winston doesn’t give the game away.

  27. BigMacAttack Says:

    49’rs defense played well yesterday and deserves credit too. They were all over the Bucs receivers. Leftwich will get better too. Find what works and stay with it.

  28. DC_Buccs_Fan Says:

    AM I confused???Sometimes not noticing a rookie is a good thing..The guy did force a fumble to stop a scoring opportunity

  29. isrBuc Says:

    What did they see yesterday they haven’t seen before?
    It was known to everyone who’s no JW/FSU homer but the glazers, instead of recalculating, brought in the coach that want’s to “fix” jamies, like that’s a thing even, and keep the spineless incapable GM for 5 more years in the process.
    Why would this game make such a difference?
    What your’e missing is it’s all P.R for the glazers. GMC is king when is here and considered dead when he’s not. everything is P.R. bringing lovie back is 100% P.R.
    When the fans will be ready to dump winston the galzers would too. Same for the jerseys.

  30. BigMacAttack Says:

    Btw I wouldn’t be surprised if Jameis got a concussion from that stupid hit by Kwon in the head. If you’re head isn’t right nothing else is either.

  31. volbuc1 Says:

    Joe your being way to nice to the Glazers. You are what your record says you are right?? YOU and YOUR site preach that all the time. The Glazer record is the worst in the league. Not only do they fire a hall of fame coach, then they fire Gruden with a 9 win season, then they hire a bunch of morons and an OLD man off his death bed to coach the team. Glazers might be a bunch of rich nice guys, but they don’t know how to run and NFL organization.
    Did Joe write that they are in the class of good football owners in the NFL? No. Look at the record. The Den of Depression has that name for a reason. As for firing Chucky, they were 10-6 two years later with a young stud quarterback. Firing CHucky wasn’t the problem, it was managing the next steps after 10-6.–Joe

  32. Bucsfanman Says:

    BucEmUp- I disagree on multiple accounts. I saw Jameis get plenty of time, and on multiple occasions get happy feet and throw to a covered WR or worse. They weren’t perfect but he had time.
    2nd, I don’t know how you can blame the play-caller. How many times did Jameis throw to covered WRs? How many “almost” INTs were there? Do we know what the calls were?
    Offensively, we were not good. A few bright spots but…….ugh!

  33. Defense Rules Says:

    Bob, BucEmUp and BigMacAttack … Thanks, the three of you made me feel better after watching us lose a game that we should’ve won. Yes there were quite a few positives that came out of that game … defense & rushing especially. The OLine definitely concerns me, especially if BA & Leftwich continue to go with the gameplans & blocking schemes that I saw yesterday. Hard to tell all that much from TV cameras, but it looked to me like the right side of the OLine was often overwhelmed when it came to pass-blocking (strange, since that was supposedly a strength last year). Also saw relatively few roll-outs and quick releases to give Jameis at least a fighting chance if they aren’t gonna use max-protect blocking schemes.

    Overall I was very unimpressed with the Bucs’ offensive game-planning & execution. It looked nothing like the offense I saw last year. It looked relatively predictable and also seemed to lack tempo for some reason. I saw almost no hurry-up to pin the SF defense’s ears back and keep them off-balance. No question that Jameis had a miserable game, but I’m not convinced now that the gameplan played to his strengths either. Hopefully BA & Byron adjust A BUNCH for Thursday night’s game.

  34. Greg Says:

    Jameis is exactly what he was in college. Bad decisions on and off the field. Leads the league in turn overs every year. The blind Jameis fans can look for all the excuses they want but EVERYTHING about this team was built for Jameis. We have over spent on receivers and tight ends, ignored the rest of the team and this is what we get. A GM who is desperately still trying to justify his mistakes instead of building a balanced team and winning games.

  35. #1bucsfan Says:

    Would love an I’m rooting for #3 to be successful have bin patient but man idk how much longer I can wait he’s had 5 years time to get with it or bounce same with Dotson

  36. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Winston has little trade value….but a team would pay decent money to have him as a backup….say $6-7 million….
    Instead of trading him…..sit him and get a pretty high comp pick.
    You could let him test the FA market…..and possibly sign him to a low 1 year contract and draft a replacement.
    Any long-term high-priced contract should be already off the table….it’s simply too risky.

  37. D-Rome Says:

    The simple fact remains is that I watched Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Marcus Mariota, and a few other quarterbacks make throws that Jameis cannot make.

    The quarterback whisperer needs to become the quarterback yeller. I don’t care what Bruce Arians says in his next press conference but I cannot believe he feels that Jameis Winston is the future of this franchise.

    6-10

  38. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    D White is going to be fine but I thought that bowles was going to have a more versatile and attacking defense, did not see that out there on sunday

  39. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Hey Joe

    Who is gonna trade for JW, especially if he continues to crap the bed?

    What a joke….

    And DR White did absolutely look overmatched and overwhelmed. He is a rookie in his first game, so some of that is understandable.

    Methinks you doth protest to much.

  40. Pittsshore Says:

    Too bad that back to the future time machine was not legit. I would set it back to theJW draft class and pick Marcus M and never look back. Easy way to put it: The Titans would be 0-1 with Apples McGoo was drafter by them.

  41. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Dusthty

    Agreed. And while I was pleased to see defense play with heart and guts…let’s keep it real, this wasn’t Montana’s 49ers yesterday.

  42. Bob in Valrico Says:

    DR glad we could help.
    As for the play calling and execution issues. Our QB has to do his part to correct
    his execution errors,
    before we can truly evaluate the play calling. that said I would at least like to see
    2 nd and short be a passing down. If I was BA , Jameis should get a quick hook if starts repeating the same mistakes in Carolina. Jameis is not playing with confidence, which was a strength that he needs to rekindle. With five of the next six games against stout defenses thats not going to be easy.

  43. AlteredEgo Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. Says:

    Don’t even embarrass the franchise by “trying” to trade him…..gawd…

  44. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Bob

    When JW “plays with confidence” he doesn’t play all that well either.

  45. Negative Nancy Says:

    This team will never return to glory with these blockheads at the top. They’ve readily fired people for making only one tenth the mistakes they themselves as owners have made.

  46. Destinjohnny Says:

    If anyone is waiting for jameis to be elite….
    Some good qb in the draft
    Life with the worst gm…

  47. BringBucsBack Says:

    Change? Nah, these Glazers want continuity!

  48. Defense Rules Says:

    Bob … “Glad we could help”. Cute. But I think the only thing that’d really help is a win on Thursday night against the Panthers (and maybe a couple of margueritas?).

    I can’t see BA using a ‘quick hook’ on Jameis anytime soon. Heck, he virtually did away with all of Jameis’ competition so he’d feel ‘safe’ (huge mistake in retrospect IMO). I’m beginning to think that Jameis will always be looking over his OWN shoulder, waiting for the next mistake to happen. That’s not what confidence looks like, and frankly I haven’t seen him play with confidence CONSISTENTLY since Day One. I’ve been rooting for him to have a great season, but I have serious doubts he’s capable of that. As they say, ‘he is who is’ and when he’s on the field, without his binkies, it’s all on him. Thus far in his career all I’ve seen is a very INCONSISTENT QB who’s prone to mental mistakes & turnovers. That’s unacceptable.

  49. AllhailJPP Says:

    There is at least 3 QB’s coming out after this season I will take in a heartbeat over this joke we have now

  50. 813bucboi Says:

    Byron wasn’t the problem….Winston made multiple bad throws and bad decisions…..Byron stuck with the run game and when it was time for Winston to make a play he shat the bed…..this loss is on Winston…..

    GO BUCS

  51. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    #TIMETOMOVEONFROMJAMEIS

  52. Posey99 Says:

    The offensive line isnt that bad. Cappa didnt play well. The problem is, and always has been, Jameis Winston is a baseball player. His mechanics scream baseball. He is looking for a homerun everyplay and he doesn’t get the ball out quick enough.

  53. Bob in Valrico Says:

    DR
    The quick hook reference is because i am starting to wonder if Jameis is starting
    a free fall and in that case a hook would be merciful.

  54. Anonymous Says:

    The only audible will be to keep Winston. What don’t the clowns understand? He is not signed up for a new contract for good reason.

  55. Hodad Says:

    Joe you got two out of three right about the Glazers. Right, making money staying out of the spot light. Wrong, wanting to win football games. O.K., maybe they want to win, they just don’t know how.

  56. gotbbucs Says:

    Winston is so slow going through progressions. Instead of immediately processing that his one and two are covered he will wait wait wait and then finally try to check down after it’s too late and the pocket has collapsed and he cant even get a clean throw to the check down.
    He’s a very slow processor and he doesnt have a quick enough release to play like that. He processes late and then has to put more effort into those throws and that makes them inaccurate.
    He isnt going to develope out of some of these things. It’s been five years now of the exact same thing. I dont care how hard he trains or how much film he watches, these same problems will persist. He is always late on his throws and when the play breaks down his first reaction is always to throw it up for grabs instead of throw it away or take the sack.
    Watching Winston in the pocket is always like watching someone have one of those dreams where they are falling and right before they hit the ground they jolt back to life. He just stands there oblivious or he continues to drift backwards until he is behind the pocket.

    They wont be able to fix him, there was never a chance of fixing him. As far as I can tell, he appears to be one of those kids that won a lot when he was little and everybody was too tickled with winning to bother trying to coach him out of bad habits. I got tricked by it leading up to the draft too.

  57. EEK Says:

    Winston is so talented and probably looks so much more talented than any other options in practice.
    His decision making hasn’t caught up.
    He is too up and down and it’s demoralizing.
    I think this team will instantly improve with trading him or simply releasing him.
    He may bounce back with a decent game and then have a big star game while playing from behind.
    The body of work now tells us who he is. It’s very unlikely that he will be consistently high level player.
    Winston can stop being a starting QB now.

  58. D-Rome Says:

    That’s an interesting and valid take, Joe. Not only with the Tennessee Ready game but also with Koetter last year. Perhaps not the first four games but one has to believe there was a tipping point sometime in October where the Glazers made a decision.

  59. BucsFan727 Says:

    Winston looked indecisive. Like he was thinking about not making a mistake. That oline played good enough to win the game. Are top 3 guys on offence played like crap. Winston. Oj and Evans. In Evans defence he looked off like he was sick. But three 1st round picks looking that bad. O k o k its one game. Remember last year we where ridding high as the hot team threw the first two weeks. We all remeber how that went. Its a Marathon and we have a young team. Week 1 alot of sloppy play across the league. We will have a better understanding here in about a month.

  60. unbelievable Says:

    “ win games, make money and stay out of the spotlight”

    Well, they are very successful at the later 2, but have completely failed at the first one. For 10 years straight…

    Why does anyone think it will change? They’re making money and couldn’t care less about the pathetic product they put on the field year and year out. Nobody who actually cared would tolerate this crap for a decade straight.

    #OwnershipIsPathetic

    #FireLicht

    #FireTheGlazers

  61. firethecannons Says:

    Personally I’d be really happy with that–launch Jameis to a team that has just lost a qb or needs one for a high draft pik hopefully and roll with our backups, I’d be good with launching a couple other players for high draft piks too. Ownership needs to take responsibility for the mess the Bucs are in!

  62. Cobraboy Says:

    In 5 years, Winston has not improved.

  63. Buczilla Says:

    Would someone actually give us even a late round pick for Winston?

  64. Jmarkbuc Says:

    gotbbucs

    Fantastic explanation on JW… you are exactly right. And his problems cannot be coached out of him.

    He just isn’t that talented, and he has hoodwinked everyone around him.