Honeymoon? Lovie Already On Watch List
September 26th, 2014
The “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, vows not to cut Lovie Smith any more “excuses” after last week’s debacle in Atlanta.
Joe knows Bucs players want to turn the page.
Joe knows some fans want to turn the page.
But when a team finds itself in a franchise-worst 56-point deficit — in the third quarter no less! — on national TV, staining the reputation of the franchise, neither the team nor the fans get to choose when the chatter about this game ends.
It is the talk of national sports radio among football types. This week when the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, made his appearance with the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on the channel that bears his name, “Mad Dog Radio,” one of the family of sports channels heard exclusively on SiriusXM Radio, let’s just say Kaufman made it clear Lovie Smith’s honeymoon is over.
Not only is the honeymoon finished after three games, Kaufman says Lovie is now in his crosshairs and on his watch list. Kaufman was describing how Lovie dropped the word “embarrassment” at halftime on the Buccaneers Radio Network and then Kaufman dropped a hammer of his own.
eye-RAH! Kaufman: Now, give Smith some credit for being honest, but you know what, Chris? If Greg Schiano or Raheem Morris would have rolled out a first half like that, they’d be trying to run him out of town right now. So Lovie Smith gets a pass. It is Week Three. He is new in town. He’s got a track record. I understand all of that. But I’m not cutting this man any excuses. I don’t care how many defensive starters, Chris, were missing. That was a pathetic effort. They were not ready to play that game. And to me, that goes to coaching a little bit.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo: Couldn’t agree with you more! You can’t say it any better than you just said it. That was a complete and utter disaster.
You know, eye-RAH! makes a helluva point. If Schiano or Morris found themselves down 56 in the third quarter, there would be cars overturned in the streets and brawls in every gin joint around here, with unrest in public circles until they were booted out of One Buc Palace — or won a few games to make up for it.
Now to be fair, Morris, in his last game, which just also happened to be in Atlanta, allowed 42 points in the first half and Mike Smith of the Dixie Chicks felt sorry for him and called off the dogs. Fans were so wild, Joe thought this very site would melt down from the outrage.
Joe remembers when the Bucs were 0-8 last year and the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway turned into a complete zoo with folks all but bringing nooses to games; they cried for Schiano’s head on a platter so badly. Fortunately for Schiano, the Bucs won their first game of the season that night on Monday Night Football.
This year, many fans are just shrugging their shoulders. It is just more evidence to reinforce Joe’s notion that Bucs fans, especially after the Dixie Chicks game, have just checked out. That is the worst type of reaction: apathy.
September 26th, 2014 at 5:36 am
Apathy pretty much describes it. I’m done with all the ridiculous pre-season hype. The empty promises. And, of course, the losing. What I saw on the field in the Rams game was enough. The Atlanta debacle just reinforced that this team is not ready for the NFL. The Steelers will shred the defense. The offense will be its usual NFL close to worst. Special teams … they’re special alright… specially bad. So, let’s it put it this way… I don’t need the extra stress and disappointment. I’ll invest my time and emotional energy in something a bit more productive. My Bucs fever has been cured … and I am not pleased about it.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:06 am
If I didn’t know better, I would think, that the Glazers are destroying the fanbase on purpose, in order to move them to England.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:07 am
I agree…apathy. I live out of State. Haven’t been able toget to a game in person lately. But I haven’t missed any games due to NFL Sunday Ticket and the local sports bars in appx 4 or 5 years. I’ve scheduled travel around being able to watch the games, made crazy all night drives and adjusted vacation days just to watch Bucs football. I gave up this season after game 2. I’m not missing any more family time, any more good days outside, any more anything for this Bucs team. If it so happens nothing is going on and I can easily get to a game…fine…I’ll go. Forget this season.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:21 am
Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad. It is coaching without a shadow of a doubt. This roster is not this bad.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:24 am
This franchise has been in a constant state of flux for a long time now and there is one real denominator. Media
#!) 56 – 14 is just one loss,
#2) Lovie Smith is 0 – 3
#3) Did anyone expect them to make the playoffs?
#4) I scoffed earlier this year about Lovie being the first Buc coach to be fired after one year, and look who’s already blowing his horn. Kaufman
September 26th, 2014 at 6:30 am
This coach has already set us behind several years.
The sooner his smerk ass is gone the better.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:34 am
@BucBob1: I don’t believe the Glazers are intentionally trying to lose. I just don’t believe they know how to win.
As for the ‘Honeymoon’ being “over”, I don’t think it ever really began. Lovie began his tenure already coaching in fear. Fear of allowing his QB to throw the ball. Fear of opening up the offense. Fear of turning the ball over before the end of the first half (of the first game.) Having read previous remarks/message board comments from Bears fans lamenting when Lovie their head coach about how maddening his play calling can be and how he muddles with the offense.
I’m concerned that Lovie’s style and philosophy of coaching, which may have worked 10-15 years ago, is too linked and connected to Tony Dungy’s defense oriented-no cussing style-old school style-stuck in the past, and may no longer work in today’s NFL. Lovie needs to show he can adapt and make adjustments or he’ll be a 1 (or 2) year coach here at most.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:37 am
Rishaw Johnson whom we traded for with KC was to bolster the o line. Our GM came from KC so he knew the player. We JUST CUT HIM !!!!!! WTF do they know what they are doing????
September 26th, 2014 at 6:41 am
Embarrassed to be a Bucs fan.Somebody please explain to me what the difference in philosophy is with the last 3 head coach’s. Glazers keep hiring the same guy. Guess what it’s not working. We need a 180 here. Blow this thing up and give the fans something to get excited about. Start by hiring an offensive minded head coach. Last time that happened we won a Super Bowl. Kevin Sumlin would be my choice.
Go Bucs
September 26th, 2014 at 6:46 am
I’ve certainly had a strong reaction to the play on the field the last 3 weeks, much like most of you and a lot of the media folks. Maybe it’s because of the long period between games has given me a chance to calm down but I’m willing to give Lovie at least through the end of next season before I start joining the crowd that already wants him gone. Yes, there are some aspects of his coaching style that are maddening to me but he has a track record of success and he hasn’t done anything differently than what we knew we were bringing in.
The endorsements of the former players that have played in similar defenses is what has helped to calm me down quite a bit. Derrick Brooks called what we’re seeing now. He said it would take time for the defense to get things down and we’re seeing that. He even said on the Duemig show that he broke the film down on the Atlanta game and, as bad as it was to watch, they’re not that far away from where they should be defensively. It’s just a matter of learning to play in the defense more efficiently, which comes with time.
The offense is, in my opinion, in better hands now with Glennon. Whether he does better or worse than McCown, it’s better for the franchise to put Glennon in there, especially since McCown isn’t even winning. Tedford’s absence has been huge and every football person who has been asked has said that losing a coordinator is a big loss. Just look at how bad the Saints were when Payton was suspended.
Special teams is where I am most concerned. They really need to get it together and i’m not sure what their deal is.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:53 am
@Capt Morgan, If you read my post correctly, you would have understood the “If I didn’t know better” part. As far as knowing how to win, the Glazers did it with Dungy and Gruden.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:55 am
If this team goes somewhere between 1-15 to 4-12 he has to go, at that point the Glazers have to step up and say we made a mistake. Then you pursue Helfrich, Sumlin or Davis and you draft Mariota and start building your offensive scheme around him and these huge WRs and TEs we already have. The reality is the defense just needs a good edge rusher a better scheme and coaches that aren’t enamored with all things Dungy. Honestly, Dungy really wasn’t that great, he put in place a great defensive scheme that worked in that era, offensively, he was simply offensive…as are his acolytes.
September 26th, 2014 at 6:59 am
It’s not apathy. The season is actually going about how I thought it would. This is what you get when a team decides to cut alomst every player on their roster with a Pro Bowl on their resume, and repalce them with historically inept players like Oneil “the human turnstile” Cousins.
I’m not a Lovie fan. When I think of him, all I can picture is him staring at a relay on the scoreboard with that blank expression on his face wondering wht went wrong on the last paly. Nothing about him instills a sense of hunger, urgency, fire, passion, or confidence.
September 26th, 2014 at 7:04 am
RichBucsFab said it all for me. I’m done wasting my emotional energy on these clowns. Apathy has set in big time.
September 26th, 2014 at 7:27 am
My only question is how much more of this do we have to endure? When are they going to hire someone who can win? We haven’t had a real coach since Gruden. I still can’t get over cutting one of the very best players in the league because he didn’t fit your system. Maybe you should adjust your system. What a moron.
September 26th, 2014 at 7:47 am
Lets be glad that the team has moved on from the Atlanta game….fans haven’t….that’s OK but the talk about firing Lovie Smith now is absolutely rediculous….Oh, it feels good….but it’s totally unrealistic. The Glazers aren’t firing a new coach 3 games into the season.
Lovie Smith will get this fixed. I’m as angry as anyone else but i choose to look forward.
September 26th, 2014 at 7:49 am
Too early to fire Lovie just 3 games. I think at minimum he should have til end of the year. But those first 3 games reflected bad coaching. I also don’t think you fire a guy until you have an experienced guy you like already set up. Just flipping coaches and changing personnel doesn’t work. See raiders. Also, tedford huge loss! Finally if somebody has to go how about Frazier? If this keeps up what’s his usefulness?
September 26th, 2014 at 8:08 am
Look at the Bucs overall record and individual seasons. They have’nt had many winning years for varied reasons. After the 0-26 start, all those 2, 3 and 4 win struggles in the 80’s and early 90’s. They were the laughable joke in the NFL. It’s tough to escape that past record of futility. The Bucs have loyal fans everywhere who know first hand what long suffering for their favorite sports team feels like. After a while it’s easy to get numb to all the losses and lose interest. But still the love for the team and the game will keep hanging on, because we know if we live long enough success will be achieved. It’s a lifelong thing really.
September 26th, 2014 at 8:10 am
Yea raheem and schiano would have been run out of town because no one really wanted them here in the first place but what gives lol he really thinks this coach is on a watch list after 3 weeks, Damn they’ve been in the media so long he head has blown up, who’s running lovie Smith our of town besides the Glazers?
September 26th, 2014 at 8:16 am
The bye week is going soon…
I suggest making it the Bye ~Bye Week
beg Derrick Brooks to take over as interim coach for the remainder of the season
This is dismal !
September 26th, 2014 at 8:43 am
You have got to be kidding me. Bandwagon fans. This is our 4th head coach in 6 seasons. That’s not how championship teams are built. Lovie has been around and won alot of games he will get it right in time . everyone wants to win now but thats just not reality. Support the team or find a new one.
September 26th, 2014 at 8:52 am
Firing lovie is crazy but when does he show some real coaching skills is that what we are waiting for.. Good luck. Passing on hester the one man reckingball, gutting this team of talent, always brainfarting, seams more like sabatoge to me..McCown really.. Fraizer Really.. Your waiting for dungy like from lovie does not mean it will happen, until he shows some real coaching skills I am going fishing.. You keep singing..kum ba ya. Lovie is bad for the bucs side line..
September 26th, 2014 at 8:56 am
THis IS my team !….the only bandwagon I am is Fire Lovie…..sooner the better….the guy has the motivation and leadership skills of a wet napkin.
Lovie does not have the attention or command of this team. 4th HC in 6 years is totally irrelevant. It is time to cut our loses with this empty suit.
September 26th, 2014 at 9:18 am
This team sucks, I don’t really blame Lovie as the talent isn’t there. He gutted the team and started over, I still find it funny that everyone was thinking playoffs. Tampa needs a quarterback, I still blame the great one, Dom, for all this crap.
September 26th, 2014 at 9:34 am
I’m expecting maybe one win this season, and that is not coming this week.
September 26th, 2014 at 9:43 am
I beleve I read somewhere that a Las Vegas casino has Lovie Smith at 25/1 odds that he would be fired at the seasons end. Pretty low for a 1st year head coach.
September 26th, 2014 at 10:14 am
if i am the glazers, i am tuning out the fans and the media for the next 2 months and letting lovie do what he thinks is right. a fair expectation to earn another year is that we see a second half of the season that involves the defenders playing within the system, the rookies skill position players showing some presence, and a team that is disciplined and competitive for 60 minutes. if you see that, you can continue to believe in the coaching and give him 1 more year to un-bungle the talent shortage on this roster. The Tedford loss is a major setback, and his situation plays into fair expectations a little bit also
September 26th, 2014 at 10:26 am
I think Joe summed it up perfectly: no one cares. We are basically as a community right back where we were through the 80s and 90s. Just irrelevant wasting a high draft picks taking over rated players and overpaying for Poor talent.
After the first game I took all of my books gear put it in garbage bags and put it in storage. I was tired of wearing the Bucs flag and having to answer questions about why they suck so bad. I then went out and bought a Manziel jersey because that’s who they should’ve picked. If they were going to stink they should’ve done it with that exciting quarterback at the helm.
September 26th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
I’ve been saying it since week 1. This team does not look prepared to play. Now it’s caught attention of the national media.
Lovie Smith does not have our team prepared to play.
I also stated the same thing in here Thursday night. If that was Greg Schiano on Thursday night…
Wake up people. The team has not looked prepared to play football and that’s a joke.
September 26th, 2014 at 1:30 pm
I’m sticking with Lovie! We turn on Coaches in this town more than a rattle snake. We seem to not look at ALL of this years TNF and there has been one team getting the spit beat out of them. Do I like what I’ve seen this year so far NO! But we cant change HC’s like a dirty pair of socks. I do believe that as a whole we are incapable of being real fans and supporting our team. We can learn a ton from Oakland and Cleveland fans. BECAUSE WE DONT GET THE CONCEPT OF WHAT A FAN IS!
September 26th, 2014 at 1:42 pm
The fans keep dropping away because the Bucs as usual are predictable. Every fan in Tampa Bay knows the Bucs always lose to real NFL teams. One more thing, there was a reason Lovie was fired in Chicago. I think the why of it is becoming very obvious to Bucs fans.
September 26th, 2014 at 4:20 pm
This team is going to continue to be laughing stock if we constantly change head coaches and GM. It’s not a good idea to get rid of Lovie when it’s obvious that some of the players we have don’t fit this system or underperforming.
Give it time or we are going to be assosicated with dysfunctional teams like the Raiders, Browns, and Jags.
September 26th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
The Bucs need a modern offensive HC to update this organization… Someone like Adam Gase, Darrell Bevell, Greg Roman…. An OC that has experience and knows how to win in big games in this league!
September 26th, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Tedford’s absence is the wild card in this. If there is no improvement by the end of the season, Lovie may end up getting a pass for this year. Others have mentioned the team has “quit” on the coaching staff. While I think that is harsh it doesn’t seem at least from the body language of the players this may be indeed be the case.
September 26th, 2014 at 8:46 pm
When I think about Lovie’s style of coaching I think back to a game the Bucs won with his mentor Tony D at the helm. October 24, 1999 (I had a seat in section 205, nice seats by food court and good angle view of endzone): Bucs vs. the Bears. It was a barnburner with the Bucs pulling out a 6-3 win. Defense mauled the hapless Bears but man was that a vanilla offense, Allstatt got some yards, Dilfer was turnover free, Derrick Brooks had a pair of picks and normally accurate Martin Grammatica shanked 2 FGs to keep it a one score game….. That game was Dungy ball in a nutshell and I think it is the type of game effort that Lovie would be okay, perhaps even proud of: the defense forced Chicago into a lot of punts and 3 and outs and the offense sputtered but A-Train and Dilfer did move the ball with mediocre success. The Bucs won ugly but with a smothering D, that’s Lovie’s mantra too and I am not sure if that can work in today’s NFL….
September 26th, 2014 at 8:55 pm
I spend thousands to go watch this team play and I no longer give a hoot about this team. It sickens me. I don’t care to watch press conferences, read quotes in the paper. Every year ATL, NO & Carolina whoop us like it’s a tuneup game. F this team, man!
September 26th, 2014 at 8:58 pm
Slight difference here in that those putrid performances were toward or at the end of tenues. Lovie has only been here for three games. That being said, a more pathetic effort I have not seen since those glorious Rah, Rah days! Tighten up Lovie or BucNation will be coming for you!
September 26th, 2014 at 10:21 pm
this goes beyond the man…its his lack of vision, obvious insecurities that play out in his passive aggressive press conferences and the fact that his bosses are weak freaking sauce….this team is a reflection of the wimpy glazers…my accountant can be wimpy not my leader.
sorry folks its a vibe that goes far beyond the man…there is nothing thick or strong about this franchise…
September 26th, 2014 at 10:39 pm
sho nuff …hmmm you’ve got me thinking.
September 27th, 2014 at 12:30 am
This is why we are becoming the Browns of the nfl pathetic 3 games in we are calling for his head jesus people you don’t fire a coach after a year, people step away from the ledge.
September 27th, 2014 at 12:40 am
Here is the similarity between Lovie, Raheem, and Schiano. Most of the guys playing d line played for these coaches. (Bowers, McCoy & Clayborn) And these guys that played for all three coaches have had sub par sack numbers as a team.
Raheem Highest sack total is 28. His highest rank vs the NFL is 26th place. The lowest amount of sack is 23 sacks, which is 32th place. (Cover 2.1 and McCoy was hurt for two years. Bowers was hurt as well.)
Schiano highest sack total is 35. His highest rank vs the NFL is 23rd place. The lowest amount of sack is 27 sacks, which is 29th place. (Heavy blitz and stunts. Clayborn and Bower missed sometime.)
This is why I think that during Freeman’s tenure as qb had him destined to fail. There are several winnable games that the defense screwed things up. I don’t see it getting better with Glennon nor McCown.
The majority of the focus and blame was on the offense while the defense got a pass. These stats fro nfl.com shows this defense was horrible for a long time. The common denominators are our lack of talented players on defense.
The point is. At some point the fingers need to be pointed at the players not having talent. Also, Man to man, zone coverage, nor blitz will work well without qb pressure.
The fingers need to be pointed at the Mr. “I wanted to draft the good guys now that I’m fired” Mark Dominic for his draft and FA signings and non signing during Raheem coaching days.
It’s way too early to blame Licht or Lovie for anything other than McCown and Johnson. Licht have to clean up the mess from 5 years. Also, start a new foundation.