 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Team Glazer can’t divide its team leadership, says Buccaneer Radio Network pre- and post-game host Anthony Becht. It’s either all-in or adios for Greg Schiano and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik.
Becht offered tough talk this morning on WDAE-AM 620, explaining there’s “nothing for us to hang our hat on as a fan base with what went on this year.” [read more]
Ian Beckles sees no hope for Mike Glennon
Sometimes ornery yet always bubbly former Bucs guard Ian Beckles (1990-1996) was on fire this morning on WDAE-AM 620. Beckles had mixed reviews for the New Schiano Order and thinks the Bucs have become too much of a reflection of their head coach.
Beckles noted Greg Schiano’s defense looks promising and developing with emerging young talents, but the Bucs offense looks like it’s dying under a defensive-minded head coach. [read more]
Zac Stacy punished the Bucs
Greg Schiano met the media after yesterday’s drubbing in Missouri and did a masterful job spinning stats to make his run defense look great.
Joe knows better.
Schiano noted his run defense allowed 3.3 yards per carry against the Rams, “which when a team is going to run the ball 39 times, you do that over the season, you lead the league in rushing defense.” [read more]
Sometimes Joe just wants to jump in an empty swimming pool the way some Bucs fans react after hearing a familiar name and all but demanding the Bucs get said name with no thinking whatsoever to the consequence.
This happened Sunday when Bucs fans learned Jets Captain Lou Albano told his team he expected to be fired. All of a sudden, Bucs fans began Twittering Joe for Team Glazer to hire Captain Lou Albano. [read more]
Robert Quinn of the Rams tracks down Bobby Rainey. The disgraceful way Rainey was misused likely sealed Mike Sullivan’s fate as Bucs offensive coordinator.
A long look at the Bucs yesterday, today, and what to expect tomorrow and beyond.
Look, Joe likes Mike Sullivan, the person. He is kind, considerate, a really decent man. Joe really respects him. He’s a West Point grad and a former Ranger. Major props!
But whatever that display was yesterday in the Ed Jones dome along the Mississippi River in St. Louis was worse than whatever is flowing down America’s biggest liquid polluted artery. [read more]
No. 8 doesn’t have it
When Josh Freeman was a rookie starting nine games on a garbage team, he closed that 2009 season with every last Bucs fan knowing he had a ton of promise. The raw skills and special talent were there.
Freeman had some standout games, despite his No. 1 wide receiver target being Maurice Stovall. (That’s right. Stovall was the WR with the most catches from No. 5 that season.)
But Joe’s not getting that standout feel from Mike Glennon. He hasn’t done much in a month. [read more]
Gerald McCoy had some real talk about the Bucs defense today.
The Bucs locker room was as despondent as Joe has seen in quite some time. For the longest time, Donald Penn sat in front of his locker, in uniform sans helmet, looking straight ahead in a faraway, empty look. It seemed he wanted to just belt someone.
Gerald McCoy, the Bucs stud defensive tackle who now has nine sacks this season and who was mauled with double- and triple-teams on virtually each play, was his usual amiable yet honest self. [read more]
“A new offensive coordinator and we’re good to go, Boss.”
Joe’s got no clue whether Greg Schiano will have a job next week.
That’s the reality of the NFL. Team Glazer will be scrutinizing, especially after the Bucs were punished by the cellar-dwelling Rams, featuring their backup quarterback and second-rate receivers.
Schiano’s job is not safe. [read more]
Darrelle Revis explains his disgust
You know, the thing that most depresses Joe about this ugly loss to the Rams was the Bucs defense knew exactly what Jeff Fisher and the Rams were going to try to do. They knew it was going to be Zac Stacy running the ball early, running the ball late, running the ball all the time, little to nothing else.
And still the Bucs couldn’t stop him. Sure, the Bucs slowed Stacy down in the second half, but too little and way too late. [read more]
If there was any doubt the zebras are bird-dogging Dashon Goldson, that “The Hawk” is being singled out by the suits of the NFL, it was clear today.
Dashon Goldson has been penalized so much this season that he actually had to sit out a game for what game officials thought was hitting too hard.
Today, in the ugly loss to the Rams, Goldson got flagged. Again. Early in the fourth quarter. A play that set up a Rams field goal. The zebras said he hit Rams receiver Stedman Bailey too hard, that Bailey was “defenseless.” [read more]
Donald Penn was one of the few Bucs who came to play today.
A key match-up today in the Bucs game was Donald Penn vs. Rams sackmeister Robert Quinn. Until late in the game when the outcome was decided, Penn, for the most part, held his own if not won the battle vs. Quinn.
In the first half particularly, Penn kept Quinn at bay, hold him off or, sometimes, literally throwing Quinn to the side and taking him out of the play. [read more]
If you want to know why the Bucs lost, look no further than the rushing statistics. In the first half, Bobby Rainey’s longest run was four yards. He averaged 1.1 yards in the first half.
He damned near doubled that amount in the second half, finishing with 1.9 yards a carry.
The main reason Rainey had such putrid numbers was that time after time after time after time the Bucs tried to run the ball up the one hole, between Jamon Meredith (who was totally worked over by the Rams and benched for Ted Larsen) and center Jeremy Zuttah. [read more]
Greg Schiano weighed in with his disgust
Bucs fans are mad.
Paying Bucs fans are very mad.
But it seemed like Bucs offensive linemen weren’t appropriately mad, so explained former Buccaneers tight end Anthony Becht on the Buccaneers Radio Network. [read more]
Sloppy penalties plagued the Bucs yet again. The Rams’ first touchdown drive was buoyed by an Adrian Clayborn illegal hit on quarterback Kellen Clemens, followed an offsides call on Gerald McCoy on 3rd-and-8.
Why? Why? Why? Why are the Bucs among the messiest teams in the NFL. It’s not just Dashon “The Hawk” Goldson. [read more]
The data is dreadful and telling
Put aside the excuses, the injuries and any other kind of spin. There is no excuse for the Bucs offense.
One stat today tells the story perhaps better than any other. The Bucs offense averaged 3.0 yards per play. [read more]
Joe almost feels like Bucs fans could sue the Buccaneers for pain and suffering — and not have it be considered a frivolous lawsuit. This was miserable duty today in St. Louis. The Bucs offense is dreadful. Just dreadful.
The Bucs just got clubbed by a last-place team.
Yes, the Bucs have no No. 3 receiver, and a No. 2 receiver who is over his head, and only one tight end, but the offense just shouldn’t look this bad.
Sloppy penalties plagued the Bucs yet again. Two gifts on the Rams’ first touchdown drive were unacceptable from Commander Greg Schiano’s allegedly disciplined bunch.
The Bucs forced two key fumbles to stay in the game, and Joe’s not forgetting Dashon Goldson’s one-inch-line tackle of Zac Stacy that led to the Bucs’ goal-line stand, capped off with a forced fumble by Gerald McCoy. The Bucs defense was pretty solid, even the run defense stood tall after a rough start, but there’s only so much a defense can do when you can’t move the ball.
This isn’t 1999 or 2002, when the Bucs could win a game like today with little punch to their offense.
No Christmas gifts for Bucs fans today, just a trip to Walgreens for Tums.
Good morning from the Ed Jones Dome (where Joe is at) in frosty St. Louis where the Bucs will face the surging Rams.
Joe just cannot get a feel for this game. On one hand, the Rams throw Kellen Clemens at quarterback. Can you say “Eric Zeier?” On the other hand, Zac Stacy is running the ball very well and the Bucs, of late, have been a bit soft on the run.
The Rams will be without the services of speedy Tavon Austin, as he is inactive, which means the Rams have virtually no passing game to speak of.
The thing that scares Joe is the physical front line of the Rams defensively, which the Bucs have proven gives them fits. If Bucs quarterback Mike Glennon can just get a little bit of time, there should be open receivers because the Rams stink in the secondary, a combination of players not playing well and injuries.
As always, feel free to share illegal video streaming URLs among yourselves but do not post them here.
Enjoy the game and go Bucs!
Game 15
Bucs (4-10) at Rams (6-8)
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
TV: WTVT-TV, Channel 13, locally. Outside the Tampa Bay area, DirecTV Channel 711.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM 103.5, and WDAE-AM 620); SiriusXM Channel 110.
Free agency looms
Lost in the painful home loss to the 49ers last week was Dekoda Watson posting career numbers. Watson led the Bucs with 12 tackles while starting at strongside linebacker.
Watson had never approached anything close to that number. He had 10 tackles all of last season. [read more]
It’s late December and there’s no doubt that radio and TV announcers will remark today about how the Bucs are playing hard for Greg Schiano.
Big freakin’ deal. Likely seven out of eight teams across the NFL are playing hard for their coaches, not to mention themselves and their fans.
Are Bucs fans so scarred by the Raheem regime that we have to celebrate effort? [read more]
Tiquan Underwood has been double-teamed since his breakout game against the Lions.
One of the nicest guys in the Bucs locker room is Tiquan Underwood. Really sharp, really smart, and simply an all around good dude. So it pains Joe to see good guys struggle like Underwood is.
Underwood had a fantastic game against the Lions with two touchdowns, including an 85-yard bomb from Mike Glennon that was simply beautiful. Since that game, Underwood has pretty much been invisible. [read more]
