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Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud was hanging around the Buccaneers in New Orleans yesterday, talked to rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, and said this morning on WDAE-AM 620 that Dominik and Greg Schiano are unaware of their 2014 fate. [read more]
Here’s a sad stat to start your Monday: The Bucs’ heralded pass defense, the alleged “No Fly Zone,” allowed a whopping 30 touchdowns through the air in 2013.
That’s the same total the Bucs allowed last season, when they had one of the worst secondarys in the history of the NFL and the pass rush was even more anemic than it was this season. [read more]
Joe wasn’t impressed with Darrelle Revis’ effort on a couple of plays yesterday in New Orleans. Back during the Raheem regime, they would have been called “loafs.” (Sean Jones was Raheem’s serial loafer.)
If Revis can’t sprint in Week 17, then he should just skip the Pro Bowl so he can heal his body.
One could also say Revis served up another loaf after the game in the Bucs’ locker room. [read more]
Even if Greg Schiano is jettisoned in the coming days, the future of the Bucs is pointed down.
Joe is typing this under duress so he apologizes up front; this weekly regular-season feature is a bit short to end the 2013 campaign (Joe is so ready for 2014 that he has caught himself several times typing that year).
The next few days will be anything but dull around these parts. That’s because what is being discussed in the inner sanctum of One Buc Palace is anything but boring.
At worst, there will be staff changes on the Bucs College of Coaches. Will those changes include Bucs commander Greg Schiano? The second-year Bucs coach did a lot of damage control when his team started 0-8 and winning does help. Then, the Bucs crashed and burned entering the home stretch. Schiano’s guy, rookie quarterback Mike Glennon, after a hot start, has looked – with brief flashes of talent – every bit the rookie third round draft pick he is. [read more]
Below is full audio of Greg Schiano on the Buccaneers Radio Network after today’s clobbering at the hands of the Saints.
Schiano says the Bucs were “outplayed and outcoached” and “sometimes in life you hit a bad patch.” Schiano also talks about the Leonard Leap and the seemingly wacky call of a fake field goal on a fourth down deep in Saints territory to close the first half.
“Our fans are our stockholders. They’re what we play for — the people in our stadium and the ones that watch on TV. That’s what it’s all about: winning and how they feel about the team. If they don’t feel good about the team, then there’s something wrong. . . I think you all know the sense that’s out there. It was time for a change.” Team Glazer, following the firing of Jon Gruden in January 2009. [read more]
Being angry with the Bucs losing to the Saints is like getting perturbed you struck out with Brooklyn Decker.
Now here is a post that came out of the blue for Joe. It’s part of the reason he loves his gig. The unexpected.
(Joe is struggling right now. Either he had bad rotisserie chicken this afternoon or the disgusting loss to the Saints has him more nauseous than he believed. Or both. Joe’s trying not to yack on his keyboard.)
A loyal fan of Joe scolded Joe for writing earlier that he cannot get angry over the loss to the Saints. Joe understands where the reader is coming from, but let Joe be clear.
Joe did not expect the Bucs to win. He typed as much in the past few days. Typed as much this morning. It’s hard to get angry over something that you expect.Joe told the loyal reader that getting bent over this loss would be like getting bent over having Brooklyn Decker shoot you down.
Sadly, this is the current state of the Bucs and how Bucs fans are now conditioned to losing. Once upon a time, winning was expected, demanded. Now, losses are the norm.
He might be an easier sell to Team Glazer than John McNulty
Everything right now is all about the “if” — as in if Greg Schiano returns next season.
But if he does, there’s no question the Bucs soon will be seeking a new offensive coordinator. And there’s also no question Greg Schiano likes to keep things in his family. [read more]
Former Bucs tight end and current BSPN/NBC Sports Network football analyst Anthony Becht is frustrated with the state of his old team.
Anthony Becht, a former Bucs tight end, is a full-blown football analyst. He works college football games for BSPN and talks football regularly on NBC Sports Network. Locally, Becht is a member of the Buccaneers Radio Network where he co-hosts a postgame show with smooth-voiced Ronnie “Night Train” Lane.
While working for the Bucs, Becht is allowed to be critical but always has to be mindful of not crossing the line. It’s part of the minefield of working for a team-product. [read more]
Joe’s going to take a break from stomaching another brutal Bucs season to celebrate all things Tim Wright.
The Bucs’ rookie tight end from — all together now — Rutgers rose from fourth on the opening-day depth chart at tight end to shock the NFL. [read more]
As one can expect, the mood of Bucs commander Greg Schiano was somber after the belt-whipping Drew Brees and the Saints dished out to the Bucs this afternoon in the Big Easy, ending a dreadful 2013 campaign.
Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network, Schiano was brief in his words but summed it up saying that when you face a future Hall of Fame quarterback like Drew Brees in his house, sometimes the results are just downright bad. [read more]
“We are committed to the plan that began 12 months ago with Coach Morris, and we look forward to building on the pieces that were put in place this season.” — Joel Glazer, January 2010
That was the one sentence, official written proclamation after Raheem Morris was under fire following his opening season, when the Bucs’ finished 3-13. [read more]
The tune will sink Mike Sullivan
If there was a sure bet in the National Football League this season, then it would have been the Bucs’ inevitable second half disappearing job on offense.
Joe’s never seen such a thing. It was almost as bad as the first-quarter disappearing act routinely seen during the Raheem Morris administration, when points in the first 15 minutes were as common as Joe ordering an appletini at Hooters. [read more]
The Bucs did their part by getting clobbered this afternoon, but none of the other teams jockeying for draft position with Tampa Bay played along.
By Joe’s calculations of various NFL tiebreakers, the Bucs have locked up the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. The Bucs lost all tiebreakers with fellow 4-12 teams Atlanta, Jacksonville, Oakland and Cleveland.
Will the Bucs get the chance to have Johnny Football searching for a St. Pete beach condo?
Now Joe just knows some fans will state this isn’t a story. But Joe knows a story.
Each game, home or away, preseason or postseason (remember those?), the head coach of the Bucs always has a few remarks to the sideline reporter for the Buccaneer Radio Network as he walked off the field at halftime.
Until today. For the first time going back to the halcyon days of Chucky, local radio insiders told Joe, a Bucs head coach did not conduct a halftime interview during the broadcast produced by the Bucs. [read more]
Greg Schiano said today’s Bucs-Saints game was a “playoff” game for his team. So Joe has to ask, “Coach, where the heck was your playoff defense?”
The Buccaneers offered no resistance. The Saints racked up 35 points through three quarters. And it was virtually all on the defense. The Bucs’ offense actually moved the ball a bit and only had one turnover that led to a fourth-quarter score.
Brees finished the first three quarters — that’s three quarters — 22-for-28 for 376 yards and four touchdowns.
This is very disturbing. [read more]
So it has come to this. Many teams are celebrating a berth in the playoffs or are still alive for the playoffs as the Bucs-Saints are about to kick off; the Bucs are still searching for their first playoff win in 11 years.
It will be 12 years, and running.
So now Bucs fans turn to hope. Hope that players today prove to be worthy of coming back next season to play meaningful games. Hope that whoever is coaching the Bucs next year can have better than a 32nd-ranked offense. Hope that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik can again pluck smore gems out of the draft, this time enough to get the Bucs over the hump.
As always, Joe encourages you to feel free to share URLs of sites with illegal streams of the game among each other but do not post them here.
Feel free to comment early and often about today’s 2013 season finale.
It can’t get any worse next fall, can it?
Injuries have ended the seasons of finger-wagger safety Mark Barron and Dekoda Watson. Both are on the Bucs’ inactive list for the Saints clash at 4:25 p.m.
They join FB Lonnie Pryor, LB Ka’Lial Glaud, DE Scott Solomon, DT Matthew Masifilo and foot-toe challenged Carl Nicks. [read more]
Game 16
Bucs (4-11) at Saints (10-5)
Kickoff: 4:25 p.m.
TV: WTVT-TV, Channel 13, locally. Outside the Tampa Bay area, DirecTV Channel 714.
Radio: Buccaneers Radio Network (in Tampa WFUS-FM 103.5, and WDAE-AM 620); SiriusXM Channel 136.
