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Greg Schiano isn’t the only serious football man who stands firmly in Mike Glennon’s corner.
There is another man, a well-respected former Buccaneer, who believes the Tampa Bay can be serious winners with No. 8 calling signals as their starting quarterback.
Joe was somewhat stunned. [read more]
If Craig’s List was a hell of a lot better, then it might be almost as cool as PostShareSell.com.
What do you mean you haven’t been to PostShareSell.com? Get there!
The numbers look good
Yes, Gerald McCoy is a stud. After that, well, that’s about it on the Bucs defensive line.
Yes, the Bucs actually improved their sack total last year. No joke. The Bucs actually had seven more sacks in 2013, 35. Still, that ranks them 23rd in the NFL, just slightly better than pathetic. [read more]
The ink is dry on Lovie Smith’s contract with the Buccaneers! The team made its big news 100 percent official today and shared comments from many former and current Bucs.
Joe’s got them all — all the feel-good takes you could imagine, from Mike Glennon to Derrick Brooks to Charles Tillman and Ronde Barber and beyond. [read more]
Roster control likely is part of his deal
Gabe Gabriel was a football operations staffer and scout with the Chicago Bears when new Bucs coach Lovie Smith ran the team. He offered insight this morning on the “Ron and Ian Show,” heard on WDAE-AM 620, as to what made Lovie click in Chicago and what his weakness were.
Gabriel also explained what the hiring of Lovie before a general manager may mean for the power structure at One Buc Palace. [read more]
Shaun King says teaching and professionalism from Lovie Smith’s regime will shock Bucs players
What impact will the Lovie Smith regime have on the young defensive talents on the Buccaneers?
That’s unknown. But former Bucs quarterback Shaun King believes it will be remarkable because Raheem Morris and Greg Schiano were not ready for their head coaching jobs. Lovie will deliver a stunning change, King says. [read more]
Neat little video linked here of Adrian Clayborn talking to an Iowa TV station yesterday before the firing of Greg Schiano. They caught up to the beloved former Iowa Hawkeye during Outback Bowl festivities in Tampa.
Clayborn was upbeat about his six-sacks season in 2012, and it may have been telling that Clayborn felt compelled to reference his 2012 knee surgery before declaring “it was a good season.”
It surely will be a make-or-break year for Clayborn in 2014, his fourth in the NFL. First, he’ll likely have to battle for snaps with whatever edge-rusher talents Lovie Smith procures, and he’s got to produce more consistently.
Tony Dungy likes Lovie Smith’s philosophy. Lovie is no Greg Schiano.
There was quite a contrast across the Tampa Bay sports market over the past couple of years.
In St. Pete sat Rays skipper Joe Maddon, a leader who believes in clubhouse disc jockeys, lucky talking birds on his shoulder on game days and wacky dress-up themes during road trips, among other freedoms. And he’s just fine with his players sounding off on Twitter about bad attendance or whatever else is on their minds.
There there was Greg Schiano. [read more]
Bratty Jay Cutler won’t be coming to Tampa.
Now that a coaching staff seems to be shaping up (so the NFL rumor mill says), and once the coaches are in place and a general manager is hired, then it is time to focus on a quarterback.
In a sense, Joe believes Bucs fans were saved this morning in one way and the angst over a signal-caller looms, as the Bears re-signed bratty Jay Cutler to a seven-year year, per Rich Campbell and Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune. [read more]
A former Bears All-Pro weighs in on how Lovie Smith is “amazing” and not so amazing
Seven-time Bears All-Pro center Jay Hilgenberg shared his deep angst — and deep love — for new Bucs head coach Lovie Smith today.
Hilgenberg has been part of the Bears Radio Network for years and spoke on WDAE-AM 620 this morning about how Lovie never could fix the Bears offense and forge a good offensive line.
But Hilgenberg wasn’t bashing in any way. [read more]
Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly signed NFL head coaching contracts out of the college ranks for about $7 million per season.
Jeff Fisher also signed for $7 million a year back in 2010.
So why are reports claiming Lovie Smith is finalizing a head-coaching deal worth about $5 million per season with the Buccaneers? [read more]
Respect returns to the Bucs locker room
It’s culture-change time again at One Buc Palace.
The “ultimate respect” new head coach Lovie Smith will command in the Bucs locker room will change the culture immediately at One Buc Palace. Former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht explained while talking all things Smith and regime change this morning on WDAE-AM 620.
NFL insider Adam Schefter explains how the Bucs and Lovie Smith met at the altar of One Buc Palace so quickly in this BSPN video.
Darrelle Revis caught Lovie Smith’s eye long ago.
As excited as many of Joe’s readers are with the new coaching staff taking shape at One Buc Palace, there remains concerns for some of the fate of stud cornerback Darrelle Revis.
New Bucs coach Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli are loyalists to the Tampa-2 coverage scheme, a scheme in which cornerbacks often play zone. Revis is a terrific man-to-man press corner and at $16 million a year may be a bit pricey for a zone coverage guy. [read more]
Cowboys could block Rod Marinelli from coming to Bucs.
Bucs fans erupted in glee last night when it was learned, via BSPN’s Adam Schefter, that the Bucs had hired defensive guru Rod Marinelli as the team’s new defensive coordinator.
The first thing that went through Joe’s head was, “Isn’t Marinelli under contract with the Cowboys?” But hey, if Schefter Twitttered it, it had to be true. Right?
Well…
It seems Schefter’s report, at best, may have been premature. His colleague at BSPN, Todd Archer who covers the Cowboys for BSPN Dallas, cites several Cowboys team sources claiming the Bucs do not have the rights to Marinelli, that he is still under contract with the Cowboys, and his ascension to defensive coordinator with the Bucs is far from a done deal.
Marinelli is under contract to the Cowboys in 2014. The Cowboys could let him go if they choose, but they have blocked Joe DeCamillis and Tony Sparano in recent years from taking jobs with different teams while under contract. It is possible they could come up with some sort of compensation package to let Marinelli go.
Teams are only required to allow assistant coaches to interview for head coaching vacancies.
But the feeling is the Cowboys do not want to lose Marinelli. He was forced to work with 19 different defensive linemen in 2013 because of injuries and poor play. The Cowboys higher ups liked what he brought to that group and defense in particular.
Archer went on to write it is very possible the Cowboys could jettison defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and promote Marinelli to fill the void.
Now, if it really is a done deal that Marinelli is coming to the Bucs, Joe is going to guess Team Glazer worked out a backroom deal with Jerry Jones for a modest seven-figure sum to persuade Jones to rip up Marinelli’s contract.
This should be a fun next few days.
BSPN reports Rod Marinelli joins Jeff Tedford as new Bucs coordinators.
Now Joe is starting to get excited. The all-knowing ultimate NFL insider Adam Schefter of BSPN just Twittered news that will leave Bucs fans chugging beers deep into the first night of the 2014 calendar year.
It seems former college quarterback guru Jeff Tedford, and former Bears defensive coordinator and former Bucs defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, will indeed be coming to the Bucs to join Lovie Smith, newly hired Bucs coach. [read more]
Bears superstar cornerback Charles Tillman, who spent 11 seasons wearing black, told the Chicago Tribune this week that he’s got other “options” as a potential free agent in March.
Hmm, Joe wonders where those could be? [read more]
Former Vikings coach in talks to join Lovie Smith and the Bucs.
Former Vikings coach and Rip Van Freeman victim Leslie Frazier’s name is being bounced around NFL circles tonight as a potential new Bucs defensive coordinator. This coming from USA Today scribe and former Vikings beat writer Tom Pelissero.
@TomPelissero: Nothing done for Leslie Frazier to join Lovie Smith as DC with Bucs, I’m told, but sounds like it’s on the table. [read more]
