NFL: Bucs fire Lovie Smith

[Avs_19]

If Lovie and Frazier are still stubbornly running their Tampa-2 trash then I'd say it's not just on the players.

 

[Live in the Now]

Agreed, but two of the worst players on that D were Lovie's big money free agent signings, after cutting Revis because he didn't fit with Lovie's D.

Their defense actually ranked top ten in yards allowed btw. Also slightly confused as to who the big money signings were. Henry Melton was signed on a one year prove-it deal.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

If Lovie and Frazier are still stubbornly running their Tampa-2 trash then I'd say it's not just on the players.

They most likely did use that. No team should use that as a base.

 

[clefty]

The 'big' free agent signing this year on was Bruce Carter, who was beaten for the starting Mike linebacker spot by Kwon Alexander, who was having a pretty great rookie season until he got caught juicing.

I assume the reference was to signings in previous seasons like Michael Johnson and Dashon Goldson, who were both awful. Alterraun Verner's been totally 'meh' as well.

We have no secondary and no defensive ends. Our defense is basically McCoy and David.

 

[GKJ]

Agreed, but two of the worst players on that D were Lovie's big money free agent signings, after cutting Revis because he didn't fit with Lovie's D.

Revis wasn't long for a rebuild anyways.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

The 'big' free agent signing this year on was Bruce Carter, who was beaten for the starting Mike linebacker spot by Kwon Alexander, who was having a pretty great rookie season until he got caught juicing.

I assume the reference was to signings in previous seasons like Michael Johnson and Dashon Goldson, who were both awful. Alterraun Verner's been totally 'meh' as well.

We have no secondary and no defensive ends. Our defense is basically McCoy and David.

Thats on the GM for spending all your teams recent high picks on offense.

 

[hockeykicker]

inside the link are numerous bucs players not happy at all

 

[Blitzkrug]

Uh...huh.

I figured he was totally safe for at least the next year considering how the Bucs improved by leaps and bounds with pretty shoddy personnel on defense outside of like McCoy, David and Verner.

...Wouldn't be opposed to bringing him in to coach the Dolphins, just keep him away from offense.

 

[GKJ]

Thats on the GM for spending all your teams recent high picks on offense.

That's also on the GM for being so reliant on free agents. How often does that work?

 

[Avs_19]

Their defense actually ranked top ten in yards allowed btw. Also slightly confused as to who the big money signings were. Henry Melton was signed on a one year prove-it deal.

Michael Johnson and Alterraun Verner?

 

[clefty]

Thats on the GM for spending all your teams recent high picks on offense.

I think a big mistake would have been to draft Jameis Winston and then go into the season with an offensive line like we did in 2014. Marpet and Smith were good picks.

Believe it or not, bad teams tend to need players on both sides of the ball. Hard to fill every single gap with six draft picks.

 

[Live in the Now]

Thats on the GM for spending all your teams recent high picks on offense.

Well the Bucs previous GM did spend high picks on defense (Clayborn, Barron, traded pick for Revis). Those picks should have been spent on contributors and that's why the previous GM isn't there now.

Bucs are going to find out a harsh reality as pertains to firing a popular head coach. The Bucs need(ed) time to get better and I think they had the right coach to do it.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

That's also on the GM for being so reliant on free agents. How often does that work?

Almost never in the cap era. I could've told you Dashon Goldson wasn't going to work out once he left S.F. Especially when he was paired with Mark Barron. Yikes.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

I think a big mistake would have been to draft Jameis Winston and then go into the season with an offensive line like we did in 2014. Marpet and Smith were good picks.

Believe it or not, bad teams tend to need players on both sides of the ball. Hard to fill every single gap with six draft picks.

Then get more picks. Play the comp pick game like many other teams do.

 

[GKJ]

Almost never in the cap era. I could've told you Dashon Goldson wasn't going to work out once he left S.F. Especially when he was paired with Mark Barron. Yikes.

I think we all did, guys who leave a good situation to grab the money, almost always fail. Why I say Kam Chancellor needs to cool his jets, if he forces his way out of Seattle, I think he drops off. Might happen to secondary players more than anyone, except maybe receivers.

Speaking of, Vincent Jackson has been good for them, but at what cost?

It seems that whenever teams make one good free agent signing (some of which include trades which really is the same effect when players have such liberty to redo their contracts), they become more reliant on it, and that ties up big cap bucks.

 

[clefty]

Then get more picks. Play the comp pick game like many other teams do.

What good players have left Tampa Bay in recent years as free agents as to receive compensatory picks?

Speaking of, Vincent Jackson has been good for them, but at what cost?

It seems that whenever teams make one good free agent signing (some of which include trades which really is the same effect when players have such liberty to redo their contracts), they become more reliant on it, and that ties up big cap bucks.

Bucs have been a bajillion dollars under the cap for quite a few seasons now. As of today I believe they're ~$50 million under.

In other words, who cares.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Lavonte David is exactly right.

That is 3 coaches in the last 5 years and 4 in the last 7. No way you can build anything that way.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

I think we all did, guys who leave a good situation to grab the money, almost always fail. Why I say Kam Chancellor needs to cool his jets, if he forces his way out of Seattle, I think he drops off. Might happen to secondary players more than anyone, except maybe receivers.

Speaking of, Vincent Jackson has been good for them, but at what cost?

It seems that whenever teams make one good free agent signing (some of which include trades which really is the same effect when players have such liberty to redo their contracts), they become more reliant on it, and that ties up big cap bucks.

I think its because you can hide shoddy secondary play with a great pass rush and a good scheme.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Never really was a fan of this guy. However I think they exceeded most of our expectations this year. I still don't think Winnie the Pooh Bear is the answer at QB for them. They did "trend upward" I can't say though that its a job where they'd have offers left and right.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Lavonte David is exactly right.

That is 3 coaches in the last 5 years and 4 in the last 7. No way you can build anything that way.

No different than the Browns, Bills or other **** teams though. Common denominator I suppose.

 

[orangecrush8]

Bucs fan here.

I'm happy with the move. You can **** on Dirk all you want, but he ran that offense, and reportedly has a tremendous relationship with Jameis. As others have stated, I'd be shocked if he's not named HC. I don't think firing Lovie was Plan A, but if there was talk that Dirk was going be snagged by another team, this to me seemed like a no brainer.

Lovie, a defense minded coach, ran a defense that was 26th in the league which forced only one takeaway in their final 6 games. Christ, he had a top corner and still wasted him. The writing was on the wall

David, McCoy etc can all put their big boy pants on and realize that this was a business decision and not take it so personally.

 

[Virtanen18]

Bucs fan here.

I'm happy with the move. You can **** on Dirk all you want, but he ran that offense, and reportedly has a tremendous relationship with Jameis. As others have stated, I'd be shocked if he's not named HC. I don't think firing Lovie was Plan A, but if there was talk that Dirk was going be snagged by another team, this to me seemed like a no brainer.

Lovie, a defense minded coach, ran a defense that was 26th in the league which forced only one takeaway in their final 6 games. Christ, he had a top corner and still wasted him. The writing was on the wall

David, McCoy etc can all put their big boy pants on and realize that this was a business decision and not take it so personally.

Bingo. If Koetter leaves for another team and Jameis struggles, the Bucs would be laughed at for that. Lovie might have earned another year, but it's not like he was ever gonna be the guy long-term. If the relationship with Dirk and Jameis is as good as they say, I'll take that over Lovie. Bucs got their QB now, gotta make it work.

And yeah, the D was terrible. You can put some blame on lack of talent if you want, but I think every Bucs fan expected a lot more out of a defense coach.

 

[snowden]

My Dad is stoked. He loathed Lovie lol.

I wrote a big thing about both the offense and defense but honestly I just don't care. There's too many holes on both sides that need fixing and getting a new head coach and starting this process all over again for the 4th time in less than a decade just sets us back again. Whatever.

 

[What the Faulk]

The Bucs lost their last four games to finish 6-10. Following Sunday's loss, Winston unloaded.

"If our coaches weren't on our butt, we wouldn't have won six games," he said. "I guarantee you there are some of our coaches that want it more than some of our players. And that is the bad part. Our coaches want it. They want it. I guarantee you they are up there working hours; [they] don't even get to see their families. So I'm not here to talk about coaches. I know our coaches want it.

"We need to get our guys to put in the work like our coaches put in and that's how you are going to be successful."

http://espn.go.com/blog/tampa-bay-b...ameis-winstons-comments-about-winning-mindset

I can't believe Winston would be on board with this move. Why would you change coaches in year 1 with a rookie franchise QB after moderate success (if only for a time)?

 

[John Price]

Ignorant decision

Literally no reason to sack him