Who wants Simms back next year?

[mjs020294]

the question i think is , Does Gruden want Simms back??

I doubt it.

[corruptpirate]

the question i think is , Does Gruden want Simms back??

No, I honestly believe that Gruden never fully trusted Simms even during his run of wins last year. I just didn't see the excitement that Gruden shows when he talks about Gradkowski when he talked about Simms' game.

[caradoc]

And the o-line is better now than it was when Chris started. Joseph wasn't in with Chris--Yatta was!

Actually it was trueblood that replaced Yatta.  And Joseph wasn't starting in Grads' best performance...

[BucsPirate]

Simms could be a great QB if all of the other pieces of the offense are great. I'd like to see Simms hit with the transition tag.

I am confident that we will continue to see Grads improve, hopefully starting this week, and I have confidence that he can be the guy long eterm, but Simms is a QB that still has the potential to become a star in his own right. The Bucs don't just let valuable people walk away if that person can help long term.

[1sparkybuc]

Gruden started out, even BEFORE TC, blowing smoke up Gradkowski's butt. Maybe it was an attempt to light a fire under Simms' butt. Who knows? The end result was to undermine any confidence Simms had. He imploded and he won't be back. He will have a successful NFL career with a HC who knows how to get the best out of him. Gruden can't work with him, maybe because McKay drafted him knowing Simms didn't fit the system.

As for Gradkowski, I'm beginning to think his receivers at Toledo were seven feet tall with baskets for hands. People keep raving about his accuracy and I'm not seeing it. And for a guy who is supposed to be mobile, he sure trips and falls alot.

At this point, I want to see what McCown can do. If he struggles, throw some of that money at Favre for a year or two until somebody can take over that is mobile AND accurate.

[corruptpirate]

Gruden started out, even BEFORE TC, blowing smoke up Gradkowski's butt. Maybe it was an attempt to light a fire under Simms' butt. Who knows? The end result was to undermine any confidence Simms had. He imploded and he won't be back. He will have a successful NFL career with a HC who knows how to get the best out of him. Gruden can't work with him, maybe because McKay drafted him knowing Simms didn't fit the system.

As for Gradkowski, I'm beginning to think his receivers at Toledo were seven feet tall with baskets for hands. People keep raving about his accuracy and I'm not seeing it. And for a guy who is supposed to be mobile, he sure trips and falls alot.

At this point, I want to see what McCown can do. If he struggles, throw some of that money at Favre for a year or two until somebody can take over that is mobile AND accurate.

I don't really think the MAC had any of Jimmy Johnson's blitz packages in their arsenal and I'm gretty sure the level of play there isn't even close as to what Gradkowski's been goin against lately. Give the kid a chance, its his third game as a ROOKIE and a raw one at that. Besides, if Grad gets flack for completing 50% of his passes against the eagles, what does that say about golden boy Matt Leinart and his 40% completion against the lowly Raiders. Even though he doesn't have that 70% completion, he still has a decent 56.1% with a 4:1 TD:int ratio and that's still good rookie or not.

[dbucfan]

Of course you want a young healty qb candidate on your team, one that knows your system and players.

That said, Gruden is in love with Grads, and is not with Simms.  That is the larger question.  And it is unfortunate for both Simms and the Bucs.

[BucsNBullsBaby]

(Heck, go back and see choices made such as Dilfer v. Young).

Young was traded the year that we were drafting Testeverde.   Dilfer came years later.   

Thanks for the correction - had Testaverde pictured in my mind but typed Dilfer - I hate getting old!

But the central point still remains that the team needs a capable back-up.  Even though Simms isn't "Gruden's guy" he still had enough faith in him to let Griese go.  I'm not sure Simms will command too much as free agent, his games this year didn't prove anything except that he's tough. 

[mjs020294]

Of course you want a young healty qb candidate on your team, one that knows your system and players.

That said, Gruden is in love with Grads, and is not with Simms.  That is the larger question.  And it is unfortunate for both Simms and the Bucs.

I concur with that.  It is a shame that Gruden will not tweak his offense to suit the personnel on the roster, but he has an offensive dream and Simms doesn’t fit it.  With a different coach and scheme I think Simms can be quite successful, but it is unlikely to be in Tampa under Gruden.

[keeponbucn]

Screw Simms. I hope he walks the plank. I'm more disgusted now about his play over the first 3 games than I ever have been. Simms is all wrong, I don't want him back, Gruden doesn't want him back, and the Bucs don't want him back.

He's been here for 4 years, to come out like that this year is a big red flag. He should've ben sharp from jump not chucking up balls for picks. Screw SImms.

[mjs020294]

Screw Simms. I hope he walks the plank. I'm more disgusted now about his play over the first 3 games than I ever have been. Simms is all wrong, I don't want him back, Gruden doesn't want him back, and the Bucs don't want him back.

He's been here for 4 years, to come out like that this year is a big red flag. He should've ben sharp from jump not chucking up balls for picks. Screw SImms.

So is that a definite NO then?   

[alldaway]

Gruden did tweak the offense for Simms and for Brad Johnson.  Anyone that believes otherwise has not followed Gruden's career closely.  Gruden has coached a lot of QB's in his offense and for every QB he has had the privledge to coach he has made adjustments for all of them.

If anyone thinks that McCown is better than Grads they need to take a step back and look at reality.  McCown is an athletic QB but at the same time he has played just 1 more game than Grads so far.  Once Grads plays that game against the Giants he will have as much experience as Luke.

Luke's postives is that he is energetic just like Grads, can make plays with his feet, and is best suited for the WCO.  His negatives though is that he does not have good pocket awareness (this is where Grads has him beat) and he tends to take a lot of sacks for a mobile QB.  Luke also tends to be a gunslingerish like his brother (crazy cajuns).   Simms had a similar problem with pocket awareness and playing a bit gunslingerish.    Gruden likes that Grads so far ( I hope I did not jinx him) does not take a lot of sacks and makes good decisions.  And for a rookie I agree with coach Gruden on that.

As for keeping Simms I say I am all for it becuase the veteran options out there are not really appealing.  But some team will be willing to throw more money out there for his potential.   Simms' deep ball would be appealing to some teams.

[mjs020294]

Gruden did tweak the offense for Simms and for Brad Johnson.  Anyone that believes otherwise has not followed Gruden's career closely.  Gruden has coached a lot of QB's in his offense and for every QB he has had the privledge to coach he has made adjustments for all of them.

Gruden did tweak his offense to help QBs succeed initially but that is a temporary measure.  I think he was hoping Simms would develop into a decent WCO QB, but he was sick of waiting for him to catch up.  Our offence was woefully poor last season, and that must hurt an offensive HC like Gruden.   I just can’t see Simms being here next year, square plugs do not fit into round holes.

He sees enough in Grads to think he can be the guy, and right now Grads is on a fast-track to NFL QB’ing course.  If Grads falls by the wayside we are screwed for next season.

[alldaway]

Being able to complete the shorter passes in not just a WCO thing.  McNabb was not good at completing the shorter passes either for a while but eventually developed the ability to do so.  Vick is still trying to develope his ability to throw short.   The offense last year was not poor in my very honest opinion.  Simms' TD/INT ratio was decent but his play would have been better had Carnell continued to chug on.  Problem is teams attacked the right side/middle of that o-line and it really forced Simms to pass a lot of times.  Even in the playoff game he still put up an impressive perfomance through the air.

Gruden has coached a lot of QB's for his offense.  Every single type imaginable from QB's with strong arms to poor accuracy, to QB's with noodle arms with amazing accuracy.  From statues to mobile ones you name it.  From his days with the Eagles and the Raiders and till just recently with the Bucs.

[keeponbucn]

The offense last year was not poor in my very honest opinion. 

Despite playing with a very good D and benefiting from good field position our offense only scored 300 points last season.  That would rank us 20th on scoring, the NFL average was 330, so by any sensible standard our offense was well below average, i.e poor.

That fine form was carried over into the payoffs where we racked up a mightily unimpressive 10 points, with Simms turning the ball over twice for zero TDs.  The hope was a full off-season as the starter would help Simms, but alas that never developed.

So we know for sure this is a poor offense with Simms at the helm.  If Grads is still struggling after 10 games we might be looking at another QB change for next season. 

And was magnified in the playoffs. Any team that gives up 120yrds of offense to the opposition and still loses the game is....well, putrid. If that doesn't scream horrific offense I'm not sure what would.