For Bucs, being 5-4 is all that matters

[michael89156]

For Bucs, being 5-4 is all that matters








CLIFF MCBRIDE/STAFF
Greg Schiano showed some flexibility when the Bucs were reeling after a 1-3 start to his first season.





 By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune
Published:  November 16, 2012 - 10:30 PM




TAMPA --

For a while, to some, it was about the other stuff. He was the college guy. He didn't know the unwritten NFL rules or even all the written ones, it was His Way or else, he was too rigid, or there was that Sporting News poll where a ton of NFL players said they didn't want to play for this head coach: Greg Schiano.

Now look and listen.

It's about 5-4. It's about a chance to go 6-4 with a win Sunday in Carolina. It's about a three-game winning streak.

And it's about Greg Schiano, too.

The view from 5-4:

"I've been doing this long enough as a head coach that I know what a three-game losing streak would do,'' Schiano said. "That's the real deal. As long as you realize that, it's great, you love the momentum, you love the positive feelings when you get on a little bit of a roll, but you're also a realist that it doesn't take many things to make it different. Hating that feeling, that's sometimes what keeps you rolling."

Schiano has these Bucs playing fast, smart, hard and physical, just as Raheem Morris once demanded and sometimes even received while he was here. He has an offense going great guns, greater than Jon Gruden ever managed. The Bucs are winning. Schiano remains vigilant:

"People say winning cures all. It doesn't cure all – it hides all. We're not very different from when we were 1-3. We're a little more confident, with five or six weeks more worth of cumulative reps. Our coaches understand our players a little bit better and vice versa. Winning happens because of all of those things, but winning makes you think everything is all cured. It's not all cured, but we're getting better."

He is changing the culture. He rolled some heads. Now he has a team that overcame 1-3 and then 2-4. He has a team that is taking the ball away more than it is giving it away. It's a team that has been in every one of its games, every one. And it's Greg Schiano's team.

It's not about outside noise right now.

The guy is 5-4.

"The stuff that I can't control I don't spend much time thinking about, because I have to do so much stuff to take care of the stuff that I can control," Schiano said. "People outside who don't understand exactly what we're doing here, it's not their job to. It doesn't matter. It's my job to make sure the 61 guys downstairs and our coaching staff, that we all have a common vision and we're all seeing that common vision pretty clearly."

He came advertised as intense, and he is. At practice Friday, he barked at media he thought were making too much merry, too loud.

And he says the minute he did, he thought: Now, why did I say that?

Sometimes he can't ratchet down.

But talk to Bucs players and you get the other side, the side where Schiano jokes with them listens to them, learns from them. Linebacker Adam Hayward thought of that Sporting News poll:

"The people who voted in that poll, they weren't even on this team. It was the early stuff they probably heard about him. But those of us here, we know it's working. The atmosphere of this team has changed completely."

Yes, there are Bucs who see Schiano's soft side.

"Don't tell too many people that," Schiano said with a laugh.

As rigid as he is usually portrayed, Schiano, and his staff, showed real flexibility at 1-3, during the bye. They listened. They adjusted. The running attack was stalled, so the passing was ramped up, and Josh Freeman played more freely – and away this offense went.

"I think you could say that there was some adjustment, some clarification as well ..." Schiano said. "We need to make sure we're taking shots down the field, you can't complete shots if you don't take them. I think we all worked and grew together and continue to do that.

"… When you have 61 guys and 20 something coaches, you're never going to get everybody. The goal is to get as high a percentage as you can. The thing that was really important is when we were 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, the guys kept working and they kept buying in. That said that what they were being taught by their coaches, or by me, made sense. If they feel like you're helping them get better, they're going to be very in tune. If they think you're full of baloney, you can scream with a megaphone and it doesn't matter."

5-4 matters.

[buccaneer4ever]

I love me some Greg Schiano.

[1sparkybuc]

For Bucs, being 5-4 is all that matters








CLIFF MCBRIDE/STAFF
Greg Schiano showed some flexibility when the Bucs were reeling after a 1-3 start to his first season.





 By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune
Published:  November 16, 2012 - 10:30 PM




TAMPA --

Schiano has these Bucs playing fast, smart, hard and physical, just as Raheem Morris once demanded and sometimes even received while he was here. He has an offense going great guns, greater than Jon Gruden ever managed. The Bucs are winning. Schiano remains vigilant:

"greater than Jon Gruden ever managed"

You just can't help but to love shared opinions, especially those that are known not to be fabricated. I expect we will see many more franchise records fall with this talent and truly great coaching. It's really great having coaches that have knowledge and know how to convey it. Too bad Gruden had no culture.

[GameTime]

"People say winning cures all. It doesn't cure all – it hides all.

thats a great quote.

[Bschucher]

"People say winning cures all. It doesn't cure all – it hides all.

thats a great quote.

Thats the quote that got me too. Good stuff. Honest.

[Hate]

Greg Schiano... offensive guru

[JM2]

"People say winning cures all. It doesn't cure all – it hides all.

thats a great quote.

Thats the quote that got me too. Good stuff. Honest.

Same, very insightful, that.

[Buc on the Move]

"People say winning cures all. It doesn't cure all – it hides all.

thats a great quote.

Along with the fact that the players appear to be learning this lesson as well.  It showed up in Penn and Freeman's comments the other day, when they said they are not satisfied with past success.  These guys are learning and growing, and Schiano is at the forefront of it all!

[Hate]

"People say winning cures all. It doesn't cure all – it hides all.

thats a great quote.

Don't know who the originator was but i've often heard Ditka say 'winning is a great deodorant'.... love that one.