The 2012 Buccaneers were a failure

[michael89156]

The 2012 Buccaneers were a failure



By Sander Philipse on Dec 31, 2:00p




Chris Graythen



The season is over and another disappointing year has come to an end. It has been five seasons since the last time the Bucs made it to the playoffs.

 


Failure. That's what this season has been. Yes, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done some good things. Their run defense has been historically good. The Schiano culture change appears to have worked -- to an extent. The Bucs looked like a much more disciplined and fundamentally sound football team than they did in 2011. They accumulated more talent as well. And yet, this was yet another losing season.

Is this, then, a failure? Aren't the Bucs rebuilding now? No, they are not. The Buccaneers clearly were a team that wanted to win now. They spent big on free agents. In fact, they were the biggest spenders in free agency in the entire NFL by a sizable margin. They didn't come here to re-build: they came here to win. And they failed.

The results bear this out, too. Until week 15, they hadn't lost a single game by more than a single score. Close losses to the Giants, Cowboys, Redskins, Saints, Falcons, Broncos and Eagles were unnecessary and unfortunate. Had the Bucs played just a little better in those games, they could have been in the playoffs. Had they called better plays, they could have been in. Had their secondary, or their quarterback played better, they could have been in. This is not farfetched: single-score games are decided by just a few plays, and a little bit more luck would have at least given Schiano a winning season. And the Bucs showed they were a good team, too. They blew out the Minnesota Vikings and handily beat the Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers. They could hang and beat the good teams and manhandle the bad teams for most of the season.

The Bucs are not a finished product by any means. But they could have easily won in 2012. They could have been a playoff team - and when you make it into the playoffs, anything can happen. What's most disappointing about this season, though, is the way the team fell apart in the end. For a long time, this felt like a team full of promise. And then, starting in week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles, it all started to fall apart. So now, we're left with nothing but the offseason.



http://www.bucsnation.com/2012/12/31/3813336/2012-buccaneers-were-a-failure

[BucsFan4090]

"Their run defense has been historically good"

Since when? 2005

from 2008-2011 we had some of the worst garbage run defense in the league.

Article credibility is crap.

[Stratobuc]

That article was a failure.

[1sparkybuc]

2011 was fail. 2012 was progress. Way too many issues to fix in one season. The Bucs will be a playoff team in 2013. 7 wins, 7 close losses, 2 blowouts, trumps 4 wins, 12 blowouts. More important was 0 quits. That's progress.

[bucinnj]

Way too many issues to fix in one season.

Agree with that part the most.

[TBTrojan]

"Their run defense has been historically good"

Since when? 2005

from 2008-2011 we had some of the worst garbage run defense in the league.

Article credibility is crap.

You misunderstood what was said.
It didn't mean that we were good every year, lost in all the talk that our pass D almost allowed the most yardage in league history was the fact that the team actually set the franchise record for fewest rushing yards in a season (not counting the strike shortened 82 season) making it historically good.

[nitey]

^^^ This

Additionally, only two teams have allowed a lower average rush per attempt than the Bucs did in 2012. One was the Ravens from 2001, I don't remember the other off the top of my head.

The article wasn't bad or inaccurate, just poorly worded perhaps. However, the author's point is that since we didn't make the playoffs, the season was a failure and with that, I agree. This team could have been 10-6 except for a handful of plays that they didn't make.

I think 2013 is going to be a good year to be a Buc fan.

JMO.

[dalbuc]

Way too many issues to fix in one season.

The only "issue" was had was that we quit in 2011. That is one thing to fix. That got done and we still did nothing worthwhile. Pretty clear failure.

[1sparkybuc]

^^^ This

Additionally, only two teams have allowed a lower average rush per attempt than the Bucs did in 2012. One was the Ravens from 2001, I don't remember the other off the top of my head.

The article wasn't bad or inaccurate, just poorly worded perhaps. However, the author's point is that since we didn't make the playoffs, the season was a failure and with that, I agree. This team could have been 10-6 except for a handful of plays that they didn't make.

I think 2013 is going to be a good year to be a Buc fan.

JMO.

I believe the other team was the '85 Bears. You are correct in that the Bucs were just a play or two away from having a ten win season. They could have been a playoff team but they are really not ready for that just yet. Admittedly they did a pretty good job shutting down Ryan last week, but that's just one game. We never would have advanced past the WC round with this pass defense. The Bucs will be much improved on offense AND defense in 2013. They will be a playoff team, and they will go beyond the WC round. 2013 is going to be a great year to be a Buc fan.

[NotDeadYet]

     I'm sure Coach Schiano would agree with the author's premise.
     But from a FAN's perspective, this was really a team-building year, mostly dominated by youth and inexperience, including the HC. There were way too many issues to fix in just one year. Then when we lost so many vets to injuries... I'm good with 7-9; not happy, as a little better consistancy could've gotten us enough W's to actually have gotten into the playoffs...

[chace1986]

Not a big fan of Sander or some of the Bucsnation stuff, but I do agree with his premise here.

It was a failure.

The improvement from 4-12 to 7-9 is a nice consolation prize for some, but this team was at one time sitting at 6-4 and was right in the middle of the playoff hunt. No matter how anyone sugar coats it, finishing the year 1-5 makes the 2012 season a failure.

[BucNY]

I love the logic. Sure did A, B, C, D and E but this team didn't go from 4-12 with a 10 game losing streak to the playoffs so it was a failure. Uh..okay.

[BaghdadJoe54]

Isn't every year you don't win the Super Bowl a failure?  Don't quite get it, especially with the realistic team expectations to start the year.  Hell, Schiano was rated as one of the worst coaching hires in another thread yet because we didn't go from 4-12 with a bunch of quitters to playoff clinchers we failed.  Ok.

Is it disappointing considering we had a chance for the playoffs but couldn't get over the hump?  Sure, but to me that makes this season more of a success than a failure since we are even mentioning playoffs in comparison to last year.  10 game losing streak, and 4-12 to playoff chance until late season collapse (which to me was a better reflection of how many thought this team would be playing anyways).

I think what we demonstrated this season far exceeded expectations.  To me, if we don't make the playoffs next season then I could see an article of this nature.

[JavaRay]

Gruden would have led the Bucs to the playoffs if he had been their HC in 2012.

[GermanBucsFan]

Gruden would have led the Bucs to the playoffs if he had been their HC in 2012.

Without Tebow?  .