MJohn, all the more reason you work on the basic fundamentals during training camp. The Buc's looked ill prepared in pre season. Without an off season you would think the staff would've made sure the young team would at least had the basics down. Now in week 14 we realize scaling back will solve our woes, not buying it.

I bet if you got Olsen on a golf course after a few beers he'd tell you he doesn't have a QB on this roster that "Gets It." As a matter of fact, I have a strong feeling he's said exactly that before.

Hey, don't anybody forget what the new CBA has wrought either: 14 padded practices per season. Total. Previously to the newest CBA, ANY practices, 3-5 per WEEK perhaps, could be padded, as needed. The Defensive Line and Offensive Line gets ZERO practice of any value without pads. NONE. Nada. You know what else you can't learn without pads? Tackling. Can't tackle without full pads and the only way to learn how to tackle (to truly learn) is to TACKLE. My view as a cynic? The vets wanted more seasonal rest, wanted to last longer in terms of years of playing time.... however, this CHEATS the rookies and younger players, as their learning curve is going to be MUCH longer. Excuse? Nah. Plenty of teams have young talent and at least they can TACKLE. However, are we more profoundly effected? Probably, yeah. Either way, it is on coaching to fix.

What the hell is going on in practice each week that the basics don't turn up on the field each Sunday that you have to further simplify an already basic offense? They play slow, soft, and stupid. Exact opposite of hard, fast, and violent like we were told. Not sure who will change up Club Med at One Buc but its the only way you will find out who wants it and who doesnt. Right now I dont feel anyone really cares all that much outside of a handful of guys who show up each week and perform. Too much lip service, not enough results. Waste of everyone's time honestly, and thankfully not wasting my money anymore. Bye bye ticket renewal package into the garbage...

Just another thought on Olsen's comments? If you are practicing at a slower pace than real game time then I would expect that the execution would not be as fast or sharp in a real game. When I was in sports decades ago, our practices were more brutal than our actual games. Leadership, leadership, leadership. It still comes down to that in coaching. We are lacking of it.

You guys are always good for a laugh! LOL!! They haven't even tried it yet and it's doomed in your opinion. And the comments about "Yeah, now that the playoffs are out of the picture.." as if you really thought the Bucs were going to the playoffs this year with the schedule they had and no OTA's for the youngest team in the NFL starting a whole slew of rookies and second year players. C'mon. Let's see what we can do these last 4 games. I like what I'm seeing out of Bowers and Clayborne. Price is starting to come on too. McCoy looked really good when he was healthy. Let's give Gaitor and Ahmad Black some playing time and see what we have in those guys. Give Madu some more action and see if he shows promise. I'm amazed we don't have the old 'lets lose out so we get a higher draft pick' crowd posting but I'm sure that will come. Anyway, thanks for the chuckle. You guys are predictable, that's for sure.

gahtadreem, oh really "McCoy looked really good when he was healthy". He looked fair not good in my opinion. What was our rate of sacks and stopping the run before and after McCoy went out?

mjohnson062, I hear you, but if we lose to Jacksonville there is no saving anyone. I think right now we need so much help that we should trade out of the 1st Rd and take someones 2nd, 3rd, 4th rd. Since the Gazers did not make near what they thought they would make with United Manchester Soccer Team, you can bet that they will save even more than what they did with the Bucs this year.

The only reason I disagree with this is that those picks are even more crap-shots than a first rounder. If we have a top 10 pick we should come away with a STUD unless they blow the pick (which may happen). There's no telling what you're really getting with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th rounders.

They are scaling back now because they didn't ingrain basic concepts in training camp. At the end of year two with the same players, and system it's mind boggling they need to get back to basics. mastering the basics should have been done in training camp. Bread,and butter plays should 've been run over,and over till it was second nature. Same with tackling, gap fitting, basic coverages, all this should be second nature by year two. This is a coaching staff that has no clue how to prepare a team for the season. I believe Morris has been to easy on his players the last two camps, other wise we wouldn't be talking about scaling back, poor tackling, silly mistakes, the basics at least should've been ingrained, second nature by now. The best play call doesn't work when the opponent is more prepared for the play then the team that's running it. Tenn rookie MLB picked off Free's pass to Winslow saying we practiced that all week, knowing they run that play on 3rd down. Better coaches have their players better prepared. Scaling back the play book isn't the answer, bringing in a better coaching staff is.

Lets get a hold of Jack DelRio and make him our DC. "Rah" needs to be the HC. As far as OC does anybody have a suggestion?

Mark, Completely agree with your comments. The concerning part about this regime seems to be its lack of ensuring the fundamental aspects of football are razor sharp. For example, the greatness of Monte's defense was not its complexity, but rather its simplicity and players knowing their assignments and being fundamentally sound tacklers. This defense has 4-3, 3-4, Redskin packages, and zone blitzes. All of this sounds great, but players don't know their responsibilities and can't tackle. Offensively, bubble screens and reverses aren't working, but the OC is determined to keep calling those plays, I guess until it works.

I too am at the boiling point frustration-wise. "Simplify". Seriously? From a fan's perspective (granted, having played and coached football, but at the Pop Warner/High School level), the offense already looks impossibly simple (and yes, as stated, phenomenally predictable. Now, perhaps there is a blocking scheme being ill-executed, a lineman picking up the wrong man on a run/pass play, a bad angle, bad blitz pick up, etc. Or, bad route run (rounded off, cut to right direction, cutback inside vs. outside on a hot route or not understanding that you're the hot route to begin with). Beyond that though: SIMPLIFY? Really?! I feel like Jim Mora (playoffs?!) at this point. I just want to win a game, another game. EVER. I threw my support in good faith behind Coach Morris and kept entirely to myself that it made me a bit uncomfortable that all the players CONSISTENTLY refer to him as "Rah". This speaks to a disconnect, in my view. Its not a demand for respect, but the coach/player relationship, while quite possibly friendly, during the course of PLAYING FOOTBALL is an arms-length relationship emotionally. Can anybody imagine Gruden being referred to a Jon? J-Dog? How about Coach Reid as Andy? Or Drew? Does anybody recall Coach Tomlin being referred to as Mike? M-Dog? Tom-Tom? I think Coach Morris (as I will refer to him moving forward) can change, shows the most subtle signs of change and MUST change to succeed. I think Olson is just DONE. I defy anyone at any level professionally to make me believe differently. I think that if the Bucs are to succeed next season, they're going to need new coordinators (yes, Coach Morris deserves another season as head coach, but he has solidly FAILED as a D-Coordinator) and a VETERAN (at least one) as a few key positions. Fred Davis (TE, Skins) should be available (get him to lay off the 'roids though), an MLB (Foster's a bad-*censored*, but several years away from being snookered by a fairly simple NFL offense), a QB (a backup, NOT McNabb - Sage Rosenfels?), etc. For instance, when Williams comes back to the sidelines thrilled that he caught a great pass, he needs to hear from a VET, "you got lucky rook, you route was crap and Free released that ball way late". THAT is what makes teams better. This really isn't a formula that varies too much between Pop Warner and the NFL (as far as I can tell), its just that each individual mistake becomes more and more magnified. And all of the professionals, in this case, should be a bit quicker figuring this crap out. Frustrated? You betcha. G0-FREAKIN-GO-BUCS!

mjohnson062, I hear you, but if we lose to Jacksonville there is no saving anyone. I'm think right now we need so much help that we should trade out of the 1st Rd and take someones 2nd, 3rd, 4th rd. Since the glazers did not make near what they thought they would make with United Manchester Soccer Team, you can bet that they will save even more than what they did with the Bucs this year.

335.6 yds per game is an improvement when you consider it's against a much tougher schedule. I still believe in this team. They have a few holes left to fill and need to make some adjustments in the position coaches (LB, QB, RB). Young players have to learn hard lessons as individuals and as a group. A full off-season and a few upgrades will make a world of difference next year. We already know how to beat the two best veteran teams in this division. We just need to do it consistently.

I agree with most of the thoughts posted here. I do wonder why the scale back on offense and defense didnt happen sooner. It was obvious the team was struggling. I think when you have a young team make sure the basics are covered first. I know high school football and NFL football are eons apart. But when I coached from 98-2004 it was a basic philosophy we had as a staff. If we cant run our bread and butter basic plays we wouldnt even attempt to add anything more complex. Sometimes it was the next season before we installed additional offensive plays. As the players grew, so did the offense. Other years we were able to expand as the season went on but it was up to the maturity of the players we had. We gave them what we felt they could handle. We had no ego that we could turn a freshmen into a star just by our abilities as coaches. Again probably not the best example and trust me Greg Olson has forgot more about offense than I will ever know, so I certainly am not comparing my limited high school coaching to an NFL OC. Just a bit perplexing that they waited this long to scale back. I spoke to Foster and Clayborn yesterday and they both agreed wholeheartedly this is a good idea. MC

A simpler offense and defense implemented by simpleton coaches. Radio and Olson are useless.

" . . . so it’s time to cut back now.” With any chance of the play offs gone, you finally decide "it's time." Would beg to differ. The time was when changes would have righted the ship! Our play calling is usually predictable now - guess with fewer options it will be more so. In business when individuals continually fail to perform or make stupid mistakes repeatedly, they are fired. Here they continue to get paid whether they play or not.

Pewter Report, If you've noticed that I am not commenting on many of the articles, It is not because I'm no longer supportive of the website. This is and will continue to be my home site. But at this point, it's hard to comment in a positive and constructive manner. Take the article at hand. What do you say to Olsen's statement? Is he saying "we're up to our a$$ in alligators and we're no longer going to fight the alligators, we're now going to focus on finding the plug and try to drain the swamp!"? I'm exhausted and frankly out of anything useful to say!

Good lord, with the list of offensive plays being, 1. throw to K2, if he's covered, throw immediately to rb. 2. Run Blount into the line. 3. hand off to Benn. 4. on third down throw to Parker or Briscoe. 5. attempt to throw to Williams or Benn and 6. to throw the defense off, bring in Josh Johnson. How can we simplify this???