I think the biggest questions the Glazer's have to ask themselves is:1. How much did the Freeman ordeal hurt this team?2. Did injuries play a part? (Now I know injuries are not an excuse. But when you have three pro-bowl caliber players missing for a large chunk of the season it hurts an offense and highlighted the lack of depth)3. Did Schiano lose the team (Did they quit)
I am hoping the Glazers can ignore their emotions and go by the questions listed by yucc.1. It was a media perpetuated distraction of unbelievable proportions...and the finger pointing at the head coach was based on lies. It forced the team to start a 3rd round rookie.2. The three pro bowl caliber players + Mike James was devastating 3. The team plays their guts out with all out effort.
1. They weren't forced to start a rookie and when you draft a QB in the third you don't draft a QB like that to be a "backup" forever.2. The only noteworthy player lost thus far has been Mike Williams3. Undisciplined team (one of the most penalized teams in the league) with lots of free lancing and sloppy play. Receievers are not running crisp routes, poor tackling technique on defense, o-line looks confused with blocking assignments, etc. This team is not prepared and not playing as a unit.Yes there are shining examples of individual efforts (Wright, Gholston, David, etc) but as a team or units (defensively/offensively) they are out of synch and dis-functional.
The short answer is no - "this team" hasn't been improving. We have had "this team" together since Josh went to improve his life in MN. There was improvement I thought through November. The last three weeks have been abysmal however. Really bad. To Schiano's credit, I don't think the team has gioven up on him - with the exception of our offensive line who was supposedly one of our strengths going in this year. I can't imagine the Center and two guards playing any worse.
Parts of the team is improving especially the rookies except for Glennon who is now playing worse than when he first started, and I believe that is the game time OC issue and of course the Schiano scheme which doesn't work in the NFL anymore.
I would say a improved offense would greatly improve our defense. Best defense is a good offense.
1. They weren't forced to start a rookie and when you draft a QB in the third you don't draft a QB like that to be a "backup" forever.2. The only noteworthy player lost thus far has been Mike Williams3. Undisciplined team (one of the most penalized teams in the league) with lots of free lancing and sloppy play. .
number 3 is a bit of a misnomer as the Bucs are above average in some "sloppy" categories, but are worse in some "getting beat" categories, like offensive holding. Also, its not so much the team as it is the offensive line that lead the charge in both categories, except maybe for roughness type penalties, not sure.
I think the biggest questions the Glazer's have to ask themselves is:1. How much did the Freeman ordeal hurt this team?2. Did injuries play a part? (Now I know injuries are not an excuse. But when you have three pro-bowl caliber players missing for a large chunk of the season it hurts an offense and highlighted the lack of depth)3. Did Schiano lose the team (Did they quit)
I am hoping the Glazers can ignore their emotions and go by the questions listed by yucc.1. It was a media perpetuated distraction of unbelievable proportions...and the finger pointing at the head coach was based on lies. It forced the team to start a 3rd round rookie.2. The three pro bowl caliber players + Mike James was devastating 3. The team plays their guts out with all out effort.
1. They chose to bench Freeman and start Glennon, there was no forcing. Freeman & the media turned it into a circus, but that came after the actual decision to start a 3rd round rookie.I think questions 2 & 3 are, to put it politely, non-factors.2. Every team has ton of injuries throughout the year. The Bucs are far from unique. In fact, you could argue injuries were worse last year. This question is a non-starter.3. This isn't Morris' All-Rookie team. With veterans like Jackson, Revis, McCoy, etc. not quitting isn't a standard by which to judge this team.
I can't think of any part of the team that is getting better week in and week out, which is frustrating as a fan since there is absolutely nothing to hang your hat on as a fan.
I can't think of any part of the team that is getting better week in and week out, which is frustrating as a fan since there is absolutely nothing to hang your hat on as a fan.
Linebacker unit?I like what I have seen from Foster and David.
I can't think of any part of the team that is getting better week in and week out, which is frustrating as a fan since there is absolutely nothing to hang your hat on as a fan.
Linebacker unit?I like what I have seen from Foster and David.
Even with that unit, Foster is a liability in coverage, which hurts in a passing league. David is the teams MVP clearly, and is a stud on a bad team. On a .500 or winning team he'd get more accolades and attention.If only one unit is good on a team what does that say about the coach? If they keep this staff it's gonna get ugly within the local media and fans.
1. They chose to bench Freeman and start Glennon, there was no forcing.
No. Freeman forced that decision. They couldn't let that continue. The circus started even before the season.
1. They chose to bench Freeman and start Glennon, there was no forcing.
No. Freeman forced that decision. They couldn't let that continue. The circus started even before the season.
I blame the Freeman fiasco on the Coach, you have to have a guage on the temperment on your team. Freeman said all the right things that the lack of a contract didn't bother him, and that he and Rutgers were ok. But clearly that was all lies the contract issue and pressure to perform with a team built to win now got to Freeman. He tried to sabotage Rutgers with the Captain Voting rigging rumor, then releasing the drug testing info, all of this was Freeman trying to get Schiano fired or in trouble. Schiano had the offseason and 16 games in 2012 to see all he needed but couldn't find a better QB? All he could find was Glennon? Dang...Or was it Dom not wanting to admit to another draft mistake and insisted Freeman needed more time? What a joke, this team has become.
Not sure how those facts lead you to blame the HC for Freeman
Doesn't matter who you blame. Coach needs to win games and in all of our losses you can see the nasty little fingerprints of bad coaching. There wasn't a game whereI felt like we had a really good game plan and just got out executed. There were a lot of bad decisions, bad flags and poor use of personnel all over the place. You want to be generous and say that we could have won two of our losses....Rutgers is still a loser at that point. Simple question for people who like Rutgers, if you could pick from all 32 coaches for our head coach would he EVER be your choice? If we got to pick our coach after 16 other NFL teams picked a coach, would he even then be your first choice? There you go, he is a lower half of the league coach and so what does one do at that point. Move on.
For a while it looked like the team was improving, albeit incrementally. But as alldaway pointed out there are several missing pieces - the scheme doesn't seem to fit the pieces either or an unwillingness to change or adapt the scheme to take advantage of the personnel's strengths by the coaching staff shows a stubbornness . Having said that looking at this whole thing objectively. I think the biggest questions the Glazer's have to ask themselves is:1. How much did the Freeman ordeal hurt this team?2. Did injuries play a part? (Now I know injuries are not an excuse. But when you have three pro-bowl caliber players missing for a large chunk of the season it hurts an offense and highlighted the lack of depth)3. Did Schiano lose the team (Did they quit)Finally, I mentioned this initially during the first few weeks of the season but I still feel not having Jimmy Raye around hurt offensively.
My fear is that the Glazers base their decision on the answers to the above questions all of which are excuses in my mind and go around the real question. The only question which needs to be answered is...is there enough confidence in Schiano and his staff to become a quality playoff contender?
