Say what you want about Schiano but he was dead honest and right about 1 thing

Winning the turnover battle hasn’t been the Bucs strength by Gil ArciaJune 20  2014Say what you want about former head coach Greg Schiano but when he constantly said winning the turnover battle was key to winning football games last season, he was dead honest and for the right reason. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished 2014 with a record of 4-12. Within that record, they went 3-1 when they were on the plus side of the turnover ratio. They were 1-11 when they were not (1-8 when equal, 0-3 when negative). In fact, the Bucs have struggled in that category the past five years where they have gone 19-12 when leading in turnovers but 9-40 when they did not. Of course Schiano isn’t the only coach that tries to coach by the theory of forcing turnovers and taking care of the football. It’s common throughout the NFL. But with as bad as the Buccaneers’ offense was last season, when the team took care of the football and created turnovers they won football games. Head Coach Lovie Smith and his defenses prey on their opponents and force turnovers. That was evident during his time in Chicago. Smith coached the Bears to winning records in six of his nine seasons. The three that were losing seasons saw the Bears on the negative side of the turnover battle (2004, 2007, 2009). Much like how the players practiced under Schiano in perfecting the art of takeaways, a lot of the same has gone on this offseason under Smith. Two very different styles, but one main goal. There is no exact science to winning the turnover battle. If there was then we would see a lot more success. The new regime is committed to putting a good product on the field and have talked with lots of optimism so far in regards to the team. But they have to force turnovers and the offense has to protect the football while winning games. Something they haven’t been able to do successfully in recent years. Follow Gil on Twitter: @GilArciaTBClink