Personally, I'm just tired of the hype. Each year, it's a new list of excuses. Poor coaching, tough schedule, injuries, lack of depth, poor play-calling, etc. It's easy to say that the team is just a couple of pieces away but is that really accurate? Sure, there are some very good players with some nice upside but I'll believe it when I see it.I will still continue watching every single week but until the Bucs can consistently compete with the elite teams then I'm done accepting excuses.
Without Freeman's hot streak we would have won 3-4 games last year too.QB is a huge part of the problem but so is OL. I don't want to spend any more decades looking for a franchise QB with a crap OL. It usually doesn't work out well trying that.
GA I agree. Manning is Manning partly because he had a great OL and a clean pocket in Indy all those years. While I personally would like to see a QB with more mobility, if he isn't mobile you sure as hell better protect the guy. The offensive line deserves a huge part of the blame in my opinion this season.If you can't protect, or run the ball, there is no way any QB in the league is going to light it up and put many points on the board with the lack of playmakers on offense.
manning didnt have a great OL. Average really. He just rid of the ball quicker than most QBs.
Without Freeman's hot streak we would have won 3-4 games last year too.QB is a huge part of the problem but so is OL. I don't want to spend any more decades looking for a franchise QB with a crap OL. It usually doesn't work out well trying that.
GA I agree. Manning is Manning partly because he had a great OL and a clean pocket in Indy all those years. While I personally would like to see a QB with more mobility, if he isn't mobile you sure as hell better protect the guy. The offensive line deserves a huge part of the blame in my opinion this season.If you can't protect, or run the ball, there is no way any QB in the league is going to light it up and put many points on the board with the lack of playmakers on offense.
manning didnt have a great OL. Average really. He just rid of the ball quicker than most QBs.
Saturday and Glenn were damn good players. Glenn was a Pro Bowler for a few years an Saturday went to several. No question Peyton could get rid of the ball quickly, but you don't go on a start streak, and put up the numbers he did in Indy without some great lineman. Ok if not, but great would you take their starting five say in 2006 over the current starting five for Tampa Bay as a group?
defense is only 1 piece away if the coaching is anywhere near solid. There weakest spot is an edge rusher. The whole secondary is enough to win with, the LBs are enough to win with, The D-line is solid save for that one piece. Goldson, Revis, Barron, and even Banks(not good, not bad) for a rookie have played well. Foster, David, and the combo of Casillas and Watson have played well. McCoy and Spence have played well. Clayborn has been horribly misused and the other DEs have done well and are at the very least good depth.Only piece I can see as being real needs are Pass rusher. I guess you could argue for Nickel, but it would be a very strong argument.
I try not to chime in on this board too often or my head explodes, but I am somewhat surprised that this has turned into a 5 page thread. Whether you like Schiano, Sheridan or Sullivan as a coach, I think the hatred has made some, not all, a little jaded. Even if you feel this is a poorly coached defense, I think most would agree, if this defense was on the field last year, it would have been a playoff team. They were awful...historically awful in 2012. The coaching seems to have made Lavonte David a DPOY candidate. And McCoy has improved over last season. PFF focus has Revis as the NFL's best corner and so on. Do I like all the stunts? Hell no? The constant blitzing? Nope. But on Monday Night Football last week, Gruden was raving about the Ravens stunts and pressure on Stafford.I am not saying Sheridan is great or terrible, or Schiano is the coach of a future Super Bowl team. I have no idea and truthfully none of us do. Even if you want both gone, I think most would say the defense is drastically improved over last year and is primed to be good for a long time. Especially if they add a couple pieces, just like coach said. Who know maybe they are a Top 5 defense if someone else was coaching them. But some credit should be given to take the defense from 29th to 13th with a below average pass rush from the defensive ends.I know I have set myself up, and I should probably delete this before posting, but after a couple glasses of Keel and Curley wine (shameless plug) tonight I am feeling a little brave. I will hate myself in the morning I am sure. But hopefully we can avoid the name calling and have a real back and forth.
Well, the defense definitely should have improved from last year. Our biggest weakness last year was the secondary and we added 2 All Pro's and spent our first draft pick on a CB over the off-season. This defense is loaded with talent and arguably has a top 3 player at each level of the defense. The defense should be one of the best units in the league and while it has improved, it still isn't even top 10.
Valid points, but it is 13th from 29th, people constantly complain about Banks who has played like a rookie at times, Revis is still not 100 percent and Goldson has missed essentially three of the 14 games so far. And they are doing it without any consistency from a pass rush. Trust me I am not convinced that Sheridan or Schiano can win it all, but I still say they deserve some credit. The fact that this is now a 6 page thread essentially hammering the 13th ranked defense while the Bucs offense is ranked dead last, is a little mind boggling to me.
My evaluation is hat Schiano is doing pretty good at talent evaluation. I think he is a great practice coach; getting players into the right drills, correcting bad techniques, etc. He can do all that. The big issue is when I pop on the all-22 and I see foundational break downs. A six man front all blitz and nobody accounts for Shady McCoy, Goal line plays against Carolina where the adjustment must have been to tell everyone to contain Cam and then there are 3 Carolina WRs wide open in the end zone while everyone in the secondary is mirroring Cam.As a Buc fan, I really wouldn't know a good offense if it bit me, but I know what a good defense is supposed to look like. Schianos defense is not good in my opinion.So from my point of view, any gains we have picked up in the rankings is because the players that we have are much much more talented than who they replaced, not because we have a much better defensive scheme. And if this is the ceiling for this scheme with this talent, then to me its time to move on. Not that Schiano is a terrible coach. Not that he cant do anything good. Just that he is not good enough. Just my opinion.
Schqiano has his finer points.But he forgets that he actually has to coach the team to a win on Sundays.His mismanagement on gameday kills anything he achieves outside of that.
More than not top 10 it still has all sorts of coaching problems. Yes the stunts are stupid. There is also the ongoing issues with mobile QBs that haven't been corrected. Lot of flags as well. Bigger thing is does this defense really scare anyone? It is good but do the saints think OMG not the Bucs defense!
I agree, no team is "fearing" Tampa Bay's defense.It was evident from the first play last week that the SF defense had a swagger and confidence that was impressive. But it also wasn't a defense built overnight. And Schiano critics can say, they didn't get that way until Harbaugh got there, and that is a legitimate argument. But there is a solid foundation. Add a legit veteran pass rusher and that will help. The Bucs aren't quite confident they are great yet. I saw the 79 defense and they knew they were great. Most of us saw the Dungy defenses grow and by the Super Bowl season they also knew how great they were. I have no idea if this staff can get them there but there are closer than most thought they would be.As far as adding two All-Pros that is true, but Revis isn't even 100% and Goldson is still learning to play within the new NFL rules. They will still get better I believe. I'm just saying I don't disagree with coach – there is potential to be that dominant defense. I have talked with enough people off the record and they know the pass rush isn't nearly good enough, they would love to just send four. That would allow the secondary to be even better.If you go back and read my Foster story from last week both he and David and Watson all agreed this is a very complicated defense. My only complaint is perhaps they have overcomplicated it. I think there are some smart guys on the defense but they aren't loaded with Stanford and Harvard grads. And few if any played in a college defense that has the responsibilities they are required on each play. Some players off the record have told me, as Gerald has said, that they just want to go play. Hopefully the staff will listen to the guys if they are back next year.
There definitely is something to be said for the KISS theory.KeepItSimpleStupid
Run defense has worsened, pass defense has improved...if this is the best they can do with upgrades I am not impressed.
Kellen Clemens Laughs at this Thread. Dominant Defense...
Maybe the organization can go out and a couple more defense FA's to over $130M in contracts and the team will regress in the win column again next year.You da man, Schiano!
If only we still had Bennett.
Agree with that. If only schiano hadn't been bamboozled by those high draft picks on d lineman prior to his arrival.
Schiano watched all of his Defensive Ends play last year and decided to he could do without Michael Bennett. That can't be blamed on anyone else.
Give it a rest. Nobody is blaming anyone else.
Right. Poor Schiano was "bamboozled by those high draft picks on d lineman prior to his arrival", but nobody is blaming anyone else.
It was sarcasm dumbazz. Stop looking for an excuse to argue with someone
Oooo, it gets touchy when called out on defending Schiano. Sure, it was sarcasm.
I'm not touchy at all. I've defended schiano against some of the stupid critisms and I have criticized him and his hiring at times.I haven't defended the release of Michael Bennett once. I criticized it then and I have criticized it during this season. Since you know so much about what I post here, then you should know that. Like I said, stop looking for an excuse to argue with someone.
