TB05’s State of Affairs
Warning: The following contains explicit language. If you are underage or do not wish to read this kind of material stop reading, now.
It’s been a wild, yet ultimately depressing year to be a Bucs fan. We started the new league year off with a bang, brining in some of college football’s best players in VHIII, Noah Spence, and Roberto “Oh-no” Aguayo. These draft day acquisitions capped off a Bucs free agency period that was highlighted by the signings of Brent Grimes, Robert Ayers, and J.R. Sweezy (who has yet to come off the PUP list). Several members of the media as well as members of this very board (myself included) were banging the drums for Jason Licht to add some more DEPTH & TALENT to our roster, specifically along the DL and at WR. But Licht decided that the injury histories of key players at those positions – Louis Murphy, Gerald McCoy, Clinton McDonald, Vincent Jackson, and Jacquies Smith - were not trends and would not reoccur this time around. What a gross miscalculation by our front office. Jason Licht’s roster analysis following the 2015 season has proven to be a detrimental blow to the Bucs chances of success (playoffs) in 2016. Licht had the chance to add several dynamic playmakers at DL, WR, OL, and S. Yet most of those talents didn’t even get a fucking phone call from the Bucs’ FO. Travis Benjamin is an example of an available FA who would have been able to stretch the field and add another dimension to our offense, but no-fucking-phone-call. And oh, by the way Jason, Travis Benjamin’s average salary ($6 million a year) is only HALF of what you are paying Vincent Jackson to sit at home. But I digress.
Dirk Koetter traveled “back home” to Atlanta in Week 1 of the NFL season and handed a big, fat L to Matt Ryan & Co. in an ever-inspiring opening-day game. All was well in Buc land on 9/11, as the Bucs led the division with Atlanta, New Orleans, and Carolina all falling to 0-1 on the season. But the sky fell quickly in Tampa. Within a week, the Bucs lost BOTH of their top edge rushers (Smith & Ayers), Doug Martin, who has been one of the league’s best running backs when healthy (hey look Jason, another position on your roster that is filled with injury prone players), and their best blocking TE in Luke Stocker. The Cardinals sent the Bucs crashing back down to Earth in ugly fashion as they blew the Bucs out 40-7 on primetime. Absolutely devastating.
But with the Bucs set to take on a struggling Rams team at home, things were not so bad. Right? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? After all we were “playing with house money” in Arizona. Should we have expected to drop another primetime game to Case Keenum, AGAIN? Yes. Yes, we should have. In fact, other more knowledgeable Bucs fans DID expect a loss. But what was more troubling than the loss itself, was the inept play calling on behalf of Dirk Koetter and the inherent indecisiveness by our former #1 overall draft pick, Jamies ‘Wins-a-few’. To quote a recently jettisoned Bucs TE, the Bucs took “a huge shit” for their second consecutive primetime appearance.
The Broncos game the following Sunday was more of the same. Primetime. Injuries. An inability to kick a fucking PAT. Shit being flung in all directions (some guy a few rows behind me actually got ejected from the stadium for throwing a NERF football onto the field – and that may have been the most exciting thing to happen at RayJay all evening). Everything you would expect from a Bucs game since the firing of Jon Gruden. But this time our beloved Bucs highlighted the contest by showcasing their inability to to get to the opposing QB. Paxton Lynch, a ROOKIE QB who was fresh off the bench, came in for the relief of Trevor Siemien and absolutely dismantled the Bucs during the second half of the game. The Bucs were straight up punched in the mouth this time, and they handled it like a bunch of wusses. I lost count of how many times I would look up just to see another player in a Bucs uniform flailing around on the ground. Which reminds me, I forgot to mention that Gerald McCoy and Clinton McDonald went down with injuries at the end of this contest. Shocking, isn’t it? (Hey Jason: I hear the Panthers are likely to lose Kawann Short to FA this year, you better get on it.)
Alas, MNF was finally here. This was the time most Bucs fans had been waiting for since the release of the 2016 schedule. An opportunity to kick Cam Newton square in the ass and send those obnoxious Panther’s fans back into the SB ring-less hole they crawled out of. (For personal reasons, which I do not care to get into right now, this game meant more than it usually does. Much, much more. Before the game, I prayed that the Bucs would shut down any playoff hopes for a select few Panther’s fans who completely lack any hint of human decency.) Newton ended up on the inactive list for the week, as he suffered from a concussion from previous game (poor baby, maybe he should go cry to Roger Goodell about it, oh wait, he just did) so Bucs fans only got to see one of those things happen on Monday. The game might have been ‘a poor matchup’ for TV ratings, but as a Bucs fan, this victory was a thing of beauty. Everything seemed to go our way when the game was on the line. Our high-priced FA CB came from behind to make a diving shoe-string tackle that would stop the Panthers on their 1-yard line. Grimes then proceeded to pick off Derek Anderson (who has proven to be a Buc-killer over the years) on a pass intended for Greg Olsen (who had been having his way with the Bucs pass D until that point). That interception would set up a winning FG by none other than Roberto Aguayo (I still can’t believe he made that). Perhaps this was the game where our fortunes would turn. The game that we would all look back on as a turning point of the season.
Next up were the 49ers. An embarrassment of a team, led by an embarrassment of a HC, who chose to start an embarrassment of a human at QB for the second week in a row. But this thread isn’t about politics, its about football. And our football team got gut-punched again as The Kneeler led his team to two quick scores. As you might imagine, with the Bucs being down 14-0 to the 49ers, obscenities were being yelled and things were on the verge of being thrown at the TV. But the Bucs were able to respond this time, as the Winston-Evans connection went into full swing. Rodgers (a guy who we signed off the street), put together his second consecutive game of 100+ rushing yards. The defense stepped up when it counted for the second week in a row. Bucs win two in a row, baby!
Da Raaaaaidaaaas! were slated to come to Tampa in less than a week and Dirk Koetter thought he had done enough as our HC to call out our long-time suffering fan base. ‘No black shirts in the lower bowl’ he says. ‘We need more Bucs jerseys down there’ he says. Well WE-WANT-MORE-FUCKING-WINS, DIRK! With a chance to recapture the hearts and minds of several thousands of fans, Dirk Koetter & Co. took another “huge shit”, right in our own home no-less. In fact, we seem to have grown accustomed to shitting in our own bed. I mean how in the world do you let a team who sets the ALL-TIME-RECORD in penalties beat you? That really sucks. We had a chance to cement our status as a team to be taken seriously and we just blew it. Hell, the game was served up to us on a silver platter several times over and we kept on sending it back to the kitchen. Its like we are allergic to winning at home. Instead of sneezing though, we shit. We take “a huge shit” every time we are about to win. This is especially true at home. Over the last 20 home games the Bucs are 3-17. Take a moment and just think about how awful that is…. You see, this game was the epitome of why Raymond James Stadium is now referred to as ‘The Den of Depression’. And oh yea, to whoever keeps subjecting us fans to watch our favorite team wear those hideous white uniforms: take your “heat advantage” theory and shove it up your ass. The Raiders wore BLACK. The Bucs wore WHITE. The game went to OVERTIME. But who was left gassed to the point which they couldn’t even stay on the field for more than 3 plays at a time. Which team was so fucking tired, that they tackled THEIR OWN player, instead of the other team’s player (Seth Roberts … wait, who?), to allow the game-winning TD? Maybe its time to rethink your whole “heat advantage” concept and let the fans, who spend their hard-earned money, at least see your garbage ass product in a less-awful-version of your uniform. BARF!
Now for the main course: the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back (in terms of playoff hopes) in the eyes of this fan. Every year we clamor for a nationally televised game, and it is always a joy to see one on the schedule. But nothing hurt’s our Buccaneer souls more than being embarrassed by a division rival on national TV. And that is just what happened on Thursday night. And don’t bother blaming the fans, Dirk, because we not only showed up for the Oakland home game, but we were dumb enough to bang our heads against the cement wall that is your ineptitude for a second straight game.
Why is it that you refuse to put the game in the hands of your #1 overall draft pick week, after week, after week? I respect a good ground game, but when do you realize that you do not have the TALENT or DEPTH at running back to be a run-heavy team who just runs it up the gut every other play? If it is so obvious to the fans who watch your team for a couple hours a week why is it not obvious to YOU? I mean, good god. Isn’t that your JOB? To sit down and pour over game film day after day, week after week? Rodgers and Martin are special players. But without them, you have no ground game. Just face it. You were part of the staff who spent the #1 overall pick on Jameis, so just let him loose. I mean, what do you have to lose? The football game? Don’t make me laugh, Dirk. I’ve never seen a scared coach win a damn thing. And you sir, are a scared fucking coach. You have been that way since you got your ass handed to you in Arizona and it is oh so painfully obvious to the fans. I can only imagine how opposing teams must salivate when they game plan for you. You are so fucking scared, in fact, that you won’t even go for it on 4th & short with less than seven minutes left to go in the game even though you are down by more than two scores (Broncos game). And THAT is the kind of shit that just drives me to the point where I question whether I should renew my season tickets for next season…. the refusal to acknowledge that you do not, in anyway, have a superior team. Here’s another scenario that we paid hard-earned money to witness, Dirk. Ayers sacks Carr to force a 4th and long with over 1:50 to go in the second quarter of the Oakland game. What do you do? Let the clock run down to about a minute instead of calling a time out. Virtually the whole stadium was YELLING at you to call a time out, but what do you do? Sit there with your thumb up your ass, then proceed to run Antione Smith up the fucking gut. AHHHHHH!!! REHASHING THIS SHIT AGGRIVATES THE FUCK OUT OF ME!!!! But I do it with the hopes that someone within the organization reads this (my season ticket rep certainly isn’t trained to do anything other than give standard HR/PC responses… AND THIS I KNOW TO BE A MATTER OF FACT) , since I know you can’t be spending that much time looking at game film….. because it certainly doesn’t seem that way to anyone not named Ray Charles.
I’ve been a fan my whole life and have been attending games since ’09. I have been a season ticket holder since 2010. Look me up. Section 122, Row E, Seat 21. As you can imagine, I have seen some downright awful football during my 6+ years of coming out to these games, but this organization has driven me to the point where I have posted my tickets to the next few home games for re-sale. I mean, why should I pay full price to see a half-ass effort? I might as well cash in with all the Bears and Seahawks fans who want to come see their team come kick our team’s ass… which they WILL see. In fact, I am seriously contemplating giving up my season tickets (2017 and beyond) all together. I have other shit I could be spending my time/money on other than coming to the ‘Den of Depression’ week after week. My fiancée enjoys travel. I enjoy expensive things. The Lightning have a product that is actually WORTH watching. Why waste my money on a pile of hype and QUIT?
What would change my mind? Well for one, WINNING and winning consistently AT HOME. But since we all know that isn’t happening anytime this season…. How about some addressing some actual needs during the offseason. And I get that you can’t fill every need in one off season, but I have been told that we are rebuilding for over SEVEN FUCKING YEARS now! Enough is enough! How you can refuse to blatantly ignore obvious needs (WR/DT/S) year in and year out and expect to be a relevant team is simply astounding. And don’t tell me that signing Chris Conte was addressing a fucking need when there were several pro-bowl caliber safeties on the FA market when you signed him. Don’t tell me that you couldn’t have signed anybody THIS offseason to upgrade the position. That is complete and utter horse shit and only one of several examples.
I am so consistently fucking pissed/mad/aggravated from following this team it has become a detriment to my health…. literally. I am taking a vacation from this team for at least a week. I’ll watch the game on TV next week and will root for us, but I need to be a little less obsessive about it all. Apathy is a good word to describe what I need. Good day to all you posters out there and good luck next week, especially those of you who spend your hard earned money going to these awful, awful fucking games.
