State Of The Bucs 1-3

    
Realbucstalk has added to their team, here is an article written by our newest member Douglas O'Connor,  you can follow him on twitter as well: @Ren_Daxt

The pieces are in place for the Buccaneers to become a perennial playoff team.  Though young the Bucs have top tier NFL talent throughout their organization. General Manager, Jason Licht, who understands player contracts and how to work the draft. Experienced coordinators on both sides of the ball and Pro Bowlers dot the roster at key positions. Then why is Tampa Bay 1-3 and in danger of falling 3 games out of first place just after passing the quarter pole of the season? There are many reasons for the disappointing start but all can fall under the umbrella of growing pains. 

     I will start at the top. Jason Licht has proven to understand the draft process and find ways to get the players he covets. His free agent acquisitions however have largely been busts his first two years. This off seasons signings is a mixed bag, mostly to to injuries but all in all his best group yet. Buc fans hope Jason has figured out the difference between contract year performers and solid contributors.  

     Coaches: One of Head Coach Dirk Koetter's biggest worries about becoming the big man on campus was his ability to manage the clock late in games. So much so he assigned Assistant Wide Receivers Coach Andrew Weidinger as a Game Management Coach to help him in such occasions. Fast forward to week 3 against the Rams. The Bucs were driving for the winning touchdown with under 2 minutes to go when coach Koetter didn't call a time out hoping to catch a tired Rams with a winning TD pass. Weidinger was telling Koetter to call a time out but he ignored the plea and took the shot into the end zone. The pass was overthrown and over 40 seconds had ticked off the clock. Fans can debate if that was the way to go or not, but the fact of the matter is that the Buccaneers ran out of time before they ran out of downs and lost the game.

     Offense: This analysis, as it always will, begins and ends with number 3 Jameis Winston. Having a young quarterback lead your team and the phrase, growing pains, being thrown around is about as common as Doug Martins name showing up on the injury report. I can't tell fans anything about Jameis that they don't already know but here is my two cents anyway. Jameis is putting his football team in bad situations by making bad decisions with the football. There is no 10 point play in football. Sometimes a sack is better than forcing the ball into a tight window. Going 3 and out and punting isn't the end of the world. Take what the defense gives you and move the chains. All fans love his competitive nature but when two defensive linemen are hanging off of you, it's time to take the sack and get'em on the next play.

     Defense: Not surprisingly the defense is going through the biggest pains. Having to learn a new scheme and language is no small task, but NFL teams do it every year and aren't last in the league in points given up. Which the Bucs are. Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith has stated that it takes four weeks to learn his defense, react on the field instead of thinking. He has also talked about how Chris Conte and Bradley McDougald, the Bucs starting safeties that have been in fans cross hairs, are communicating much better. Well coach it's week 5, time to show how much the guys on your side of the ball have grown in your system.

     Special Teams: To be perfectly honest I really don't even want to do this one. Did you hear that the Buccaneers traded up back into the second round and selected a kicker and said kicker is struggling on his extra points as well as field goal attempts? Yay, so did everyone else in the NFL fandom kingdom. Look Roberto Aguayo is going to be the Bucs kicker this year and next year no matter what happens. It is what it is and I totally understand the frustration. When points are at stake almost every time you touch the ball going through growing pains can be soul crushing for the invested fan. Bright side, the punter is really good.

Bucs Hire Game Management Coach?

When it was first reported that the Bucs were going to assign a position as a game manager, many thought it was a bad decision as that responsibility should be assigned to the head coach. Looking more into it and all the responsibilities Dirk Koetter already has, it makes sense. Koetter will have his hands full with overviewing the whole team as well as play calling the games, having a game manager will help Koetter out with his transition to head coach.

The man getting the position is Andrew Weidinger, who is in his 9th season in the NFL and is very familiar with both Koetter and Mike Smith as he was a part of the Falcons from 2007 to 2014. Weidinger must have built a strong trust with Koetter when he was an offensive assistant to Koetter. Delegating some responsibility is a smart move by Koetter as having too much on your plate can overwhelm you at times. Koetter explained the position in his interview with Jason Cole of Bleacher Report here.

“Because I’m going to stay as the play-caller, and there are plenty of guys in the NFL who stay as play-callers as head coaches. There are just so many situations that come up in NFL game, whether it’s clock management or just game-ending situations, to have someone that they’re fully dedicated to that preparation in leading up to the game and on game day made sense,” Koetter said. “When I was the offensive coordinator, if I was up in the box, we always had a designated coach on the field that if I said, “This situation is up” and the head coach was on the other side of the phones talking to the defensive staff, that coach on the field would go remind the head coach about this or that. There is so much pressure when that clock is ticking, you have to have somebody who is on top of that and looking ahead.”

This could be a smart move or a bad move. If communication breaks down this could result in delay of games and wrong decisions, but thats why its important that Koetter chose a man he is familiar with and has a trust in. To me this is a good move as this could be a security blanket for Koetter in knowing that he has a man that can handle those critical situations when the game is on the line. Time will tell as we won't see much from Weidinger until the season starts.