Winston Knows Importance of Continuity

The quickest way to deter a young Quarterbacks growth is by changing coaches and playbooks left and right, no allowing for him to get comfortable. Jameis spoke to the media today about how he was down about the Lovie firing at first, via Rick Stroud of Tampa Tribune.

"I'm excited that Coach Koetter is here," Winston said. "I was kind of down in the dumps because I was like what quarterback has been successful after they've lost their offensive coordinator, quarterback coach and head coach in the same year? I was just like, 'We're going through the whole process again.' "

Jameis is knowledgeable enough to know the importance of consistency, the proper way to groom a young QB and which was the biggest reason we here at Real Bucs Talk wanted Koetter back as head coach of the Buccaneers. Learning multiple playbook's every year slows the learning curve of potentially good young QBs and the Bucs management noticed that. Jameis went on to say how Glennon made a good point that made him appreciate Koetter staying even more.

"Mike Glennon made me realize it even more when he said, 'Bro, this is the first time in my NFL career that I have the same offensive playbook,' " Winston said. ''And I said that's important, from a chemistry standpoint, from a learning standpoint, so we can build off last year."

Think about the ability to master your craft and fix the mistakes you made from the year before from the same offense, instead of having to learn a whole new offense and create a bunch of other mistakes that you didn't know you could make. Keeping Koetter was the right decision and it speaks volumes when players like Winston and Glennon make it known. The franchise is centered around helping Winston succeed and they are making all the right decisions.

Back End Help

It's still early in the process to be guessing what players teams will be drafting but its still fun to see what people think the Bucs will do. One interesting mock draft was on NFL.com where Daniel Jeremiah, a past college scout for multiple NFL teams gave his two cents on the Bucs selection. He decided on Vernon Hargreaves CB out of Florida and here's his reasoning.

The Bucs need to add a playmaker to the back end, and Hargreaves has very good ball skills.

 Its true the Bucs do need a playmaker in the back end of the defense as the team only had 11 interceptions last year and 5 of those were from Lavonte David (3) and Kwon Alexander (2). Half the time the secondary looked lost last year, along with no consistency of keeping the same guys out there. Yes, the defense was a complete mess. Now was that due to no playmakers in the back end or players not being utilized correctly? On many accounts last season players would argue at each other due to not knowing where they were supposed to be. If Mike Smith has his way, he will study up on the secondary that he currently has and learn to use them the right way as he stated during his introductory press conference.

Put your players in the best position you possibly can

Put them in a spot they can be successful and be the best versions of themselves

 Obviously these guys didn't understand the zone schemes Lovie installed and couldn't execute them on the field. Lets see if Smith can find ways to simplify the defense to the strengths of his players. There is talent on this team with Alterraun Verner who was a pro bowler in 2013 and Jonathan Banks who has shown flashes in the past. Use what you have on the roster first as there is more talent in the back end than in the front line where Gerald McCoy is by his lonesome. The kicker here is Jeremiah had Noah Spence going one spot behind the Bucs, to the Giants at pick 10. To me pass rusher is the biggest weakness on this team and I'm sure Jason Licht knows that as well and will be searching high and low to fix it.

Team Under Control

Looking back at the 2015 season every game was filled with penalties and flags all over the field. A majority of them were from being an undisciplined team. Some of that could have contributed to being one of the youngest teams in the NFL but most of it is purely unacceptable. The Bucs have not been a smart team over the past two years as they have been one of the most penalized teams during that two year span. 143 penalties in a season should just not happen and it leads to losing football which is why Lovie Smith is gone. This is one of the big reasons why Lovie got fired, in that he kept saying the team is going to cut down on the penalties, but they just continued every week. Here is a quote from Lovie after the loss against the Giants in which the Bucs were called for neutral zone infractions three times:per tbo.com

“It’s just like everything else,’’ Smith said. “We have techniques we’re not doing correctly. So, you keep working on them in practice and in games and you keep taking different measures, different steps, which we’ll do.

“Some things are hard. But (being penalized) before the snap and after the whistle is blown, that shouldn’t cause us to lose any football games. So we’ll keep working on it just like we do everything else.’’

So basically Lovie said being offsides doesn't cause the team to lose games which might be true, but it still has an impact on the game and affects momentum. The main point is that Lovie was too lenient when it came to penalties and the players were obviously not listening to the coaching so the same crap would just continue to happen every week. To be honest, I think Lovie lost this team after the Redskins loss in which they had 16 flags and blew a 24 to 7 lead, which just cant happen.

I know for a fact new head coach Dirk Koetter wont put up with stupid flags, and neither will defensive coordinator Mike Smith. This team must play with more control and discipline if it wants to be a consistent winning team. This team needs to stop the excuses and go play football. This has been an issue for this team, lets hope coach Koetter has the solution because it needs to stop now. Lets not see this again in 2016,(click on his name) Mike Evans

Bruce Carter To Be Cut?

Last year Lovie Smith and the Buccaneers tried to get a quick fix linebacker to fill in the holes of his cover 2 defense by signing Bruce Carter to a 4 year 17 million dollar contract. That was with the hope he could slide over to middle linebacker and be the starter, since he already has experience in a cover 2 scheme. Well no one saw 4th round pick Kwon Alexander beating him out in training camp and taking over the starting middle linebacker position for himself. Carter totaled 47 tackles and 2 sacks in 14 games while starting in 3 due to Kwon's suspension.

Now the Bucs are stuck with quite a hefty contract sitting the majority of plays out. What are they to do? One option could be to see if he will take a pay cut but which is highly unlikely considering he's 27 and would want to get the most he can while he's young. Another option is to cut him and make more cap space for spending this offseason. The last option is to keep him and have him serve as a quality linebacker for depth.

Question is what do Licht and the Bucs decide to do? As for me I would keep him given that the Bucs have plenty of cap space (51 million) and could use as much quality options and athletes on a defense that is purely lacking it. Until there is a problem with cap space don't make such cuts that will cost us talent.