Sit down before you read this, I cannot be held responsible for your reaction. You may not agree with this, I’m not sure I’m in agreement myself, but prepare yourself for absolutely nothing to happen in two weeks when Black Monday happens.
For those of you unaware of the nomenclature, Black Monday is the day after the last regular season Sunday in the NFL when a number of NFL Coaches will be fired. Don’t expect to hear Greg Schiano’s name, the Glazers are going to stay the course and give Schiano one more year to prove himself.
I won't sit here and try to tell you it’s the right choice, because like I said, I cant promise you I know if it is or not. But the Glazers do not make rash decisions, and I believe they are saying the following to themselves; Josh Freeman had an impact on this disaster. MRSA had a small impact too. The Bucs players did not quit on Schiano, they have instead supported and fought for him. Since falling apart, the Bucs seem to be overall headed in the right direction.
Notice on that last one, I did not say they are where they want to be, because they are not even close. And yes, they have done well against the weakest teams of the NFL. Well keep in mind, if you want Schiano gone ASAP, you consider the Bucs one of the weakest teams too. If they are beating up on the lesser teams, then logically the Bucs aren’t as bad as that.
They are clearly not where they need to be, and some changes need to happen in the offseason. Expect one if not both Coordinators to be replaced. Schiano wanted assistant coach McNulty to be the offensive coordinator to begin with, and Sullivan may pay the price for the offensive woefulness. The Bucs have hard decisions to make on the offensive line, deciding what to do with what was supposed to be a dominating group that instead has been a pile of excuses and explanations.
The Defense seems to be headed in the right direction, but are they really? Or are they just so talented that they have reached the ceiling they are capable of? Of course nowhere like quarterback will the Bucs be working overtime starting in two weeks to figure out what to do to. Is Mike Glennon capable of starting in the NFL? Is he being held back by a lack of talent in front of him and at the key positions? Are coaches holding him back, or players not named Jackson doing that?
The Glazers will also look at the other side of the coin. A wholesale change would probably sell more tickets, but there was a jump once the Bucs started winning a few in a row, and even still, the economy turning around slowly but surely is bringing more people. You can expect most games to sell out next year no matter who is coaching. But if a new coach is brought it, the owners know that means a replay of what just happened only two short years ago. Wholesale changes at every coaching position, which means changes of personnel too. The Bucs have only 3 defensive starters left on the team that Raheem Morris coached only two years ago. That’s it….3 players; Gerald McCoy, Adrian Clayborn and Mason Foster. You can bet a new coaching regime will mean another round of wholesale changes at all the positions.
The one thing that has me thinking along the same lines is the change that resulted from the 49ers loss. The Bucs were beaten pretty soundly by the 49ers yet still were in the game in the 4th quarter. You cant knock the trick play on the kickoff return, 50% of coaches would have gone for something like that. It wasn’t executed properly. A lot of plays are not executed properly on both sides of the ball. Lets let Bucs management bring in some new players to make the difference in the guys who disappointed the coach this year. You cannot discount the player personnel decisions made in the last two years under Schiano and Dominik. No reason to believe that will stop getting the same results.
It’s out of our hands, and I’m open to change if that’s what the Glazers feel is the best option, but based on everything I’ve seen, I expect the Glazers to be looking at these last two games, and baring any change in players/coaching performance, expect to be getting ready for football in 2014 with Greg Schiano going into an automatic Hot Seat year, and we’ll be ready to pounce or reward the first few games accordingly
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