TAMPA — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith said a 1-5 start was not part of the master plan, but he doesn’t want fans to judge his team with 10 games remaining.

Smith said Monday it was ‘disheartening,’ to watch the Bucs trail the Atlanta Falcons 56-0 and the Baltimore Ravens 38-0 in a span of three weeks. But he insists while those performances didn’t show it, the Bucs are getting better and asked for more time to get it right.

The Bucs are 1-5, tied with the Washington Redskins for the worst record in the NFC, and are last in the league in scoring defense.

“I would say first off, I’m disappointed, too,” Smith said when asked to address the fans. “I agree with the numbers you threw out. That is disheartening. It’s like I would say also, it’s like when you’re in a game, you don’t crown anyone the winner of that game during the game. We’re disappointed right now, is what I would say. But let’s let it all play out. And yeah, I’ve said that before but the game isn’t over yet. That would be my statement. Give us time. We’ll continue to get guys back.”

The Bucs were missing two starters in the secondary Sunday – cornerback Johnthan Banks (neck) and safety Dashon Goldson (ankle). The Ravens exploited their absence as quarterback Joe Flacco threw five touchdown passes in the first 16 minutes, an NFL record, in a 48-17 loss.

Both Banks and Goldson are expected back following the bye week when the Bucs play host to the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 26.

“There’s a lot of football left to go,” Smith said. “If we were 6-0 right now, would you start buying your Super Bowl ticket? You have to just hold on a little bit is what I would say.

“And I don’t listen to talk radio but I don’t have to. I know what’s out there, we’re all disappointed right now. But I’m going to keep going. We’re all disappointed what? Right now. That will change.”

Smith was part of coaching staffs as an assistant in Tampa Bay in 1996 and with the Chicago Bears when he took over as head coach in 2004. As a linebackers coach on Tony Dungy’s staff in ’96, the Bucs lost their first five games and were 1-8 until winning five of their final seven games. The Bears started 1-5 in Smith’s first season as head coach and finished 5-11. The next season, the Bears went 11-5 and won the NFC North division.

“I think experience helps you a lot,” Smith said. “I have been in this situation before a few different times and I just believe in what we’re going to do. But when you start off, there’s a reason why there is something new starting off with that. You do have to crawl before you walk. We didn’t want to do it as much and part of the master plan wasn’t to be in this situation right now. But that’s normally what you do when you start something new. It’s not this ready right away. You have to build that foundation and that’s what we’re doing right now.

“I said last week we are a better football team. That game (Sunday) didn’t say that. But we’re doing some good things, some better things, behind the scenes and hopefully we’re going to put it together and we’re going to see that in the games.”