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Bucs’ Smith plans no changes to NFL’s worst offense
TAMPA, Fla. — Head coach Lovie Smith isn’t happy about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers record.
For those who may have lost track, that would be 1-6.
“Six losses wasn’t part of the master plan coming in,” Smith said. “Me coming in front of you talking about a loss this many times wasn’t a part of it.”
Also not part of his plan: having the worst offense in the NFL.
So following a game in which the Bucs had their lowest point total of the season, Smith said Monday the Bucs are planning no significant changes to boost the league’s worst offense. No change at quarterback. No new play-caller. And “zero thought” of looking for outside help from a consultant.
Smith said that although veteran Josh McCown is healthy, Mike Glennon is not the reason for the 1-6 record and will remain under center.
“We stand exactly where we stood last week. We have two quarterbacks we feel good about playing,” Smith said. “Josh was able to go through practice last week. We start practice again Wednesday like we normally do. I never go over starting lineups or anything like that until the end of the week. If we were going to make a change, I wouldn’t talk about it an awful lot but the plan isn’t for that.
“I thought Mike did some good things yesterday. You’d always like to have a couple plays back. But the first thing I thought about as far as improving our ball club wasn’t ‘Gosh, we’ve got to make a change at quarterback.'”
Glennon, who is 1-3 as a starter since taking over from McCown, went 19 of 28 passing for 171 yards with one touchdown and one interception in Sunday’s 19-13 overtime loss to the Vikings. His 7-yard scoring pass to rookie Austin Seferian-Jenkins gave the Bucs a three-point lead with 2:02 left in the game. But Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater drove his team 61 yards for a game-tying field goal.
The Vikings won in overtime when, on the first play from scrimmage, Seferian-Jenkins caught a 10-yard pass from Glennon and was stripped of the football by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr, who returned the fumble 27-yards for a game-ending TD.
“Being able to run the ball will help our offense,” said Smith, whose team rushed for 66 yards Sunday. “The one game that we won, we had the same guy back in the pocket, for the most part, the same offensive line, and I’m going to go back: We were one play away yesterday, one defensive stop late, one interception, one play earlier, and we have a win. We’re close is what that is saying to me. To make drastic changes, we’re not.”
Running back Doug Martin has been the subject of reports involving players who could be on the block before Tuesday’s trade deadline. He is averaging 2.9 yards per carry this season.
“Doug is a part of it and we’d like to have more, but in order for Doug to get more yards, he’s got to get a lot more touches and we’ve got to convert third downs,” Smith said.
The Bucs offense may get a boost from running back Charles Sims, a third-round pick from West Virginia who was designated for return from injured reserve after a foot injury sidelined him in the preseason.
“As I talk about not being able to get more from our running game, it’s just not all on the front,” Smith said. “We say it starts up front but a lot of the big plays you see in the league in the running game is based on yards after contact, making someone miss in the open field. That’s all a part of it also.”
Smith also said he would not be bringing in outside help to assist quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo, who became the Bucs’ primary play-caller when offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford agreed to an indefinite medical leave of absence following a heart procedure in the preseason.
“Zero thought,” Smith said. “It won’t be happening with me here.”
REPORT CARD VS. VIKINGS
–PASSING OFFENSE: D — QB Mike Glennon was sacked five times and passed for a season-low 171 yards and one TD with one interception. Vincent Jackson had only one catch. Rookie Mike Evans had a nice day, but other than that, the Bucs didn’t make many plays in the pass game. Left tackle Anthony Collins had another bad day in pass protection.
–RUSHING OFFENSE: D — The Bucs can’t run the football and it doesn’t seem to matter who is carrying the football. Running back Doug Martin had 27 yards on 10 carries and Bobby Rainey had 25 yards on eight carries.
–PASS DEFENSE: D — The Bucs failed to rattle Vikings rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater, who drove his team 61 yards for the game-tying field goal. The Bucs sacked him only one time — by Gerald McCoy — and rarely got him off his spot. Coverage was too soft and cornerback Johnthan Banks dropped an interception that would have sealed the game.
–RUSH DEFENSE: C — The Vikings averaged 4.4 yards per carry. But starter Jerry McKinnon ran well, gaining 83 yards on 16 attempts for a 5.2 average. Linebacker Lavonte David had a nice game with 14 tackles, three for a loss.
–SPECIAL TEAMS: C — The Bucs did nothing on special teams. New kick returner Trindon Holliday averaged 22.5 yards on kickoffs and 8.5 on punt returns. The lone bright spot was that place-kicker Patrick Murray made both Field goal attempts.
–COACHING: D — The Bucs had the lead with two minutes to go against the Vikings, but they couldn’t close the game out on defense. It was a better overall performance than their last one against the Ravens, but that’s not saying much.
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