Tampa Sports Media: Screaming For Vengeance in 2009, Part 1

Former General Manager Bruce Allen did not get along with everyone in the Tampa Sports Media.  It appears current General Manager Mark Dominik is paying the price.

Part 1:  Kickers are too valuable to cut?

One sad but humorous aspect of the reporting on the Buccaneers this year has been the fascination with kickers.

Let me recap:  General Manager Mark Dominik brought in Mike Nugent to compete with incumbent Matt Bryant during the preseason.  This is consistent with the message Dominik and Head Coach Raheem Morris have been dishing out since they were appointed:  there will be competition every year for every position on the team.  Unexpectedly, Matt Bryant hurt his hamstring during the first week of the preseason which should have been a feather in first year GM Mark Dominik's cap.  Certainly a job well done for being prepared for unforseen circumstances, right?

Oh, no.  None of that for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Later in the preseason (while still injured) Bryant showed he was not up to the challenge of the every-sport-is-50%-mental aspect of the game with a radio rant.  Unable to kick for the entire preseason, Bryant was cut in favor of Nugent.  So the new GM got it right -- kudos to him, right?

Oh, no.  Certainly not for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Unexpectedly, some sports media reported this as blasphemy instead of a kick-save by the Buccaneers GM (pun intended).  Some reported with glee when Bryant was lined up by the NY Giants for a tryout but then mysteriously (not!) dropped the storyline when he didn't get signed. 

Back in the real world Nugent got off to a horrible start and was released in favor of Shane Andrus.

Andrus was inconsistant in practice and missed his only field goal attempt during game action, so he also was released.

Since then, the Buccaneers have had the services of Connor Barth.

So I ask, what should the General Manager have done?  Kept two kickers on the roster, preventing some wiggle room for getting waiver wire pickups in addition to double-kicker-salary?  Kept Nugent and let him kick his way out of the slump?  Keep Andrus and give up field position on every kick?  Bring back Matt Bryant who couldn't handle competition, wasn't good enough for the Giants, and could only find work in the UFL?

Wouldn't the correct move be to do everything possible to correct this issue this year?  And that is exactly what Dominik has been trying to do.  It's exactly the philosophy which has been utilized since Dominik reached the GM chair -- fix the problem and move on.  Barth may not be the final answer and he can certainly expect an open competition during the 2010 offseason.  Just like every other player on the team.

Against this backdrop begins the odd, strange comedy (folly?) driven by some in the Tampa sports media:
--  The first chuckle comes from the conspiracy theory about how the radio show comments really matter.  Really??  Some athletes get in trouble, serious trouble, and the team works it out.  Why would a radio show matter since it's just an entertainment medium in the first place?
--  The second chuckle comes from how some in the Tampa area sports media believe the money given up for Nugent was a mistake ($2 million), yet none of them predicted his poor performance.  It also appears several are willing to publicly demonstrate that they have no idea how NFL teams work.  There are many cases of players who are signed and cut in the same season and leave "dead salary cap" behind.  One instance is Joey Galloway ($1.7 million) and the New England Patriots.  Another is Jason Elam ($3.3 million guaranteed) and the Atlanta Falcons.   This seems to be a surprise to them when in reality this is business as usual.  So why the negative press?
--  The final chuckle comes from those who on one hand complain because the Buccaneers have cap room and on the other hand (same person in at least one case) complain because the Buccaneers used thier cap space to try to solidify the kicking game.  Maybe they don't realize that two million is less than 1.6% of this year's cap? I would think that people who are paid to understand the NFL would understand this common, league-wide situation, but it seems I am asking too much? 

And now the puchline:  in late November, the 2008 NFC Super Bowl representative Arizona Cardinals held kicker tryouts . . . (c'mon, click the link for full effect!)

(Note that neither got the job -- wow the Buccaneers did know what they were doing -- now why wouldn't something like that be reported in Tampa after all that early season drama?)

To top it all off Atlanta signed Matt Bryant just after the Buccaneers played at Atlanta.  That will add some extra fun to the Buccaneer's last (home) game of the season (don't boo him -- remember what happened to his family).  The media coverage around that last home game should be the final test of who in the Tampa Sports media "gets it" and who's trying to make themselves feel better.

You would think that by halfway through the season the rampage would be over, but, sadly, this article is titled "Part One".  More to come.

What Is The Game Plan?

The plan before the 2009 season was for new offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski to to install a running game using a zone blocking scheme.  This new scheme would take advantage of the young offensive line and talented running backs on the Buccaneers roster to create a powerful rushing attack.  This philosophy was detailed by Head Coach Raheem Morris during his first offseason (Apr 2, 2008):

"'When you talk about the violent football teams, the physical football teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers, you think about downhill running and people smashing,' said Morris. 'That's just what it is. When you talk about violent football teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, you talk about people smashing you and running the ball downhill. We want to become those guys.'" -- Head Coach Raheem Morris

Unfortunately, Coach Jagodzinski was released during the preseason due to prolonged attention-to-details issues which I interpret as poor performance under game time conditions (such as play calling or working with assistants to get the right personnel on the field, etc).  This interpretation of these events makes sense since game day trouble would not be detectable during a normal interview or during training camp.  Coach Jagodzinski had been a head coach at Boston College.  The focus of a head coach on game day is strategy.  A coordinator must focus on tactics.  The only other offensive coordinator duties that Jagodzinski had previously had was "passing game coordinator" at Green Bay.  As such he had never flown solo as an offensive coordinator before and therefore may have been an ineffective tactician.

But the lure of what Coach Jagodzinski brought to the interview table is obvious.  He was fresh from dealing with college players.  His program at Boston College had just graduated the (arguably) top rookie QB the year before (Atlanta's Matt Ryan).  In the context of an upcoming draft with plans to grab a young signal caller, the fit is natural and too good to pass up.  Protect that new young quarterback with a solid running game and have a proven coach in place to groom him into the passing game.

Ah, but the best laid plans . . . .

Before the 2009 season a zone-blocking run system was installed to replace the assignment blocking system of the prior coaching staff.  During the preseason players gushed about how they could tell it would work and they liked it.   Then, just before the last preseason game, Coach Jagodzinski was dismissed and Coach Greg Olson was promoted to Offensive Coordinator.

Suddenly, Tampa Bay came out throwing.  And throwing.  And the Buccaneers have rarely stopped since.  What was to be a powerful rushing offense finds itself throwing 57.5% of the time through Week 14.  In only 3 of 13 games so far in the 2009 season have the Buccaneers rushed the ball more than pass the ball.  Those run-focused games were against Washington, at Carolina, and Miami -- three of the four narrowest losses this season.  While there have been games when the run/pass count was different by less than 5 attempts (Miami, Atlanta, New England), there have been four games with 15+ more passing attempts than running attempts (Carolina, Philadelphia, NY Giants, and Buffalo).  In contrast, the widest margin for the run game so far this season has been 8 more rushes than passes (Washington, at Carolina).  The win against Green Bay was fairly balanced with only 6 more passing attempts than rushing attempts.  In raw numbers, the most rushing attempts in a single game this year has been 31 twice (Dallas, Miami) and the most passing attempts in a single game this year has been fifty (50!) twice (Buffalo, Philadelphia).

There is no discernible pattern -- the high pass attempts are not specifically in games where the Buccaneers were far behind and playing catch-up football (for example, the Buccaneers were down by only 6 points at the start of the fourth quarter at Buffalo, one of the 50 pass attempt games).  And it was not a matter of which quarterback was playing:  games with Byron Leftwich averaged 20 rushes and 39 passes, games with Josh Johnson averaged 26 rushes and 30 passes, and games with Josh Freeman have averaged 25 rushes and 33 passes (Leftwich and Johnson each had a 50 pass game, Freeman's high attempt mark was 44 in his game against Carolina).

So very clearly we see that Coach Olson is a pass-first type of offensive coordinator.  This is not entirely surprising as his background includes time at Purdue as quarterbacks coach with Joe Tiller and time in Detroit as quarterbacks coach with Steve Mariucci.  As the season has progressed the offense has lost more and more of the zone blocking schemes and returned to the rather West Coast look of the past few years (just as the defense has also returned to what has previously been utilized).

While the debate about having a rookie quarterback and using a run game to remove the game from his shoulders is valid, it is not the subject here.

The change from the Jagodinski-run system to the Olson-pass system has severe consequences for the upcoming offseason.  During the 2009 offseason, the offense was tooled to be a running football team with good, young size up front, blocking wide recievers, versatile tight ends, a fullback, and a multiheaded tailback.  Several of these facets of the offense were established in free agency last year.  By addressing these things last offseason the Buccaneers are primed to be aggressive on the defensive side of the ball this year.

However, if the Buccaneers are going to be a pass-system team then it's not so clear that the offensive side of the ball is where it needs to be.  In fact, several positions on offense may need to be addressed during the 2010 offseason (free agency and draft).  Wide receiver is underproductive for the number of pass attempts -- perhaps the Buccaneers need to give up some downfield blocking ability for speed, route precision, or hands/physical size.  Offensive linemen need to be evaluated on pass-blocking ability and changes made if needed.  You could also assert that the multiple back scheme is not necessary and replace tailbacks with more wide receivers.  Perhaps the fullback position is not necessary and can be used for a defensive player instead.

The downside of all this is that it will detract from adding more young talent to the defense which is clearly in need.

While currently there is no clear sign that the direction will be anything different from what we've already seen, three games remain in the 2009 season.  It is possible to establish an identity in these games different from the prior 14 games, though unlikely.

It will be intersting to watch how this plays out.  The issue of the Tampa Bay offensive identity will most likely be the single most important driver of the 2010 offseason.

Donald Penn: Guess Who Found Him?

Notes from the Audio Archive at Buccaneers.com reminded me of this nugget:

Guess who brought in Donald Penn?

The story is in this interview starting 8 minutes in. 

Enjoy!!