This is not a call for Dirk Koetter to be fired.
This is merely a warning.
Following a 38-33 defeat in the desert in Arizona, the Bucs are now 2-3 on the season and coming off brutal back-to-back losses.
If things don’t improve – and improve quickly – the narrative in Tampa Bay will soon become “Fire Koetter.”
That’s a campaign I do not want to be leading the charge of.
Tampa Bay should have beaten New England on Thursday Night Football in a 19-14 loss, but started slow offensively, and some questionable play-calling and clock management proved to be costly – in addition to Nick Folk’s three missed field goals. Then after having 10 days – TEN DAYS – to prepare for the Cardinals, the Bucs looked completely unprepared and out-coached as they trailed 24-0 at halftime.
“It’s disappointing and it’s embarrassing and it starts with me,” Koetter said.
Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter – Photo by: Getty Images
Once again, some very questionable decisions by Koetter, such as not going for a field goal before halftime and opting for ill-advised two-point conversions instead of extra point kicks proved to be costly for the Bucs. Instead of being down a touchdown after Lavonte David’s forced fumble and fumble recovery for a score in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay trailed by 11 points.
Instead of having the score tied at 38-38 with just over two minutes remaining, the Bucs trailed by five points. Koetter was chasing points the entire second half, and he’s done that too much in his year and a half on the job in Tampa Bay.
Would a field goal and those extra points have mattered in the long run the way the Bucs came out and trailed 31-0 early in the third quarter? Sure looked like it, but Koetter didn’t seem to think so.
Photo Courtesy Of Getty Images