Somebody should tell the Glazer family that “Black Monday” is supposed to, you know, be on a Monday. Instead, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ownership decided to shake things up by firing head coach Lovie Smith by phone on Wednesday night. The Glazers don’t play by the Man’s rules.
Smith’s firing came out of nowhere Wednesday night. The Bucs went’ 6-10 this season with a rookie quarterback and that quarterback, Jameis Winston, improved in every single game and is a legitimate contender for rookie of the year. Tampa Bay was definitely on the upswing and was even in the playoff race this season in December. That all usually means a coach, just in his second season with a team, is safe. Not Smith. The Glazer’s didn’t even bother meeting with Smith first before calling to can him.
Smith’s tenure with the Bucs ends with an 8-24 record, which doesn’t look good, but former head coach Greg Schiano left the team in shambles and Smith was in year two of a rebuilding project that looked like it was going to pay off in year three.
“After careful consideration we informed Lovie that we have decided to make a change,” Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement. “I want to thank Lovie for his hard work and dedication to the Buccaneers during his time here.”
The Bucs players, who liked Smith, were not happy and took to Twitter to vent.
I DON'T KNOW!!
— Gerald McCoy (@Geraldini93) January 7, 2016
WOW THIS IS CRAZY
— Major Wright (@LilMade21) January 7, 2016
Well I'll be damn !!! Smh
— Akeem Spence (@AkeemSpence) January 7, 2016
No player was more publicly pissed about Smith’s firing than linebacker Levonte David. He’s since deleted his tweets, but before he came to his senses he’d tweeted things like…
“This is stupid, we can’t even have a consistent coach, 3 coaches in 5 yrs.”
“I guess yall got what you been asking for smh #bs”
And “Outside looing in, y’all wouldn’t understand how great of a coach/person he is.”
In addition to Smith, the Bucs fired most of his staff including defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, defensive backs coach Gill Byrd, safeties coach Mikal Smith and assistant Larry Marmie.
The NFL now officially has seven open coaching positions, which matches last year’s total, but is no where near an NFL high. Smith shakes up the coaching lists as he might actually be in the running for a few of these.
With Jim Caldwell still out swinging in the wind, we might not be done yet.
Manning will start for the Broncos in the Divisional Round
Brock Osweiler’s time will come, but for now the Denver Broncos are going back to the sheriff. Peyton Manning will start the divisional round playoff game for the Broncos against an opponent to be named later, but probably the Pittsburgh Steelers.
BREAKING: Peyton Manning is back.
He'll start for the @Broncos in the divisional round. pic.twitter.com/yJPUTxlodF
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 7, 2016
Head coach Gary Kubiak broke the news to Osweiler Thursday morning and since Osweiler doesn’t seem like an idiot, he probably saw it coming.
Osweiler went 4-2 as a starter for the Broncos and will certainly enter next year’s training camp as the presumptive starter if Manning retires or the team cuts ties with him. Osweiler’s performance in two games in particular, against New England and Cincinnati, were both key victories in helping the Broncos nab home field advantage in the playoffs.
Nagging injuries and a few big hits ruined Osweiler’s day last weekend against San Diego and Kubiak called on Mannning, who came off the bench to finish 5-of-9 passing for 69 yards and led four consecutive scoring drives to win the game and secure the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Payton and the Saints make up
In what seemed like a sure divorce on the horizon, the New Orleans Saints and Sean Payton have kissed and made up and maybe even snuck a little tongue in there.
"I plan on finishing my career here" – Sean Payton pic.twitter.com/XAxIPLwial
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 6, 2016
At a press conference Wednesday Payton made it clear that he was staying with the Saints.
“I know it appeared there was a looming decision, but I think this is really me saying again, ‘here I am, and nothing’s changing.,'” Payton said. “…This is where I plan on coaching. And I don’t envision myself ever coaching for another club.”
That probably puts a crimp in some other teams’ plans, who were looking to work out a trade. This might also explain why the Indianapolis Colts made peace with Chuck Pagano, as they were one of the teams inquiring about a Payton trade.
