Why Marty Schottenheimer may be the best fit for the Bucs

As the Buccaneers' search for a new head coach endures on, new candidates emerge and more interviews are scheduled. This is frustrating for some, who just want them to sign someone already and a fearing that nobody wants to come to a potential suicide situation in Tampa Bay, whose players have proven that they quit on their coaches and whose owners have proven not to spend money. However, the more insensive the search, the better the end results will be, so in my opinion it's good that they are taking their time.

That said, out of all of the candidates so far, the most popular from the fans' perspective has seemed to be Marty Schottenheimer. Of course, this is possibly due to the some of the other names being completely unnattractive (who wants Brad Childress after the disaster with Favre?). Many are just old retread coaches, which usually doesn't produce good results. But Schottenheimer is a bit different.

The main things going against Marty Ball is his age (68) and his playoff record (5-13). But these things do not really concern me that much.

First of all, with that age comes a lot of experience, something that the Bucs players and coaches lacked the last few season. He's seen it all, and he would know how to properly handle the issues that could arise out of a young team, such as players quitting and legal issues.

Not only that, but pretty much all of Schottenheimer's former players have good things to say about him. He is a vastly respected coach and his players would do anything for him. He is a leader and a motivator, as well as an authority, something Raheem Morris lacked. Marty would be able to build a tough football team (both mentally and physically), and a team that was disciplined, both on and off the field. He also has a history of turning around struggling franchises, a situation the Bucs currently are in. And in addition, his experience and respect would seemingly allow him to create one of the best coaching staffs possible, as he has had a tremendous amount of insight throughout the league. Marty might be too old to do all the intricate work of a coordinator, but he could be a leader and concentrate on the basics of discipline and fundamentals.

His playoff record is pretty much irrelevant at this point. Yes, he has only 5 playoff wins (and no Super Bowl appearances) in 22 years of head coaching. But much of that is due to just pure dumb luck. And at this point, the Bucs aren't near the playoffs yet. They have 17 wins in three years. What they need now is someone to right the proverbial ship, in this case a pirate ship, and help develop these young players for the future. Even if Marty only coaches for a few years before retirement, he can help to build the foundation of this planned dynasty that hopefully comes out of this mess.

Who the Bucs should target in the 2012 NFL Draft

It's no secret that the 2011 Tampa Bay Buccaneers were really, really, really bad. And as a fan, it sucks to watch (or listen to, as was the case for about half of the season) a really bad team. In all honesty about half of the players on this team don't deserve to be in the NFL.

Luckily, going on a ten game losing streak to end the season does have its advantages. An easier schedule next year is one of them, but the most obvious one is plenty of high draft picks. Mark Dominik absolutely needs to get good production out of all of these draft picks. There are so many positions of need on the team that deciding which to target the most in the draft will be difficult.

As I see it, the greatest needs are in this order: Cornerbacks, Linebackers, Safeties, Running Backs, and Wide Receivers. Improvements are needed everywhere; the typical NFL team would fill in those improvements with free agents to compliment the draft picks, but the Bucs may just want to sign a long snapper or something and call it a day.

Anyway, here are a few players that I think could help the Bucs out in the draft. Most are first round possibilities, but a few others are expected to linger in the 2^nd and 3^rd. And I apologize that the majority of these players are from the SEC, but hey, they have won 6 straight national titles and have the two top defenses this year.

Cornerbacks

Morris Claiborne, CB, LSU

Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama

Janoris Jenkins, CB, North Alabama

Brandon Boykin, CB, Georgia

Linebackers

Luke Kuechly, ILB, Boston College

Courtney Upshaw, OLB, Alabama

Safeties

Mark Barron, SS, Alabama 2

Running Backs

Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama

LaMichael James, RB, Oregon 3

Wide Receivers

Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State

Alshon Jeffery, WR, South Carolina

The way I see it, the Bucs should draft Claiborne with the 5^th overall pick, Barron in the 2^nd round, and James in the 3^rd.

Rays sign Luke Scott; 2012 roster falling into place

The Rays have signed former Oriole Luke Scott to a one-year deal plus a team option in 2012. Scott will earn $5 million in '12 and $6 million in '13, or get $1 million as part of an option buyout.

I think this is a great move by the Rays. Scott has seemed destined to become a Ray for a few years now, as his name has usually come up as that extra bat at the trade deadline that the Rays have never traded for. Andrew Friedman finally picked him up in free agency this year.

Scott is fairly versatile, having experience in the OF and, most importantly, DH and 1B. He hits for a decent average and has some good pop, and will slide nicely into the middle of the Rays' lineup. This signing, however, does spell an end to the Johnny Damon era in Tampa Bay. Although Damon's numbers have been declining, he was still productive and was a fantastic presence in the club house. I wish him good luck in his future, and perhaps one day he can return; Joe Maddon always likes to utilize that "Quality Control coach".

There are two major concerns with Scott. The first is that he has sparked a fair amount of controversey over his political and religious views; he has been accused of being racist and got into a type of religious debate with Matt Garza through the media a few years ago. That said, all indications are that Scott is a great teammate and that he's not some kind of locker room cancer. The other bigger concern, however, is that Scott had shoulder surgery last season, cutting his season short. We have seen hoe shoulder injuries have affected BJ Upton, but hopefully Scott will be all healed up. Friedman has signed players coming off of injuries before, and most of the time it has worked out.

With the DH hole in the lineup filled, the Rays 2012 roster is falling into place. The only real issue is at 1B, where possibilties include bringing Casey Kotchman or Carlos Pena back or filling the hole in-house, perhaps with Ben Zobrist or converting Matt Joyce. Besides that, the other things to watch for are shortstop (it looks like they'll stick with Brignac and Rodriguez) and the starting pitching situation, as it still makes sense to either trade Wade Davis or Jeff Neimann.

Bolts rally, fall in shootout

The Lightning lost to the Vancouver Canucks, 5-4 in a shootout.

Lots to talk about in this game. Tonight had pretty much every part of the up-and-down season for the Bolts. There was bad defense, bad goaltending, bad power play, good Steven Stamkos, the ability to fight back late in games, a good third period at home, and failure in the shootout.

Once again, it seemed like every time the Lightning scored to narrow the gap, the Canucks would come back and score their own goal. Heck, the Lightning scored with about 35 seconds left in the second period, and the Canucks scored with 1 second left. However, the Lightning were able to pick up two goals in the third to tie it up, the tying goal coming from Ryan Malone, who knocked the puck in with his skate and the goal somehow stood. Should it have been overturned? No; there was no obvious kicking motion. But I think everyone in Tampa Bay was expecting the reviewers in Toronto, generally not Florida-friendly, to call it a no-goal, especially against a Canadian team. Luckily, the goal stood, and the Bolts picked up a point.

Both teams had some good opportunities in OT, but the game went to a shootout, where the Canucks won 1-0. Roloson was beat on a tough spin-o-rama, and Malone, Dominic Moore, and Stamkos were stonewalled in their attempts. I have no idea why our shooters continue to either shoot to the glove side or to get in too close before attempting to go top shelf; shootouts have been a problem for a few years now, you think they'd be working on it more.

It was good to get a point in a game that seemed lost, but it's tough to get excited about this inconsistent team right now.

Hockey gods frown upon Tampa Bay

The Lightning lost to the Ottawa Senators, 4-1.

The Bolts may have lost, but they outplayed the Sens for practically the whole game. They did a great job of staying in the offensive zone and kept pressure on. They accumulated a bunch of shots on goal, but only one shot from Steven Stamkos was able to find the back of the net.

The Lightning have been statistically one of the unluckiest teams in the NHL this year, and the trend was in full force tonight. They had so many great chances, but nothing went in. And of the three goals Dwayne Roloson allowed, he only had a good shot at one of them. For Tampa Bay's sake, the second half of the season better have some more positive luck.

Bucs drop the hammer

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired their entire coaching staff. Raheem Morris, Greg Olsen, everyone. Every last coach and coordinator has been relieved of their duties.

GM Mark Dominik will remain with the team, for now.

While this news isn't surprising, and it's probably what needed to happen, it's still shocking to see that an entire coaching staff has been fired. Now, the search begins...

This is the first step in the Bucs cleaning house from this awful season. Later I will go through the roster and determine who actually deserves to be a Buccaneer next year.

Celebrate!

The Buccaneers lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 45-24.

The Bucs season is finally over!

It's been a while since a recap of a Bucs game has been posted, with good reason. Today's game versus the Atlanta Falcons marked the tenth straight loss for Tampa Bay and the fith straight blowout loss. The Falcons are a great team, but giving up 42 points before halftime is terrible. Most of their losses have been because of the same issues week in and week out.

It is almost inevitible that many people will lose their jobs with the Bucs in the coming days. Coaches, players, maybe even front office workers. Raheem and Olsen may have coached their last day with the Pewter & Red, and Ronde Barber may retire. And I'm guessing/hoping that many other players will not return next season (more on that in an upcoming post).

By finishing with a 4-12 record, the Bucs will likely get a top-5 draft pick, so there's a bright side. And despite the frustrations, there is a lot of young (and mostly undeveloped) talent on this team. But I think all Buccaneer fans are glad to have this horrific season end; it's almost worth celebrating. So, if you have any left over fireworks....