Ok, so Jeff Jagodzinski was fired today a mere 7 days before the NFL kicks off its regular season. In a move that came out of nowhere and shocked everyone, the Bucs dumped their offensive coordinator before he called a single play in a meaningful game. What is going on down there?Rumors floated that Jagz wasn’t happy with Leftwich getting the starting QB job, but that wasn’t the case. The following two quotes from Raheem Morris are pretty telling:
(from PewterReport.com)
“(Be specific as you can in terms of what was missing from Jagodzinski. Was he not well versed as an offensive coordinator or playcaller, or both?)
"I have a lot of respect for Coach Jagodzinski. But we're at the point now where we need to be more precise and more detailed. We need to have more direction in terms of where we're going to go. I just didn't have it right now, for whatever reason. That's about as detailed as I can get."
Was Jagodzinski given the opportunity to change or tweak something?
"No, there never was a, ‘You're not going in the right direction' moment. I don't want to take away from Jeff Jagodzinski's credit. He did come in here and put in the offense. He did have some success. We did get some things rolling. That was where we needed to go. Now it is where are we going now? What's next? Who is going to do it? We are in constant communication as a staff, so we all know what is going on and are accountable to each other."
Ok, so apparently this wasn’t an overnight decision, and Jagz wasn’t inspiring a lot of confidence in his fellow coaches. Continue on with Pat Yasinskas:
“After all, couldn’t the Jagodzinski debacle been avoided with a little homework? Sure, Jagodzinski had been the head coach at Boston College. But he also had a reputation around the NFL of perhaps being a guy who was more style than substance, more name than proven commodity. Quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, who now takes over as offensive coordinator, didn’t even get an interview for the coordinator job when it first was open and he probably has a better reputation around the league than Jagodzinski.
Surely, the Bucs talked to some people around the league before making the Jagodzinski hire?
You would hope, but this isn’t the first time moves by Morris and Dominik have raised eyebrows around the league. In fact, they’re building quite a list of moves that can be questioned.”
That’s an understatement. Whether it’s trading up to draft Josh Freeman, or not signing an inexpensive corner like Bryant McFadden or Leigh Bodden in free agency, or guaranteeing Michael Clayton $10.5 million, or waiting until the 7th round of the draft to properly address the WR position, or trading for and extending hobbled Kellen Winslow, or not extending defensive leader Barrett Ruud, or botching Cutler and Cassel trade attempts you’re left scratching your head after nearly every significant decision this Morris and Dominik regime has made. Everyone may not have liked Gruden and Allen, but you could at least understand most of their logic. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, they go and fire their offensive coordinator a week before he’s supposed to be directing this offense.
You know, if Jeff Jagodzinski isn’t qualified to call or even script plays for an NFL offense, then maybe he’s not the right man for the job, but to throw another question out there, why the hell did it take them until September 3 to figure this out?
Congratulations Coach Jagz. Not many guys can claim that they’ve been fired twice during one offseason. Buckle your seatbelts Bucs fans. That 3-13 I projected might be a reach at this point.
'Rumors floated that Jagz wasn’t happy with Leftwich getting the starting QB job, but that wasn’t the case.'
ReplyDeleteNonsense. Sorry, but I think it was the case and it was/is the primary reason Jags was fired. I generally employ Occam's razor, and Mr. Occam in this case says when you have an obvious reason amongst many staring you in the face, the other ones are less likely to be important(admittedly they could possess merit and might have been contributing factors).
It will all out eventually and I predict I will be hailed as a 21st century Nostradamus sans the inscrutible quatrains.
Do you go back far enough to remember when Mr. Culverhouse called Ray Perkins 'my Vince Lombardi'? Raheem Morris is going to be the Glazers Richard Williamson.
TPE
Jagz wasn't even aware he was going to get fired, IMO. Tim Marcum (former Tampa Bay Storm Head Coach) was sitting behind Jagz in the booth during the Miami game. I didn't know why Marcum was there at the time, but he was probably brought in by the Bucs to watch Jagz operate. He obviously wasn't impressed...
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting that Olson was on the sidelines (and not in the booth) for Friday night's game. Is Logan still doing the playcalling?
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard anything about that, but maybe it was a combo deal; a transition to Olson. My guess is that Olson was on the field because he wanted to be in constant contact with his QBs.
ReplyDelete