Simeon Rice Blasts Bucs' Leadership

All is not well in sunny tampa...

TAMPA - Bucs coach Jon Gruden said Monday he fully expects to be criticized for all that has gone wrong with the Bucs this season. What Gruden probably didn't expect was for some of the harshest criticism to come from inside his own locker room.
One day after losing for the 18th time in 30 games since helping lead Tampa Bay to its Super Bowl XXXVII title, Pro Bowl defensive end Simeon Rice said Gruden's failure to consistently prepare the team is one reason the Bucs are stumbling through a second consecutive losing season.

Rice's critique didn't stop there.

He said he believes a lack of discipline and accountability also has hurt the Bucs and strongly suggested that Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl two years ago in part because of former coach Tony Dungy's lingering influence.

``It was a beautiful combination because you had this loose kind of cat [Gruden] come in, which was cool for this team at that point, but [we] were still under the influence of a former head coach,'' Rice said. ``And because the influences were so overt, [we] responded with the same energy level, with the same protections, with the same discipline.

``But the disciplines [have] really kind of changed, you know what I mean? And now these mistakes started floating in with no real corrections and we went with that because we had the best of both worlds. But now we're under this certain level of discipline, where a certain mistake is cool. It has to be, because I remember when I first got here, if you fumbled you weren't playing. That's what I remember.''

Rice's criticism came in the wake of the Bucs' ninth loss of the season, a 21-17 setback to New Orleans in which Michael Pittman's fifth fumble of the season, with 3:19 left in the game, set the stage for the Saints' game-winning score.

The Bucs (5-9) also lost a first-quarter fumble at the Saints' 31-yard line and squandered another potential scoring opportunity when quarterback Brian Griese was intercepted in the third quarter from the Saints' 12.

Rice said the loss was typical of several suffered by the Bucs this season and suggested that Gruden's failure to emphasize the need for ball security might have been a contributing factor in the setbacks.

``One thing I remember about when I played for Tony for just that one year, everything was so strict - managing the ball was one of the most crucial things,'' Rice said. ``He predicated the whole team around that, because you're carrying the whole future of our team in your hand. But the last two weeks the game has come down to a turnover [the Bucs lost Dec. 12 at San Diego on an interception returned for a TD].''

Rice's comments came after Gruden addressed the media during his weekly news conference. Gruden later declined an opportunity to respond directly to Rice's critique, a portion of which was not necessarily refuted by Derrick Brooks.

``Obviously, there are certain things people feel you want handled different,'' Brooks said when asked whether he believed the Bucs lacked discipline. ``But at the end of the day, you have to play football. And if you're the head coach you have to be the head coach.''

Gruden is in his third season as coach of the Bucs and seventh overall in the NFL. During that time he has developed a reputation for being a tireless worker, an offensive innovator and effective motivator.

Rice said many of Gruden's motivational tactics have fallen short this year.

``If you look at the game we won with Atlanta, he had clips going on, it was intense, and you just felt it,'' Rice said. ``I said, `Dude, we're going to win this' because you knew you were going to win.

``But coming into [Sunday's] game, I didn't necessarily believe that. I woke up and I told everybody, `Watch, I'm going to put on a show on the simple strength that that's who I am and on the strength of you know what, I really feel like we [needed to win], so somebody has to take some initiative and step out and make it important and understand what we have in front of us.'

``But we really didn't play as if we [knew] what was in front of us.''

Rice said he believes the Bucs have spent too much time hoping their playoff aspirations would be realized and not enough time addressing the problems that have led to their losing season.

``A lot of it comes down to discipline,'' he said. ``We've just kind of been existing, showing up on Wednesdays and going to practice and la- di-da, la-di-da. There's been no real definition of attention to detail.

``I mean, when you're trying to run the clock out and you fumble, to me that's not attention to detail. But it's the stuff that has been going on here all season.''

 

WOW, that's all that can be said to that...WOW!

 

I would have thought Gruden would be a tough task master. Surprising.

 

saw it coming, that's all I can say to that, saw it coming

 

If that is the consensus, you'll either see alot of players cut, or Gruden will be fired.

 

that's all I can say to that

Run Forest, run. :xyzthumbs

 

Maybe he should go play for Tony in Indy then. When he retires he will be glad he at least got one ring while Gruden was his coach.

Oh and by the way, shut the F*** up and bring it on the field.

 

Kinda reminds you of Seifert doesn't it?

 

he did bring it on the field sunday...5 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

 

owned