Fans get disgusted. Disgusted at the team and coaches and owners…and each other. We love to “rah rah” for the home team but when losing and debacles continue, at some point patience runs out. Rebellion and a mob mentality set in. What once were adorning cheers of hope and optimism turn to jeers and calls to see heads roll. Well, as much as we like to revel in the ol’ spirit of root, root, root for the home team, unfortunately this ain’t Pop Warner football. Players and coaches got kids to feed. Fans use hard-earned money they’ve set aside to provide for their families. In other words, this is not a game to be played with.
After so many disappointments and players and coaches seemingly just not performing at an acceptable level, fans have a right to be disgruntled. That’s the nature of the beast. Some fans cry out, “Give them time to develop.” Other fans cry out, “We’ve been patient long enough.” I say they never ever should’ve brought Jameis Winston back on to that field. It was an unfair situation to put that young man in given the special magical season his backup was exhibiting and given how far behind the face of the franchise was due to his 3-game suspension. Sports 101 says never remove the guy who is hot, who has captured the hearts and imagination of the community. Yet it was Front Office Management 101 that won, that preaches play the face of the franchise, the guy we’ve spent millions and gazillions of marketing dollars on. But that always seems like a formula for disaster. Sports Fans 101 always says do not mess with a good thing. FitzMagic was that good thing and still is as exhibited in the almost comeback-from-behind win in the 2nd half after Jameis got yanked in Cinci. Unfortunately, it was so much too late.
Now as I was reminded, didn’t we fire Lovie Smith to keep Dirk Koetter because he was the Jameis Winston whisperer? Yes. Is our offense not the #1 ranked offense in the NFL right now? Yes. Is Jameis Winston’s career QB stats among the greats? Yes. So then let’s not talk about firing Dirk or trading Jameis! It’s just FitzMagic’s time, so let that man have his time. Jameis’ real issue is that he simply has trouble throwing the deep ball, which opens up an entire offense to be successful. It’s Jameis, not Tom Brady, who can dink and dunk systematically down the field, every possession interception-free, so the deep ball has to be better for Jameis and may just get better over time. Jameis short-circuits too much for him to employ that style successfully the entire game. He will throw picks. But if we had had any semblance of a defense these last years, we might even have made the playoffs. Let’s all focus on what the real problem is—our defense. It has been for the last decade. And if you ask me what the specific problem in our defense the last decade has been, it’s our D-Line.
In these days we live in with Americans at each other’s throats politically, the FitzMagic gives Americans and Buc Fans around the nation something to rally behind. We come together to witness something truly special that only sports can give us. Let’s hope the magic is still alive and stays alive and if it hits another brief dud that Sports Fans 101 wins out above all else and they keep playing the guy that has that magic pixie dust sprinkled on him this season…until that dust completely wears out.
Authored by: Chidi Ahanotu
