Is Dirk Desperate To Keep His Job?

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It seems like week after week Koetter makes calculated risks that could either make or break it for him as head coach in Tampa Bay.

We saw this during the game against the Panthers. Faking a punt on fourth and 9 in the second quarter was a risky move. Had it worked out in favor of the Bucs, Dirk would have come out looking pretty good. It did not work, though, and the Panthers took over possession of the ball. He did say in his post-game interview, “You’re going to look real smart or you’re going to look dumb if it doesn’t work, so that’s on me” (see article here).

Fast forward to this past Sunday when the offense played noticeably different on the field. We learned that Koetter took over play-calling from Monken, a move he said he made due to his “own reasons” during his post-game press conference, in which he looked completely defeated (watch interview here).

In a later interview, though, he said he took over in an effort to run the ball more. “In this game, I just felt like the type of game it was going to be based on Washington’s offense, I thought that we needed to try to control the clock a little bit more and try to give our defense a little bit of time, maybe less time on the field that maybe we need to try to run it a little more,” Koetter said, adding, “that was the main reason behind it” (see article here).

It’s worth noting that the defense was successful in holding the Redskins to just 16 points. His efforts did not completely pay off, though. The Bucs only put up 3 points total. And I am not saying it was all on Koetter; there were other factors that lead to the loss as well.

His risky decision to call plays even though the offense has been playing well this season sounded like another attempt for him to salvage his job to many Buccaneers fans. And had the Buccaneers came out on top last Sunday, that would have helped to put a little bit of the fire out from under Dirk’s seat.

No decision has been made on whether he will continue play-calling against the Giants. It was announced that Ryan Fitzpatrick would be the starting quarterback against the Giants, though.

“I just think he still gives us the best opportunity right now,” Koetter said (see article here). And at this point winning games seems to be the only chance he has to keep his job.

Do you think Koetter is desperate to keep his job at this point, or does he know he’s out of a job at the end of the season and is looking to finish strong?

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