Bucs make NFL history, in a bad way Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 13 October 2014 Bring back the TV blackouts! The Yucks are back. Maybe the clown orange socks should have tipped us off. For the second time in 24 days, the Bucs were the worst football team in the world. Let even the winless Jaguars and Raiders try and top yet another pile of forensic evidence, produced by the Bucs on Sunday as they were dissected and picked clean by the Ravens, 48-17. Mind you, the locals did run up those 17 big ones during extended garbage time. Where garbage time began is hard to pinpoint, though it was probably between the second or third, or third or fourth, or fourth or fifth touchdown pass Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco in the game’s first 16 minutes. Baltimore led 38-0 at halftime, reportedly the largest halftime deficit for a home team in NFL history. Repeating: NFL history. If I’m the owners, I’m pulling Lovie Smith aside and asking him what in the name of Glazer is going on here. You can’t have two abominations like this in a season, much less a month apart. In many ways, this was even more pathetic, more inexcusable than the 56-14 debacle at Atlanta. That was a short week road game coupled with tons of Bucs injuries. This was at home, against a Baltimore team that doesn’t play great offense on the road. Plus the bonus visual: You had to see how empty Raymond James Stadium was at the end of this game to believe it. It was a vintage old-time Yucks desertion. Mostly all that remained were purple Ravens fans, though some of them had to go and ruin it by wearing Ray Rice jerseys. The Ravens are the best team the Bucs have faced this season. They’re solid in so many ways. That beats solid waste every time. “1-5 says we’re not a good football team and we’re not a good football team,” Smith said. “It’s as simple as that.” There was Flacco, with nothing but time, pulling the wings off flies, Bucs backups defensive backs like Brandon Dixon and Crezdon Butler. There was Mike Glennon, with no time at all. There were the Baltimore receivers, wide open all over the place. I’m not sure Johnthan Banks and Dashon Goldson, out injured, would have helped. Could Flacco and Torrey Smith have tried a few more slants for a touchdown? “That 14-0, it just happened so quick,” Gerald McCoy said. “After that, it was a steamroll …” Around that time, I started trying to decide which is worse, the Bucs offensive line or the Bucs secondary. I think it’s a photo finish. By the way, when you’re done looking, burn the photo. Lovie’s orders. I remember saying after Atlanta that it was the kind of loss that can get an entire coaching staff fired if it wasn’t for the fact that they were just three games into their jobs. Now they’re six games in. Lovie doesn’t do doom and gloom, but this is getting serious. What’s Lovie got to do with it? His fair share. The scary part is that most of Smith’s well-meaning moves have already backfired, some for reasons beyond the Bucs control, some not. Jeff Tedford. Josh McCown. The return to the Tampa 2. Dumping Darrelle Revis. The overhauled offensive line. Let’s take that last one. Did Davin Joseph, Donald Penn and Jeremy Zuttah really stink more than this? No one is getting it done, the head coach included. “I’ve performed at a 1-5 record,” Lovie said. “That’s my record as a head football coach. It’s cut and dried. It’s black and white on what we’ve done and what I’ve done as a head football coach.” Now, about changing things defensively, scheme wise … “Absolutely not. I’ll stop you right there,” Smith said. “We’re not changing our scheme. We’ve been doing this scheme every year I’ve been in the league. I believe in it. We’re not coaching it and we’re not playing it the way we need to. Zero chance we change our scheme.” Psssst. I don’t think they’re changing the scheme. Well, they need to change something. “We definitely need to reevaluate a lot of stuff,” McCoy said. Meanwhile, here comes the bye week. “As players, we like to get back out there and play again next week,” Glennon said. “But the bye week gets us healthy, gets us fresh, gives us time to work on things.” The bye week has been installed as an eight-point favorite.