Dotson – blame for Buccaneers woes belongs to players, not coaches Roy Cummings, Florida Football Insiders, published 6 November 2017 The longest tenured Buccaneer, eight-year veteran right tackle Demar Dotson has played for four different head coaches since he came to the team in 2009. He doesn’t believe playing for a fifth will help snap the Bucs out of their current malaise. Though he’s been around long enough to know that a new boss could be in place as soon as Monday, Dotson says the blame for the Bucs 2-6 start rests not with the coaches, but with the players. “It’s never good when you’re not winning and you’re expected to win,’’ Dotson said in the wake of the Bucs 30-10 loss to the Saints. “And we brought some free agents in here and we’re still not getting it done. Not only are we not getting done like we were supposed to, we’ve looked miserable trying to do it. That’s never good. But that’s on us. It’s on the players. That’s who it falls on. “I think the coaches are doing a good job of putting us in a position to be successful. But it’s us, the players, that have to go out play the games and we’re the ones that aren’t doing it. I know (crap) falls downhill and starts at the top, but it’s not the coaches man. They’re going to take the blame and say it’s their fault, but they’re doing everything they can to put us in positions to be successful.’’ Coming off a 9-7 season, success was predicted for the Bucs this year. That’s one reason these current struggles have made this season arguably the toughest Dotson has been through with the Bucs. “Yeah, I think this is the toughest it’s been because of the talent we’ve got,’’ Dotson said. “I mean, we came into the season thinking we were going to ride high. “We were a team that almost made the playoffs last year, a team that should have made the playoffs last year, and so we when we came into the season we were riding off that success. And then with the free agents we added and all that, we thought we had everything we needed to get over the hump. Unfortunately we ain’t anywhere near the hump. And that’s what’s so hard to grasp.’’ This truly has become one of the more confounding seasons in Bucs history, and at this point it seems anything, including a coaching shakeup, is possible. Dirk Koetter acknowledge as much after the game, saying in response to a question regarding concern for his job that he is in fact “concerned about everything.” Keep in mind, though, that it has never been the Glazers’ style to fire a head coach in the middle of a season. They have always waited until the season is over to make such a move. But the Glazers tend work in mysterious ways. They fired Tony Dungy when few thought they should and fired Jon Gruden and Lovie Smith when few thought they would. So it would be out of character then for them to fire Koetter now, with half a season still to be played, and as far as Dotson is concerned it would be unjustified as well. That said, it still wouldn’t be surprising.