Bucs secure No. 1 pick with loss to Saints Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 29 December 2014 Vincent Jackson left the field at Raymond James Stadium late Sunday afternoon looking a little like Joe Namath leaving the field in the wake of the Jets’ surprise victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III. With his jersey off and a smile on his face, the veteran wideout walked through the tunnel leading to the Bucs locker room waving his index fingers in the air in a gesture that has come to symbolize the status of the Bucs heading into the offseason. Tampa Bay, ladies and gentlemen, is the clock. Thanks to their 23-20 loss to the Saints, who rallied from 13 points down in the fourth quarter against a Bucs lineup loaded with reserves on both sides of the ball, Tampa Bay has the opportunity to pick first overall in the 2015 NFL draft. So, what’s it going to be? Will the Bucs appease their fans and take Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota or Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston? Or will they try to be prudent and take a left tackle to beef up their offensive line, or a defensive end to bolster their pass rush? How about trading the pick, moving down and adding a couple more picks? All are options that Bucs general manager Jason Licht and coach Lovie Smith are sure to explore in the coming months as the team’s 2-14 record put them in position to control the draft for the first time since 1987. “I guess that’s a good thing,’’ Smith said. “I’ve never been in this position before. But I know that we need to make improvements and we’re in control now of the improvements that each team will make. So, we’ll start the domino effect.’’ The Bucs have already started the process of determining exactly which domino falls first. Licht spent seven long days meeting with his college scouts at One Buc Place last week, determining early grades for the bulk of this year’s draft-eligible players. He and possibly Smith will take another step in that process later this week when both are expected to travel to Pasadena, Calif., to watch Mariota and Winston play in the Rose Bowl, the first of two national semifinal college playoff games. Smith was quick to point out late Sunday, though, that after becoming the first team in franchise history to lose all eight of its home games — the inaugural 1976 team was 0-7 at home in a 14-game season — the Bucs need to look at more than just quarterbacks. “Our play at the quarterback position hasn’t been good enough this year,’’ Smith said. “But it hasn’t been good enough at any position, starting with my position. So, a total evaluation of everything is where we are and is what we have to do.’’ That evaluation process is underway, as well. The Bucs used their season finale to get a jump on it, giving many of the snaps on both sides of the ball to players they had little chance to look at in weeks prior. For example, rookie receiver Mike Evans, who teamed up with Jackson to become the first pass catching duo in team history to post 1,000-yard seasons in the same year, sat out most of the second half while the Bucs looked at prospects such as Tavares King and Russell Shephard. That proved problematic late in the fourth quarter, though, when King let a pass sail through his hands and into those of cornerback Keenan Lewis, whose interception set the stage for the Saints’ winning touchdown, which came on a 36-yard Drew Brees pass to Marques Colston. By the way, neither starting linebacker Lavonte David nor starting cornerback Johnthan Banks were on the field for that Colston play. The Bucs also sat three starting offensive linemen during their final two possessions, the last resulting in quarterback Josh McCown being sacked for a safety. “I don’t think it was out of the (ordinary) to want to look at some of (our prospects),’’ Smith said in defense of his second-half personnel decisions. “We’re out of the playoffs. We had a comfortable lead and we we’re going to run the football.’’ The commitment the Bucs made to running the ball in the second half was rooted in the success they had in the first half, when Doug Martin ran 12 times for 92 yards to spearhead a rushing attack that ground out 148 yards on 24 carries, an average of 6.2 per carry. That ground attack and interceptions by Leonard Johnson in the first quarter and Bradley McDougald and Keith Tandy on back-to-back series in the third quarter helped the Bucs build a 20-7 lead they held until three plays into the fourth quarter. It was right about then, though, the Bucs began to take that extended look at their prospects, carrying out a game plan Smith said was established days ago. “We didn’t have some of our best players on the field right at the end but the guys we had in there, we felt like we could move the ball and win with,’’ Smith said. “The guys we had out there fought right up until the very end. And they made some good plays. But in the end we just couldn’t quite pull it out. That’s kind of been the tale of our season.’’ The trick now is to make sure that’s not the tale of their offseason.