Bucs have reason not to panic
TAMPA (FOX 13) - Following the Buccaneers season-opening 42-14 loss to the Titans, Lovie Smith says to keep it in perspective.
"One disappointing game does not define our season," said the Bucs head coach.
Smith has at least 15 reasons why nobody should overreact to Sunday's 42-14 loss to the Titans.
"It's just one game," said Smith. "The season isn't made on it. There's a lot of football left to go."
This one game was supposed to be the winning start to a new era of Buccaneer football. Instead, Smith's Bucs remain winless at home in the regular season.
And there's not just one thing that went wrong, it was a lot more.
"Everything - coaching, scheme, execution, whatever else you want to say," said Smith. "That's what we are going to go through until we can get that bad taste out of our mouth. We will get that bad taste out of our mouth."
In a game where there weren't many positives to speak of, there is this. One of the worst losses in Bucs history at home happened in week one. That should create a sense of urgency within this organization.
"I think we all have confidence in this team," said tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. "Actually, I know we all have confidence in this team. It was just one game; we have 15 more games to go. Yeah, we all have confidence."
"I've made the statement that normally the biggest improvement you see with your football team - a lot of years - is between the first and second week," said Smith. "Hopefully that will be the case with us."
"There are some things we need to get corrected. As we look at the video, these aren't things that can't be corrected. That's when it would really be bad. That isn't the case right now."
The Bucs have less than a week to make those fixes, and nobody is panicking just yet.
"We're 0-1, and we're disappointed by how we played the first game. It's no more than that. Number two is up," said Smith.
Number two is against their division foe, the New Orleans Saints.
Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. Sunday, September 20 on FOX 13.