After 3 seasons in which the Bucs didn't make the playoffs, owner Bryan Glazer reportedly met with GM Paul Criswell this off-season to discuss expectations for this upcoming season. The message was clear: "do better". Better than the 8-8 record the team has had the last two seasons. The Bucs haven't been losing prior to this season, but the organization obviously wants to see growth. The 10-6 record after the inaugural season had the ownership expecting to see a Super Bowl berth, but two .500 campaigns were disappointing. While many teams would love to see that kind of record, considering their current and past positions, the Bucs felt it was regression.
To "do better" Tampa Bay needed a 9-7 season, or some kind of back door entry into the playoffs even if they had less than 9 wins. With the team losing their 8th game of the season today, the hopes that Criswell will return to Tampa Bay is slim to none. There is a chance where ownership decides to give Criswell one more shot. After all, he lost Brad Johnson to retirement this offseason and had to scramble to try to make up for it. During that scramble there were some questionable calls, but aggression was needed when you didn't have a QB. Eventually the team acquired Kurt Warner, but by the time he was acclimated to the team he was out with a long-term injury.
If Criswell is able to talk the Glazer family into keeping him on a 1 year "prove it" deal, he has the pieces in place to win some games now that he has a QB and already had a talented defense. The question will be who else is on the market from a GM perspective. Would the Bucs lure another GM away from their team? It would be wise for a GM to come to a win-now team and many prefer to have good bones on a roster rather than a complete build it from scratch. Someone like Bryan Mellon comes to mind. Other GMs appear to be set on completing their project and seeing their vision materialize into success.
Regardless of what happens, this a difficult season for Paul on the field, but off the field as well as he has been hospitalized several times recently due to medical issues. We hope to see Paul return to good health and back at the helm GM'ing, hopefully sticking around in Tampa.
|
