Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Skip Bayless wrong in criticism of Dirk Koetter

Skip Bayless has a right to his opinions about Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter, but they are misguided.

I am all for a good hot take, but I also have no problem calling said take out when I feel it is wrong. Such is the case with Skip Bayless. He praised Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston on Undisputed on Fox Sports 1, which I have no problem with. Winston deserves it.

He was very critical, however, in regards to the Buccaneers coaching staff, specifically head coach Dirk Koetter. He had this to say:

"“I don’t love this coaching staff,” Bayless said. “Forgive me for saying this. Sometimes you get the bird’s eye view and you get to see too much. Maybe they’re mugging for the cameras, maybe they’re acting out of character, but the whole staff seems a little high schoolish to me…. As convincing as Jameis is, this guy is unconvincing. He’s very hard on Jameis in practice … I don’t like a head coach who’s constantly all over his quarterback in practice. It’s too hard a position to play. Do that behind closed doors. Don’t mug for the cameras. I don’t love it.”"

He then went on to talk about the Buccaneer staff further and he did not mince words:

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"“It feels like Dirk Koetter is insecure enough as the head coach that he’s trying to point the finger constantly at Jameis, planting excuses in case of: ‘Don’t blame me. He still makes these dumb throws.’ Dirk Koetter isn’t good enough to do that,” Bayless said. “As much as I like this team on the verge, I think the coaching staff is going to present a ceiling for this team. That’s just my gut feeling: They might limit how far this team can go.”"

Skip Bayless has a right to his opinion. However, I disagree with his assessment here. Koetter has every right to be hard on Jameis Winston as this should be a career year for him. By now, Winston should be beginning to establish himself as one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL.

You can tell Koetter knows he has a special team here and it all starts with Winston. Whether it be for the cameras or not, the signal-caller should be able to handle it. You are going to have to face the music in all situations, especially if you are the keys to the franchise’s proverbial “car” for the future.

Secondly, to suggest the staff might limit how far this team can go is also a bit premature. This year in particular will be indicative of how far they will go in the future. We do not know how everyone will gel. Let’s face it, there are a lot of new faces on this roster. It could either be a seamless adjustment due to the talent they have, or they could be slow to get going.

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If the Bucs do not do well this year, then you can at least begin to question if Koetter and his staff are the best fit. In that case, then the limitations could be exposed. However, at the moment, the celling for this team is still extremely high. Koetter at the very least has begun to establish a winning culture within the team. They have the right mix of veterans and youth. Couple that with an even mix of potential and promise, and things look quite bright.

Bayless is known for giving scorching takes. This is just one that is too hot to handle at the moment.

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