Bucs Should Consider Potential Changes After Lovie Smith's Brutal Start

The new-look Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a complete and utter disaster. 

Six games may be far too early to proclaim a first-year head coach dead in the water, but Lovie Smith's early returns don't provide much hope for Buccaneers fans who already struggled through the tenures of Raheem Morris and Greg Schiano during the past five seasons. 

The Glazer family gave Morris three years before he was dismissed. Schiano received two years before he was fired. One year may be more than enough of Smith's staff in Tampa Bay. 

Three times during the previous five seasons were the Buccaneers as pitiful as they currently are, and those instances all came under Morris' direction. 

The team's point differential through six games is minus-84. At no point during Schiano's tenure were the Buccaneers as hapless. The biggest negative differential during the previous two seasons was minus-62. Schiano's worst was still three touchdowns better than what Smith is currently orchestrating. 

Morris, on the other hand, had two stretches that were more pathetic. The Buccaneers were 94 points worse than their opponents at the onset of Morris' career as a head coach. And the 2011 season, which eventually cost Morris his job, was a complete disaster, with a pair of six-game stretches where the team surrendered 93 or more points than scored. 

The fact these numbers need to be brought into the equation is a telling sign of how poorly the Buccaneers started under Smith. 

Year	Total Offense	Ranking	Total Defense	Ranking
2014*	306.8	29th	422.8	32nd
2013	277.0	32nd	348.0	17th
2012	363.8	9th	379.9	29th
2011	319.2	21st	394.4	30th
2010	335.1	19th	332.7	17th
2009	287.5	28th	365.6	27th

What's most disconcerting is the team's exceptionally poor play on defense.

Only once during his nine-year run as the head coach of the Chicago Bears did Smith's squad finish in the bottom five defenses. In 2007, the Bears allowed 354.7 yards per game—or 68.1 yards less per game than the Buccaneers surrendered through six contests. 

Smith believes the team will turn it around on defense in the coming weeks, per PewterReport.com:

Brian Urlacher isn't walking through the door, coach. 

Smith cried ixnay on the idea of tweaking or changing the team's schemes after Sunday's contest:

"

Absolutely not. We’re not changing our scheme. I’ve been doing this scheme every year I’ve been in the league. I believe in it. We’re not coaching it and we’re not playing it as well as we need to. Zero chance we change our scheme.

"

The Buccaneers should never have played this poorly, because the roster isn't devoid of talent. 

The "cupboard was bare" argument simply doesn't apply to Tampa Bay this season. Usually when a new coach and front office take over, the slate is wiped clean and a ton of new talent is brought in at the expense of the previous group of players.

Prior to any moves being made during the offseason, the Buccaneers already had one of the game's top defensive tackles (Gerald McCoy), an All-Pro linebacker (Lavonte David), a three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver (Vincent Jackson), a former top-10 pick at safety (Mark Barron), one of the NFL's highest-paid safeties (Dashon Goldson), a young and talented, albeit coming off major injury, running back (Doug Martin) and a quarterback coming off the best rookie season of any signal-caller from the 2013 draft (Mike Glennon).

The team then shelled out $143.025 million between 10 different free-agent contracts. Among those signed to big money were defensive end Michael Johnson, left tackle Anthony Collins, cornerback Alterraun Verner, center Evan Dietrich-Smith and quarterback Josh McCown. 

All of this talent led Tampa Bay to become one of the chic picks to become a playoff contender this season. Instead, the Buccaneers appeared unprepared and unmotivated once the team stepped onto the field. 

Bleacher Report's Jason Cole (see: below) believes, "It's absurd that Lovie Smith can lose his job already considering what the Glazer family knows about him, how well they know him and how highly they spoke of him in the past when they brought him in." 

However, the Buccaneers' lack of preparation and inability to get the team up for games falls directly on the coaching staff and its ability to lead the organization. 

Cracks began to show after Sunday's 48-17 dismantling at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. Nerves were raw, and it offered a glimpse into the current thinking inside the locker room.  

David, a defensive leader, admitted after the game the team lacks fire. 

"At the end of the day, it's all about pride," the linebacker told SportsTalkFlorida.com's Jenna Laine. "You got to act like you want to be out there. It's game day. You have to have a fire in you. At the end of the day, we didn't have that fire."

It's not hard to read between the lines to ascertain what the Pro Bowl defender was saying. David continued his rant: 

"

It’s game day; you gotta have a fight, and today we didn’t have that fight. We started out flat. Defensively, we gave up big plays and they came out ready. As a road team, you want to come out fast and that’s what they did. We didn’t live up to what we wanted to do.

"

The Ravens "came out ready," while the Buccaneers obviously did not after surrendering 35 points in the first 16 minutes of play. 

Verner told SportsTalkFlorida's Laine that Tampa Bay simply wasn't prepared at any level: 

"

They ran the ball, they threw the ball, Flacco could do everything he wanted. Today shows us that there is a lot of self-evaluation that you gotta do, deep down looking into, because, like you said, it seemed like nobody was immune. Everybody did a little something, myself included, and so you just gotta press on and that’s all you can do.

"

Buccaneers right tackle Demar Dotson experienced a particularly rough outing against Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil. 

"At the end of the day, we all don't want to be embarrassed," Dotson told Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times after the game. "People get tired of this. We all get tired of it. It's embarrassing, no question."

This is already the second time this season a loss by the Buccaneers has been described as "embarrassing." Smith said the same nearly a month earlier after the Atlanta Falcons trounced Tampa Bay 56-14 during the Buccaneers only nationally televised appearance.  

The Buccaneers' head coach is now preaching patience, because he doesn't have any other options. Smith addressed the disappointment in the team's fanbase Sunday, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times: 

"

I would say first off, I'm disappointed, too. I would say also, it's like when you're in a game, you don't crown anyone the winner of that game during the game. We're disappointed right now. But let's let it all play out. And yeah, I've said that before but the game isn't over yet. Give us time. We'll continue to get guys back.

"

Some allowances are granted at the start of every new tenure. Smith provided an anecdote Tuesday, via Buccaneers senior writer Scott Smith, in hopes of taking some of the pressure off his team. 

Patience is far less of a virtue in today's NFL, though. 

An argument will be made that one year isn't enough to properly evaluate a head coach. Cole cited the tenures of Morris and Schiano as examples of the Glazer family's patience. However, their patience will wear thin if the Buccaneers continue to lose. The Buccaneers are 29-57 and counting since 2009. It will be very difficult to validate keeping a coach while his team plays as poorly as Tampa Bay has. 

Buccaneers faithful only have to point toward the success the Cleveland Browns are currently experiencing after dismissing their previous head coach, Rob Chudzinski, after one season.

The Browns are now 3-2 after yet another regime change and quickly became one of the most talked about teams in the NFL. This will come to a head on Nov. 2 when the Buccaneers host the Browns. If the Browns continue to play well while the Buccaneers falter, the Glazer family may consider veering from their current course. 

But there are still a couple weeks for the Buccaneers to right the ship. 

As the Buccaneers enter their bye week, the time off is an opportunity for Smith and his staff to reassess every aspect of the team and get everyone on the same page. Lack of improvement after a 1-5 start isn't an option at this point. Smith's long-standing ties to the organization and previous experience as a head coach may not be enough to save him if the Buccaneers can't pull it together. 

Salary numbers courtesy of Spotrac.com. Brent Sobleski covers the NFC South for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.