Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano knows fans are calling for his firing after his team dropped to 0-7 on Thursday night. But Schiano wants the fans to buy into the idea that he and the players know what they need to do to turn things around.
“I have some say in how to fix it. The players have some say. The fans don’t,” Schiano said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “I understand their frustration totally. We’ve just got to give them a better product. That’s what it’s all about.”
Schiano also addressed several of the questions fans have been asking about whether Schiano can turn the team around.
“Have I lost the locker room? No,” Schiano said. “Are they listening? Yes. Are we getting everything we need out of them? Obviously not because we’re 0-7. Ultimately, we’ve got 61 guys in that locker room that I believe in and I very strongly feel they believe in me. Does belief get tested when you’re not having success? Yeah. I’m sure it gets tested both ways when someone misses a play. At the end of the day, these guys are busting their guts to do it. Why are we making a mistake? I always look first at myself. Somehow we didn’t communicate it clearly enough, whether it’s the importance of it or the urgency with which it needs to be done or the technique to it. Because I’m a coach, I always look at the coaching first.”
Schiano also seems to know that if the Bucs don’t turn things around in a hurry, everyone else will blame the coach first.
“When you don’t win, there are consequences. We need to get our wins. I said it the other day. We’ll get our share of wins. I believe we will,” Schiano said.
Schiano may believe it, but few others do. Schiano is looking increasingly like a coach who is about to lose his job, even if he insists he hasn’t lost his locker room.