The Buccaneers missed the playoffs for the 11th straight season in 2018 and they responded to that by firing head coach Dirk Koetter after three years on the job.
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has only been in Tampa for one of those seasons, but he thinks he’s identified one of the things that is keeping the Bucs from finding success. Pierre-Paul said the players “weren’t all in sync” and that changing that will be essential to better results under a new coach.
“I think the difference between certain teams that reach the playoffs and [ones that don’t] is when you have a certain group of guys that who just keep it real with each other,” Pierre-Paul said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “You just don’t care [about other things]. You just play for each other. I think we have been playing for each other, but on the keeping it real point, I think we’ve got a lot of guys who just don’t keep it real, man.”
Pierre-Paul said that players can’t hide what’s on their minds and his comments on Monday were a good illustration of his willingness to share his thoughts even if they aren’t entirely positive about the state of the organization.