Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gave Away Huge Competitive Advantage Against Cardinals

Aug 29, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano talks with quarterback Mike Glennon (8) against the Washington Redskins during the first half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Today (at the time of writing) is Wednesday, four days before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Raymond James Stadium. And as you’ve probably heard by now Buccaneers made the surprising announcement this morning that Mike Glennon will now be the starting quarterback.

While most will debate whether this was the right move or not, I’m here to tell you whether the move works or not, the organization goofed big time on the timing of telling the world about the QB switch.

I read this first on Twitter from my buddy Drew. Here’s what he had to say.

He deserves credit because he’s absolutely spot on in every way. Two days ago the Buccaneers said, Josh Freeman is our quarterback. Yesterday, we thought Freeman was the QB. You know who else thought Freeman would be taking snaps for the Bucs, the Arizona Cardinals.

By announcing it today, the Bucs gave Arizona four full days to prepare for the Glennon experiment.

They should have lied. Made something up. I don’t care what they say. Say Freeman was hurting, say they wanted to get Glennon some reps, even if practice was a dead give away that Mike would get the start, why tell the world and confirm it. Let the Cardinals wonder, let them try to prepare for both. Maybe they’d forget about Doug Martin, maybe they’d breakdown film on Freeman.

If the Cardinals spent one more second, just a single second preparing for Josh Freeman the Bucs would have gained an advantage. Schiano preaches preparation and its importance, well guess what, he had a chance to put his opponent in a compromising position when it came to his favorite aspect of football, and he didn’t do it.

He came out like a buffoon and told the whole world, and most importantly the Arizona coaching staff, that Mike Glennon will get every snap of this weeks game. Then he made up some bogus stuff about Freeman and the “trade block.”

This is a league where games are won and lost on the most minute details. Heck, the Buccaneers have lost two games already on a crazy penalty and a missed short field goal. Yet when the organization has a golden opportunity to send the Cardinals in the wrong direction, they decide not to do it. It’s the equivalent to telling the defense, we’re running play action, and then hoping the fall for the run fake.

Schiano has soured in the minds of many in Buc Nation, this should just be one more bullet in the arsenal for anyone who wants him out of here by the end of the year… or maybe even sooner.