The Bucs were either a victim of an attempted shakedown by a valued assistant coach or the Bucs tried to strong-arm a soon-to-be new NFL head coach.
The truth very likely stands in the middle.
Readers of JoeBucsFan.com have likely noticed that Joe has used the word “allegedly” several times the past 24 hours because nobody with the Bucs or Jaguars went on the record about what happened between the Bucs and former Bucs offensive coordinator/new Jags head coach Liam Coen. So Joe doesn’t truly believe every report of what happened.
As uber NFL insider Adam Schefter of BSPN pointed out on “The Pat McAfee Show” today, there are wildly different versions of what went down.
But the result is clear: Coen is now Jags head coach. And per Schefter, the Bucs are downright irate about this, thinking they got stabbed in the back.
“Liam Coen has his thoughts and the Buccaneers have their thoughts,” Schefter said. “And you can believe whatever you want. I can tell you there’s two different schools of thought.
“I would just say this: In 20 years, this century, since the turn of the century — I don’t remember the last time I’ve heard one team this hot and bothered by a coach taking another deal.”
Someone with the Bucs and likely someone with the Jags is surely texting his or her fingers off with Albert Breer, Diana Russini and Schefter. Otherwise, where would they get all the alleged details of what happened inside the walls of One Buc Palace the past week?
The alleged misdeeds even include suggesting Coen used a sick child as a shield to dodge the Bucs and take a clandestine trip to Jacksonville.
That’s a pretty heavy accusation and dastardly if true.
“There are a lot of different versions of what is going down,” Schefter said. “I can just tell you that, I don’t remember when was the last time I heard a team that irate over a coaching decision.”
As the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, likes to point out, silence invites speculation.
And unless or until someone (Jason Licht, Todd Bowles, Shad Con Khan, Coen) goes on the record and explains what transpired, Joe can’t be confident fully buying all the details of these reports.
