Football lines told us that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired offensive coordinator Jeff Jeff Jagodzinski.Surprisingly, he is the second offensive coordinator to be fired this preseason, joining Kansas City’s Chan Gailey. Normally teams don’t make changes in the preseason in terms of coaches as NFL betting lines tell us.
Football lines indicate that quarterbacks coach Greg Olson has been promoted to offensive coordinator. “We needed more direction and we needed more precision,” coach Raheem Morris said, “and we weren’t getting it, so we had to make a change.” The Bucs face Houston this week in preseason football lines but most of their starters won’t play so the first test for the new coordinator will come in NFL betting lines in the regular season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bucs are a three-point favorite in NFL betting lines on Friday against Houston. In the regular season opener in football lines they are a five-point underdog at the sportsbook against the Cowboys. “I’m not here to bash Jeff Jagodzinski,” Morris said. “What he did, coming here and implementing the plan, getting us started was good. We’re just at a different state right now; we need to be more direct, have more precision and know where we’re going.” The Bucs may not be any better in football lines with Olson running the offense. He was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions in 2005 and the St. Louis Rams from 2006-07. Neither of those two offenses was any good in football lines.
Jagodzinski was named the Bucs offensive coordinator in January and that followed his dismissal at Boston College. Jagodzinski has definitely had his problems lately. His leaving the Bucs is not likely to affect the team positively since they weren’t very good anyway. Football lines are going to have the Bucs as underdogs a lot in 2009. Byron Leftwich is the new quarterback but there are just not many positives in football lines regarding Tampa Bay.
The Bucs are one of the longest shots on the sportsbook board in football lines to win the Super Bowl at 50-1. They are not respected in their own division in football lines at the sports book either. They are 10-1 in football lines to win the NFC South this season at the sports book. That is well behind Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans in NFL betting lines.