Dirk Koetter responds to report that he has not supported Jameis Winston
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday, and head coach Dirk Koetter could be on the hot seat because of it. But if his response to a report about his relationship with Jameis Winston is any indication, Koetter is not going to be begging to keep his job.
On Sunday morning, a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network claimed Koetter and Winston have not been seeing eye-to-eye. More specifically, Winston was supposedly upset with Koetter for not defending him publicly when the quarterback was battling through a shoulder injury.
Following the loss to Detroit, Koetter was asked how he could have handled Winston’s injury better.
#Bucs Koetter on if he could've done anything to support Winston more during his injury: “I could’ve whipped out my medicine bag and done quick shoulder surgery and fixed him up.’’
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 10, 2017
If the report about Winston’s frustration is accurate, Jameis probably feels that his shoulder injury is one of the reasons he has had a down season and would have liked to see Koetter do a better job of conveying that. However, Winston also struggled in 2016, and Koetter took some of his frustrations about that uninspiring play to the media.
The Bucs are now 4-9 after finishing 9-7 a year ago. There’s a good chance Koetter won’t be back next season.
