Lovie Smith re-starts the Josh McCown vs Mike Glennon quarterback controversy

Remember when we thought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had settled on Mike Glennon as their starter for the rest of the season? About one week ago?

Lovie Smith disagrees!

Via the Tampa Bay Times.

"Yes, whenever any position is struggling during the course of the game, you look at your options,'' Smith said. "But I thought Mike would be able to come out of it.''

"The turnovers really hurt us. We need to play better at the quarterback position. I think that kind of goes without saying a little bit. We didn't enough points on the board, even with some production that we got.''

He didn't stop there, either. He further criticized Mike Glennon's accuracy. "Both of those turnovers should have been touchdowns we feel like," Smith said.

Can't really fault him there. Both of those turnovers were poorly thrown passes that would have been turnovers, and there were several other occasions were inaccurate throws resulted in incompletions instead of big plays. Mike Glennon did not have a good day, completing just 17 of 33 passes for 260 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. That line looked much worse before the half, as he completed just eight of 18 passes for 136 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions during the first two quarters.

In fact, Glennon's first-half performance this season has been ludicrous. He's managed to complete just 40 of 86 attempts in the first half with three touchdowns, five interceptions and eight sacks. At 5.4 yards per attempt, that's disastrous -- almost as bad as his second-half stats last season.

Glennon's done better in the second half, though, completing 76 of 116 attempts for 942 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception and eight sacks. In fact, he's basically a Pro Bowl quarterback in the second half, but by that time the damage is already done.

Not that Josh McCown has been good this season. Prior to his thumb injury, he'd managed to complete 43 of 68 passes for just 420 yards, with four touchdowns (two on the ground), four interceptions and five sacks. But Glennon hasn't earned the right to hold on to the starting job indefinitely, not if your main priority is to win games rather than evaluate Glennon.

Incidentally, the fact that the Bucs are contemplating going back to Josh McCown goes to show that they don't have all that much confidence in Glennon. Because if they really thought he was their quarterback of the future, they wouldn't even think of benching him.

So now we're back to where we were: Josh McCown gets to challenge for the starting job, and we'll see on Sunday who plays. Welcome back quarterback controversy!