All posts by J.D. Stenger

Opinion Editorial

A Buccaneers Super Bowl Run Hinges Upon The Defense

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As good as the offense could be it’s the defense that must lead the way

Add a first-ballot Hall of Fame G.O.A.T to the roster, not to mention another first-ballot inductee in tight-end Gronkowski, who would definitely be a top pick for the Greatest of All Time to a team that to some degree was already loaded you would think that it’s the offense that would be running the show at the head of the Victory Parade. Not so fast! Hold the float right where it is! Just like in the Buccaneers’ first Super Bowl run, if it happens with Brady, it will be the Bucs’ overwhelming defense that again sets the tone and the pace.

Loaded from top to bottom with outstanding talent

The Buccaneers defense is a defense that is not only capable of some big plays, but a defense that will eat you alive. Tampa’s front end and we know how good they are with Pierre-Paul for the entire season if he holds up, along with last season’s overwhelming force and sack leader, Shaq Barrett, Suh, and Vita Vea pressing things upfront on the quarterback, it gets even more crucial at the next level with the Bucs’ linebackers; LaVonte David, and Devin White. Last but not least, you have the Buccaneers’ defensive backfield. The secondary hasn’t exactly been a unit that had impressed anyone over the last good bit of years. Thanks to Jason Licht, this is now a group that has a completely different talent and an identity. The secondary unit is now going to be a strength instead of a liability. The secondary is going to be a takeaway driven unit that is going to outright make some good quarterbacks look bad. While the offense has some big names, it pretty much levels out after naming four maybe five players tops. When you talk about the defense, it’s virtually every player, but for sure, it goes 8-9 deep without a problem. As good as the offense will be, the defense is far more loaded with studs from top to bottom.

Opposing offenses are in for a rude awakening

Truly, I’m feeling bad in advance for what opposing teams are going to face when they line up across from this band of Pirates. Where are they going to go? There are virtually no weaknesses if all the starters are healthy. It’s going to be like falling into a yellow Jackets nest at the bottom of a hole you tripped into. I’m sure most reading this are shaking their heads and thinking, man this guy has got it bad; way too big of a Homer. Honestly, that take is a fair assessment of my above rants. Somewhere along the line, throughout this season, there is going to come a time when the B.S. stops and history begins. At that moment, folks, remember where you were and remember who told you it was going to be this way for the Bucs. If on the other hand, at that moment, you realize that this defense is just a bit better than average, wake up, you’re asleep and having a bad dream. Go Bucs!!

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Scotty Miller hauls in the biggest catch of his life

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Second-year speedster ties the knot

Acquired in the sixth round of last seasons NFL Draft, his rookie season wasn’t anything to get excited about. He’s expecting better things this season from the new-look Buccaneers with Tom Brady at the helm. He’s not the only one either. Miller must have been counting on it, for he started getting this season started just right. He married his fiance on June 6th (Per Jenna Laine of ESPN on Twitter), bringing in the biggest catch of his life before the season even starts. All of us at Bucs Life Media wish both of them nothing but the best in their future together. The couple will have a formal wedding with family and friends in April of next year.

Older news worth mentioning again

In another bit of news concerning Scotty Miller and getting the season started off right, Miller was spotted at Berkeley Prep in Town & Country, Florida working out with Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Cameron Brate, O.J. Howard, and quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Griffin the 19th of last month. 

Getting it right

Here’s hoping they are getting some timing down and learning each other’s tendencies. I’m sure Miller already knows those things about his new Bride. It looks like everyone is going to be on the same page when this season finally get ‘s rolling. It will be fun to see Scotty burning cornerbacks on the way to some long after the catch touchdowns. I’m also looking forward to Ronald Jones having a few of those screen passes turn into long touchdowns. It seems like Brady has been doing that for the longest. We’re ready in Tampa for some of that. Bring it on Brady, Scotty Miller is open down the middle. Again we offer best wishes to our second-year speedster and his new bride. Go Bucs!!

 

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Warren Moon: Brady Losing Arm Strength With Age

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Time waits for no man or G.O.A.T.

We have all heard or read it somewhere since Tom Brady moved his base of operations to the Bay Area. He’s going to be 43 when the season starts, and his arm isn’t what it used to be. Warren Moon should have a good idea of what Brady is facing physically playing into his forties. After all, Moon played to the age of 44 up in Norse Country. Moon told Colin Cowherd, via MassLive.com about playing at that ripe old NFL age.

“I can see — especially later in the season, and you can see this with Drew Brees and some of the other quarterbacks as well — their arms don’t have the same pop at the end of the season that they had early in the year,” Moon said. “That has to do with their age, and that’s something I started to see in my career when I got older, that I didn’t have that same pop in my arm. A lot of it has to do with your legs because you’ve just become fatigued over the course of the whole season.”

Moon stated that he still thinks Brady can be successful in Tampa, just not the same way that he was years ago in the Patriots Heyday.

“You saw Tom’s arm that same way at the end of last year,” Moon said. “It’s not a huge deterioration to where he can’t throw certain routes, but there will be times when it gets later into the year you’re going to see some of that take its place. He has great talent around him (in Tampa Bay), which is great, and he doesn’t have to do as much on that football team, which will be good for him at this stage of his career. So I still think he’s gonna have success because of those reasons, but he’s not the same quarterback he was three or four years ago.”

Brady’s arm has never been mistaken for a rifle

Hard to argue with that assessment from a guy that’s been there, done that. Personally, I believe that the news isn’t that big of a deal. Brady never had a gun for an arm in the first place. He hasn’t been known for rifle throws deep downfield on post patterns. So my thinking is that consequently, it’s not going to have as big of an impact on him. Drew Brees, on the other hand, might have bigger problems with losing arm strength with the way he slings it around.

Wrapping up

It’s understandable that at the end of games later in the season that Brady’s overall strength and endurance might start to fade somewhat. How much of it he’s going to be experiencing remains to be seen. One thing is for sure: With his work ethic, off-season workouts, and diet, he will hold off father time as long as he can. One thing about it, time will always tell. Go Bucs!!

 

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Gholston and Nunez-Roches: Chomping at the Bit

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Working his way onto the field

In order to make it in the NFL, you normally have to work your way onto the playing field. It hasn’t been that way for Ryan Griffin for his going on six seasons with the Bucs, but for most, it’s exactly that. Roches also came into the league the same season as Griffin. Drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, Rakeem Nunez-Roches spent three seasons in the BBQ Holy Land of our nation, playing in 34 games. His stats aren’t special, not even something that makes you say hmmm. He’s been in Sunny Tampa now going on his third season with not one sack, one tackle for a loss. He’s had no breakout game during that span just looking good enough in practices, camp, and OTAs, to hold down a spot.

Warren Sapp like size

With Warren Sapp dimensions of 6’2, 305 lbs, this could be his make or break season in Tampa. The Bucs re-signed Nunez-Roches at a price tag of 1.5 Million with a full million guaranteed! It’s a good thing to have confident backups, but as it goes, you are always wanting your second and third stringers to force a situation of giving them more playing time.

Competition stiff on the Line

Nunez-Roches’ biggest rivals for playing time are Anthony Nelson and my next topic William Gholston. Gholston was taken in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played through his rookie contract and was re-signed in 2017 to a five-year deal. So far, Gholston has had flashes of what could be but never been able to do much more than being a part of a rotation, although he did start in half of the games he’s played in Tampa. With career numbers of 12 sacks and 180 solo tackles, Golston is set to have a career season – not like that would be tough at all. He’s healthy entering this season and is ready for a rejuvenation of his college days at Michigan State, where he declared after his Junior year with 142 total tackles, 30 for a loss, and 10 sacks.

Time to make an impact

The NFL is full of players playing backup roles, with new ones coming in every season. At some point, these players have to make an impact in order to hold onto that high paying job; not necessarily becoming a starter, but at least obtaining the level as a trustable, and acceptable player that can come in and give you solid, impactful minutes. This could be the season that he comes out of his shell. When you have so much talent around you, it certainly can help your star shine brighter, make you, and help enable you to do your job better, because your team-mates are doing theirs so well. Both Nunez-Roches and Gholston are ready for this long-awaited season to begin. One thing is for sure, no matter how much the Bucs stadium crews spray Raymond James Stadium this season, they were going to have Nunez-Roches. Go Bucs!!

Buccaneers

NFL.com says it’s Super Bowl or bust for 2020 installment of the Buccaneers

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Nothing short of the big game would be considered a good season

It’s now or never, or next year, whichever comes first. Wait, that’s not right, is it? We have this year or next year, or both years actually. It’s no secret that the Buccaneers have been in win right now mode for this entire offseason. Tom Brady will be here for two seasons, but only one reason, and that is to add a companion Lombardi trophy for the one we already got. To give Tom Brady that seventh gaudy ring, to go along with the other mission impossible six he’s collected like collectible Slurpee Cups. By this point, they are beginning to start piling up like old newspapers on an episode of hoarders. Well, I guess I’m stretching that a bit, but add one more, and it’s official.

Brady wasn’t brought in to just get us to the playoffs

The fact that the next Super Bowl is being catered in Tampa this football season; added to the fact that the GOAT slipped into Raymond James Stadium and has been devouring the grass in our end zone the last couple months, has put a level of win now on the season the likes the league has never seen before. There has been an expiration date placed on our Super Bowl aspirations, and it runs out in two years. The apex of that period coming this season with a chance to become the first team in NFL history to ever play host to the big game, while also being in it. How about that? The perennial laughable losers have stolen the rest of the league’s attention. The red carpet darling, once again. It’s been almost two decades since the last time the limousine pulled up, and surprise, surprise, a Buccaneer stepped out of it, tousling the hair, the gleam of popping flashbulbs glistening off the 25 million dollar grin. It’s our time again, even as improbable as that would normally be.

Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles provide the coaching at the highest level

Adam Rank of NFL.com has said that this is Super-Bowl or bust for our Bucs, and who could blame him. The writer for the NFL’s online division recently released his yearly take on The Buccaneers. Let’s say in the least he’s all wound up like the rest of us over the huge possibilities Tom Brady and the boys have. Here’s a portion of what he had to say concerning the Bucs new signal-caller.

“There is nothing like a fresh start to reinvigorate you. Getting out and playing in the Florida sunshine later in the year instead of the dreary cold of New England has to help. Plus, look at the receiving corps. It’s the best Brady has had since 2007. And Gronk is joining the fun. To me, it would be a lot like dating Rachel Hunter. It might not be Rachel Hunter when she was the SI swimsuit cover girl in 1994, but it’s still Rachel Hunter. This is going to be amazing.” – Adam Rank NFL.com

Wrapping up

Who could argue with that? You have the best quarterback in the history of the universe, at least as far as we know. Give him the number one ranked duo in the league entering 2020: Two young guns at running back, the best trio of tight ends hands down, and an upgraded to some extent offensive line. The cherry on the top of it all, though, is going to be the defense. I can’t get over how subdued the fanbase is over this unit of world wreckers. It’s like they haven’t realized how good every aspect of this defense is going to be. Many haven’t grasped the realization after so many years of being terrible in the defensive backfield, that this unit is going to be one of the NFL’s very best. It’s the last jewel in the defensive crown, the slamming of the door, the final and best chapter. It is the product of our meticulous genius Jason Licht. I’ll be honest, two drafts ago I was leading the charge to fire that kicker drafting idiot. Redemption is a very beautiful thing; it can cover a multitude of draft day kicker mistakes. If this class of 2020 plays to it’s potential, you may be looking at the best two-year haul in Bucs history. Everything is looking up, why a rookie kicker might even make it to the end of year two being the confidently expected starter in season three. Wouldn’t that be special? Not as special as that kicker wearing a new ring going into next season. Go Bucs!!

Opinion Editorial

Five 2020 Breakout Bucs

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Last season’s Ace in the hole

Last season, I correctly singled out Shaq Barrett as a player that was going to make a big difference in our Defense, and that was our “Ace in the hole”. This was back on June 12, 2019, back before Camp, back at the ending of OTA’s. What do I do for an encore? Shaq being overlooked by most last season was easy to do. He was signed in March of 2019, then came the draft and undrafted free agents. He kind of just fell off the map until he got in there and started playing as the season arrived. I don’t see another Shaq-type impact player like he was last season. However, I do see some players that will step it up this season and make impacts to a high degree. My opinions on these players:

Running Game

I had expected more from last season. As the season progressed, it was plain to see that the Arians/Leftwich offensive machine didn’t give the running game much of a fighting chance to shine. But there is a glimmer of hope with what was learned last year, and with Brady being here, that the running game, and overall touches to the same, will increase this season. With that being said, I believe in Ronald Jones. Even with the talented rookie from Vanderbilt coming aboard, I believe Jones will have the kind of season that’s truly going to surprise some people. It will be his breakout year, and he will cement himself as the starter. I also feel very encouraged by the potential of Ke’Shawn Vaughn, he could actually come in and have close to the season I’m expecting from Jones. But that’s cheating, so I choose Jones for 2020. I’m looking for the nine hundred to one thousand yards rushing, and another three to five hundred yards receiving. Pencil him in for ten to twelve touchdowns. Possibly, four of five of those being short passes from Brady in the red zone that he turns up-field and into touchdowns.

Let’s get Defensive

Second up, we jump to the other side of the ball and focus on a second-year multi-talented former Iowa teammate of our first-round draft pick, Tristan Wirfs. Of course, I’m speaking of OLB/Endrusher Anthony Nelson. At 6’7, 275 pounds, he’s hard to miss. He’s also the main reason they didn’t retain Carl Nassib. We already have a player better than Nassib needing snaps. When Anthony Nelson gets the downs this season, you are going to hear that name called quite a bit. In Nelson’s Iowa career, he finished with 23.0 sacks and 31 tackles for a loss in just 39 games. Coming out in a year that was full of big-name defensive lineman, Nelson slipped into the fourth round. Jason Licht was certainly happy to see him there when the Bucs were on the clock. You are going to find out why – if he can stay healthy in 2020 – not being a starter is going to hold his numbers down, but when he is in there, he will be a disruptive force as he comes into his own this season.

Second-year players dominate the list

It seems that the team is full of young players ready to jump out and add to last season’s accomplishments. Jamel Dean is a 6’1″, 217 lbs corner that will run circles around you at a pace of 4.30 seconds in the 40. Dean started out at Ohio State though he wasn’t medically cleared to play while there. He transferred to Auburn, turning pro after his junior year and being chosen by Tampa in the third round. In his Buccaneers debut week 9, Jamel Dean had a rough go of it. He gave up three touchdowns, but he also had six tackles and 4 deflected balls. One week later, he picked off Deshaun Watson. Dean finished up his rookie season with 21 tackles, 17 pass deflections, 2 interceptions, and 1 forced fumble. This season Dean will show growth and come into his own, making a name for himself and becoming the shutdown corner the Bucs have needed for a long time. Sean Murphy-Bunting will also come into his own and have a great season. however, I suspect that Dean will shine the brightest of our second-year stars.

Expect the unexpected

The last two of the five, one from the offense and one from the defense, are extremely talented. One has been doing it at the top level for many years, and the other is expected to be great and to further build on his impressive rookie season. You may ask why would either of these players be on a breakout list, especially the offensive player? This is why. Finishing 12-4 is boring, you might ask? For Mr. Brady, yes, very much so. The 2019 Patriots were going nowhere. Had they even made it as far as the AFC Title game, it would have been a shock to many. Remember this is the team that lost to the Dolphins at home to boot. 2020 is going to be a rebirth of Tom Brady. You are going to see a newer, reinvigorated edition of number twelve in Tampa. He’s going to make all the difference in the world. With the talent around him to make a run at a tenth career Super Bowl appearance. You’re going to see a new fire in him. So much so that he is my fourth break out player pick. I’m sure you are thinking that’s a safe pick for me, but at 43, during the season, Brady could be boring like he was last season. I’m predicting a very big year from him. He will not disappoint, and he will be noticeably better than last season, leading the Buccaneers on a run to being the first team to host a Super Bowl at home in NFL History.

Second future Hall Of Fame player is #5

Last, but far from least, another second-year player that’s going to make us forget all about Derrick Brooks – so to speak. He is our next Hall of Fame inductee unless Barber or Lynch find their way in. Assuming he’s able to stay healthy, there’s no doubt about it. The Hall was brought about because of players like Devin White. Had he started every game last year, I believe he would have been Defensive Rookie of The Year hands down. We saw glimpses, last season, of how good he could be. Be prepared for a full year of breakout-superhero- level football from number 45. This season will be his breakout year. He will be doing some absolutely amazing things for this Defense. He’s going to be a one-man wrecking crew. But, he is just another piece of a Defense that is going to be extraordinarily successful this season. He and LaVonte David are going to be so much fun to watch; add in the rest, and you wonder how anyone will ever score on us this season. Enthusiastic about the season, am I? You bet! I actually believe every bit of what I’m saying. This team can make some very good teams look average. Now they just have to get out on that field and do it, and with the five breakout players I’ve named, they will. Go Bucs!!

Opinion Editorial

“The skies the limit for us” and a Home Game in Super Bowl LV!

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“The wonderful thing about fairy tales, and what follows, is that every now and then, they happen.”

That might be an understatement

I’m going to take this moment in print to just let it all hang out. I’m going to bust down the door, open the floodgates, pop the cork, getting loose, going commando, letting it all…You get the idea. It’s no holds barred from here on out. For the record, Shaq Barrett and I are 100% in unison on this one. We are more or less pool time chicken fight partners, slapping heads, and taking names. Yep, that’s us! So sit back, get comfortable, grab your favorite quaff, and get ready for a little boat ride down the river of positive expectations. We will not be making a port call or even slowing down for Realistic City or Be For Realville. It’s the second buoy to the right, and straight on to the morning of the Super Bowl. Okay, after the Peter Pan reference, it’s time to move along. You get it, though. I’m not going to be entertaining the negative. The wonderful thing about fairy tales, and what follows, is that every now and then, they happen. Dreams can come true, and every now and again, they do.

“There is still a lot of history that can be written.”

Plenty of unique history for Brady to write in Tampa

The Buccaneers being the first home team in NFL history is definitely a dream that 31 other teams share. It’s one of those things that over a hundred times may never happen. The trick, of course, is to be very good when your home stadium is granted a Super Bowl. Gillette Stadium has never hosted a Super Bowl. So even though Mr. Brady has appeared in nine of them, he never had the chance to accomplish what he could with the Buccaneers here in Tampa. There is still a lot of history that can be written on the back end of his career, things that would be unique to himself and the Bucs.

Shaq Barrett recently spoke out about the first thing that came to his mind upon hearing that Tom Brady took the lead in finding his way here and what it means to him now that The G.O.A.T is in greener, warmer pastures here in the Bay Area.

“I was thinking ‘We’re going to the championship,’ I was excited,” Barrett said on Sirius XM NFL Radio. “He puts us right at the top of anything. The way we were playing late last year as a defense, we feel like the sky’s the limit for us. We should be able to make a lot of noise this year.”    

“It’s like a whole different feeling,” he said, speaking on how the Great Quarterbacks lead their teams. “They always seem to make the play that you needed to make at the right time,” he said. “It’s up to us to just like step up and defend it the next time. He set them up, put them in position every time for a game-winning something, and then we just had to step up to the plate and defend whatever it was because he always gave them opportunities.”  

Many fans are questioning Brady’s age, and his arm, which was never a cannon, to begin with, and was never what made him so successful. What those fans aren’t figuring into the equation is what did make him great. His mind is his greatest asset and what has always separated him from his peers. Not that many NFL quarterbacks are not very intelligent. You have to be to play the most difficult and mentally demanding positions in all of sports. Brady just seems to be on another level. Of course, you must give Bill Belichik some credit for being one of the best coaches of all time. Separate them, and they are both still functioning at an incredibly high level, and together, you get nine Super Bowls and six rings.

“Someone that will protect the football in a way nobody has seen around here in quite a few years.”

Brady show comes to town to complete the success equation

Now that Brady is surrounded by talent in Tampa, of which there is no question that the biggest bulk of that talent – in the Tampa tradition – resides on its defense. Which is scary when you think about the talent on offense we have. I’ve been surprised to hear so many fans on social media still thinking we have a problem in the defensive backfield. Believe me when I assure you that if healthy, and intact, our defensive backfield will easily hold its own, and by mid-season, will be an NFL top three unit rivaling the rest of the defense for headlines. It goes without saying that Brady is going to be what we have been missing at quarterback. Someone that will protect the football in a way nobody has seen around here in quite a few years. It’s also a fact that to be the first home team in Super Bowl history, the defense is going to have to lead the charge into the history books. In my opinion, this team will lead the NFL in many categories on it’s way to a number one ranking at regular seasons end. Against the pass and the run, this unit is going to dominate. Turnover ratio, sacks, and hurries will be some of our tools for building a defense that will rival if not outplay the Brooks and Sapp led units. And that’s not just positive thinking, that is a very, very real possibility I believe they will obtain. Like Shaq Barrett said, “The sky is the limit”, and when the reigning NFL Sack man speaks, you listen. Go Bucs!!

 

 

Opinion Editorial

My Take on Sean Payton’s Take on Jameis Winston, and The Bucs Tanking in 2014!

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Tanking and Draft nonsense

Never one to shy from the camera, or saying what’s on his mind. Sean Payton had a few things to say about Jameis Winston and inserted a jab at the Buccaneers of 2014. Here is the first quote associated with the story made by Coach Payton. It concerns the way the Buccaneers found themselves with the #1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

“Heck, they lost a game on purpose to us at the end of the season prior with (head coach) Lovie Smith,” Payton told Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. “They forced Lovie to take his starters out of the game so they could get the one spot to draft Jameis. So we’re excited to work with him, and he’s still a young player — only 26 years old I believe — and I know he’s got a great work ethic and I know he’s competitive. So we’ll see how that unfolds, but we’re excited that he’s joined our team and he’ll be a part of what we’re trying to accomplish.” – Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times

There is very, very little doubt that this was indeed true. The Bucs were up 20-7 in the fourth quarter and had replaced most of the important position starters with backups after halftime; including three offensive linemen that allowed a safety on Josh McCown that sealed the victory for the Saints, and Tampa’s position to take Jameis Winston in the coming draft at number one. It’s no secret that Lovie Smith was enamored with Jameis Winston. So, in my opinion, it’s pretty obvious that the Bucs did tank the final game. My take on this? So what, who cares? It’s not like he’s accusing us of tanking the entire season or half of the season. He’s talking about one meaningless game that a bad team took a loss in on purpose. It wasn’t the Playoffs, or world peace, or even a basket of puppies that were harmed by this loss. In fact, the team was just doing what it thought it needed to do to get better, by dropping just one game. What difference does it make to Sean Payton? Other than he saw a chance to try and ‘Dis the Bucs on the public stage. News for ya Sean, you made yourself look petty by the move, in my opinion. Nobody is aghast at the revelation. Bucs’ fans already knew what went down back then, and the rest of the NFL doesn’t care – Except for Coach Sean “the drama queen” Payton.

 More Draft nonsense

 The following quote is Sean Payton telling us all about how Jameis Winston would have graded out in this latest Draft.

 “You say, ‘Well, throw Winston into this Draft ― because we can all remember him coming out and I was there at his Pro Day and sat right literally 5 yards behind him as he threw 80-some, 90-some passes,” Payton said. “How would he grade? And I think he’d fare extremely well in this class, and a number of classes, enough to where someone thought that much of him that they selected him with the first pick in the Draft.”- Per Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times

 My take? What does that have to do with the price of gum in Tanzania? The quarterbacks coming out of the 2020 Draft are college players, and Winston has already been in this league for five seasons. That five-year player is who you signed, that’s the player you are getting, not Jameis Winston at 21 years of age fresh out of college. You have to judge those draft-eligible players by their body of work; the same would be true for Jameis Winston. If you put him in with those players with his body of work to compare to theirs, he doesn’t rank high at all. He sends most teams running away from him. He couldn’t be trusted in Tampa, 658.5 miles north of New Orleans. Who knows, maybe he does get it turned around in the Big Easy, but that’s not the point, though. You are inserting Winston into a Draft Class and ignoring his first five seasons playing in the NFL. Shoot! Bryan Bosworth and JaMarcus Russel would grade out awful high in any Draft Class, not counting the fact that they bombed after turning pro. So what’s the point in even saying that, Coach Payton? So, let’s pretend we haven’t seen what Winston can do in the NFL, and compare him from five or six seasons ago with the truly amateur collegians coming out in the 2020 Draft. I don’t see the point in saying that. It seems like he was just bored and felt the need to bump his gums. Hence, you get this unimportant and uninteresting piles of horse apples that means absolutely nothing, except to brainless ‘Aints fans.

Finishing up

Sean Payton is an excellent coach, and for the most part, I respect him in the coaching arena. This was just my take on him in this situation. Jameis Winston; also has many qualities that can be admired. This was just a poke at one frame in time. Go Bucs!!

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Murphy-Bunting: “The sky’s the limit for us and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to be great.”

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Tampa’s second year Gem speaks out in video conference:

For a team that seems like they draft multiple corner backs in every draft, being able to have not drafted one in 2020 speaks volumes. It took them long enough, but there is little doubt that the Bucs are set and secure at the position heading into the 2020 season. Recently, Sean Murphy-Bunting sat down for a video conference with the Bay Area Media and discussed the confidence gained from the corner-back-less recent draft.

“Confidence is a big thing as far as being a DB, and being a corner; especially, it lets us know that they have a lot of trust and belief in us as a young secondary, as a young group. The sky’s the limit for us, and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to be great. We definitely need more turnovers,” SMB said. “That’s what we need to make our secondary known for, creating turnovers and getting interceptions. We had a lot of plays where we were in position to make plays, and we didn’t, or we broke the pass up. Obviously, those things are always good, but at the end of the day, we all want to be great. And so turning some of those PBUs into interceptions and turning those interceptions into pick-sixes, makes a big difference in a game. It makes a big difference in a season. So that’s what we’re striving to do, create more turnovers and just be that savvy secondary that the Bucs should be known for.” – Per Scott Smith, Senior Writer, and Editor for Buccaneers.com.

Best Draft since 1995?

(My personal opinion of course) Last season’s draft is one that I have compared to the 1995 draft, which brought the team two Hall of Famers in Sapp and Brooks. I believe the more recent one could be the franchise’s best draft yet to date with at least two, maybe three players, that if they stay relatively healthy could be hanging their helmets in Canton one day. It’s a given that the Bucs much-maligned secondary took a big step in the right direction last season. They hope to take that next step and turn it into a leap in 2020. Murphy-Bunting is going to do his best to make sure interceptions are a big part of it.

Hey, NFL! The Bucs are back!

The Buccaneers’ offense has become a facet of the game that teams have known to watch out for. When and if the season is played, the NFL will be put on notice that  tampa’s defense has returned to prominence, and will set the tone for games on both sides of the ball. Bucs’ Fans, this season, it’s going to be the team’s return to the top of the heap season. Take notice NFL! The Bucs are back. Go Bucs!!

 

 

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Greg McElroy thinks Ke’shawn Vaughn will be a star

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My early doubts were unfounded

I must admit that I hadn’t really done my homework on Vaughn. Oh, I fiddled around for a little bit on a few sites concerning him, but I hadn’t really dove in deep with an open mind until a few days ago. It wasn’t how he had a bad offensive line at Vanderbilt, or how he played like crap against the Gators last season and got blown out 56 to nothing. This time, though, I went further and checked out what he did the year before last. In that game, Vaughn caught a 75-yard touchdown pass and had 56 rushing yards for a total of 131 from scrimmage. At the time of the catch, Vandy was up 14-7. Then, as I usually do, I go back to their high school days and do some poking around.

Vaughn rips it up in High School, a sign of things to come?

In his Junior year, Ke’Shawn Vaughn averaged 250.2 yards a game, finishing up with 2,052 yards for a whopping 11.2 yards per carry, and 29 touchdowns, and in his final year, he was voted the Gatorade player of the year for the State of Tennessee after throwing up 2,646 yards and 45 touchdowns which lead that team to the state semi-finals. Vaughn was also a sprinter on the track team. That is a load of talent this young man is carrying around. He may just be one of those guys, that for whatever the reason, he slipped through the cracks from college through the draft. I had my doubts, but I’ve definitely warmed up to the guy. He’s a gem waiting to shine.

Greg McElroy of the SEC Network called it before the draft.

Just recently, Greg McElroy of the SEC Network gave his thoughts on hidden gems out of the SEC at the NFL Draft. He didn’t waste any time jumping on Vaughn. Pointing out the Gator Game that I spoke of above, he believes had Vaughn not gotten hurt that game, that Vandy might have beaten Florida two seasons ago. McElroy went on to talk about how he was basically a man among boys in Nashville that when he hits the NFL, and with the talent around him – also very talented men – that he will shine for any team that takes him. He will finally be able to blossom like he did at times coming up.

Are you ready for some football?

Well, we know that team to be our Buccaneers, and it’s looking more and more like when they throw open the gate to the season, Vaughn will be leading the charge for the offense. Every draft there are players that are a lot better than the label they have been given. Licht seems to have a knack for identifying some of these players. Let’s hope he’s right on the mark with Vaughn. He sure does appear to have been. Even more so, I’m ready for some football!! GO Bucs!!