Okoye Getting Ready For Sundays
August 30th, 2012Whew! Joe’s resting a little bit easier this afternoon. No, Rachel Watson didn’t help Joe get a sound night sleep after the dreadful Bucs-Redskins game. Joe is soothed because Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times brings word today that defensive tackle Amobi Okoye is preparing to help the Bucs in 10 days against Carolina.
Okoye, who tipped a pass against Miami three weeks ago and disappeared after that, is in positive management mode with his troublesome knee.
“I came out and did the conditioning test (on July 28) and it felt good after that,” Okoye said. “I played in Miami (in the preseason opener). But I just think the constant beating and beating on it was an issue. It had some swelling and I just needed to continue to rehab it. I’m out there practicing on and off and I’m basically just getting it ready for Sundays. Right now it’s feeling better than it was even before the conditioning test.”
This is great news. Okoye was solid playing more than 50 percent of the snaps for a good Bears defense last season. He was a key acquisition, considering Gerald McCoy’s fragility and Roy Miller’s history of poor play, and Brian Price getting the boot.
If Okoye is ready to play, that means the Bucs won’t have to rely on Miller’s play reaching a level never before seen in a Bucs uniform. Miller may pull it off, but Joe wouldn’t want to have to bet on it.
August 30th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
If Okaye is good to go, that means that on passing downs Bennett can stay at end & not have to move inside.
August 30th, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Glass Gerald anyone?
August 30th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I was excited when we signed him this offseason but when he says it gets some swelling I get concerned. Sounds like it’s a chronic knee problem that gets better but a week or two of impact and its back to being swollen/sore again…also, makes sense why Chicago made little effort to re-sign him.
August 30th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Okoye is a 3 technique…..and is McCoy’s back up, not Miller’s back up.
Gary Gibson and Frank Okam are the back up Nose tackles.
Okoye is 290lbs at best……I doubt he could play the nose effectively on early run downs…..he is an interior pass rusher.
Again with the Roy Miller hate……..I don’t get it. He could easily be the anchor of this D-line for years to come if he continues to improve (like he has) and stay healthy (like he is).
August 30th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
So he’s going to be another Kellen Winslow, where he misses practices to keep his gimp knee good for Sundays?
I don’t see him sticking around after this season unless he plays like a pro-bowler. That’s not a Schiano kind of man.
August 30th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Glad he’s “getting healthy”, but it won’t last and neither will he. He’s a 1 year player and if we can keep him healthy for most of the time, then that buys us time (which is what Schiano and Dominick really want – stop gap).
August 30th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
jrock, i see alot of backups & role players who won’t be around or will slide down the depth chart once next year’s draft and free agency come around. raheem morris used to kick around the phrase “we will tolerate you until we can replace you” – i think that is very much the case for our new head coach. if he gets through the season with his team still buying in, you will see alot of the naturally gifted potential-laden athletes of the morris era shuffled out in favor of guys who are maybe closer to their ceiling but stay in the league by working hard.
August 30th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Okoye is a stop gap player on a one year contract. We will be fortunate to get about 25 quality snaps a game.
Let’s hope his knee can be up to the task.
August 30th, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Wait for it!
Looks like we have yet another player who was rehabbing his knee just fine thank you. Then, he was forced to sprint 110 yards, in the Florida heat not once but 16 consecutive times. Impossible! Incredulous! Ridiculous!
All you have to do is tweak a muscle and then if you try to work through it, you will injure yourself at your weakest point (rehabbed knee). This isn’t rocket science!
How butch does our HC look to Okoye now? How butch does he look to Holland, Price, Talib, Penn and Briscoe?
How butch does he look to Peanut 2.0 (Smith) who could have made the team except that he got caught from behind on a kick off return where he should have gone all the way but his legs were too tired. If he get’s cut, it’s on the Little General.
August 30th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
I think Miguel Grande has succeeded Tommy 2.2 as the most annoying, rack-your-brain poster on JBF.
We all know know Thomas’ constant GMC penetration comments really had something to do with a personal mishap he once had with his imitation Gerald prosthetic; and now I think we can all conclude Miguel’s infatuation with the Coach’s conditioning test has more to do with his own…need I say more
August 30th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I heard shiano’s conditioning test shot JFK.
August 30th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
“I came out and did the conditioning test (on July 28) and it felt good after that,” Okoye said.
Sure doesn’t seem like Okoye felt like the test was too arduous, or that it damaged the knee. By your logic the team should never do anything but
walk-throughs, lest some poor wimpy soul be tired, come game day.
As for Smith, you’re flat out wrong, he’s made the team thru the -st cuts & , in my opinion, will make it past the next cuts too.
August 30th, 2012 at 4:19 pm
how the hell is 16 110 yrd sprints difficult? pfft, pansies
August 30th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
The butchest coach in the NFL is Belicheat. He forces his linemen to sprint 40 yards 10 times. Those conditioning tests are grueling and cruel.
We have an unproven college coach who has never won anywhere. In order to out-butch Belicheat, he devised the 110X16 torture tests without ever running a practice in the Tampa heat. He lost 3 starters before camp started and now we know he lost 5 more players to the torture tests.
Robert, you try it. I know I can’t do it and I climb mountains for fitness.
August 30th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
It sure seems like the Bucs have a knack for picking chandelier defensive lineman. As soon as one comes back from injury another is out. It would be nice to not have to talk about injuries to the d line for 2 weeks. This worries me as a Bucs fan.
August 30th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
@Miguel,
First of all, i would take a 110 yard fast jog over a 40 yard sprint any day of the week. You don’t have any idea what time was required for the 110 yard “torture test”. We do know that there were different times to make depending on position. I highly doubt he had Okoye and players of his size do this test in full sprint mode. If you believe that, then you are a bigger idiot than you appear. Besides, running straight lines on grass is not going to hurt your knee. Cutting will, but not running.
You really need to get over your obsession with the conditioning test. You can’t blame every single injury on that test, especially when your facts are wrong (ex. Donald Penn got hurt before training camp, so he didn’t get hurt from the test as you have continued to claim.). Having false information makes your argument even more stupid (if that’s even possible). Legarette Blount took a direct shot to his knees, yet he is okay. Did he skip the conditioning test?
August 30th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Hey I thought running is part of football an if you can’t take the heat move north,we don’t need any players that don’t or can’t practice. Cut him
August 30th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
@Hawaiian
They are 110 yard sprints not jogs. They are timed, if you jog, you fail.
Donald Penn injured his calf training for the 110X16 sprints, his own words.
As a former long distance runner, when you have a sore calf, thigh, hamstring, ankle or knee, you have to stop training or you will injure something else. Imagine, in a contact sport when you’re favoring a sore calf and someone blindsides your knee. Recipe for disaster.
The sprints are the kick off to the real hard work, training camp. After the original players went down or were cut in a fit of anger, the rest hobbled around at half speed severely hindering their progress. If you suggested resting your sore legs until they completely recover, you get cut. Witness last night’s game, where their scrubs beat the living crap out of our scrubs.
Belicheat has a stop watch on every lineman in their 40 yard sprints. Running backs and tight ends 50 yards. Receivers and DB’s 60 yards. The Little General forces his troops to run more than twice as far, almost twice as much. Actually, it worse than twice as much. The 15th sprint is far more difficult than 1-4. They are geometrically more difficult. They lost Brian Price after 4. Imagine how hard is would have been for him to complete.
The starting QB, shows up for camp in the best shape of his life and he’s immediately sidelined vomiting his guts out. Doesn’t sound like an easy jog to me. Penn recovered from his injury and missed an additional week of camp preparing for the sprints. Easy jog?
There was no exemption for injured players. I would suggest the NFL player’s union take the Little General to court next year. Cease and desist!
I don’t understand the LGB reference.
Now, the tests rear their ugly head because free agents do not want to come here and you can’t make them. Only the most desperate will accept to take the tests and then their legs will be too shot to perform at full speed for a month. So they get cut.
Where’s the wisdom? Where’s the common sense? Instead we have someone with a Napoleonic Complex trying to prove how macho he is. Maybe, if the Bucs finish last in the division, he will double them, 220X32, then we will win the Super Bowl for sure.
August 30th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
The 110x16s killed Dumbledore
August 30th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
The 110x16s are part of the Illuminati
August 30th, 2012 at 8:16 pm
@Miguel,
First of all, what were the times required? How do you know if it was a sprint or a jog? All we know is that there were different times set for each position. All you are doing is assuming what you want, because you don’t like Schiano. And I never once said “easy jog”. It makes you look stupid to put words into people’s mouths.
As for Penn, you are wrong. He got hurt getting ready for training camp. That was his words. He didn’t say he was getting ready for the conditioning test. You are once again putting words that were never spoken into people’s mouth. So not only do you blame injuries on a conditioning test, but you blame the conditioning test for people getting ready for the conditioning test? Are you serious, or is this some kind of a joke that I don’t get?
Okoye has a history of bad knees. Why do you assume the conditioning tests caused his injury? What about the first few times it happened? Should he not have to be in shape because he has a history of knee problems. Or should we treat him like K2 and not subject him to the same test as everyone else on the team?
How do you know there was no exemption for injured players? Penn didn’t take it. Wouldn’t that be an exception? If you can practice, you can take the test. Don’t see your case. Neither does anyone else, because not one person has complained about the test, not even the guys who were removed from the team. Only the mountain climbing, long distance running, hemp eating Miguel Jock Strap Grande has an issue. Sorry buddy, but you don’t mean sh!t to anyone.
As for Freeman vomiting, cry me a f-ing river. My high school basketball practices had 4 rubbish cans on each corner of the court, and they were used regularly. And we were in good shape. Sports are tough, get over it crybaby.
I’m so sorry you don’t have enough common sense to understand the Blount reference. I can’t help you not be stupid.
So stop crying, because you sound like a soccer mom crying because his son got an owie from running too much. Take your pansy arse up a mountain and scream your head off, because nobody here gives a crap. Don’t forget to pack yourself extra diapers.
August 30th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
the trolls come out at night!
again with the conspiracy theories, miquel? you have nothing to support your supposition except personal experience as a little man 95 lb marathoner that climbs mountains, supposedly. this is a real sport, with real athletes, getting paid ridiculous amounts of money. i sure hope they could pass this conditioning test or they do not take their job seriously, especially since they were told ahead of time.
August 31st, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Okoye merely mentions the 110X16 gauntlets and gets cut.
How butch is that?