Boomer Esiason Talks To Joe
February 20th, 2013
Joe has so many interviews he conducted at Media Day of Super Bowl week, he still has plenty in the can to last another couple of weeks.
Today, Joe brings you the words from former Super Bowl quarterback and current CBS NFL analyst Boomer Esiason. The golden southpaw, a noted Josh Freeman critic, talked to Joe about how he feels the Bucs are on the verge of being an NFL powerhouse thanks to the decisions of Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
JoeBucsFan: Your impressions of Greg Schiano’s first year guiding the Bucs?
Boomer Esiason: I thought it was good. I thought it was great. Now they just have to figure out their quarterback situation. They have to get more out of Josh. I know he is putting pressure on him; there is nothing wrong with that. It is all good. All of these young quarterbacks have to learn to grow into the next Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Drew Brees. It takes lot of hard work and dedication and I am sure that is exactly what Greg was pointing to.
Joe: Was Mark Dominik, in a sense, a trendsetter because he was the first [NFL general manager] to look at Chip Kelly and all of a sudden everybody wanted to hire Kelly.?He did hire Schiano, mostly a college a guy. Now interviewing and hiring college guys seems to be a fad.
Esiason: Well, it’s not an overall fad. I do know Andy Reid was hired and a lot of [NFL] coordinators were hired. The pro game is different than the college game; I don’t care what anybody says. But, coaching, dedication, commitment, putting the time and effort in, that never changes. I don’t care what level you are at and Schiano has that in spades. He will put the time in. He knows the game and he certainly has a track record to fall back on. We will see if Chip Kelly has that. I’m not ready to brand him like that yet.
Joe: Lavonte David, I thought he was one of the most underrated rookies.
Esiason: He was! Uh, huh, he was. Most of us that follow the game on a weekly basis think [the Bucs] had a terrific rookie class, by the way. That is an up and coming team, there is no question about that. With the addition of Vincent Jackson through free agency, a smart addition, then adding Carl Nicks, there are a number of things they did that are really good. As long as Josh continues to grow and doesn’t have any downturns like he did towards the end of the year, even though they are in a tough division, they will be a tough team to deal with.
February 20th, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Why not ask him directly where he got this impression that Josh Freeman didn’t have the right work ethic? And challenge him on it…
February 20th, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Then again, I assume there was much more said “off the record”.
February 20th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
ok, so even though Boomer has been known to bash Freeman he hasn’t totally given up on him, at least that’s what I got from this interview. Its also nice to see some respect given to us by someone in the national media. Im not asking for the bucs to be a national media sensation every week, all Im asking for is a little recognition every now and then.
February 20th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Lavonte David will ALWAYS be overlooked with The Great White Hype….Luke Kuechly in our Division. Luke is a PILE JUMPER who racks up Assists!!!!!
February 20th, 2013 at 7:42 pm
And saying something positive about Dom… Oh no. What’s a hater to do?
February 20th, 2013 at 8:20 pm
He didn’t even know Lavonte David was on the Bucs…These guys are so disconnected from anything Bucs.
February 20th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Think you my have misread that Paul.
February 20th, 2013 at 9:19 pm
For several reasons. One, Joe knew he’s not going to give that up. Two, Joe has a pretty good idea of where Boomer is getting that info. Three, Boomer has scant time to talk to Joe so Joe wanted to get whatever questions he could in. Four, there is a certain amount of decorum and protocol that has to be observed in these settings and there was and is no way Joe was going to risk getting his credentials pulled for good by starting a dust-up with a CBS heavy hitter.
February 20th, 2013 at 11:53 pm
everybody in the tampa media has taken boomer to task on te freeman work ethic comments. i don’t think there’s anything left to ask him about on that matter. time to talk to boomer about other stuff.
February 21st, 2013 at 12:05 am
Boomer’s opinion is worth less than mine and mine is WORTHLESS!
February 21st, 2013 at 12:12 am
We understand that Joe was in no position to put Mr. Esiason on the hot seat, for his slanderous comments he made about Josh Freeman’s work ethic. A confrontational question, considering the venue, and surrounded by colleagues would not have been a professional move , but I still wish someone would ask him someday to clarify his accusation of Josh Freeman. Boomer should voluntarily disclose where he got this information from or at least explain that his accusations we’re slightly over-exaggerated and a were just a little manufactured lie. Plus, one would think, a CBS heavy hitter, like Boomer Esiason, would act with a higher standard of professionalism.
IMO …jus’ sayin’
February 21st, 2013 at 12:56 am
“Two, Joe has a pretty good idea of where Boomer is getting that info.”
Where would that be? All of Tampa is curious
February 21st, 2013 at 4:31 am
The D:
It is speculation because, notice, Joe wrote “has a pretty good idea.”
February 21st, 2013 at 7:26 am
It’s amazing how someone’s invalid perception of a player just keeps getting repeated by those in the media who don’t take the time for a personal evaluation/investigation. How many times have we all been given an opinion about someone we’ve never met only to find out that reality was just the opposite? Unless someone high up in the organization is suddenly concerned about Josh digressing to a Shawn King work ethic, I’ll continue to discount Boomer’s remarks.
February 21st, 2013 at 7:28 am
Here’s how “Special” Boomer is to our network, nationwide video meeting for “ALL” of our media employees, JN(the voice of our network) is MCing, wearing a natty blue suit, all the division Veeps (Sr. and Jr.) are wearing suits, LM (our fearless leader) is wearing a suit, different speakers from all of our different media entities are called up to the mic and they are all wearing appropriate business attire, they call Boomer and his radio sidekick to the mic, lemme just say this, Boomer made Bill Belicheat look like he’s over dressed when he’s patrolling the NE sidelines, I know for sure Boomer was wearing a hoodie I could see that, but I’m also pretty sure he was wearing pajama pants too, it looked like he had just rolled out of bed, it was about 1 pm.
February 21st, 2013 at 8:41 am
@ Scubog ” It’s amazing how someone’s invalid perception of a player just keeps getting repeated by those in the media who don’t take the time for a personal evaluation/investigation.”
It is the times we live in, does it not sound like WMD & Iraqs involvement in 9-11. Sad but true, we get our “facts” from sources we trust to tell us the truth, or at least what they want us to hear as the truth. Some reports may even have a small grain of truth to it, but very small grains…
February 21st, 2013 at 9:59 am
Others have said Josh got caught up with being an NFL QB and the things that go with that during the Morris time. Schiano has him back on track, and we will hopefully see Josh realize his potential in 2013.
Some people above say Boomer is not credible, or his opinion means nothing, but they never say why. he was an NFL AQB that won a SB, what more could he do to be credible to discuss the NFL?
February 21st, 2013 at 12:44 pm
I agree with McBuc. Does anyone here really believe Boomer went out of his way to make up a story and slander the Bucs/Freeman? Boomer isn’t calling him Jamarcus Russell he just might not be spending EVERY waking minute trying to get better. This is likely the byproduct of being a young millionaire. I think Freeman will get it together soon.
February 21st, 2013 at 7:42 pm
@gotbucs I meant that he didn’t offer up any comment on David and quickly changed the subject.