Only One Speed For Joe Cullen
April 15th, 2014
Joe recommends the latest “Meet The Coaches” feature on Buccaneers.com. Scott Smith goes deep with new defensive line coach Joe Cullen, Gerald McCoy’s sixth defensive line coach in five years.
Cullen, whose voice could land him in Mafia films, hits on a lot of topics in the roughly six-minute video, which prompted Joe to dive into further research.
That study led Joe to this long feature story on Cullen published by Cleveland.com. Cullen helped improve the Browns’ sack totals and yards-per-carry-allowed last season in his first year there before the ousting of Cleveland’s new regime.
Cullen, to say the least, is a high-energy guy, in the mold of his NFL mentor, Rod Marinelli.
Since joining the Browns staff in January, Cullen has molded a talented group of players into one of the NFL’s emerging defensive lines with shouts of “hand speed” and “violent hands” echoing in their collective cerebral cortex.
He can drive them like sled dogs on the practice field then treat them to his wife’s pastries every Friday afternoon. He is at once demanding and understanding, a position coach who’s learned from mistakes that nearly cost him his career seven years ago, and helps others in taming their own temptations.
Twenty-three years of coaching has not dulled his exuberance or attention to detail.
“Some coaches who were most influential to me were high-energy guys,” Cullen said. “Positive, but very intense. I’ve just carried that over throughout my career. I equate the (defensive line) position to a heavyweight fighter.
“When Mike Tyson got ready for a fight, he got ready for a fight. He didn’t go half speed through anything . . . It’s the same way with these guys. You can’t show up on game day and expect to play that way.”
Again, Joe recommends you grab a cold beverage, perhaps a spicy Skyy bloody mary, and enjoy. Cullen’s playing history as an undersized nose tackle was very interesting to Joe. That likely explains a lot.
Joe’s also learned hat “You can’t live soft and fight tough,” is one of Cullen’s core beliefs that he’ll be drilling daily to the Bucs defensive line. Interestingly, Cullen has long had a no-cursing goal for himself and his students, directly in the Lovie Smith mold.
Yes, the Bucs have had loud, high-energy, big-personality defensive line coaches before. Keith Millard was one, for sure. If you watched practice, you knew where Millard was, and players on other positions were often seen watching/listening to Millard. Bryan Cox shared the D-line coaching duties the past two seasons, and he surely was a commanding presence, not loud but very hands on.
Cullen seems to be at a higher intensity, minus the Pro Bowl resume. Joe’s very interested to see how his all-out, all-the-time mindset meshes with DaQuan Bowers, who really seems to need that kind of coach to get the most out of him. Here’s another peek at Cullen from his years in Jacksonville.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:20 am
Thats a great point about Bowers Joe.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:25 am
Does the “You can’t live soft and fight tough” phrase apply to #93?
April 15th, 2014 at 10:34 am
Bowers has not worked out. Just trade him for a 7th rounder and be done with him. He has received numerous chances to grab a starting role and has failed miserably.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:35 am
Great piece Joe. As I have said, I am impressed with the Bucs coaching staff and think it will help us tremendously to have this kind of talent. NOW, let’s get them some more toys to work with!
April 15th, 2014 at 10:46 am
Men, I can’t wait to preseason! Go Bucs!
Shaw is coming to Tampa.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:52 am
Why does the bucs web site give me fits with their videos? Im on a new laptop and google chrome nor IE 10 will play the vids.
On my old one, chrome never worked but IE 7 did…smh.
Any suggestions?
April 15th, 2014 at 10:53 am
“Joe’s also learned that “You can’t live soft and fight tough,” is one of Cullen’s core beliefs that he’ll be drilling daily to the Bucs defensive line.”
Poor Geraldini 🙁 He does that week in week out, and he’s awesome for it.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:59 am
MadMax I have had issues too with same browsers you mentioned. I don’t have a fix for you. I have been just watching the videos on my tablet or phone with the bucs android app. my issues have been sporadic not constant.
I like the Cullen hire and his success with dl is impressive.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:12 am
And this was the least informative piece of the week.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:16 am
Thinking the “live soft” refers to training not off field. Pretty sure #93 trains pretty hard. Ask O-linemen if he plays hard.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:49 am
Thanks tmax….well I did a little research, downloaded the mozilla firefox browser and the videos immediately started working….no bs changing settings or trying this and that like with chrome and explorer. Just wished it all worked in chrome.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:55 am
MadMax Says
“Why does the bucs web site give me fits with their videos? Im on a new laptop and google chrome nor IE 10 will play the vids.
On my old one, chrome never worked but IE 7 did…smh.
Any suggestions?”
“Thanks tmax….well I did a little research, downloaded the mozilla firefox browser and the videos immediately started working….no bs changing settings or trying this and that like with chrome and explorer. Just wished it all worked in chrome.”
Chrome is one of the worst browsers. In firefox you can customize settings very easily. Like when you open a page in another tab, Firefox has a setting that lets you switch to it immediately. I love that feature.
Fair warning though, unless they fixed it, the latest version has issues with playing Facebook games. I don’t play them, but my wife does.
I use Firefox. I HATE Chrome with a passion. lol
April 15th, 2014 at 11:56 am
Also, Google made Chrome so they could gather browsing information on all its users. It sends out more of your information than any other browser without your permission.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:03 pm
I don’t understand why people leave bitchy comments about articles and points of view expressed on this site. It’s like taking a crap on your friend’s floor and telling them it’s their fault….Disagreeing is fine, but have some class.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:06 pm
Hmmm, maybe I should stick to firefox then….been using “do not track me” and “adblock” with chrome and they’re always blocking things….Thanks for the input.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:08 pm
After watching the vid, I like this guy!! He seems to be a hard nosed motivator at grinding….you either do it or you dont, the results will follow.
April 15th, 2014 at 1:29 pm
Good interview. Cullen gets it they need to rotate. Old regime had too many guys playing the whole game 60+ snaps.
April 16th, 2014 at 7:11 am
Exactly what speed was Cullen going when he drove through that drive-thru naked up in Detroit? I like the hire, but it had to be asked.