Super Bowl And Playoff Leaders Are Different
June 9th, 2014
Things smell a lot different around One Buc Palace these days for Gerald McCoy, and it’s not just the absence of MRSA sanitation chemicals or vomit-inducing defensive line stunts.
What McCoy is sniffing is a different kind of leadership.
Joe wrote last week about the great leadership challenge facing McCoy personally. (Joe advises you to click the link). But McCoy will have a lot of help and guidance.
Heck the guys sandwiching McCoy on the defensive line, Clinton McDonald and Michael Johnson, have years of playoff experience and McDonald has a shiny new Super Bowl ring. That’s a far cry from Stylez White and Roy Miller counseling then-rookie McCoy during the “Race to 10” of 2010.
McCoy explained how much he believes the Bucs’ leadership has changed on CBS Sports Radio last week.
“Nobody really besides Ronde [Barber] had been to a Super Bowl, let alone the playoffs. We only had like two or three people on the team who had ever been to the playoffs. So we had no experience and no really veteran leadership,” McCoy said of some of his past Bucs teams. “Well now we have guys who’ve been to the playoffs, a coaching staff who’s been to the playoffs and the Super Bowl; we have players who have been to the Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl. So we have all types of veteran leadership, all types of experience that can tie together and that actually knows how to win, and has been there and knows all the formulas.”
It’s somewhat ironic to hear this, considering McCoy’s defensive line coaches last year were Randy Melvin, who won a Super Bowl as Bill Belicheat’s D-line coach in New England, and Bryan Cox, who had a stellar NFL career and won a Super Bowl as a player.
McCoy also was on a defense last year with Darrelle Revis, Dashon Goldson and Jonathan Casillas, guys with all kinds of playoff experience. And Vincent Jackson (seven career playoff games) and offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan were on the other side of the ball.
This just tells Joe that McCoy is really feeling the impact from Johnson, McDonald and the new coaching staff. Hopefully, they can all help lift McCoy to new heights — Warren Sapp heights.
June 9th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
“Warren Sapp heights.”
Despite all the heartache of the past few years being a Buc fan isn’t so awful.
Warren Sapp heights indeed! That is a tremendously HIGH bar to reach but who knows GMAC may pull it off. At least he is on his way.
Then there’s Levonte who unfortunately for him will be forever measured against D. Brooks #55.
We may have sucked recently but at least we have the memories of one of the best defenses of all time and at least two players who were the very best at their positions in their prime. Ah the memories.
Let’s hope Lovie is starting a new set of memories for us.
June 9th, 2014 at 1:55 pm
Baby steps GMC, let’s see a winning record and maybe a playoff appearance before any of us get carried away with Super Bowl talk. I realize at this time of year fans and players alike are filled with optimism, but albeit a lot of (on paper) good moves so far the team has many unknowns (has Lovie improved his subpar game/time management? Will the O-line hold up? Will McCown play like he did last year or will MG8 be forced to come in once again to replace an underperforming vet? Will Tedford’s offense succeed in the NFL or flop? Me, show me a playoff appearance in at least two of the next 3 years or blow it up again.
June 9th, 2014 at 2:07 pm
GMC is not talking about going to the Super Bowl he is talking about all the veteran and coaching leadership that has been to playoffs or the Super bowl that the team can grow from. Hopefully this experience will help them grow.
June 9th, 2014 at 3:13 pm
“This just tells Joe that McCoy is really feeling the impact from Johnson, McDonald and the new coaching staff,” says Joe.
He is probably having great chemistry with his neighbors in the trenches. And I can see him and Lovie having a great relationship as coach and player but also McCoy looking up to Lovie as a person.
Joe Cullen will have McCoy eating pineapple before the bye week. By the tenth game I’ll be surprise if McCoy has not reached 10 sacks. And you know Warren will be on his ear all the way to the Super Bowl. Whenever that comes…
June 9th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
@toesontheline, so….. You don’t want your players hoping, thinking and wanting a Super Bowl win and or appearance? Should he come out and say, “yeah I’m not even thinking Super Bowl, if we get to the playoffs great but we are shooting for .500?
June 9th, 2014 at 5:37 pm
Nobody knows what the season results will be. If you are a Bucs fan, optimism is what keeps the excitement building to the start of the games that count. Diehard Buc fans will still support the team regardless of the win-loss record. Every underdog has their day eventually and the Bucs are just that. There is a lot to like about this teams chances to surprise the league with the changes made to this point. To me, there is a strong feel of competitiveness surrounding this whole group of coaches and players. New coaches, new uniforms and a new attitude.
June 9th, 2014 at 8:27 pm
@ 1Gr8Buc
Come on man, do you really need to ask? Of course the goal is SB, but as a fan I am being more reserved about my expectations than the players and coaches who can actually control their destiny. It’s nice to set goals I just don’t want to see any Bucs taking out newspaper ads assuring a SB victory either (like the O-line dude on the Panthers did a couple years ago). Less talk more do
June 9th, 2014 at 8:43 pm
Go hunt big dog. QB Killa #2 GMC!
June 10th, 2014 at 8:00 am
Much of football is between the ear holes. Set the expectations and goals high.