Can Mike Jenkins Pull A Tanard Jackson?
September 4th, 2014
One of the most amazing feats in recent Bucs history was performed by bong-friendly Tanard Jackson, and it seems the current Bucs regime is hoping cornerback Mike Jenkins can duplicate it.
Back in 2011, the Bucs were 3-2 and taking on the mighty Saints and Drew Brees at home.
Five days prior to kickoff, Jackson was reinstated by the NFL after a 56-week suspension.
And what did Jackson do? He walked off the street and into the starting lineup, intercepted Brees, and had five tackles and a deflected pass. The Bucs won the game and moved to 4-2 before the entire team imploded.
Joe remembers Ronde Barber raving about what a special player Jackson was to be able to walk off his couch and perform at the highest level.
That brings Bucs fans to Mike Jenkins, who limped off the Tampa Bay training camp field in late July with an undisclosed “upper leg” injury. Jenkins spent all of camp and preseason wearing a floppy hat and sneakers. But he returned to practice Monday and Lovie Smith has consistently talked about Jenkins being a starter. Jenkins has never even been out of the starting spot on the team’s depth chart.
(Joe doesn’t get the obsession with Jenkins, who hasn’t been a good player in years. But that’s a story for another day.)
Will Jenkins be physically ready to play after all that time off? Lovie sure seemed to think so, based on his comments early this week.
Today, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier didn’t sound as optimistic.
“This week, we’re just trying to get a feel for where he is physically more so than anything. He was always in the meetings and attentive in what we are trying to get done. But the physical part, we’re still trying to get some of those questions answered here in practice,” Frazier said before practice.
Joe has talked to enough NFL players and coaches over the years to know what Jackson pulled off three years ago was nearly an impossible miracle. His body broke down soon after during that season.
NFL types call it “football shape.” Players need to practice and take a few shots before they’re ready to start and play a full game.
Joe’s not sure if Lovie will start Jenkins over Johnthan Banks on Sunday. Joe sure hopes not. Banks had a strong summer. That Barber guy thinks so, too.
September 4th, 2014 at 3:21 pm
Mad about him starting over J Banks
September 4th, 2014 at 3:25 pm
Such a shame about Tanard. We should be talking about him as an elite safety right now.
September 4th, 2014 at 3:26 pm
Lovie trusts veterans over younger players by default…even those that font practice. I don’t trust Lovie on this one. Hope he is right.
September 4th, 2014 at 3:27 pm
Not buying him starting over J Banks. In what world does it make ANY sense to start Jenkins over Banks?? Not even in the cloak and dagger mind-game game-week injury world does the “speculation” about Jenkins coming off the pine he’s been riding constantly the past month and starting over Banks make sense. Lovie officially loses my confidence is this happens.
September 4th, 2014 at 3:50 pm
This may be the biggest head scratcher yet
September 4th, 2014 at 3:51 pm
Not sure what Lovie is thinkin especially for a player that seemed to b almost out the league IMO
September 4th, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Oh yeah, Jenkins has been a complete bust. There’s that too!
September 4th, 2014 at 4:08 pm
Jenkins is terrible and now consistently hurt. Chalk this guy up to get him healthy then out the door. Another fail like Meredith or Moore. Just read where Larsen is starting in Arizona over 1st round cooper and Davin is pushing for a starting job in St. Louis. Still not sold on these two to lead the team
September 4th, 2014 at 4:18 pm
Why is he behind banks?
September 4th, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Why is he not behind banks? Was my question
September 4th, 2014 at 4:20 pm
Smoke and mirrors
September 4th, 2014 at 4:37 pm
His INT of Aaron Rodgers to secure Rah’s first win rivals that of Eric Wright’s and Mason Foster’s pick 6’s for most exciting in Bucs history, regular season anyway.
September 4th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
@Jon – I read Davin Joseph has Greg Robinson (former number 2 overall pick) beat for the starting job. Hope Donald Penn also catches on somewhere (doesn’t seem likely). Not so sure about Larsen.
Penn is the starting left tackle in Oakland. Ted Larsen is a left guard in Arizona. –Joe
Not thrilled about the Jenkins decision but let’s see how it shakes out. At least we have a pretty damn good player in Banks waiting in the wings and with something to prove.
September 4th, 2014 at 4:47 pm
Thanks Joe..not sure how I completely forgot about Penn!
September 4th, 2014 at 5:03 pm
Question is can Mike Jenkins pull a …….Jonathan Banks !
September 4th, 2014 at 5:04 pm
I would understand this if Banks played like crap in the preseason, but he didn’t. I don’t get it.
September 4th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
Oahubuc Says:
September 4th, 2014 at 3:25 pm
Such a shame about Tanard. We should be talking about him as an elite safety right now.
No doubt waste of talent, I was a big fan of his.
September 4th, 2014 at 5:23 pm
Depth chart doesn’t mean a lot……starting doesn’t either….number of snaps does.
I suspect Banks will start and get the most snaps.
Lovie always says a player has to get on the field to succeed….and Banks has been on the field….
September 4th, 2014 at 5:50 pm
deminion Says:
Mad about him starting over J Banks
_____________________________
You mad bro?
September 4th, 2014 at 6:32 pm
If Banks had a strong summer, then you can bet Lovie noticed. These are professional coaches guys, they don’t have favorites like fans do, they play who they think gives them the best chance to win. If Jenkins is starting ahead of Banks, it’s for a reason.
September 4th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
or vice versa
September 4th, 2014 at 6:50 pm
Its also refreshing to see Lovie make these younger guys earn their reps. Rah used to gift the younger guys with starting jobs. How did that turn out?
September 4th, 2014 at 7:14 pm
Andrew- Jenkins is not a good football player. While young, Banks is a good football player. Believe what you want about Lovie, playing favorites and earning playing time but we all know what we have seen in these 2 players and it doesn’t look right, sound right or smell right.
September 4th, 2014 at 8:12 pm
I have to think (and hope) there is no way in hell Lovie is dumb enough to start Jenkins over Banks. That decision would be like dumping a very reliable veteran kicker in favor of an unproven rookie from a no-name school, wait………
September 4th, 2014 at 9:01 pm
Negative.
September 4th, 2014 at 10:49 pm
Michael Bennett is still dominating and we are kicking ourselves – thanks Dominik
September 4th, 2014 at 11:10 pm
Lovie seems to get fixated on certain players. Jenkins and Bowers come to mind. Jenkins has been in the league long enough to know what you can get out of him. There’s not much upside at this point. Banks has far more upside and should probably be the starter with Jenkins covering the slot.
September 4th, 2014 at 11:40 pm
The NFL is all about the System, and how you fit in it.
While Mike Jenkins struggled in the Cowgirls press coverage,
It’s apparent that Lovie and Leslie believe he is a great fit in the cover 2.
I thought Banks played great. Because he did.
If they feel Jenkins Gould start ahead of him, then we must have great Cornerbacks!
That said, I bet I still see Banks jog out with the starters
September 5th, 2014 at 12:52 am
I agree. Smoke and mirrors. Just like the whole cam thing is.
September 5th, 2014 at 1:04 am
These professional coaches don’t play favorites? Well, WarFLOP got away with it and disfunctual Guard, Cousins, is still drawing a paycheck and now the Second Brown reject that WarFLOP wanted is listed as the backup Center. We had a decent strong player named Jace Daniels, who learned the Center position and could also play Guard but WarFLOP eliminated him so he could keep his Brownie Pets on the payroll–atrocious!!! And Lovie has kept Loser Glennon who was outplayed by Kafka this Preseason but Glennon is still our number two QB. But Lovie is a Defensive Genius and he wants to start a former All-Pro CB. I would say let’s wait and see if Lovie knows something here we don’t. He saw Bowers could be an effective 3 Tech DT and he proved it too. I don’t think any of us here ever saw that potential til we saw it on the field .
September 5th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Smoke and mirrors, this is a way to almost force the Panthers to gameplan most of their high percentage plays toward a hurt Jenkins, when in all reality, Banks matches up way better on Benjamin than does Jenkins. I don’t see Jenkins starting over Banks.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:12 pm
Jenkins is terrible. Just the mention of his name makes Cowboy fans shudder.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:34 pm
Monte Kiffin and Rod Marinelli got rid of him. Then the Raiders dumped him. Not even factoring in his gutless pulling up on tackles, this guy is a bum.
Johnthan Banks has done more in one year than Jenkins has in, what, five?