Feast Or Famine: Anthony Collins
September 29th, 2014
The fine art of jersey pulling was taken to a new height yesterday in Pittsburgh, courtesy of the expertise of Bucs left tackle Anthony Collins.
After strong performances against Greg Hardy and Robert Quinn, Collins has had a couple of games that won’t make his highlight reel.
Did the first quarter of this season reveal Collins as an inconsistent player?
Don’t get Joe wrong, Joe is proud of the uncalled hold on Collins that opened the gate for Doug Martin’s touchdown run. When you get away with it, and especially when it’s that flagrant, applause is deserved. But Collins also had other jersey pullings that did not go unnoticed by the zebras.
Perhaps this is just the kind of left tackle Collins will be, damn good most of the time — and certainly the Bucs offensive line got the job done with the game on the line — but when he gets beat, it’s real ugly.
Joe’s ok with that, though it would great to see Collins improve as he turns 29 in November. Especially with a strong left guard playing next to him, a guy whose back Collins won’t have to cover on most snaps.
As Joe’s written previously, it’s worth keeping a close eye on Collins, as he’s never started more than seven games in a season, and he’s already taken a step down from his near flawless year last year in limited duty.
September 29th, 2014 at 9:16 am
Hmmm, were not Michael Johnson (yeah the 2 sack guy) and Anthony Collins both ex-Bengals? Perhaps some festering hatred of Heinz Field, the fans and the Steelers brought out the best from these 2; hopefully it sticks and carries over to New Orleans and then another foe they both probably dislike: the Ravens…. Good to see these 2 earning some of the coin they signed for this spring!
September 29th, 2014 at 9:22 am
Joe, any official word on why the Bucs on several possessions could not get the play off in time? Was it truly a helmet malfunction?
September 29th, 2014 at 9:47 am
them not throwing the flag was just payback for the pushoff on verner on the steelers TD.
It was brutally visuale…real bad…even the commentators were sorry for verner. thats why, I think, they gave us that one. the refs owed us one.
September 29th, 2014 at 10:00 am
@MGM
On the first DOG call, I’m pretty sure they didn’t reset the play clock there was no way almost 40 seconds elapsed from the end of the prior play to the call, and I’m sure the NFL will be sending it’s apology form letter to the Bucs for the bad call. The others I’m sure were due to faulty communications gear.
September 29th, 2014 at 10:04 am
Random thought here
A year ago at this time, Josh Freeman was the Bucs starting QB.
Feels like that was 10 seasons ago
September 29th, 2014 at 10:26 am
“A year ago at this time, Josh Freeman was the Bucs starting QB.”
Creamsickle….talk about tossing cold water on our celebration!!! Do we really have to recall Michael Jackson…er…JFro.
September 29th, 2014 at 10:38 am
It is always “Ugly” when your left tackle gets beat.
September 29th, 2014 at 10:42 am
It was his fault. He should’ve just audibled at the line and called his own play…
..or is that excuse only valid for a certain other QB?
September 29th, 2014 at 10:46 am
Good call on this article Joe. Collins certainly has looked much better overall in games than he did in pre-season (thank God) – but I noticed yesterday that grabbing the defenders jersey was beginning to look like a regular part of his repertoire.
Hope the OL coach rips into him for that as they break down the plays in position film study meeting tomorrow. The refs will call those jersey grabs darn near every time these days and the resulting 10 yard penalties are usually drive killers.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:05 am
Agree with robert9 the non call on Collins was just payback for the push off on Verner. Alls well that ends well!
September 29th, 2014 at 11:37 am
With modern technology…the thought crossed my mind….Steelers frequency jamming of helmet communication…easy enough to do
September 29th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
JOE, are you going to answer any questions anymore? Can you tell us if the delay of game penalties were just a helmet malfunction or not? And who is going to replace EVANS for next week against New Orleans?