Lovie: “We Need To Be Able To Do Something With Him”
November 7th, 2014
Lovie Smith demands the Bucs take advantage of the Falcons’ rookie left tackle
It’s the battle of ankle excuses questions on Sunday at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.
Rookie left tackle Jake Matthews lines up for the Falcons against the apparition known as Bucs defensive end Michael Johnson.
Johnson has been almost invisible while playing through a Week 1 ankle sprain, though he did appear and perform well in the Bucs’ Week 4 victory. He’s on pace for a four-sacks season and a spot on the All-Bust team.
Matthews, the No. 6 overall pick, also sprained his ankle in Week 1 and has played through a challenging season, one that saw him start at right tackle but get moved to left when the Falcons’ lost their starting left tackle.
Regardless, the two square off Sunday, and Lovie Smith appears to smell blood. Ahh, the sweet odor of a rookie left tackle.
Will the Bucs take advantage? Lovie was asked about Matthews today.
“He’s still a rookie. We need to be able to do something with him,” Lovie said.
Translation: win a 1-on-1 battle for a change.
Joe hopes Johnson can snap out of his funk. And Joe expects to see plenty of rising edge rusher Jacqueis Smith coming off the edge for the Bucs. He’s earning about 95 percent less than Johnson, but he’s been a significant bright spot for the Bucs’ pass rush the past two games.
November 7th, 2014 at 5:14 pm
At the beginni g of the season i predicted that Adrian Clayborn would get Manhandled by Matthews! But clayborn did not even last that long!
November 7th, 2014 at 5:15 pm
Johnson will be on his ass all day. Who needs to rob a bank when you can fool idiots like Liar Smith and Lapdog Licht into thinking you are a football player and get millions?
November 7th, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Bwahahahaaha….Matthews wrings more football out of hs jock than Lovie and his son have watched winning football
November 7th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
Have we already forgotten the no name left tackles who dominated this guy in the past weeks so what makes Lovie think any thing different this week…CHILD PLEASE!!!
November 7th, 2014 at 5:31 pm
Hey Joe!
Got no interest at all in the buccaneers any more, but I like you and the site, just dropping a line to keep it moving.
-Kyle
November 7th, 2014 at 5:33 pm
The Bucs have a player named Michael Johnson? He must be the only Buccaneer to NOT have a penalty, since I can’t remember ever hearing his name called. LOL, no, wait a minute. Actually, it’s kind of sad.
November 7th, 2014 at 5:41 pm
LOL…@ Hawk….really needed that !!!
November 7th, 2014 at 5:49 pm
0 sacks, 1 pressure, 1 tackle is MJ’s predicted stat line
November 7th, 2014 at 6:14 pm
Thanks, man!
November 7th, 2014 at 6:56 pm
if lovie is smelling blood its his own at the end of the season
November 7th, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Falcons 42
Bucs 13
Lovie’s Bucs are just what the doctor ordered for the Falcons to get well. They haven’t won a game since they played us. As soft as they are, they still have enough offense to make us look ridiculous…………AGAIN.
November 7th, 2014 at 9:10 pm
We should boycott the team to send a message to the Glazers! So they can really feel how boring and bad this team is. And that’s bad because this is professional sports and this is sad.
November 7th, 2014 at 9:32 pm
Saw Mathews against Watt. He held enough of his own to know we have nobody that will beat him up.
November 7th, 2014 at 10:40 pm
Lovie is a moron.
November 8th, 2014 at 12:13 am
You’d think Johnson could win the battle of the trenches but you know what? I am willing mto bet that Matthews has gotten miraculously healthy after the ATL’s bye week and simply schools the Bucs overpaid free agent acquisition. This is the year of whatever can go wrong will go wrong in Tampa Bay; with the offense it started with tedford going on the shelf and Arroyo basically bringing a offensive package that ex-Buc OC for a week Jadgodzinski would call limited and on defense look for Harry Douglas to burn our secondary yet again with Johnson unable to get any pressure on Ryan and GMC being triple teamed; and on special teams throw in another ATL return TD and a blocked kick for good measure; yep its that kind of season for the Bucs; its like the Leeman Bennett years all over again….
November 8th, 2014 at 2:25 am
Don’t expect to see much out of Johnson until the third quarter – at halftime they’re gonna need to send a couple guys outside the stadium to help him finally get through the turnstile
November 8th, 2014 at 3:34 am
🙂
November 8th, 2014 at 11:44 am
Leave Smith at DE.
November 8th, 2014 at 12:54 pm
More Jacqueis Smith, Less Michael “Bank Robber” Johnson