Michael Bennett Talks To Joe
January 28th, 2015
Former Bucs DE Michael Bennett — who the Bucs let go for no good reason — answers questions at Super Bowl Media Day Tuesday.
Of all the former Buccaneers — and players with Bucs connections — in Sunday’s Super Bowl, Joe wanted most to talk to former Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett.
Now starring for the Seahawks, Bennett, who the Bucs let walk away for no good reason, is now playing in his second Super Bowl in as many years.
Reminding Bucs fans of this all-time colossal personnel error is enough to make Bucs fans so mental, they want to go outside and start throwing rocks at cars.
So Joe asked Bennett if he counts his blessings. If the Bucs didn’t wave goodbye to him, than he possibly would have never played in a Super Bowl, and instead would have possibly played on the worst team in the NFL.
So Bennett, he of the vow of sexless Wednesdays, had this to say to Joe.
“I always count my blessings not being on the Bucs,” Bennett said. “But the Bucs have been a great organization and I have great friends still there. You know, like Gerald McCoy. I keep up with Gerald. I talk to him all the time. I just finished talking to him the other morning.
“I think the organization is going to turn around with Gerald McCoy leading them. All the success [financially] he has had, all he talks about is bringing a winner there. He has $100 million and all he wants to do is win an NFC championship.”
That says a lot about GMC. A dude that got paid the way he got paid, he could just coast the rest of the way and be content the rest of his life.
But GMC is not content. He wants to do what his idol Warren Sapp did: bring a Vince Lombardi Trophy to Tampa Bay.
Joe sure hopes sooner rather than later, GMC gets the support both from teammates, the coaching staff and the front office to at least have that chance.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:16 am
And GMC will most likely get that chance with Leonard Williams on the line with him….instead of the 2 overrated QB’s of this draft.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:20 am
While Bennett would have been the best DE on the Team this year, or years past. Lovie will need to find 2 DE that have more Talent then just Bennett. When 2015 rolls around I would rather the Bucs have Jacquies Smith! They have the same sacks from last year ( even though Smith had considerable less playing time). Salary, and Age Bennett is 30 and Smith is 24!!!!
January 28th, 2015 at 9:24 am
@MadMax
You speak heresy!!! Everybody on this board including Joe have hopped in the wambulance with the cry of we NEED a QB.
Needs do demand solutions. But the solutions need to be smart!!! Just picking a QB because we need one is NOT necessarily the answer. We could have had Carson Palmer two years ago. Think that would have helped this team before he got hurt?
We NEED another pass rusher and so you MadMax want Williams.
We NEED several OL and so I want Andrus Peat from Stanford to be our “franchise LT”.
Those are three obvious NEEDS and there are more. I trust the Bucs braintrust to use their picks wisely to get the BPA’s at whatever position they draft.
If Jameis is the BPA and Williams and Peat are also the BPA’s then fine go with the QB. But if Peat or Williams are “generational players” at their positions go for one of them. If you can trade down and get one of them all the better.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:28 am
@Joe
will there be a Tim Wright interview???
January 28th, 2015 at 9:28 am
While letting go of Bennett in favor of expecting big things out of Bowers was probably the biggest Schiano/Dominick personnel blunder does anyone really believe Bennett would have been as good on the Bucs as he has been on a team like the Seahawks? Look no further than the guy we brought in from Seattle (McDonald)…solid, but not spectacular on the Bucs. I’m glad for Bennett that he’s had a chance to play in back to back Super Bowls, at his age he’d never see that if he was still a Buccaneer (sad to say)
January 28th, 2015 at 9:34 am
Leonard Johnson
January 28th, 2015 at 9:36 am
Wow….hope we aren’t going to be subjected to articles about Revis, Blount, Wright & Cassillas next. Makes me miss the Jameis articles.
While you’re at it Joe….make sure you try to find Bo Jackson….
January 28th, 2015 at 9:38 am
Realist, so true, the Bucs have always struggled selecting, developing and retaining talent.
We spend too much time talking about ex-Bucs in greener pastures as opposed to how we win games.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:43 am
There a hell of a lot better than the daily Shame Us Jameis every day crap!
January 28th, 2015 at 9:50 am
Joe: Be sure to catch up with Doug Williams, who would have never been a Super Bowl MVP with the Bucs.
Letting Doug get away started a LONG string of woes that haunted this place for many, many years.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:52 am
Joe do you think of our ghost of a DE practiced sexless Wednesday, he might make an appearance or does he need more than one day?
I don’t think a week would help McCown.
January 28th, 2015 at 9:58 am
IT ALL FALLS BACK ON THE OWNERSHIP, FOR HIRING THESE GOOD FOR NOTHING COACHES WHO DRAFTED AND GOT FREE AGENTS THAT DONE NOTHING BUT STINK UP THE FIELD WITCH IN RETURN PUT 0 WIN’S ON THE BOARD. THATS WHY THE GLASERS HAVE A TEAM THAT SMELLS ROITIN.THEY SHOULD HAVE THERE ASS KICKED FOR LETTING GRUDEN GO. THIS SHOWS THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL PERIOD…….
January 28th, 2015 at 10:24 am
Doug Williams, Steve Young, Trent Dilfer….3 Buc QBs that won Superbowls with other teams…..
Kind of makes you wonder about the future QB….Mike Glennon’s prospects…
Also, how Shawn King wasn’t able to join that group!!!
“Shaun King, one of two Buc Quarterbacks that lost a NFC Championship Game when his defense gave up 11 or fewer points.”
January 28th, 2015 at 10:34 am
If you’ve been a Bucs fan since Before Dungy, a certain pattern emerges from within the Bu;s organization. To me, overwhelmingly, its the inability to identify, retain and properly utilize top talent. From selecting coaches after the Gruden era, or especially QBs, to not knowing how to use a LaGarrett Blountl to letting Bennett go and so on. And so it continues. With all the changes from the past coming up to today, the Buc’s do not have either a winning strategy or especially culture in which to immerse new players and get them prepared. It must ooze out from the walls that mediocrity is the norm. If Mc Coy wishes to herd a band of brothers into winning, first he must have decent draft picks the way Dungy and Gruden did in Lynch, Barber, Nicherson et al. I have little to no confidence that that will occur here. Making a franchise profitable is a quite different talent than making it a lean mean winning machine. It takes a certain eye, I imagine. THe Glazers for all their good works,, and willingness to temporarily sign big checks do not have that. Now I am going to say something socially incorrect….if your empire is made on the backs of low income investments ( trailoer parks, low income houseing etc. ) you may not be the right people to pick out a diamond in the rough or even appreciate the investment in an already polished product. That is the conclusion I have come to. Good people in the wrong venue for them.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:54 am
Sure GMC wants a championship. He’s got $100mil so he is good either way but sure who doesn’t want a championship? I want peace in the Middle East and to end world hunger but either way I’m good too.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:58 am
You’re right StPete, but we’ll get there….Im confident we’ll get there.
January 28th, 2015 at 11:58 am
He’s a very good DE, nowhere near a great one. He had more offsides calls then plays against GB. Sucks we lost him but we would still blow with him. Seattle is the rare team that their back seven actually covers up for their front 4. They rarely get pressure against a good line without blitzing. If Seattle cannot run effectively on Sunday their defense will give up at least 24 points because they will be on the field a lot. Their defenses is used to having limited snaps because they are not on the field that much.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:19 pm
Hey Joe, next time you and Steve Deuming are arguing about Jameis, remind him that even Payton Manning had sexual assault allegations when he was at Tennessee!!! LOOK IT UP!!!
January 28th, 2015 at 12:58 pm
The curse of Bennettino. It will 90 more years before we win a Super Bowl.
January 28th, 2015 at 1:39 pm
“Now starring for the Seahawks, Bennett, who the Bucs let walk away for no good reason….”
There WAS a good reason… The Rockstar looked a DaQuan Bowers and decided that he was ready to take over as a starter. It was a crappy reason. An ILL-ADVISED reason. A complete misread of a player’s abilities and character.
Worst. GM. Ever.
Hmm… I guess there’s “no good reason.”
January 28th, 2015 at 1:55 pm
Aunt Geraldine wants to win an NFC Championship??? WTF! How about a SB instead. Whodini Geraldini is more focused on his dam talk show and picking up RB’s after getting run over than winning a SB. Waaaaaaay overpaid.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:12 pm
Wow, BucRealist posted something positive about the Bucs, the Apocalypse must be near.
I do agree with you though and have pointed this out several times.
This stll doesn’t excuse Dummynick for releasing him so he could prove he was right for drafting a gimpy Bowers.
January 28th, 2015 at 3:08 pm
Still so annoyed by this….
It’s not even like he just wasn’t performing in Tampa, and it was the change of scene that turned his career around….
It’s not like (from what was reported) that he wanted overpaying either
He came off a great season, and was only asking for reasonable money. How the hell did we come to the decision to let him walk??
The quest for “value” is great, replacing someone with a lower paid alternative is clearly a good move in some circumstances, but this, as with Zuttah, is a gamble not worth taking
January 28th, 2015 at 5:17 pm
In a look back over the last 3-5 years let us look at what we got rid of / let go / traded away etc.
QB- Freeman, not great but not the worst
RB- Blount, playing in SuperBowl
Center – Zuttah – on winningteam
Guard – Joseph
Tackle – Penn
Defensive end- Bennet in Superbowl
CornerBack – Revis in Superbowl
Tight End – Wright in Superbowl
I am sure there are some I am forgetting (doing this at work on the downlow tryingto rush this post)
My point is “IF” the Bucs had kept most of these players, used them more wisely, coached them better, maybe schemes and plays to their strengths, expirenced and proven OC-DC-Head coach, then add draft picks like Mike Evans and I think we could have at least owned our own division.
January 29th, 2015 at 12:40 am
Ya that’s ‘beautiful and all’, but to me it sounds like that conversation with GMC was all about “I GOT THAT MONEYYYYYYYY Michael”!…. then Bennett ad-libbed that part about being a winner and wanting to win the NFC or what not… I don’t get why else Bennett would have mentioned that – call it a Freudian slip
January 29th, 2015 at 2:21 am
Yeah, for all all those Schiano fans that allege what a great personnell man Schianana…there’s this Michael Bennet data point (and the fact that he lost more games than he won, too much).
Schianana shouldn’t ever be allowed to speak about anything relating to the Bucs- or the NFL in general…