“Faster Than Peyton Manning Became Good”
December 8th, 2015
National love is pouring in for the progress of the Buccaneers and America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston.
Not long ago, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal picture-taking, video game-playing, Taylor Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, ranked the Bucs as the second worst 5-5 team in football.
Well, things sure have turned around. Today, in his weekly power rankings for theMMQB.com, King says the Bucs are not only the best 6-6 team in the NFL, they are better than the 7-5 New York Jets.
11. Tampa Bay (6-6). Jameis Winston is becoming good in 2015 faster than Peyton Manning became good in 1998. That’s the kind of season Winston’s having for the Bucs.
Joe can only the imagine the crazy Jameis and Bucs fever that will spread if Tampa Bay finishes, say, 9-7.
Savor the day, Bucs fans, especially since all this pride could come crashing down with groin-stomp loss to the Saints on Sunday.
December 8th, 2015 at 11:33 am
Always good advice Joe for everything not just football fandom.
Live in the moment it’s all we have. The past is gone and there are no guarantees of a future.
The Saints were fired up against Carolina and could have won that game. I’m hoping they spent themselves emotionally trying to hand the Panthers their first loss.
Otherwise we are simply accumulating injuries and a suspension at too great a rate…this game scares me.
December 8th, 2015 at 11:55 am
Bucs are on fire!
New captain on our ship!
GO BUCS!!
December 8th, 2015 at 11:56 am
Another nail in the coffin for the Lovie Smith detractors who were singing the praises of Todd Bowles, Dan Quinn, Dan Campbell, and Jack Del Rio a month ago.
December 8th, 2015 at 11:59 am
If only Lovie Smith hadn’t pissed away 3 winnable games, we might be 9-3 and in the drivers seat for that Wild Card berth
December 8th, 2015 at 12:05 pm
To not see lovie smith as a failure during the 1-3 start of the season would be foolhardy, and I am not convinced of his greatness yet. Winston and Koetter have been the saviors of our game, not our Tampa 2 Defense. Lovie Smiths Defensive mind hasn’t done much to improve the defense.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:10 pm
D-Rome Says:
December 8th, 2015 at 11:56 am
King says the Bucs are not only the best 6-6 team in the NFL, they are better than the 7-5 New York Jets.
Another nail in the coffin for the Lovie Smith detractors who were singing the praises of Todd Bowles, Dan Quinn, Dan Campbell, and Jack Del Rio a month ago.
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Wouldn’t the Redskins losing to the Cowboys last night only add fuel to the fact the head coach may be the Achilles hill of this team at this point?
December 8th, 2015 at 12:13 pm
Achilles heal*
December 8th, 2015 at 12:13 pm
wtf*** heel****
December 8th, 2015 at 12:21 pm
NJ – Lovie Smith beat the Cowboys this year. So he sucks because he lost to the Redskins, but he’s gets no credit for beating the Boys? It’s a 2 way street people.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:23 pm
And where does the credit go for the #9 ranked D in total yards allowed? Everyone loves Kwon, but Lovie gets zero credit for that. I realized there are lots of examples of Lovie not succeeding, but you have to give credit where it is due or you get no credibility here imo.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
@GlennonGrad
Watch a few games and let’s see if you keep the same opinion. The D is improving. We’ve improved throughout the year until Hasselback, a very savvy veteran with a well rested arm carved us up. Also, stop pretending like we’re in Tampa 2 all the time. Look it up on Wikipedia. YouTube it. Maybe watch a game? Attend one. Madden has a tutorial. It’ll explain to you what it looks like, so perhaps next time you’re watching the 12 seconds of game film that ESPN shows, you won’t just grumble about Tampa 2 like a broken record.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:47 pm
By that logic, since the Bucs destroyed the Eagles and the Eagles manhandled the Patriots in New England then Lovie Smith is the best coach for the job! Heck, even Chip Kelly admitted he was out coached by Lovie Smith.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:52 pm
Seriously Espo, it’s amazing to me to hear people complain about the Tampa 2 when the Bucs don’t use that coverage all that often. All teams play Cover 2 from time to time depending on down and distance to a first down.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:54 pm
Before the season started my prediction was 9-7….how about that!…..we are kind of close!…….once a buc , always a Bucs!
December 8th, 2015 at 1:14 pm
Espo Says:
December 8th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
@GlennonGrad
Madden has a tutorial. It’ll explain to you what it looks like, so perhaps next time you’re watching the 12 seconds of game film that ESPN shows, you won’t just grumble about Tampa 2 like a broken record.
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LOL! “Madden has a tutorial”! I love it!!
Let’s also not forget that we were running the “Tampa 2” when Lavonte made that interception to SEAL THE GAME this past weekend!!
LET’S GO BUCS!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 8th, 2015 at 1:23 pm
Before we start patting ourselves on the back too much, let’s put together a 3 or 4 game winning streak! The future is bright for Winston and the Bucs…and Bucs fans everywhere…but I want to see a team over the last few weeks of the season that realizes that GREAT teams play their best ball when the playoffs are on the line!
I think this team has it in them to end the season strong! They just need to go out and do it!!!!
December 8th, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Question I’ve always had for Joe:
Do you type that whole paragraph about Peter King with all the hyperlinks or do you keep a TXT file with all the code where you can just cut-and-paste?
December 8th, 2015 at 2:14 pm
people love to blame lovie for a lost but give him zero credit for a win…the defense has improved every game..people have to hold some of the players accountable as well…lovie has put us in position to win in every game except the first game of the year imo…if we had barth the entire year, we would’ve won the Texans game…if evans catches the ball we win vs giants…after the redskins game lovie switched up the cb’s and the results are great….stop complaining its getting old now…lovie has earned himself an extension whether folks like it or not…lovie isn’t going anywhere….GO BUCS!!!!
December 8th, 2015 at 2:55 pm
He cuts and pastes.
December 8th, 2015 at 3:34 pm
I think he goes into a trance like black out and when he’s conscious again it’s just there on his computer. Next step is to erase whatever else he wrote and change it into a Peter King article because he doesn’t want to upset whatever demon possessed him.
@813
That Titans game broke my heart and my confidence in Lovie. He had months to prepare for a gimmick offense but didn’t have a clue. I’m glad things are changing.
December 8th, 2015 at 3:42 pm
I was worried prior to the win over Atlanta. The Saints, not so much. The Bucs should be able to score enough to take the win. I picked a 7-9 finish in the competition pick em, 2-4 in the division. Obviously the Bucs will top that guess and already have in the division.
December 8th, 2015 at 4:09 pm
If only Lovie Smith hadn’t pissed away 3 winnable games,
Yes because Lovie dropped all those passes that could have been caught by ME13.
I honestly do not get the existential absurd hatred for a decent human being and a good coach according to experts in the NFL.
I’m happy to concede he had a bad year last year….perhaps being out of the game he developed some rust and needed to get his game back. Perhaps he never really had a QB…although like many here I thought he should have played MG8…Perhaps Jeff Tedford’s preseason heart issues and subsequent absence and the joke of an OC took it’s toll…maybe the infusion of talent finally caught up…we grabbed a starting franchise QB…a starting franchise MLB the two most important positions on the field..as well as two starting OL one of them a future pro bowler.
But most of all what I see is a team that is turning the corner psychologically…not saying we’re totally around the bend but Sunday’s win was very gratifying..that was a game the previous teams from Rah to Schiano to Lovie last year would have lost. We’re finally starting to learn how to win.
And most of all Lovie has changed the culture here which IMHO is always more difficult than simple X’s and O’s and talent selection. This team had a LOSER mentality..in fact it had infected the entire franchise from coaches and players to cheerleaders, media and most of all fans! Lovie is changing that whether you want to admit it or not. And if you can’t you need to check yourself and see what’s happening that makes you go for EVERY negative you can find with ZERO positives! You guys are starting to make fools of yourselves.
And again I can hear it if we win the Super Bowl with Lovie in the new few years….Lovie sucks it was all Jameis. And who put their freaking career on the line to pick #3? And what was Belicheat before Brady…a below .500 coach!!!
December 8th, 2015 at 5:01 pm
I was burned by Freeman I’ll be all in on Jameis once he does it 2 years in a row. I’d still like to see him string together multiple 2-3 td pass games in a row as well. But so far so good
December 8th, 2015 at 10:45 pm
Now see Tampa Tony is one the better of that group. The Bucs start be consistent winners he’ll be fully on board.