“Because Nobody Else Said Anything”
February 23rd, 2016
Jameis explains how he was inspired by silence
America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, went deep on a handful of topics, published today on SI.com.
One of them was eye-opening and troubling.
Lovie Smith often referred to defensive tackle Clinton McDonald as “the glue” of the Bucs’ defense and a glue for the whole team.
It’s a reason Lovie rigged the captain voting process last year and allowed three defensive captains, to make sure McDonald got that label, along with Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy.
Jameis explained that when McDonald’s season ended after just six games, an unexpected vacuum of silence was created, and Jameis seized the team leadership reins.
Jameis explained to 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.
” …At the beginning of the season, Clinton McDonald was talking to the team, and then when he got injured, I became the main voice, because nobody else said anything. It was basically just me and Kwon in the huddle, and we were talking and trying to get guys pumped up about the game.
“One thing I always do in the huddle, pre-snap, is make eye contact. Just trying to see what is going on in their minds. When I step in that huddle, those guys just look at you. With me, there was no sign of nervousness. I was very confident. [Veterans] Logan Mankins and Vince [Jackson] made me confident. They allowed me to come in and be a voice, and they didn’t say, ‘No, don’t do that.’ They just allowed me to become a better player and leader.”
Pretty telling, and somewhat damning, that big Bucs voices like Logan Mankins, Lavonte David, Gerald McCoy, Vincent Jackson clammed up when McDonald got hurt.
Joe could be positive and hope they simply were providing an opportunity for Jameis and Kwon Alexander to take over the team, but that seems farfetched.
It’s interesting history, and it should further cement for fans that Jameis owns this team.
February 23rd, 2016 at 8:54 am
@Joe
The Real reason the “vacuum of silence was created” was because Lovie was telling team captains to be quiet be for a game!!!!
” Smith took exception to the language Shepard was using and immediately ordered him to stop and for the locker room to be quiet.”
WTF is that. Well enjoy the quiet and no cursing in your basement lovie!!!!
February 23rd, 2016 at 8:57 am
Jameis and Kwon tare the leaders of the new culture at OBP. And who better to oversee it all than Koetter
February 23rd, 2016 at 8:59 am
I do not hold VJAX or Mankins responsible in any way for a vacuum of leadership.
They both clearly supported #3 and backed him. This makes perfect sense to me since on the O side of the ball the leadership should come from the QB.
The D side is just a totally different story. GMC and LVD are simply not the guys to be our leaders. Great guys who can lead by example but not the outspoken fiery guys to get the team pumped. Hopefully Kwon can step into that role this year now that he’s no longer a rookie.
And hopefully McDonald comes back totally healthy and is able to contribute. He’s one of my favorite unheralded players on the Bucs.
February 23rd, 2016 at 9:07 am
GMC is a fake leader he needs to shut up and play and be in the background and then LVD with his BS comments about how the team went flat after the major wright personal foul…COMN MAN you are paid to play with your head on fire and not take a dive because of a part of the game
February 23rd, 2016 at 9:29 am
Pretty telling how bad the leaders on this team are if two rookies come in and are the automatic alpha males
February 23rd, 2016 at 9:31 am
As the Bucs release their edition of the national enquirer.
February 23rd, 2016 at 9:52 am
Jameis is the right person o do the pre game speech thing. It’s not in the personality of Jackson, McCoy, Mankins, David, Martin, etc. Could you imagine Ronde Barber doing that? John Lynch? Of course not. That doesn’t mean those guys weren’t leaders, but for one reason or another some people just can’t comprehend that there are different kind of leaders. This is why I wanted Jameis, because there is no way Mariota could do that. Our team needed a vocal leader, and Jameis is absolutely perfect for the role.
February 23rd, 2016 at 9:59 am
@Hawaiian buc
as reported after the Last Saints game
“Bucs special teams captain Russell Shepard, who is one of the more energetic and well-respected leaders, giving a fiery pre-game speech in the locker room and used profanity. Right as the players were frothed into a pre-game frenzy, the players said Smith took exception to the language Shepard was using and immediately ordered him to stop and for the locker room to be quiet.”!!!!
February 23rd, 2016 at 10:11 am
Is Noah Spence outspoken?
February 23rd, 2016 at 10:12 am
I like the kid (jameis). He, just wants to win. To bad a lot of the players just collected paychecks..esp on Defense. Dee…yham there Joe. I had to laugh at all of those adjectives used to describe olive oil lappin Peter King. Funny as all out. Thanks for the days chuckle. We all know what the Bucs gotta do. The Defense has gotta tighten up bigtime for us to win games. Sapp use to tell the offense, give us 10. That was impressive. With our current offense, its like 30. And still that was not enough to beat the skins. I can’t wait to see IF..our Defense will improve dramatically. Just Ask the Broncos what a good Defense can do.
February 23rd, 2016 at 10:18 am
@Buc Realist,
Yes, I read that a while back. Shameful. What a disgrace. There is absolutely nothing I can say to defend Lovie on that. As soon as I read that, I knew without any doubt we made the right decision in letting him go.
February 23rd, 2016 at 10:29 am
the team has lacked an alpha since derrick brooks got whacked. we have lots of complementary leaders, but if there’s no alpha to support it doesn’t work out. jameis has a lot of strong lieutenants on that team, but asking any of them to be the alpha was too much. we will be a stronger team with an undisputed leader, as long as he stays humble about his role (not his ability or our potential) and keeps out of the mud. easier said than done on the latter part, not because of his history but because in the last 14 months even brady and manning have been tarnished
February 23rd, 2016 at 11:12 am
Jameis is the right person o do the pre game speech thing. It’s not in the personality of Jackson, McCoy, Mankins, David, Martin, etc. Could you imagine Ronde Barber doing that? John Lynch? Of course not.
————————————————————————–
Barber, no…..but Lynch did it often…..did you not remember him before the 2002 NFC Championship (and other games) revving up his teammates? Lynch was a vocal leader.
February 23rd, 2016 at 11:16 am
It was too much of a laid-back atmosphere….guys not caring. Jameis alluded to it in his final presser. Things will change and must change if we want to get better. We have to get the disbelievers out of here as Dungy did, and for individual accountability of everyone if we want to compete for a title.
February 23rd, 2016 at 11:17 am
in other words, losing is unacceptable.
February 23rd, 2016 at 11:20 am
Realist, that Sheppard speech reputedly stole the wind from the whole team.
I’ve said before, this roster is better than it’s record. Biff’s not sweating this off season at all.
One more solid draft, a couple of key FA’s, real coaching. The kind that interacts with the players instead of dictating to them.
Tough going in the South, yes, but I believe the Bucs can, and will make some noise this year.
February 23rd, 2016 at 11:48 am
Great article that this was pulled from. I like that he references that the two things he garnered from the Pro Bowl centered around preparation. One was how, even at the Pro Bowl, Russell Wilson made the game day rituals important, the other was how important it would be to get his body in the best possible shape he could.
The other thing was how important he felt that his footwork was. Great read.
February 23rd, 2016 at 12:24 pm
“Is Noah Spence outspoken?” Only when he’s on Molly. We don’t need a recovering addict on the team, look at what Cleveland is going through with Manziel and what Dallas is going through with Randy Gregory, sorry but we don’t need it. Pass.
February 23rd, 2016 at 12:37 pm
In no way is this surprising.
Before Jameis, this team would have laid down towards the end of close games and there was no one on the roster to keep the intensity up. You also need players on the team that can bring the hyper excited guys back down to earth before the next play.
At the very least, the arrow seems to be pointing up on this team for the first time in a decade.
February 23rd, 2016 at 12:56 pm
Supersam
not every recreational user is an addict sir…. It might not be your thing but to completely disregard a person because they experimented a little with drugs is asinine. A little weed and molly hardly makes them the next Charles Manson. Spence deserves the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise just like Mathieu with Cardinals. He’s turned out ok and I bet you said the same thing about him when he was going through the draft process. Bucs need to lead the league in Wins not choirboys…
February 23rd, 2016 at 12:57 pm
Some players arent the vocal team leader type. Mankins was a leader for the o line, that doesnt mean he was willing to be the voice of the whole team. Jackson and LVD seem like the quiet types through and through. GMC is not the leader the media and he makes himself out to be. He is a cool guy and the team loves him, but he is not the spark that a real leader brings to a team.
Who is really surpised that Jameis stepped up in that situation? It is what we all wanted. And it seems like the team allowed him to tkae his rightful place in front of the team.
February 23rd, 2016 at 1:48 pm
No, I don’t recall Lynch leading the pre game huddle with the entire team. That’s far different from talking to a few of his teammates
February 23rd, 2016 at 1:53 pm
Being a positive, encouraging, demonstrative, vocal leader is a big part of what makes Jameis Winston such a special football player.
He was born to win Super Bowls – and will if his GM can keep him supplied with adequate supporting talent and his coaches can teach and bring out the best in their players.
Unfortunately, the former hadn’t been seen until just recently in Tampa Bay for over a decade – and the later hasn’t been seen here since 2008 when Monte left and Gruden got fired. (Rah and Jfro’s 1 magical season in 2010 that didn’t result in playoffs – aside)
Hopefully Licht and Koetter and M. Smith can find the winning formula to complement their extraordinarily talented QB.
February 23rd, 2016 at 3:34 pm
[Don’t go there unless you want to get run. — Joe]
February 23rd, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Supersam, comments like deserve name calling. You sir are an ignorant idiot. Thanks for erasing that Joe, he’s still upset Mariota played his 8 game season in Tennessee.
February 23rd, 2016 at 5:27 pm
x2 for what Bert said.
February 23rd, 2016 at 6:46 pm
I usually just skip over Supersam’s comments.
February 24th, 2016 at 12:09 am
Supersam Says:
February 23rd, 2016 at 3:34 pm
“[Don’t go there unless you want to get run. — Joe]”
Please go there Joe.