Won’t Get Fooled Again
September 20th, 2016
Popular sports radio personality Chris “Mad Dog” Russo was outraged by the showing of the Bucs Sunday.
The cream is beginning to rise to the top in the NFL and that means some overhyped teams are getting exposed.
Hello, Bucs.
After watching the Bucs and a few other teams many NFL analysts had rising from the dregs of the NFL, only to have the cold sting of reality slap them in the face last weekend, Chris Russo couldn’t hold back.
Famously known as the “Mad Dog,” Russo took to his SiriusXM Radio microphone Monday and blasted a few teams he considers the NFL’s basket of deplorables for their nerve to tease NFL followers.
And Russo included the Bucs into this motley list of alleged up-and-comers who showed their recent ugly histories have not yet been left behind.
“Now Tampa, they’ve made some progress with the franchise, obviously with Winston,” Russo said. “They fired Lovie Smith; alright you’re making a little progress. But this is another team, Tampa, I mean if you want to go through their [recent past] I will be very happy to: 6-10, 2-14, 4-12, 7-9, 2010 somehow, some way they went 10-6. But the year before that they were 3-13.
“If you want to go crazy on Tampa? They didn’t show up [Sunday]. Alright, tough spot. In Arizona, Cardinals licking their wounds after they lost to New England. And the Bucs, all feeling proud of themselves because they beat the Atlanta Falcons, and it is a complete, absolute no-show for them. Terrible offense. Winston stunk. Turnovers all over the place. Defense couldn’t make a stop when they had to make a stop. Gave up two touchdowns quickly at the end of the half. Put America to sleep. Thom Brennaman wishes he was back doing Reds-Pirates, that’s all you need to know. Just an absolute disaster for a Buccaneer team – that’s another one! – that can’t get out of its own way.
“They fire coaches left and right. The Glazers, their stewardship hasn’t been phenomenal. They will have about 35,000 empty seats with the Rams in the home opener Sunday afternoon – that’s a very difficult game to digest, LA at Tampa, oh, my God! What is that going to be, a replay of Jack Youngblood breaking his leg? That’s going to be a rough watch, let’s be honest.
“They’ve won a Super Bowl so let’s be fair. But you get the idea, historically, a team that also has gone through a million coaches – just not a good football team. Winston gives them some promise but [Sunday] was a complete no-show for them when you look at the game in Arizona. It was a litmus test. How do they respond after a little prosperity off of one win and they go out there and they no-show. That’s No. 2 I can’t stand.”
The other three teams Russo deemed as unable to get out of their own way and doomed to fight just to stay out of last place? The Jags, the Lions and the Raiders.
Joe was beginning to taste the Kool-Aid too. Just when Joe thought this team had turned the corner — SPLAT!
It is not that the Bucs lost, but how they got horsewhipped in the process. Just like Rah’s teams. Just like Schiano’s teams. Just like Lovie’s teams. SOS.
Until or unless the Bucs can beat a team with a winning record, they’re still in major rehabilitation mode.
September 20th, 2016 at 10:18 am
Let’s face it as a guy who used to bet on games, I never bet on the first 4 weeks. It’s too hard to know teams. One team can look like world beaters because they played weak teams. A really good team could look like their struggling because they got a couple bad breaks against Good teams that are underestimated. After week for we usually have a good sample size to talk about teams. Look at Philadelphia, they are 2-0. But they beat Cleveland and Chicago, two teams expected to struggle this year. Are they know superbowl favorites?
September 20th, 2016 at 10:22 am
The dude is actually spot on, especially about ownership. It always starts at the top.
September 20th, 2016 at 10:23 am
My, my, my… the media sure has a hard time eating crow.
Keep in mind this is a very young team with new personnel all over the place. There will be games like vs AZ, where things quickly went bad to worse. You have a playoff-experienced, Super Bowl-esque team facing off gains tax another just thrilled to beat the damn FALCONS.
Let’s grow up as a fan base and realize that this past Sunday is an anomaly for what this team has in store for the future. We will take an ugly loss here and there, but the way to judge this team an coaching staff is the response, in turn. Here’s to chain-whipping the sad franchise of the Rams this Sunday.
September 20th, 2016 at 10:29 am
35,000 empty seats? I thought Jaboo was supposed to pack them in.
September 20th, 2016 at 10:30 am
This team proved yet again why you can’t get excited for them. They are allergic to success, when losing is all you know how do you enstill a winning culture? College is a different animal where a major program like FSU, Ohio State and others really only play 2-3 good teams every year. These kids don’t know the type of preparation it takes to be good week in and out.
Bucs are still a team in transition trying to change the culture. Gonna take some time. I won’t be fooled again, I’ll wait for them to prove that they are good before I heavily invest (season tickets) in this team again. This Sunday will show us a lot about this team.
Both the 49ers and Seahawks held the Rams without a TD I don’t expect this soft d to do that. But at least give the offense a chance
September 20th, 2016 at 10:32 am
35k empty is a bad guess. Opening day games are usually packed. But the loss to the cards didn’t help ticket sales any
September 20th, 2016 at 10:36 am
Blah blah every dog has his day, the Cardinals aint all that. They stopped Martin, geared up to make that happen from the onset. The Bucs could not match their overall intensity. May as well have been a Bucs siesta.
September 20th, 2016 at 11:07 am
He got one thing right though, we do fire coaches left and right. Searching and hoping. But I’m of the opinion this blowout against AZ might have been what we needed. Ruck up Bucs, this is the NFL. Nobody feels sorry for you. Matter of fact, they laugh at you. They love the losing scapegoat. Just like We Bucs have had our scapegoats for all of our loses in our past. I want to see what kind of cohesion and resolve this loss brings to our team. You either get stronger or fall apart. And if we lose to the Rams? We are on our way to more depths of depression. Look for a hard hitting lights out Buc team come Sunday or..else we start the..famous Buc scapegoatism.
September 20th, 2016 at 11:10 am
So where are all the flag flying, stars singing America all that garbage. Pro Bowler we would have seen 100 times by now? Yes Pro Bowler playing flag football in the Pro Bowl which is a joke anyway. Jameis has been no better and the excuses are starting to fly. Blame the receivers. Defense sucks. No running game. But here you can’t blame the offensive line. You can’t turn the ball over all day and expect to win. Bad practice? Why did the oline show up? They were part of the practice.
Now come down to earth. Jameis is not Superman. A one man team. It will take the entire team working together. Finding a pass rush and more. But it was one game. Your Lord and Savior even if he was perfect could not have won by himself.
September 20th, 2016 at 11:19 am
35,000 empty seats? That would put our attendance around 30,000. If I remember correct, the lowest pur attendance has been since 2009 has been around 45,000. So I dpn’t know wtf this guy is talking about.
September 20th, 2016 at 11:22 am
I don’t know how anyone can stand Loud Mouth, Obnoxious Russo. What a waste. He knows nothing about sports. I guess in some cases all you need is a big mouth.
September 20th, 2016 at 11:34 am
The bed wetting by Bucs fans the last two days has been ridiculous
A Super Bowl contender, coming off a tough loss on national TV destroyed a young team that was on the road for the second week in a row and travelling across the country for that second road game.
My expectations for this team have not changed since before the season. Playoffs or bust
September 20th, 2016 at 11:46 am
Guys I can easily translate Russo for you….
Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
It was ONE freaking game and this marooon is trying to equate it to a decade of futility.
Yes the Glazers WERE horrible owners for the period they over leveraged to buy ManU. Even they could not dispute that. But those days are behind us. They’ve opened up the pocketbooks and finally hired PROFESSIONALS.
Neither Rah nor Schiano deserved to be head coaches in the NFL. They were CHEAP and available. Schiano is exactly where he should be…good enough to be a coordinator at a top COLLEGE program.
Russo can bite me and just wait to see his retraction when the Bucs close after the bye against a playable schedule with added experience for a bunch of young guys..and a new D.
September 20th, 2016 at 12:30 pm
“lightningbuc Says:
September 20th, 2016 at 10:29 am
35,000 empty seats? I thought Jaboo was supposed to pack them in.”
Still bitter?
September 20th, 2016 at 2:03 pm
Russo will also be the first guy to sing their praises should they go on a run. Everything he said was true, but a high school sports reporter could have said the same thing. Nothing put a rehash of what most people in America think of our team. If we want respect we need to play better vs. good teams. Bucs deserve nothing from the media. Time for players to step it up.
The score was one thing, the lack of intensity, or focus was what got me riled up. And that has been consistent with a lot of Buc teams over the past few years, regardless of who was coaching. Hard to put a finger on why that is but some guys just didn’t show up. LVD and Vjax particularly looked like they were going thru the motions to me. Jameis was bad, but his effort was there. Hope we have a plan for interior pass rush this week.
September 20th, 2016 at 2:14 pm
Thank God for Chris Russo, I have been preaching the EXACT same thing for 6 years. Mad Dog is THE MAN, facts are facts. And the facts backs up EVERYTHING that Mad Dog said. He’s 100% correct, all of this talking and teasing every offseason, don’t amount to NOTHING. When you do it on the field, you get my respect Until then you’re still the BOTTOM FEEDER that you have been for the past 5 seasons.
September 20th, 2016 at 2:18 pm
This is the NFL, you have to earn it. This is not your local WELFARE office, where people give you something. There’s no freebies in the National Football League, MAN up and grow a PAIR, or you get pushed around like PUNKS.
September 20th, 2016 at 6:11 pm
There would be no winners if not for losers.