Out Of Sight; Out Of Mind
September 4th, 2018
Dirk Koetter channels Hollywood.
For a moment, Joe thought Norman Dale had slipped onto the practice fields of One Buc Palace.
In the famous movie “Hoosiers,” the students of Hickory High School chanted the name of conflicted star basketball player Jimmy Chitwood during a pep rally. He was not [then] on the school team.
Gene Hackman, playing the role of seasoned basketball coach Norman Dale, took the microphone and scolded the students for disrespecting those who were on the team.
“This is your team,” Dale said.
Joe could hear that line yesterday when Bucs coach Dirk Koetter was asked specifically about a couple of defensive backs who did not make it past Cutdown Day, Keith Tandy and Josh Robinson.
Koetter made it clear he would not discuss players who were not on the roster.
“We’re not going to talk about anybody who’s not here, and at the same time, no disrespect to anybody that’s not here,” Koetter said. “Every year 32 teams are making decisions based on what gives them the best chance to win during the year. Those are a lot of really hard decisions by Jason, by me, and we have to live with the results. But we’re excited about the guys we got.”
And Joe heard the words of Dale as if Koetter was speaking directly to Bucs fans while players filed off the practice fields.
“This is your team.”
One guy Koetter did talk about was Donovan Smith. The ironman left tackle has never missed a game since being drafted in 2015. His status Sunday is up in the air as he strained a knee in practice last month.
Koetter was non-committal about Smith’s projected status.
“We’ll see how it shakes out,” Koetter said. “You guys know well – Donovan takes a lot of pride [in answering the bell each week]. He’s never missed a start in his time here, and if anybody can make it, it’s him.”
Joe just has an uneasy feeling about Sunday’s game. Bad enough that America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, is out on suspension. But the areas when there Bucs beefed up in the offseason, both the defensive and offensive lines, are beat to hell.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:20 am
Injuries decimate teams every year, and it is the reason I am not for an 18 game season. Players union should not succumb to lure of extra money and opt for player safety.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:26 am
ever since the players Union went to softer practice schedule with one day of contact during the week, the number of injuries around the league has increased. Players bodies are not use to the banging and can’t withstand impact as much especially early into season .
September 4th, 2018 at 6:42 am
6-10
September 4th, 2018 at 8:03 am
Expand the roster from 46 to 50 and allow PS players to play temporarily…..injuries do happen but they don’t have to influence the game as much as they do.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:05 am
“My practices aren’t designed for your enjoyment.”–Norman Dale
September 4th, 2018 at 8:12 am
Gene Hackman…another downstate Illinois boy…grew up in Danville with the Van Dyke boys and Donald O’Connor. Pretty impressive for a small little town. Can’t hold those Illinois boys down.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:19 am
Also agree with the truth that training has changed for the worst. But too many players that played under the old regimen also have some serious health issues.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:20 am
Thought Hackman was from Mount Carmel?
Yup, just looked it up. Danville. Not sure why Joe was thinking Mount Carmel.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:59 am
Let’s just hope Koetter doesn’t need Jimmy Chitwood to save the season.
Just execute, minimize mistakes (turnovers and penalties) , and give themselves a chance to win
September 4th, 2018 at 9:02 am
@Bob
Agree with your first point completely…18 games are too many for the players bodies. I have read about a radical solution however that I think could work and once we accepted thinking outside the box might actually be interesting…adding another coaching/management element to the game.
The individual players could only play 16 of the 18 games. The coach would then be charged with determining which weeks which players would be rested. He would have to consider combinations as well. Would a coach simply risk the first two games and sit his stars…or sit a different couple of stars each week?
As for the new training regimens it’s a bit ironic. One of the reasons IMHO players get hurt so frequently is that they are supremely trained physical weapons. We now have DT’s who move and run like linebackers of 30 years ago.
These guys are just amazing physical specimens who are now able to produce such violent collisions that the body is not simply designed to absorb.
Again if you’ve ever had the chance to be on the sidelines of an NFL game it’s amazing there are not many more injuries.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:02 am
Can Someone please explain to me how Chris Conte and Ryan Smith give you the best chance to win? I thought it was Jameis who needed contacts.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:11 am
Every year its something….Even when we have the pieces in place, injuries strike us across the board. Every team goes into the season with weak points….Every team deals with injuries…..but a select few have ridiculous rashes of nothing more then bad luck….and thats us. For some bizarre reason it just never comes together and when it finally does, we end up a tad short at the end of the season.
This season will hinge on our d-line play….hopefully those guys can gel quickly and take over games in a hurry.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:11 am
DB55-
Easing rookies into lineup, 2nd 1/2 of season should be better than 1st 1/2 as rookies get experience- hoping for 4-4 1st 1/2, 6-2 2nd 1/2
September 4th, 2018 at 9:17 am
“Yup, just looked it up. Danville. Not sure why Joe was thinking Mount Carmel.”
Easy to confuse those little Illinois towns…Four roads into town, one town square, a town hall, a bunch of little old houses, a grain elevator or two, a number of old storefronts. About the only difference whether there is a river passing through or not.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:19 am
With an American Legion Hall near the town hall that has a red Budweiser ribbon sign hanging outside. Usually across the street from a bar with a Cardinals “Busch beer” neon sign in the window.
And a railroad slicing the town in half.
Yup. That’s Illinois.
Good description Mark!
September 4th, 2018 at 9:28 am
I’m in favor of an 18 game season, so long as they also add another bye week and i crease the roster and cap to compensate.
The Bucs have been pretty lucky in regard to injuries so far. Only two starters injured (Dotson and Smith) and they are day to day.
It could be much worse.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:34 am
DB55 Says
“Can Someone please explain to me how Chris Conte and Ryan Smith give you the best chance to win?”
Conte is the team’s best Safety at present.
Ryan Smith isn’t a Starter (I hope) and just might be released when Winston returns.
So, in short, Ryan Smith does not give us the best chance to win, but Chris Conte does. For now.
Whitehead is going to quickly become better, but he isn’t there yet.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:59 am
But they would have never won it all without Jimmy Chitwood agreeing to play.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:53 am
Jameis is Jimmy
September 4th, 2018 at 12:35 pm
Jimmy Chitwood takes them far, but the team would not have made the finals without Ollie’s unique underhanded free throws.
September 4th, 2018 at 12:42 pm
You know ever since the new collective bargaining agreement about training camp practices was changed to protect the players from over practicing it seems more players are beat to hell to start the season. Is it the lack of conditioning that players are getting or are todays players just more soft? It appears the glory days of when guys sucked it up and played through minor injuries are gone. Now they are coddled too much in my opinion.
September 4th, 2018 at 12:56 pm
Thanks for filling in the details, Joe. You are so right about the Railroad tracks… even though a train may not even run through the town anymore. Remember hearing the sound of the whistle a half mile away in the middle of the night growing up. Always seemed kind of comforting.
And the Cardinal sign? Definitely in Southern Illinois or in the “Heart of Illinois”, as it was called. As young adults and having to go to Chicago to really shake things up, we used to call it the “armpit of Illinois or the lower part of the torso”…but that was life in those days. Games up to Wrigley or down to Busch, the later if you wanted to see a good home team play in those years.
September 6th, 2018 at 12:47 pm
You just described every small town in my home state of Missourah as well. Good upringing.