Hope These Items Are Used
July 24th, 2019
New perspective on division foe.
After returning from a few days in Vegas, Joe’s trying to get his life back on track. Combine the physical toll multiple days (and long nights) one absorbs in Vegas, tack on jet lag and it takes days to get your inner compass straight.
So Joe has been trying to binge “All or Nothing” on Amazon and catch up on NFL reading to prepare for Bucs training camp on Friday.
The things Joe watched on “All or Nothing” and read about while catching up on NFL stuff, Joe sure hopes are being applied as Bucco Bruce Arians is about to undertake his first training camp with the Bucs.
In the first few moments of “All or Nothing,” the premiere episode featuring the Panthers, pouty Cam Newton is seen (and heard) barking at offensive teammates after running a play in practice (Joe’s cleaning up the quote for family reading), “If we can’t do this in practice, how are we supposed to do this on Sunday?”
Joe is getting the same impression had by other Bucs fans on Twitter. This series is really shining a new light on Newton. For all his preening and Superman schtick and sometimes childish stunts, Newton appears in the series as a fierce competitor and a guy who is driven to excel and do things the right way and be a beacon for younger teammates to lean on in tough times.
That comment from Newton about doing things right really struck Joe. Of course, Newton is right but for a quarterback to take his teammates to task for sloppy practice methods, or at least not getting a specific play down and ordering them to work to get it right or not use the play at all, says a lot about Newton.
Then, Joe was reading a piece typed by Arnie Stapleton of the Chicago Tribune on former Bears defensive coordinator and new Broncos coach Vic Fangio. A few things to highlight from this piece:
* No music at Broncos practices. Fangio cited a couple of reasons. One was, when he was an assistant, he got tired of trying to holler over the music while coaching. Fangio said coaching is teaching and if he has to scream at players so he can be heard, that’s not coaching. Fangio also said in his experience, he saw too many players dancing in practice when tunes were thumping.
* The Broncos wear game-like uniforms in practice, not baggy jerseys like most teams wear which are more comfortable and less hot for players. Why tight jerseys? Fangio believes players develop bad habits like grabbing loose clothing instead of tackling with good fundamentals. Grabbing is not tackling and he doesn’t want his defenders developing grabbing habits instead of wrapping up.
* Fangio wants veteran players policing younger teammates. Fangio apparently was quite pleased to learn receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Courtland Sutton chewed out a rookie tight end for not practicing to the whistle. This, Fangio said, is what a team needs. Coaches, he said, cannot be on the field of play in games.
Joe loves the attention to detail. In some ways, this sounded like former Bucs commander Greg Schiano. Problem with Schiano was he went way overboard like controlling temperatures in hotels and making sure pasta was served not too soggy but not too Al dente, either.
Joe knows Arians has silenced music at practice. Now go get players jumping on teammates for sloppy practices and not practicing to the whistle; those are small yet important steps to winning games.
July 24th, 2019 at 12:16 am
The problem with Schiano is that he had no QB, MRSA, and a bunch of entitled players with nothing to show for it. Underrated coach, in hindsight
July 24th, 2019 at 12:42 am
Newton playing up to the cameras
July 24th, 2019 at 1:25 am
Yeah I kinda liked Schiano’s “toes on the line” philosophy.
July 24th, 2019 at 3:57 am
Great article Joe. Got me wondering if ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ still applies like it used to in ‘the old days’.
Especially enjoyed reading about some of Vic Fangio’s training nuances (anyone who’s survived 19 years as an NFL DC with 5 different teams has probably learned a thing or two). He’s the perfect example of how it takes BOTH talent AND coaching to have a winning team. His defenses with Houston (2002-2005) were terrible, but his follow-on defenses in San Fran (2011-2014) were awesome. Took him 3 years to turn around Chicago’s defense, but it became the NFL’s best last year (thanks to an infusion of some new talent?). Todd Bowles doesn’t have Fangio’s long resume as a DC, but I’m hoping that he can get similar results with our Bucs’ defense.
July 24th, 2019 at 4:09 am
Controlling temperatures at team meetings and wanting (your own) meal cooked properly doesn’t seem to picky? In some ways it does seem pendantic but considering the concentration problems the team he inherited, not the worst thing. I was not aware any “meal” control was beyond what was on his plate. But that’s what he gets for eating pasta anyway!
July 24th, 2019 at 6:55 am
Really good point with the loose jerseys. That and no music alone will help
July 24th, 2019 at 7:01 am
great article ,Joe
Got anything from Wade Philips. He is also a defensive mind worth picking.
July 24th, 2019 at 7:06 am
2 days…..
July 24th, 2019 at 7:13 am
Schiano got HOSED by the media fans ( I too was guilty at the time) owners and most of all the players he was trying to toughen up. You never appreciate what you have until you don’t.
July 24th, 2019 at 7:25 am
I’m assuming there’s no ping pong table in their locker room, and hopefully ours anymore.
July 24th, 2019 at 7:32 am
The Little General, Schiano, was insane in the membrane.
A clear example of the Peter Principle. He would have a great special teams coach. Clearly out of his league as a head coach.
He couldn’t even win at Rutgers.
July 24th, 2019 at 9:08 am
great article….
GO BUCS!!!!
July 24th, 2019 at 9:32 am
This is he kind of article I like. No negativity at all. Great job, Joe!
July 24th, 2019 at 10:18 am
Yeah we need more of this but joe i am a little confused. doesnt this show that the panthers and newton have good leadership skills? lee has said before on the podcast that leadership is just rhetoric yet we are applauding it here so i am really confused as to what you dont like about that word or if you truly believe it is baloney? trying to decipher past statements. unless you mean there is a difference between leadership and accountability but to me those two go hand in hand.
July 24th, 2019 at 5:26 pm
Magadude
At last we disagree. Pasta is one of my favorite foods…Al dente of course. I hate mushy pasta or mushy Mac anc Cheese.