“He Is So Amazing”
February 2nd, 2020
Helps a former Bucs ILB.
John Lynch may have missed out on the Hall of Fame (again) yesterday but the man can still finish the weekend as a winner.
For Lynch’s team, the team he built, is playing for the ultimate prize in sports: The Vince Lombardi Trophy.
(Don’t give Joe any of this jazz about foreign sports. Joe is very much a jingoist when it comes to sports. And proud of it!)
There is more to Lynch and his Bucs connections to give Bucs fans an interest in tonight’s Super Bowl. There is also a player angle as well.
In March, Lynch signed then-Bucs free agent middle linebacker Kwon Alexander. But this season, at least personally, wasn’t Alexander’s best. And he brought his ugly knack for injuries with him to San Francisco. In early November, Aexander was placed on injured reserve with a pectoral muscle injury.
Alexander bounced back in time to play in the postseason for the 49ers and is scheduled to be active for tonight.
Last week, Joe caught up with Kwon at Super Bowl Opening Night. He was giddy as can be, and why not? He was realizing he is one win from the ultimate prize in sports.
However, Joe hit Kwon with a question where the sincerity flowed out of him like a running faucet. Joe asked Kwon about Lynch being his general manager. It is clear the two have a close bond.
“He is so amazing man,” Kwon said. “He is, he is. Very amazing.”
And why might that be? Well, as Kwon put it, he was beside himself when he was placed on injured reserve. He knew the 49ers had a real shot at the playoffs and possibly a Super Bowl run, and he was distraught thinking he would have to watch his teammates from the sidelines as they battled for glory.
But it was Lynch, Kwon said, who constantly encouraged him to stay in shape and that there was a chance Kwon’s season would not be over.
“He has taught me a lot, for sure. For sure,” Kwon told Joe. “He kept my head up. I’m glad to have him around. I’m blessed to have him around.”
So while this weekend started on a bummer of a note that Pro Football Hall of Fame voters turned their noses up at Lynch yet again, Lynch could walk away tonight with his second Super Bowl ring — and with knowing he helped a ex-Bucs player navigate a bumpy ride to help him put the 49ers back in position to win more bling.
February 2nd, 2020 at 8:10 am
Ha! We have Jason Licht, so there!!
February 2nd, 2020 at 8:26 am
Who gives a crap!!! I hope the 9rrs lose BIG today! As far as I’m concerned Lynch has forever tarnished his Buc legendary status. I’m GLAD he didn’t make the HOF and I hope he never does. Dude is nothing more than a traitor and a paid mercenary.
February 2nd, 2020 at 8:30 am
Hodad, if not for Licht, Arians would probably lure Bill Polian out of retirement. Than we’d really be in trouble!
February 2nd, 2020 at 8:42 am
I’m neutral on Lynch outside of anything relating to the Buccaneers. When he and Kwon play the Bucs they are the enemy, same as any other team and I hope to get them both back after the 49’s beat us in the first game last year. I’m hoping for a good game tonight, but I have a hunch that Mahomes is going to make that defense look silly.
February 2nd, 2020 at 8:52 am
I just really do not understand people that can claim loyalty to the Bucs during the season and then flip when “their” team makes the Super Bowl and the Bucs do not. I also will not cheer for a player or anyone in the front office of a team regardless if they used to be on the Bucs and were once beloved by the fans. They are showing they have no loyalty (face it who in professional sports really does)
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:00 am
Good story on John Lynch,Joe. He is a class act. You know what you get with
Shanahan. But Lynch was a fantastic wild card to add to the mix.
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:06 am
Believer,
The Bucs are sidelined , sitting on their couch or at the game. I would think that
many of them have picked a favorite to win the game. I am gonna do the same.
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:07 am
What is really amazing is the below avg gm making it to his 7th offseason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would say raise your standards sheep, but I deal with the truth and “reality”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:12 am
I have 3 reasons to root for SF…..
Lynch
Kwon
They are a NFC team and their draft pick will be one slot worse.
I have zero reasons to root for KC
Go SF
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:15 am
Agree
Licht is pretty anti- amazing
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:23 am
loved john lynch as a buc, and i for one am happy for his success, he played his heart out for tampa, lest we forget he is from the san fran area, now i will root for the 49ers, because of lynch and the defense he has put together, and also i like that running back who grew up bout an hour or so from orlando in new smyrna beach, raheem mostert, with that being said i really do like mahomes, i think he is a phenom, but know this when the bucs take the field on sundays i don’t care who they are playing, my allegiance is with tampa
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:42 am
Lynch has ZERO experience with personnel, goes in and builds a winner by making the bold move for a 2nd rd back up QB based on the results of a handful of games.
Meanwhile we have Licht who had the #1 pick and cant figure out what to do with him after 5 yrs and 3 head coaches.
Lynch’s 49ers win today, he deserves the nod to the HOF. His contributions to the game as a player, commentator and GM should get him over the hump.
February 2nd, 2020 at 9:53 am
Yep, I think the voters had it in the back of their minds that if Lynch wins the SB today it is a perfect setup for next year with the SB being in Tampa to finally let him in.
February 2nd, 2020 at 10:04 am
The fact that in 3 years Lynch has San Fran in the Super Bowl HAS to be a wake up call to the Glazers. But it won’t be. I say that because we keep having the likes of Dominek and Licht shoved down our throats. Until the trust fund clan sells the team (and why would they? It’s a money printing press) we are doomed doomed doomed.
February 2nd, 2020 at 10:21 am
Lynch knew the loser Glazer Boys mentality and actions.
That’s why he didn’t call them about being a GM.
News flash: We will continue to miss-out and suck until the Glazer Boys sell.
February 2nd, 2020 at 10:24 am
One of the reasons the Bucs went to sh!t after the SB was not resigning Lynch and Sapp. If they had kept them Kiffin might have stayed, and the Bucs might have at least made the playoffs again. John Lynch was a great player, a great GM, and is a great and honorable human being. He deserves to be in the HOF, and fans of any organization that he has ever been a part of, should be rooting for his success tonight. He is an admirable man who has given everything he had for his community and this game.
February 2nd, 2020 at 10:52 am
Whocares
Dude why so incredibly negative and HATEFUL? How did Lynch betray the Bucs?. I’m old so my memory is not that great…and that’s just one of two excuses I could offer LMAO
However I thought Lynch had a serious career threatening injury and the Bucs didn’t wish to gamble…Denver did…they were right we were wrong. I’m sure the “experts” here will correct me if I’m wrong.
But on a human level why so much hate? Seriously curious.
As for the big game…I’m torn…I like SF for all the reasons TBBF mentioned but I also like KC because of Mahomes and Reid. Reid did not hesitate to pull the trigger and trade a veteran playoff QB when he realized what he had in Mahomes.
My biggest beef with Licht/BA and Bucs management is the way they’ve handled JW. I’m not saying that JW shouldn’t have been retained for five years…not even saying he shouldn’t come back…but I am sick and tired of the way this franchise has coddled a self indulgent athlete. From AZ to all the horrible picks (yeah NDOG SOME were not his fault many were egregious examples a QB who froze or choked) and the other “stuff”. It’s never ended.
While I admire BA and appreciate what he has done for this franchise already nobody is perfect. I think he blew it big time turning “blameless” loose and encouraging him, defending him, protecting his fragile ego from competition in camp…I view that with hindsight as a horrible blunder.
In BA’s defense perhaps he wanted to TRULY see for himself what he had in JW. I just hope he’s seen what he needs to see and can either jerk a knot in JW’s undisciplined tail or moves on.
February 2nd, 2020 at 11:19 am
I’m negative because the ONLY team I root for is the Bucs. I don’t give a crap about anyone or any other team. Those that want the Niners to win beacause they have some ex Bucs in my opinion are wrong.same goes for those that claim to have an allegiance to two different teams. Especially when you make your living off of one of them.
February 2nd, 2020 at 12:48 pm
The 49ers average something like giving up 12 points less a game when Kwon plays… also just do some google searches, everyone there calls him the heart of that defense.
Saying he had a bad year is nonsense. He was thought to certainly be out the rest of the year and used his super human healing powers to come back anyways.
Losing him was a big deal – if you keep him, you’re not drafting White (who I like, this isn’t anything against him) and instead you’re drafting an outside rusher. But then again, if you draft an outside rusher like Allen then it’s unlikely Shaq gets all the time he got on the field. So the butterfly effect here is something.
February 2nd, 2020 at 1:21 pm
Who cares
Seriously? If you’re a real Bucs fan, you appreciate the heck out of Lynch and that entire collection of players.
Your take is childish.
February 2nd, 2020 at 8:54 pm
Lynch and Doug Williams are my favorite former players… so all love for Lynch entering the HoF and winning as someone else’s GM… as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of the Bucs.
Since he took Kwon off our hands and overpaid him to boost our chances for a compensatory pick… we owe him one. Already heard the play by play guys use a familiar line “on the whiff was Alexander”. Seriously. Kwon is going to get traded this offseason given the rookie Greenlaw is playing so well he can’t get his job back, healthy or not.