“I’m Not A Mean Guy”
July 31st, 2020
Nice guy
Joe isn’t about to remotely suggest he knows Bucs players.
Does Joe know who Bucs players are? Sure. Is Joe on a first-name basis with some? Sure. If Joe happens to cross paths with a few of them bouncing around town would they stop and start talking to Joe? Sure.
But Joe doesn’t know them.
And with One Buc Palace all but locked down for health reasons because of The Sickness, media types have been kept away from the building and the entire team, including rookies.
So Joe doesn’t even have an inkling who or what the rookies are like.
Joe has a contact up at Iowa City (home of the University of Iowa) that knows Wirfs well. Everything Joe has heard about Wirfs, the person, is that he is a super nice guy. That’s typical of a cornfed from Iowa. Good people.
So Wirfs was asked today (by Joe’s good friend Rock Riley) about his pleasant demeanor and how or if he can flip a switch to be an ornery offensive lineman. Wirfs pretty much said that is his responsibility.
“I don’t know if I am a different guy,” Wirfs said. “That’s just who I am. I’m not a mean person. When I am out there [on the field] I want to get my job done.
“When you put a defender on his back and help him up with a smile on your face, you do it over again. I think that will frustrate him more than if you are talking crap to him the whole game. I don’t think there is a switch. You just go out there and do your job to the best of your abilities.”
Joe can just hear people already making Gerald McCoy comparisons.
Bucs fans hated GMC because he was a nice guy despite making Pro Bowl after Pro Bowl. Joe’s guessing fans loathed GMC because he never tried to put on a fake Warren Sapp front. Now that’s just inventing reasons to hate on a guy.
Background: Ali Marpet — who Wirfs said has been sort of like his guide dog — is a nice guy too. And he’s a solid NFL guard.
Any fool can act like a rabid animal and slobber and bark and woof. The NFL is about getting the job done, not acting like a damn clown in a cartoon.
July 31st, 2020 at 12:46 pm
hope he turns into a damn, junk yard rabid dog, then switch him to the blindside
July 31st, 2020 at 12:47 pm
Big difference between personality and football mentality. I know very little about Wirfs but on his highlights I noticed he runs every play to the finish and usually ends with him plopping down on somebody inflicting pain…..I dont care how nice you are…..If you inflicting pain as a Buccaneer I’m a fan!!!
GO BUCS!!!
July 31st, 2020 at 12:52 pm
Knocking someone to the ground with a smile on your face?
I don’t see a problem with that.
July 31st, 2020 at 12:55 pm
Just bring us some swag to the O/Line!! nickname Big Nasty!!
July 31st, 2020 at 12:57 pm
There is a difference between being a nice guy and being soft.
July 31st, 2020 at 12:58 pm
Let’s not forget Lee Roy. He was the ultimate nice guy who got the job done, to say the least.
July 31st, 2020 at 1:02 pm
I just really hope Wirfs and Cappa can build some repore. Itd be a huge bust if we can lean on that Right Side when we need to run the ball…….And of course we need our TEs to pull their weight picking up blocks too which was an underlying issue last year.
Only as strong the the weakest stiff on the field.
July 31st, 2020 at 1:20 pm
Ryan Jensen is our only “dirty” OL. He always plays through to the whistle and frequently beyond.
He’s the center and so he can set the attitude and let the rest of the line be themselves…sadly for some here…decent human beings. They are also physical freaks of nature and very athletic. Wirfs at the combine was freakish for a guy his size.
Merlin Olson was a super nice guy who went on to star as a “nice guy” on a hit TV series. Alex Karras another future TV star was not known as nice or bad but as a very witty guy.
As Joe points out there is more than one way to get the job done and you don’t have to be an insane frothing at the mouth idiot like Bill Romanowski or Conrad Dobler.
The league has pretty much legislated “dirty” out of the equation and the money is too huge for the players to be toooo stooopid. Romanowski and Dobler are dinosaurs. I realized all the bad dudes I could think of were from a different era. Party because I’m so freaking old…but partly because the league no longer appreciates players who bite other players or grab their packages and twist…or any guys left who risk getting the dreaded “Given him the business” flag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl-s5O7n95A
July 31st, 2020 at 2:00 pm
Agreed.
Lee Roy Selmon was also a really nice guy.
July 31st, 2020 at 2:03 pm
EFFECTIVE….that’s all we need him to be.
July 31st, 2020 at 2:18 pm
Someeeeeee fans hated Gerald McCoy many consider his career in total to be a top 10 career for the entire Bucs franc
hise!
July 31st, 2020 at 2:26 pm
Ted Bundy was a nice guy when he wanted to be….
The point is that personality off the field can be much different than on field performance.
July 31st, 2020 at 2:33 pm
I don’t care about demeanor – I just want our players to dominate. I think fans were negative on GMC because he just seemed to disappear at times in games – especially late in games. Warren Sapp was the opposite.
I really didn’t get involved in the whole GMC hate – he made Pro-bowls, you heard players and coaches from other teams talk him up…every one says he did his job and mostly at a very high level. But I don’t miss him either 🙂
Go Bucs!
July 31st, 2020 at 2:37 pm
What’s not to like about a Ted Bundy analogy huh?
July 31st, 2020 at 2:42 pm
Anthony Munoz- Best OT of all time was and is a “nice guy”
Paul Gruber- excellent OT for the Bucs- nice guy.
July 31st, 2020 at 2:56 pm
Always enjoy a good Conrad Dobler blast. 👍🙂
July 31st, 2020 at 4:25 pm
Nice guys can do well. Remember Ed “Deacon” Jones ? He was a great player, and was so nice, he would actually Pray for you, after he kicked you ass.
July 31st, 2020 at 5:43 pm
Nice is good. Bonding with team mates. Not so many stupid flags. Dudes gonna be legit decade Buc.
July 31st, 2020 at 6:01 pm
Nice one Doosh! 🙂
August 1st, 2020 at 9:44 am
Right on – ’79 Defense
Let’s not forget Lee Roy. He was the ultimate nice guy who got the job done, to say the least. –
Leroy Selmon was a class act on and off the field. Was a nice guy, but dominated on the field of Play. You can find his bust in Canton. NFL Defensive Player of the year in 1979. You do not have to be a jerk, just to knock the crap out of somebody on Sundays, and dominate at your position. You are paid to play all out, and play with physicality. These are grown men, play like it, but you can do it with class and still dominnate. Just ask Kenyata Walker when he would be dominated by Julius Peppers. lol It was never fun watching Kenyatta get owned everytime we played to Panthers.
August 2nd, 2020 at 8:04 pm
Gerald McCoy was not liked by Bucs fans because he disappeared in the 4th quarter and only made one half of a game changing play during his entire Bucs tenure, a last minute grab of Matt Ryan’s ankle causing an erratic throw to seal the game. That’s it. He got run over in the run game and the Bucs are better without him. That was demonstrated last year. Suh > McCoy. Always was. Is. Always will be.