“You Know What You Are Getting”
July 5th, 2020
Dependable
One TV was in Joe’s boyhood home. So when watching TV, Joe had two choices: either watch what his old man watched or find something else to do.
Sadly, Joe’s old man had a thing for westerns. Just the thought of “Gunsmoke” makes Joe want to puke to this day. Two or three years ago Joe came across a rerun of that crap and tried to watch a few minutes, thinking maybe Joe was just too young to appreciate the long-running TV series of the 20th century.
Nope. It was just as ungodly boring as Joe remembered. C-SPAN had more action.
So once Joe asked his old man why he loved westerns. “You know what you are getting,” is how Joe’s old man explained. “Yeah. Death by boredom,” Joe mumbled to himself.
(To be fair, the only westerns Joe could stomach were John Wayne movies. Joe still thinks “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” with John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin may be the most underrated flick ever.)
That quote from Joe’s old man sort of had a hidden message: Comfort is good. Sometimes, a risk is not worth it. Dependability is a virtue.
This brings Joe to defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The 33-year old Suh may not be what he once was, but he is still not to be toyed with. And while Dan Pizzuta of Sharp Football Analysis may think Suh is slipping, he can understand why the Bucs brought Suh back.
Suh doesn’t exactly fill a need for the Bucs, and his role possibly could have been filled at a cheaper price, but this keeps one of the defenses’s best units from last season, which could help keep the defensive improvement going into 2020.
Pizzuta went on to explain that Vita Vea is the star of the Bucs’ defensive interior but that Suh compliments him well; teams still have to respect Suh or otherwise get burned.
So why did the Bucs bring back Suh if he could be replaced? Well, Joe’s old man’s words rang loud. “You know what you are getting.”
With Suh, the Bucs knew exactly what they had. And you have to figure they knew how much he slipped and also figured he would still be productive.
If the Bucs brought in someone else, sure, he likely would have been cheaper, but would that new player provide the traits and skills Suh brings? Remember the Bucs are maybe on a one-year window here with the salary cap expected to drop next season.
Dependable? Well, Suh’s dependability is rare. He hasn’t missed a start since serving a suspension in 2011. As Bill Parcells liked to say, “Your best ability is your availability.”
And with Suh, you know what type of availability you are getting. Suh is almost virtuous in his dependability.
July 5th, 2020 at 3:36 pm
You may have answered me Joe on an earlier thread when I asked the question again. Why would the cap Drop next yr?
Cost of living isn’t dropping.
The 53 man roster should raise in number due to the sickness.
To me it makes no sense for the cap to do anything but increase. I must admit though that I don’t much follow the financial side of the NFL
July 5th, 2020 at 3:43 pm
Love John Wayne westerns. The original Magnificent Seven and Tombstone are other good ones.
Suh is a major piece to the DL. And he scored 2 TD’s last year
July 5th, 2020 at 4:13 pm
Salary cap is based on NFL revenues. And every projection suggests the revenues will be down this year, some projections hint at a major drop.
July 5th, 2020 at 4:17 pm
i loved gunsmoke joe, and there ain’t a movie out there that’s better than true grit imho cept maybe the outlaw josey wales, i reckon so, that’s what gronk is going to be telling brady after the second game with the taint’s, we whooped em again tom didin’t we, as tom reply’s i reckon so boy i reckon so
July 5th, 2020 at 4:27 pm
@ james west……..”Dying ain’t much of a livin’ boy”
Best one liner Ever IMO
July 5th, 2020 at 4:28 pm
A new western Joe should try is Yellowstone….(modern day western) Paramount Network
As for Suh…..yep….paying a bit more but psychologically important to keep that group together…..we have all eleven defenses starters plus Winfield…..and all coaches…..D should be improved.
And….I’m really hoping for good news with Justin Evans.
July 5th, 2020 at 4:28 pm
Thanks for the clarification Joe.
I think that is Stupid criteria for a cap setting.
The cap is FAR too low as it is IMO
July 5th, 2020 at 4:32 pm
Love the Suh.
July 5th, 2020 at 4:46 pm
Joe recently got hooked on it. Binged on a lot of episodes this weekend. Thankfully it is a far cry from the hackneyed old westerns.
Usually, the formula for westerns is beyond tired. Hard-working good guy leaves everyone alone until bad guy rolls into town, starts a brawl in the saloon so the good guy has to put his branding iron down and go shoot the bad guy to save the school marm. Or the madam who sets up shop upstairs in the saloon.
Rinse, repeat.
Not sure “Yellowstone” is a western since it set in the 21st century and the characters actually use smartphones and laptops and drive air-conditioned pickups and four-wheelers and watch football (Tampa Bay Bandits!) on HDTVs.
July 5th, 2020 at 4:55 pm
A “slipped” Suh is still more beastly than 90% of DT’s in the NFL…
July 5th, 2020 at 5:25 pm
TOMBSTONE- give me a reason you don’t like it
July 5th, 2020 at 5:39 pm
Best Western ever is The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2)
Follows the formula – Loner (with special ability) comes to town, saves town from bad guys, then leaves again because he’s a loner.
It’s a western.
July 5th, 2020 at 5:43 pm
Hmmmm, strange that no one mentioned “Blazing Saddles” yet!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 5th, 2020 at 6:00 pm
NFLPA players vote unanimously for no preseason games? Where do we go from here?
July 5th, 2020 at 7:13 pm
@Joe……….Yellowstone is SO True! I live 90 miles from Bozeman. Been here for the last 7+ years.
That series is why Bozeman is growing as the second fastest city in America.
SO ADDICTING that series is .
To me it is mostly because it is a true story. It is also about watching a ‘good ole boy’ network as it has to fall in order for new society to evolve.
July 5th, 2020 at 7:14 pm
Wow. I wonder what the ‘key word’ that put that comment in the corner.
July 5th, 2020 at 7:33 pm
Suh is still damn good.
July 5th, 2020 at 8:06 pm
Suh helped lead the #1 rush defense, was disruptive and ate blocks up on the pass rush and had a nose for the ball with 2 fumble rec to the house. He replaced McCoy and was worth every penny. I doubt McCoy would of had the season Suh had.
July 5th, 2020 at 8:12 pm
The word on the street was all about how Suh “took plays off” during the Rams’ regular season. I didn’t see that at all last year. Rather, I saw Suh chasing plays downfield.
July 5th, 2020 at 8:17 pm
Getting the band back together from last year was priority numero uno. Suh was big part of of that No 1 rush defense.
I’ve got to throw Deadwood on the western list. One of the all time bad guys in film/series history. Swearengen!
In BA I Trust!
July 5th, 2020 at 8:34 pm
Hey Joe Gunsmoke is now only in third with 20 seasons, at #2 Law & Order SVU with 21 and in 1st the Simpsons with 31.
July 5th, 2020 at 8:54 pm
Joe…you do know that Wyatt Earp was from Monmouth, and was a rather unsavory character in Peoria, don’t you? Around 1872 frequented settings that invariably involved saloons and brothels, the latter including a ramshackle cathouse as a bouncer and a pimp that slyly plied the Illinois River…as a local Peoria writer Luciano elucidated. Kind of makes you wonder what was fact and what was fiction in the old west.
July 5th, 2020 at 9:19 pm
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Great Movie… But the fact that John Wayne/Tom Doniphon didn’t get the girl makes it a little too sad for me. Marvin was great..as always.
July 5th, 2020 at 11:34 pm
What! You didn’t like Chester? ” Mr. Dillonnnnnn!!”. ” There’s trouble at the saloon!”.
July 6th, 2020 at 12:14 am
LOL!
Yes.
ROTFLMAO!!!
July 6th, 2020 at 12:22 am
Sort of like walking into a men’s only bar (ahem). Sure they had cold beer. But it wasn’t near enough to make up for the rest of the show.
July 6th, 2020 at 1:28 am
Pretty good description.
July 6th, 2020 at 11:40 am
Love the old westerns!
But don’t forget! Some of the best “westerns” actually started out as “easterns”!
Without Yojimbo, we never get For a Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, or The Good The Bad and The Ugly…
Without Seven Samurai, we never get The Magnificent Seven (or The 3 Amigos!)…
Thanks to Akira Kurosawa!