Hot Heads
October 16th, 2020
Packers WR Davante Adams.
It has been a long, long time since the Bucs were able to use the heat of Florida to their advantage.
Joe remembers in Raheem Morris’ first season as Bucs coach. He openly taunted the Cowboys in days and weeks leading up to the 2009 season-opener that the Bucs would be well-equipped to handle the searing September Florida sun and the Cowboys would melt into a puddle of blue before the game would end (Raheem apparently forgot or wasn’t aware Texas in the summer is a kiln).
So what happened? The Cowboys absolutely curb-stomped the Bucs.
Joe has grown very, very tired of Bucs types saying they can use the heat to their advantage. Advantage??? They’ve got the worst home record of any NFC team in the post-Chucky era.
Advantage, Joe’s rear end!
However, browsing various publications that cover the Packers, the Bucs’ opponent Sunday, it seems the heat is really toying with their brains.
For example, the best wide receiver on the Packers, Devante Adams, has missed the past month with a bum hamstring. Packers coaches are worried if he may overdo it in his first game back in the hot sun and, per Bill Huber who covers the Packers for SI.com, coaches will be monitoring Adams closely so he doesn’t get dehydrated. It almost sounds as if Adams is on a pitch count.
The Packers are so freaked about the heat, inside their practice bubble workers have been instructed to crank up the furnace to make it Florida hot. In Green Bay, it was in the mid-40s yesterday.
Coach Matt LaFleur is doing what he can to get his team prepared. For the portions of practice held inside the Don Hutson Center earlier this week, LaFleur cranked up the heat. Beyond acclimating his players as much as possible, the message is simple: hydrate, hydrate and hydrate some more.
It’s the football version of preventative maintenance.
“You can try different things and, sometimes, it can feel a little gimmicky, but I think there is some science behind some of the stuff that we’re doing,” LaFleur said before Thursday’s practice. “You’ve just got to make sure that you stress the hydration. That’s the biggest key, especially when it’s colder here. Guys just don’t feel like drinking water all the time or taking in the fluids. So, we’ve been stressing it and just making sure that our guys are adhering to that because we need everybody for what we know is going to be a long, four-quarter battle.”
Again, long ago Joe gave up on the notion that the Florida heat is the Bucs’ best friend. The home record of the Bucs since they fired Chucky demonstrates that is just a con.
You know what the best friend of the Bucs is when they play at home? The offense scoring points and the defense not allowing the other team to score points. Joe doesn’t give a damn if it is 50 or 95 degrees.
Still, it is cool to read how the Florida sun is in the Packers’ heads this week.
October 16th, 2020 at 12:15 am
Lived in Fla for my first 37 years.
Live in Montana now. Huge diff as my fam and I when we go on Vacation every year.
We aren’t pro athletes. Conditioning is actually a thing tho
October 16th, 2020 at 12:23 am
Amen. The heat is the most overrated element of playing at home. As Joe said for years we’ve harped on the heat being an advantage. It is demonstrably not. But playing better is.
October 16th, 2020 at 12:59 am
Weather is predicted to be around 85 and rainy. That rain is expected to be done around 4PM. Playing in a heated dome will not prepare a team for how steamy it’s going to be if that forecast is true.
October 16th, 2020 at 1:02 am
Bingo!
October 16th, 2020 at 1:40 am
Maybe if it was a 1pm game but this will be a late game. They said Bucs couldn’t win cold weather games back in the day. No excuses the packers are playing well but they haven’t played a decent defense yet and their defense is not very good, the only one that can hold our offense back is penalties and bad play calling
October 16th, 2020 at 2:22 am
To piggyback Pewter Power’s take and some guy who embraces the pseudonym, Joe:
“ … the only one [sic] that can hold our offense back is penalties and bad play calling.”
“Bingo!”
October 16th, 2020 at 6:22 am
Hmmmm…they haven’t played a decent defense?
October 16th, 2020 at 7:33 am
The heat advantage is overrated. Most of the receivers and dbs in the league are from south Florida anyway.
October 16th, 2020 at 8:41 am
Those boys ain’t ready to sweat. They practicing in comfortable conditions out there mid 40s. I’m sweating working outside like it’s mid June still lol let’s get it Bucs show no mercy on the field.
October 16th, 2020 at 9:14 am
Didn’t read about any rain in forecast. Suppose to be mostly clear and a high of 86 and a lite breeze. Good football weather. Bucs are the ones that get injuries from the heat every year. Been saying for a few years now RayJay needs visors like the Hard rock stadium in Miami if they don’t have any plans on building a new stadium anytime soon.
October 16th, 2020 at 9:20 am
Rodgers is much more talented than Brady at this point. If the Packers get an early lead and the Bucs have to abandon the run they are in big trouble. They are set to get back Kenny Clark, one of the best pass rushing interior lineman in the NFL, with the Smith Bros on the outside. If they are able to get consistent pressure on Brady then I think the Bucs take another L this week.
October 16th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
If the Buc fans owned the home team we might have a more consistent contender.
October 16th, 2020 at 4:01 pm
Weather has never been an advantage for Bucs long before anyone ever heard of Chucky Gruden. Forecast is saying clear and warm. Hopefully, we will get rain next week cos we need it. No reason why Bucs can’t win this one ‘cept the coaches. Hope Bowles gets back to business Sunday.