“Thank You, Thank You”
January 25th, 2021
Shaq Barrett puts Aaron Rodgers on the ground for one of his three sacks Sunday.
Thanksgiving may only be two months in the rearview mirror, but one guy who is very thankful is NFL sack king Shaq Barrett.
Sure, Shaq is thankful. Not only is he making good bread this year, but those three sacks yesterday got him out of a five-game slump and may have saved his chances of staying with the Bucs in 2021 and beyond.
Yes, Shaq is thankful for going to the Super Bowl. What player wouldn’t be?
However, in the Packers’ last drive trailing by eight with the ball on the Bucs-8 with 2:08 remaining, Packers coach Matt LaFleur chose to kick a field goal on fourth down rather than try to tie the game with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
And that decision was good with Shaq.
When NFL Network’s James Palmer asked Shaq if he was surprised Green Bay kicked a field goal, Shaq didn’t try to hide his emotions behind his mask.
“One-hundred percent surprised,” Shaq said. “There’s no guarantee you are going to make it back down there. Why not take advantage of it right now?
“But thank you, thank you!”
Just browsing lightly through various publications that cover the Packers, LaFleur is getting killed for that decision.
Yes Shaq, all Joe can think of on that decision is “Thanks, Coach LaFleur.”
You can see Shaq’s full interview with Palmer in the NFL Network video below.
Shaq Barrett beat Tom Brady to go to the Super Bowl, and now goes to one with him. Hear what Shaq has to say about the pressure they got on Rodgers, if he thought they would win if I told him Brady would have 3 picks and why did the Packers kick a FG? pic.twitter.com/vvU9w5JJ2V
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 24, 2021
January 25th, 2021 at 10:03 am
Joe will the bucs be able to fire the cannons when they score in the SB?
January 25th, 2021 at 10:05 am
@BucRob:
They might fire them for both teams.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:05 am
Lafleur really didn’t make a bad call on the kick. Bucs fan so I’m glad it worked out for us but with all 3 of their time outs plus over 2 minutes left, I think it was the smart play to bet on your defense and Rodgers. How cool the bucs are back in the SB! I was 16 when they last made it. Been waiting a long time boys. Go bucs!
January 25th, 2021 at 10:10 am
Great job Shaq.
You have totally redeemed yourself!
January 25th, 2021 at 10:12 am
For years & years I had to put up with drunk obnoxious Cheese Head Packer fans at the Big Sombrero…..coming down for the yearly division matchup…..escaping the brutal weather in Green Bay….(same with Bears)
How gratifying it was for me to see them get whipped at Lambeau…….only wish I could have been there….drunk & obnoxious.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:12 am
When they brought out the FG unit…I looked at my wife and said it’s over the Bucs are going to the SB.
We danced, hugged, jumped up and down while the kick was going through the uprights.
Go Bucs!!!!
Realist can come back after the Super Bowl.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:12 am
Fire the cannons for only Tampa during the SB
January 25th, 2021 at 10:13 am
i was surprised too….but when you look at the way brady was playing in the 4th quarter, i dont blame him….i do thank him…lol…
GO BUCS!!!!
January 25th, 2021 at 10:14 am
agree with Pablo!!!!!
its out stadium!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
January 25th, 2021 at 10:16 am
Off topic here but Kellerman just submitted.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:17 am
Love this team I just wish we could do something about the sucky players in the secondary. No need to call names u all know who I’m speaking of. Fix the secondary and we would be scary team.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:17 am
Is one side going to chant Taaaaampaa while the other said yells Baaaaay?
January 25th, 2021 at 10:17 am
When I went for my jog yesterday morning in Tampa, I saw someone walking around with a Packer’s hat. Hopefully, this win will help purge the area of obnoxious non-Bucs fans. It makes me sick.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:18 am
I am thrilled. If anyone can beat the arrogant Chiefs, Brady can to get another ring but this time with a Buc Logo on it. Ha! He got us here when few expected it and Brady has the weapons and a better performing Offensive Line and a solid Defense, and that is all it takes for Him to lead us to a win in the Super Bowl this next month. Fly the flags and fire those canons for us!!!
January 25th, 2021 at 10:21 am
LVMYBUCS …I wouldn’t say they all suck.
I’d said they were all young and no one even knew who Ronde was until his 3rd season.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:27 am
For everyone asking about the cannons. I have read that the NFL wants the cannons to be involved during the super bowl. However they want it to remain a neutral site so it is possible the cannons will fire for both teams at certain times during the game. That was a press release I read from Greg Auman’s Twitter.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:34 am
Mitch…that doesn’t make me happy though.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:40 am
Fire the cannons for both sides……Cannon Equal Justice………how bout they hand out participation trophies also…..
If I were Bucs…….I’d refuse to allow cannon fire……cannons are only for Bucs…
January 25th, 2021 at 10:42 am
BTW, Big Truck, La flu flu didn’t make a bad decision to kick the field??????? And Pete Carrol didn’t make a bad decision to pass when they were 2nd and 1 from the 1 yd line with “The Beast” wanting the ball. I can guarantee there wasn’t 1 fan that thought “let’s pass and fool them. BUT, La Flu Flu, thank you so much. I honestly thought it was going to be a trick play or a fame. Whether we beat them by 1 pt or 100 points, we’re going to the SB
January 25th, 2021 at 10:52 am
Everybody is assuming…..
1. That they would have scored a TD
2. That they would have converted the try for 2.
3. That their defense would have stopped our drive with 2 minutes & 3 time outs only needing a FG
4. That if it went to overtime, we they would have won.
I don’t think it was the right decision but it’s a long way from losing the game for them.
January 25th, 2021 at 10:52 am
as a 60 yr fan of the NFL, there are things that really sticks in my head. 3, count them 3 of the dropped passes were on 3yd down. Thats 3 (three) drive killers. But last week there was a comment about Tompa’s record when he throws 1 or more int’s. I said that all you Bucs fans are forgetting what Tompa has accomplished. And guess what happened. He threw 3 and still won. Yes he had some help from the defense. To you I say “that’s football” Remember there are reasons and there are excuses. GB lost for two REASONS. Tom Brady and Shaq (several on defense)
January 25th, 2021 at 10:53 am
aim the cannons at mahomes, hill and andy reed…
and FIRE !!!
January 25th, 2021 at 10:54 am
Pundits all saying Rogers should have tried to run it in on 3rd down. I think he was afraid Shaq was coming from behind again.
January 25th, 2021 at 11:05 am
OK coaches, you have 2 weeks, ESPECIALLY BL, to get your a&% together. I’m BEGGING YOU Todd PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE double Hill and smack Kelce at the line. It just blew min mind how often he was wide open. They are still going to catch passes but Todd can minimize them. Also, if we run straight up the middle and get 0-2 yds 10 frickn times DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!!!!!! Also stop the frickn bombs on 3rd and 1 That was WAY TOO predictable. BUT we still won. On to the Chiefs. Tompa has beaten them twice by doing EXACTLY what i’ve just recommended
January 25th, 2021 at 11:50 am
I was disappointed in Jaydon Mickens sliding down at 2:02 left in the game. I was hoping he would run towards the sideline to try to get it to the two minute warning. I thought that might come back to haunt us.
January 25th, 2021 at 11:54 am
Packers had to go for it. Scenarios:
Score a TD and convert the 2, obviously tie game. Still gotta stop Brady to get to OT, or even drive down late and win.
Miss the 2, you still have to stop Brady after a kickoff (like they had to after kicking for 3). But now, they would only need a fg to win the game if get the stop!
Miss on 4th down, you still have to stop Brady! But if you somehow did, still life to go get a td and convert a 2pt.
Point being, no matter what happened, their D had to stop Brady before he got 2 1st downs. Only 1 choice had the upside of a tie-game and contingency for future chance to win, and that’s why going for it would have been the right call.
January 25th, 2021 at 11:55 am
some of you clowns are ridiculous…lol…
complaining about a secondary who picked off brees and rodgers along with causing fumbles….complaining about our OC putting up 30+ vs a playoff team again….
the coaches are hot right now and the team is even hotter….the only thing that can stop us is execution…..
GO BUCS!!!!!
January 25th, 2021 at 11:55 am
@Kentucky your 100% correct. He woukd have at least gotten arpu CD the 3 yd line if Rodgers ran. However after being sacked 5 times ABC’s hit many more, mostly from behind he was antsy. When wbs take multiple sacks , the good ones at least, speed that clock up in thier head. There is no doubt he was seeing ghosts out there
January 25th, 2021 at 11:57 am
Big truck
NO. COMPLETELY WRONG.
People keep letting Matt Leflore off the hook. BS. That was one of the worst calls ever made in the history of big football games.
1- there was no guarantee he was going to have the two minute warning as an extra time out.
2- there was no guarantee they were going to stop the Buccaneers from getting one possibly or two first downs.
3- They barely stopped the Buccaneers all day, the Buccaneers stopped themselves in the second half
4- even if those things happened, then wherever they got the ball at, they still had to drive down the field with very little time and probably no timeouts left ….. just to be in the exact same position they just gave up for a field goal.
And all for what? The only thing it did was eliminate a two point conversion attempt.
A completely idiotic, asinine, boneheaded coaching move.
I am grateful our coaches are going for the win in every situation and, quite frankly, have outcoached all of the teams they have faced in the playoffs so far, including the mighty Sean Payton.
January 25th, 2021 at 11:58 am
What TBBF just said.
If you had to told us before the game if we would be happy with the score tied, a little over two minutes and all three timeouts, a kicker who has been money this year when the line holds…a kicker who btw already had made one pressure long kick and TB12 at the helm.
We would have jumped up and down for joy.
Speaking of the Carroll decision…I still he lost that SB…not because of calling a pass instead of going Beast Mode but because he called a pass right into the center of the Pats defense. Why didn’t he have Wilson roll right with a player doing a button hook in front of him in the endzone and another dragging along the back line
Wilson would have had three choices…run it in…if covered hit an open receiver..if both of them are covered throw it away and THEN go beast mode.
January 25th, 2021 at 12:10 pm
Could have seen the logic more if the fg would have got the pack within 3 points but not still down 5 . Rogers interview post game was kind of hard to watch even for a buc fan , never saw a guy so devastated after a loss . Still can’t believe he didn’t RUN on 3rd down, looked wide open and he scored against rams last week from same area. So unreal just walking around house pounding voodoo rangers in shock , didn’t even watch kc/ buffalo TILL 2n.d half
January 25th, 2021 at 12:41 pm
That 4-man pressure was so key. There were times when Rodgers had time to throw, but that extra man in coverage made him need to scramble or throw it away. If he had to consistently devote another man to the blitz (like we usually do) I think we lose this game.
Great job by the DBs, especially with two starters out. All around great defensive effort against the likely MVP
January 25th, 2021 at 12:56 pm
AdamNY
Would you even need to aim the cannon to hit Andy Reid?
😀
January 25th, 2021 at 1:10 pm
I guess Packer fans now know what it feels like to be a Rays fan.
January 25th, 2021 at 1:31 pm
Still stunned they kicked a FG. Couldn’t believe it. Sat there at the time and tried to figure out the reasoning as to why. Nothing makes sense when you’ve got the greatest closer of all time on the other sideline.
January 25th, 2021 at 2:55 pm
That game shouldn’t have been that close. The Bucs totally outplayed Green Bay except in the 4th quarter. If a few of those drops were caught its a different game, touchdowns instead of field goals. Godwin make a great catch on that jump ball. He is better than Evans at tracking down balls when they are in the air.
January 25th, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Green Bay Fans were always a class act, back when we were in the same division. Always polite, and very football savvy.
It was Chicago Fans who were the worst, second only to Oakland Raider Fans.
Still hard to believe they went for a field goal, instead of the TD and 2 point conversion they needed.
Their coach said he was not sure they could make the 2 point conversion, but even if they made the TD and missed the 2 point conversion, they had 3 timeouts + the 2 minute warning, and a field goal then would have won the game for them.
January 25th, 2021 at 4:38 pm
Joe, which team is the home team this year? AFC or NFC?
January 25th, 2021 at 5:49 pm
Kicking the FG there is like all those times when Dirk would punt from the the opponents 35 yard line on 4th and 2. You just knew it wasn’t going to work out.
January 26th, 2021 at 8:12 am
I think some are missing the point. There are slightly over 2 minutes left, you have the ball on the Bucs 8 yard line and you are down by 8pts. Laleur chose taking the ball out of hands of the NFL MVP QB for one more shot at a TD (ignore the 2 pt conversion) and instead put control of the game in the hands of his defense that already could not stop the Bucs.
Of course it is not a sure thing, and its only one shot (4th down) but if Lafeur really believes in AR, you give him the ball. After all, with the field goal, AR still has to march down the field for a TD if the GB D was able to stop the Bucs offense.
It was an incredibly stupid decision, period.