JPP May Have Turned Season Around
April 1st, 2021
JPP woke Bucs up.
Joe had never known outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul to be that much of a roster-wide motivator.
That perception changed when Joe watched the NFL Films review of the Bucs’ 2020 season on Amazon.
In the second half of the NFC title game, the Bucs offense was sputtering and what looked to be a potential Bucs blowout was suddenly too close.
JPP rose from the bench and began hollering at his defensive teammates that they had to be strong and rise to the moment. JPP told them he had been waiting eight years for a chance to return to the Super Bowl and if the defense didn’t ball out now, everyone but him, Shaq Barrett and Ndamukong Suh may miss their only shot in life at playing in a Super Bowl.
Well, that wasn’t the only time JPP got his teammates fired up last season.
Sitting down with NBC Sports NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth recently, Bucco Bruce Arians explained how at halftime of the Bucs’ game at Atlanta last year may have been the turning point in the season.
Getting clobbered 17-0 at halftime by the lowly Dixie Chicks, the Bucs were awful, and even The Sage of Tampa Bay Sports, Ira Kaufman, called their performance that of a “high school team.” And when the team got to the locker room, JPP exploded.
“Going to Atlanta, probably a little cocky,” Arians told Collinsworth. “Down 17-0. JPP goes off at halftime, like a good veteran should. Tom [Brady] is just sitting over there gritting his teeth.”
Then, Arians said it was his turn to talk.
“‘Alright guys, here is what we are going to do: We are going to score every time we touch the ball starting with our first possession,” Arians told the Bucs. “We are going to attack now until the season is over. We are not dinking and dunking. We are attacking until the season is over on offense.’
“It just clicked. We started running the ball better and I think because we simplified it. We knew our backs. We knew what RoJo can do. We knew what Leonard [Fournette] can do. It just took some time to find it.”
In the next 10 quarters to close the regular season, the Bucs outscored their opponents 122-44 and clinched a fifth-seed wild card berth.
While JPP plays the role of a chill moneyman on Instagram, owning his own jet and building his own mansion with his own 1 2/3 hands, a fire burns inside him to play championship football.
April 1st, 2021 at 5:24 am
The dude is Ultra-inspiring. J.P.P.’s nickname should be Ultraman.
April 1st, 2021 at 5:27 am
Bucs could’ve released JPP when he broke his neck & saved a lot of $ but it paid off keeping him. Just another great decision by Licht
April 1st, 2021 at 5:48 am
JPP = leadership, warrior. Hell I’m inspired right now to seize the day. Thanks, JPP!
April 1st, 2021 at 6:12 am
USF Bulls product …. Big time leader
April 1st, 2021 at 6:18 am
Best third round pick in the history of the NFL
April 1st, 2021 at 6:48 am
yall need to understand…
jpp is always straight bossing…
also…
this might sound a little weird…
but the team sputtered their way through the season while mostly wearing the “all white color rush type uni” in basically almost every game…and that uni is straight up wack af…unless they’re playing in the sept / oct tampa heat…
once they started rocking other unis and mixing and matching the white jersey with pewter pants the team started getting busy…
next year instead of all white, they might also wanna try and rock the red jersey with white pants occasionally…
just sayin…once they got out of the all white prissy azz uni they started knocking heads…
#Facts
#FuggTheAllWhiteMrRourkeAndTatuLook
#TampaIsNotFantasyIsland
#AllWhiteUnisDontMatter
April 1st, 2021 at 6:58 am
why are people so worried about the uniform colors and such? Almost like a bunch of women. Geez
April 1st, 2021 at 7:18 am
Half-Cauked Jeudy – because people in sports world are superstitious about things like that including players and coaches. Bucs were undefeated in the white jersey/pewter pant combination. That is why the bucs chose to wear it in the super bowl over the traditional red jersey/pewter pant combination.
April 1st, 2021 at 7:30 am
Just a heads up: there is a three-part series on Youtube called “Tom Brady vs the World” that is the single most comprehensive documentary on the Brady-Bucs saga.
In total, the series is about SIX HOURS long. Wow!
Bucco Brady Overload!
April 1st, 2021 at 7:47 am
Wasn’t Joe Montana a 3rd round pick? I love love JPP but just saying
April 1st, 2021 at 8:14 am
Hmm, fair point
April 1st, 2021 at 8:14 am
Best third round TRADE pick EVER
April 1st, 2021 at 8:21 am
Just sayin, I wanted JPP over McCoy in that draft. With Suh #1, obviously.
April 1st, 2021 at 8:38 am
Wasn’t Montana traded to the Chiefs? You know where I’m going with this.
April 1st, 2021 at 8:40 am
Leadership is what the Bucs needed to become champions. The owners owe it to the fans to continue their “all in approach” to be that ALL IN APPROACH every year.
April 1st, 2021 at 8:52 am
Cobraboy Says:
April 1st, 2021 at 7:30 am
Just a heads up: there is a three-part series on Youtube called “Tom Brady vs the World”
Thanks for the heads up.
Love when Nick Wright says at 24 minutes in that Tom Brady is the worst quarterback in the NFC south.
I am sure all the trolls on this site loved that.
Love that he and the trolls were so wrong.
April 1st, 2021 at 9:31 am
Its not always what you say but how you say it. His words worked. Lets hear them again in the new season
Always remember Buc’s , Fame is fleeting, enjoy now.
April 1st, 2021 at 10:04 am
He has been such an awesome signing. I remember when he came out of the draft hoping the Buccaneers would get him.
April 1st, 2021 at 10:29 am
Joe — 1 and 2/3 hands — LOL!
Wasn’t it Lenny who was wondering how many rings JPP could fit on his hands?
April 1st, 2021 at 11:17 am
JPP & Shaq were both going off in the SB. They made it look like so much fun while White was in every Cheifs face he hit. This is what I fear, 2021 no one in the media calls Brady old, washed up etc. Those idiotic comments are his motivator. He takes pride in telling them all to piss up a rope. The last thing Bucs need is the media giving Brady the warm and fuzzies. Sign AB!!!
April 1st, 2021 at 11:47 am
I guess im surprised that joe was not aware that jpp was not one of if not the most vocal leader on this team. It took a super bowl video for you to see that? A) You saw that Joe specified roster-wide, and the fresh stuff in here is Arians’ comments about that pivotal moment. Lastly, JPP was here in 2018 when things fell apart, and in 2019. So had something to prove in 2020 on that front.–Joe
I thought you covered this team.
April 1st, 2021 at 12:03 pm
John Lynch and Ronde Barber are my favorite 3rd round picks
April 1st, 2021 at 3:20 pm
Webster
Yeah I’m kinda confused, also. JPP a dominant player in the locker room and pre game huddle speaker. I’m assuming he did this every Sunday prior to the GOAT. It’s hard when Jameis was crying in the corner not gridding his teeth.
April 1st, 2021 at 7:05 pm
Half-Caucked Jeudy Says
“why are people so worried about the uniform colors and such? Almost like a bunch of women. Geez”
Because non-bangwagon fans have been forced to tolerate bad jerseys for years.
April 1st, 2021 at 7:10 pm
What does jpp being here in 2018 have to do with how vocal he was in the entire lockerroom? Wasnt there stories of jpp calling out gerald mccoy for not bringing it on the sidelines? The team losing was not a product of jpp’s words. It was because the bucs sucked period. Im sure he cursed the lockerroom out in 2018 just like he did in 2020. The difference is the 2020 team was good and were capable of doing something about it and 2018 they were 5-11. So like i said, im surprised you were not aware of that.
April 2nd, 2021 at 1:14 am
Been saying jpp is the “LEADER” of this team from the beginning!! Ever since he got on the team and cussed Hargreaves for talking about some white chick after a big loss!! Jpp is the man!!!