“Rubbing Off”
August 23rd, 2021
New Bucs RB Giovani Bernard
Gio! Gio! Gio!
Bucco Bruce Arians loves his new toy.
Third downs will be different this season because it appears Bernard will push Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones to the bench on the money down.
“He’s been a blessing in a lot of ways because of his preparation,” Arians told Peter King of NBC Sports. “He’s one of those meticulous preparing guys. Nothing’s going to surprise him in a ball game and it’s rubbing off on some of our younger players.”
Joe assumes Arians is referring to younger running backs, which is basically everybody, considering Bernard turns 30 in November and Fournette is the next senior RB at 26.
Yes, Joe knows the Bucs won Super Bowl without Bernard, and O.J. Howard, and Antonio Brown for a full season. It’ll be fun to see the changes in the offense with Bernard, staring Saturday night when the starters play the first half against the Houston Texans.
August 23rd, 2021 at 10:56 am
All indications have shown Bernard to be a consummate professional who excels at those things we thought he would excel at. Nothing but a positive addition to the team. I hope he catches 65 plus balls out of the backfield and he’s already better at pass pro then any other running back on the roster.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:00 am
Bernard was a great signing.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:05 am
I don’t play Fantasy Football but imagine players are ignoring this guy will regret it.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:05 am
It sure will be less frustrating during 3rd down running back dump down passes knowing GB is in the game and has the good hands like a CG and an AB. Last year it was a bit scary every time the passes went towards LF and RJ. Just sayin’!! Go Bucs!!
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:08 am
Don’t be a bit surprised to see Gio in on 2nd & long……a run-pass option out of the backfield….
Those who disparage the use of a player like Bernard simply don’t know football…..(you know who you are)
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:08 am
I thought this was the distraction of the day, work on the head line Joe.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:08 am
Glad TB12 signed Gio. Tom knows the other scrubs couldn’t catch a cold
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:09 am
One Joe doesn’t get the excitement for Gio because of all the more potent weapons on the Bucs’ roster. No one expects Gio to put up huge numbers, but he will give the Bucs more opportunities to hit the high powered weapons with third down conversions that RoJo and Lenny would drop (and did drop last year).
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:10 am
Also GB has the shake n bake moves to go with the good hands. And if some of this rubs off onto RJ and LF, all the better!!
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:12 am
Dude’s been hyped up a lot during this off-season…..I don’t expect him to live up to the hype. Too many weapons anyways.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:35 am
What if this team catches Covid? How well are the backups going to hold up?
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:46 am
B4I…what if covid? At least we now have full vaccination approval, businesses will likely require employees and an increasing number, their customers to be vaccinated, and we will get this disease under control. And we have better treatments.. things like monoclonal antibody treatments, and no…im not talking about intestinal worm and tropical disease treatments and such. So I am optimistic we will get this under control.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:55 am
So I guess Ira was correct? Right Joe?
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:57 am
Some games he will be a real problem for defenses, and others not so much. It’s like any game…matchups, matchups, matchups.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:57 am
Mark you must not live in FL!
At least you don’t believe in the nutty antihelminthic treatments, there is hope for you, another indication you are not a native Floridian.
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:58 am
interesting article title haha
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:58 am
’87- Agreed that there are so many weapons. He adds just another layer to what we already have. That addition could prove lethal. I see lots of opportunities.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:01 pm
Bux…I do live in Fl a little over half the year. And I do share your concern. But when they cut off Medicaid to nursing homes and businesses depending on Medicaid or Medicare reimbursement, and some businesses get sued by their employees for the death of a family member in an unvaccinated workplace, as they would under a severe OSHA violation, even FL will likely change. There is hope.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:21 pm
Interesing.
FDA approves an experimental drug whose clinical trials don’t end until 2023.
First time ever.
Gas anyone else read the article about the Indian equivalent of their Attorney General filing a charge of murder to the WHO for every citizen who died from the lies the WHO told about ivermectin, after the massive success in recent studies, and how ivermectin reduced one provinces covid cases by over 85%.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic in normal use. But “off use”, in conjunction with zinc, the zinc-base of ivermectin stops the RNA replication of the coronavirus at the cellular level. HCQ
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:24 pm
HCQ operates in a similar fashion, but best before major infection.
The zinc allows both drugs to more easily enter cells to do their thing.
Of course, neither drug offers profits to Big Pharma.
Except the coming Pfizer knock-off if ivermectin.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:24 pm
maybe Mark, maybe, lol, for now GO BUCS
I love the GIO addition, enough of ROJO doing off season clinics on how to catch a football. I guess if you can’t learn that in elementary school there is no hope !
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:30 pm
He isn’t a homerun hitter anyone. I think y’all are living in 2017. He won’t make much of a difference, and you don’t need him to. if he catches 40 balls or more, something went totally fubar. Don’t get Brady killed, and catch what’s thrown to you, hopefully not much
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:33 pm
Considering most of the people in Florida these days are from elsewhere, perhaps you guys should rethink the “everyone in Florida is a dumb yokel” schtick.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:40 pm
Just FYI, a business can’t be sued in Florida if you catch COVID. Florida just passed that law earlier this year giving civil immunity to businesses. So you catch COVID from a coworker, you can’t sue your boss for not mandating the vaccine. OSHA isn’t mandating vaccines, only recommending. So there is no violation. And there is legal questions of whether they could ever enforce such a thing.
And if you go to a Bucs game and catch COVID, you can’t sue the Bucs or the Tampa Sports Authority. You attend those games at your own risk.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:48 pm
Giovani Bernard = Brady’s new best friend
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:07 pm
I can see already that he is a great blocker.
Some seem worried he will take away from our 3 excellent wide receivers, but maybe not ?
If he burns opposing teams enough with catches out of the backfield, they will have to worry about him, leaving less defenders to double up on our receivers.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:49 pm
Good pick up in free agency. I cant imagine he comes to Tampa if we dont have Brady. He’s perfect for the two younger backs (fournette/rojo)…..those guys might finally be hitting a point of maturity where they become professionals at their crafts and having a savy vet to learn from has to be a big help.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:50 pm
Bobby, a good observation. From everything I’ve heard about the guy he’s a consummate professional.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:56 pm
I absolutely see why GIO makes sense and his anagram says it all:
GIO= Gifted Individual Operative which makes little sense.
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:33 pm
Thought this was a Winslow Jr article from the headline….
Gio will be heavily utilized from the getgo this year. Probably exclusively on 3rd and obvious passing downs.
August 23rd, 2021 at 3:40 pm
So many pro’s on this team. Guys with credibility.
Suh, JPP, LVD, TB12, ME12, Gronk, CG. Hell, even AB’s prep is legendary.
All these guys and GIO are Schiano’s Buccaneer Men.
These are days i had only dreamed about.
August 23rd, 2021 at 3:52 pm
Schiano, please , don’t make me vomit ! Wasn’t schiano a peeping Tom at Sandusky showers ?
August 23rd, 2021 at 4:21 pm
Jerry Says:
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:40 pm
Just FYI, a business can’t be sued in Florida if you catch COVID. Florida just passed that law earlier this year giving civil immunity to businesses.
I agree with that thought.
But also point out why DeSantis should stay out of a cruise liner requiring someone to be vaccinated to be on their cruise. The nitwit governor tried to impose criminal fines on cruise lines asking passengers for vaccine confirmation — something the cruise lines very much would like to have before accidentally turning the buffet line into a smorgasbord of lung failure.
DeSantis wants Florida to screw around with the orderly function of interstate commerce and put criminal penalties on cruises that, by design, don’t limit operations to Florida but international waters.
Most of the cruise industry sailing events are on international waters where simple negligence suits may be made regardless of any FLORIDA LAW.
.
There are many greys when filing lawsuits in international waters. But one thing is for certain. When traveling on Norwegian Cruise Line, in international waters, the laws that very well might apply are Norwegian laws and not Florida laws. Therefore, Florida and DeSantis should have no say in what that business deems appropriate for itself.
DeSantis is smart and he knows this. However, he is also very political and wants to inspire his republican base. He does not care that he is spending Florida taxpayer money because it is helping his presidential campaign. I prefer others on this site understand the issue and maybe others like myself will want an accounting as to how much of our dollars he is spending on this cruise line suit.
August 23rd, 2021 at 5:41 pm
Some green bean didn’t watch many Bengals games last year. Who could blame him. Gio had the most productive year he’s had since ‘17. It was really just opportunities cause he did most of his production in the 2nd half of the year. He looked as fast as I’ve ever seen him.
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:26 pm
Gio will be a nice fit. He will make a difference in some games. You people talking politics and covid your on the wrong site. Lets keep this about football from now on please.
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:26 pm
LOL, dude, @geno711, just because the name is Norwegian cruise lines doesn’t mean lawsuits have to be filed in Norway, particularly since they are incorporated in Bermuda ! All their ships are likely flagged in third world countries as well !!
Difficulty arises in their shell game, flagging ships in countries with low taxes so they can avoid paying taxes. Also, incorporating in countries other than USA.
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:44 pm
Jerry…don’t doubt that is pretty much the state of things today. But things are in motion and there are ways to protect public health.. And of course, all a business would have to do is move some or all of their operations out of state, to a state where employees are protected. Let’s hope we don’t see that.
August 23rd, 2021 at 6:49 pm
Gio will really help keep the chains moving. He wont make huge plays, but it will keep the defense on the field and ours off it.
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Don’t forget that Brady loved his pass catching running backs for years in Boston. It was the one weapon he missed last season. Arians got him his missing link.
August 24th, 2021 at 7:09 am
I guess third person “joe” didn’t have his mind in the gutter when choosing the title heading
August 25th, 2021 at 12:29 am
Bernard is a consummate professional, a great person, and possibly the best 3rd down back in the league.
The perfect addition.
After a season to knock the rust off, Gronk and AB will prove they are still the Best TE and WR in the League.
It really is an Unbelievable collection of Talent and skill