Trash Talk History And Saved By The Grass
July 3rd, 2024
Vita Vea has stories.
Joe visited the giant will-get-to-this-eventually file last weekend and enjoyed revisiting these couple of gems from the Bucs’ manbeast defensive tackle.
Remember when the Bucs played in Germany in November of 2022? It was a strong, five-point win against a run-first Seahawks team that entered the game with a 6-3 record.
Vea seemed to think the Bucs might have lost if not for the horrible turf in Germany.
Vea told the Green Light podcast it was so bad that the Bucs’ defensive line was afraid to push straight ahead and was playing side to side out of necessity and fear of falling.
“We didn’t really play vertical, we were playing lateral because we didn’t want to slip. I was damn near two-gapping it,” Vea said. “… … “If we played here in Tampa, that could have been a different story,” Vea said.
Stud Seahawks rusher Kenneth Walker, Jr. had his worst game of that 2022 season against Tampa Bay, 10 carries for 17 yards.
Man, imagine if the Bucs had lost that game. That would have put them in position to not tank the season finale in Atlanta. Bucs fans and management wouldn’t have gotten a taste of Kyle Trask and or Luke Goedeke at right tackle.
For those wondering, in the next Bucs game, the Tampa Bay run defense was gutted, chewed up and spit out by the Browns in Cleveland.
Vea also shared a fun nugget about former Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith. Against the Rams in 2022, Vea said Aaron Donald was owning Bucs offensive linemen and trash talking a lot. He lined up once against Smith and started ripping him about his salary saying the Bucs should be paying him. Per Vea, on the snap seconds later, Donald beat Smith and sacked Tom Brady.
Vea told the story without naming Smith but Donald only had one sack in that game, so clearly it was Smith who suffered the humiliation. (Video below)
Per Vea, even then-big Bucs trash talker Leonard Fournette, during the game, was talking about Donald was throwing next-level trash that day.
Aaron Donald sacks Tom Brady! đđ pic.twitter.com/pS4yRsxMgt
â NFL UK & Ireland (@NFLUKIRE) November 6, 2022
July 3rd, 2024 at 11:25 am
If I was an NFL, and the turf was unsafe?
I would stage a walk-out.
Refuse to play.
These players arenât playing a game. They are earning a living for their kin.
July 3rd, 2024 at 1:05 pm
It’s probably due to the weather. That stadium is probably used to play soccer in and euro soccer seasons run Spring through Fall. Their turf is probably at it’s best in the Summer when it’s warmer. Once you get deep enough into the Fall, my thought is that it’s hard to grow decent grass in Germany. Usually Bayern Munich, the soccer club that won a record 33 national titles including eleven consecutively from 2013 to 2023 (can you say dominant?), is done with league play sometime in August so having a sports team play on grass in November, which is like January over here in most states, is unheard of. Thus, crappy field!
July 3rd, 2024 at 1:06 pm
Previous post had a definite typo early on, please ignore. LOL
July 3rd, 2024 at 1:09 pm
.. honestly, if we’re going to play NFL football in Germany, why don’t we play in early September at least to give the turf a chance to grow strong?
July 3rd, 2024 at 3:08 pm
Oh my, I hate to hear that about the ultimate warrior, Durable Donnie.
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July 3rd, 2024 at 3:50 pm
Shows you how valuable Marpet was. He was always taking up the slack for Smith.
July 3rd, 2024 at 4:02 pm
Watching the replay of the Bucs vs Washington 2020 Wild Card game thanks to Evans. We were 11 & 5 while Washington was 7 & 8. Why was the game played in Washington???
July 3rd, 2024 at 4:20 pm
Dew Says:
July 3rd, 2024 at 4:02 pm
Watching the replay of the Bucs vs Washington 2020 Wild Card game thanks to Evans. We were 11 & 5 while Washington was 7 & 8. Why was the game played in Washington???
—–
Because we didn’t win the NFC South.
In the NFL playoffs, teams are seeded based on their regular-season performance. The top-seeded teams typically get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and are matched up against lower-seeded teams. However, in some cases, due to the playoff format and seeding rules, a lower-seeded team may host a playoff game if they win their division and have a better record than one of the wild card teams.
In the 2020, Washington won the NFC East division with a record of 7-9, which was enough to secure them a home game in the Wild Card round against the Buccaneers, who finished as a wild card team with a better record. This happened because the NFL prioritizes division winners for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, regardless of their regular-season record compared to wild card teams from other divisions. Therefore, even though Tampa Bay may have had a better regular-season schedule or record, they had to play at Washington due to the playoff seeding rules and Washington winning their division.
July 3rd, 2024 at 4:21 pm
Dew, Wash won their division nd we were a wildcard.
July 3rd, 2024 at 4:28 pm
Thanks you guys. My memory is not good as it use to be.
July 3rd, 2024 at 9:29 pm
Bucs went 8-9 Toddâs first season as HC, the only losing season of Bradyâs life, by backing into the division title. Bucs hosted the Cowboys in the playoffs. So thatâs a similar situation to WFT hosting the Bucs in 2020.
The WFT put up a fight, Taylorâs Heineken looked like John Elway against our defense.
Unlike the 2022 Bucs against Dallas, who played like they were in a coma. Todd had them so flat you could have run Indy cars on them, which the Cowboys did.
July 4th, 2024 at 6:00 am
My Momma Says:
“Shows you how valuable Marpet was. He was always taking up the slack for Smith.”
So true. Marpet was underrated and proved to be anything but. Recently Joe had a post with a new picture of him. He looks great and healthier since retiring. I wish him the best. Great guy!
July 4th, 2024 at 6:07 am
Dave Pear … ‘Bucs went 8-9 Toddâs first season as HC, the only losing season of Bradyâs life, by backing into the division title.’
Ya, Tom Brady had nothing to do with going 8-9 and that being his only losing season. Poor Tom. Ya right.
Bucs had a 3rd Down conversion percentage of 37.4% that year according to Pro-Football-Reference stats. That’s the LOWEST that we’d had as a team since 2013, when the Bucs hit an even more lowly 31.2% 3rd down conversion rate … and went 4-12 in Greg Schiano’s last year here. The year after that, with Josh McCown at the helm, we tied that 37.4% 3rd down conversion rate … and went 2-14 in Lovie Smith’s first year.
It was pretty obvious that Todd Bowles didn’t really mess with the offense that year. That was on Byron Leftwich AND Tom Brady. Personally I think that the Bucs could’ve gone 9-8 in 2022 if Todd hadn’t pulled the starters in the 2nd half of the Atlanta game, but I understand why he did it (he was trying to play the long game focusing on the playoffs?). I don’t agree with the decision, but whether we would’ve won or not is still just speculation.