“Man” Love For Lovie
February 19th, 2014
A fresh example emerges
Fans and media have heard of the immense respect players across the NFL have for Lovie Smith.
Now there’s fresh evidence from a guy Lovie benched and shunned a second time.
That’s what happened to former Buccaneers offensive lineman Gabe Carimi, who was released by Tampa Bay last week and is now a member of the Atlanta Falcons. Carimi was drafted in the first round by the Bears under Lovie’s watch in 2011, but he was ousted from the starting lineup and battled knee injuries before former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik gave Chicago a sixth-round pick for him last summer.
Enter Lovie Smith. Out goes Carimi last week.
Carimi took to the SiriusXM NFL Radio airwaves yesterday and detailed his respect for Lovie. Carimi was expecting to be in Tampa for a while.
“I definitely was a little surprised. I thought I was going to stay there. I kept my rental place out there because [the situation] seemed pretty good,” said Carimi, who was grateful the Bucs didn’t keep him hanging around as a training camp body when they were
“Without a doubt, I mean that’s huge right there. [Lovie] didn’t have to do that. And I really so respect Coach Lovie. Even when he benched me in Chicago, you know, he could look me in the eyes and he treated me like a man. So I still have no harsh feelings towards Lovie Smith. When he called me and said, ‘I’m thinking about letting you go.’ It’s like, he’s a class act kind of guy. Tampa Bay has a good head coach over there.”
Joe’s not sure how much value there is in Lovie being a guy with a classy reputation, but that surely has to help when it comes to recruiting free agents, something the Bucs will be busy doing in less than three weeks.
February 19th, 2014 at 10:57 am
I am very excited we have Lovie. I just hope and pray he and Tedford can put together some offense; I have no concerns about Lovie generating a great D
February 19th, 2014 at 10:59 am
C’mon now. This isn’t a message board. –Joe
February 19th, 2014 at 11:03 am
It’s nice that Lovie can win the players respect and all, but there are simply no points for being the kindest loser. Respect must produce wins.
February 19th, 2014 at 11:17 am
Atlanta’s O-Line is fierce! Trueblood and now Carimi?
Wow. And I thought our O-Line was bad.
February 19th, 2014 at 11:44 am
he didnt come to the podium and spit out a bunch of nonsense that he doesnt understand or know how to do, he basically thanked the glazers, showed his excitment about this team, then came in and went to work and if it’s true that players take on the persona of their coach this will be a hard working team this upcoming year!!! i believe they worked hard last year but under greg schiano it’s clear they knew no matter what they did it wasn’t going to work but lovie has the respect, the proven methods and scheme and not only am i hoping for draft picks to come in and contribute, im hoping that he can squeeze some effort and talent out of unproven players and the one’s fans have labeled a bust
February 19th, 2014 at 11:55 am
The Bucs always were and always will be a defensive team first. That is the teams history. A prolific offense for the Bucs would be a shocker to this fan, they better get one in my remaining lifetime, but I really don’t see it happening.
February 19th, 2014 at 12:04 pm
yea atlanta’s o line is going to bed awful again so it’s probably a given that they’ll draft a lineman because they dont have any, still couldnt get to matt ryan last year so lets hope this year it makes a difference because the d line and the o line are the unit’s that have to take the biggest steps forward this offseason no matter who the quarterback is, glennon is just to slow to run for his life and even if vick came here, he’s to injury prone to run or get hit
February 19th, 2014 at 12:57 pm
Releasing Gabe Carimi now was a very classy thing to do, and other NFL players and agents will notice. Just like they took notice when Chucky was less than truthful with Joe Jurevicious, Mike Alstott, Keyshawn Johnson, & Keenan McCardell about their roles on the team. The Bucs had lots of trouble recruiting free agents towards the end of the Gruden era because of his poor reputation…
February 19th, 2014 at 11:54 pm
Johnny Dejay is RIGHT ON about why Gruden is a phoney….why they should NEVER bring him back here and why he MIGHT have a tough time getting the NFL job he wants……league MUST be on to him.