“I Didn’t Have The Strength”
May 29th, 2009
Pat “Vacation Man” Yasinskas, the NFC South beat writer nicknamed for failing to watch a Bucs game last season, has cranked out a feature story on Gaines Adams and the disappointing first two seasons of his career.
Adams spoke candidly about his shortcomings.
“I didn’t have the strength to rush with anything more than my speed,” Adams said.
Joe was troubled and encouraged at the same time while reading this feature.
Adams has ramped up his commitment level and intensity in offseason training in the weight and film rooms. That’s a good thing, of course. But why wasn’t a major fire lit under his rear to get after it in previous seasons?
When evaluating a player, there’s nothing more obvious to coaches and players than a lack of strength. One has to wonder where was Derrick Brooks, or Monte Kiffin, or any of the other coaches and past leaders of the defense to drag Adams’ ass to the weight room over two seasons?
Of course, nobody can force a player to be totally committed, and Vacation Man explains that Adams was not considered a slacker. But ultimately, somebody from past Bucs’ leadership should have found a way to motivate a big-money young player like Adams.
It would be a major feather in the cap of Raheem The Dream if his regime can turn Adams into a well-rounded, 10-sack defensive end, or better.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
This is the first post I’ve seen that anyone with any knowledge of our team had the nerve to question his majesty Monte Kiffin.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
WTF? They let this guy flounder for TWO seasons? One I could see, but two. Obviously he was Monte’s pick over what Gruden wanted. Seems like Monte quit on him
May 29th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Hey Gaines, lack of strength my fellow? Let me introduce you to my “cousin” who has this over the counter product that you can only get in Puerto Rico. It did wonders for me and I’m sure it can help you too…
P.S. He also helps out with urine test, hint, hint 😉
May 29th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Ah, it’s good to see the third-best hitter in baseball is a JoeBucsFan.com contributor. Thank you A-Roid for checking in.
Joe has been adamant that Kiffin did not quit on the Bucs (or the players for that matter). But after reading this, Joe is open-minded to the possibiity that Monte, who was looking to leave to coach with his son before the season started, wasn’t exactly putting in a complete effort if he let Adams skate like this.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I find it hard to believe that anyone in the organization would have given up on such a major investment. The previous regime might have focused on maintaining his speed and quickness instead of building bulk.
And as numerous people have pointed out, Gaines has a lean, basketball player physique. So maybe the coaching staff is simply changing the focus of his off-season conditioning program to help correct that.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Yeah polk, that’s the new direction we are going in. The Glazers know what their doing don’t they?
May 29th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
What gets me is…Gaines had small arms and upper body coming out of college. It was glaringly obvious. I don’t know what his combine bench numbers were, but you could see he needed about 30 lbs of upper body muscle. They drafted him anyway. You can not over estimate the importance of strength and conditioning. I think too often Coaches/Gms get infatuated with certain players in the draft and can’t see the forest for the trees. Raheem was so enamored with Josh Freeman that he would overlook any weekness and probably would have taken him with a broken leg. Buc scouts and coaches have had a serious problem with this. Cadillac mesmerized Chucky, but there were better players on the board, Gaines the same, Freeman too. This is why you should always stop and look at the best available player at the time of the pick and compare him to “your guy” that you want. This year it seems, that once Raheem satisfied his FREEMAN DESIRE, the brain trust settled in and made some good picks. But your FIRST, first round pick should be best available, and that player should not have any weekness, like Gaines’ spaghetti arms, or no brains Cadi, head in the clouds Talib. The Bucs just don’t seem to be very thorough on Day 1 of the Drafts. IM-FU-HO