Tim Wright Now In Doghouse
August 18th, 2014
Well, that didn’t take long.
When the Lovie Smith regime took over, Joe knows it liked tight end Tim Wright. Really liked him. In his rookie year, the converted wide receiver landed in the top half of tight ends in the NFL, despite being a Schiano Rutgers man.
In the offseason, suits at One Buc Palace raved about Wright. Early in training camp is sure seemed, at worst, Wright would be the No. 2 tight end on the team and would still see a lot of playing time.
Bucs fans saw an alarming sight, however, when the first team offense took the field at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway Saturday night. Fan favorite Luke Stocker started. Yes, Luke Stocker! And he caught a pass!
What happened to Wright? Well, it seems as if Wright may be the first player with Lovie to take residence in Lovie’s doghouse. The Bucs coach called out Wright Sunday, per Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com.
“He hasn’t played as well as Tim should be playing,” Smith said. “He’s dropped some balls. If you watched practice, he’s dropped balls. But he’s a big part of what we want to do with the two-receiver, two-tight-end set. Tim hasn’t blocked as well inside. Once you’re that H-back and you don’t block, now they say you’re just another receiver and teams start going nickel. If they do that at least you have to be a good pass catcher. Tim’s a good player. He just hasn’t played as well as he needs to lately.”
Wright better show improvement quickly or else his spot on the roster could be in danger. Brandon Myers and Austin Seferian-Jenkins are locks to make the roster. Wright and veteran Luke Stocker could be competing for the final job at tight end.
Joe’s not so sure the Bucs are going to give up on Wright quite this quickly. No one ever thought Wright would be the next Jimmy Giles. That’s one reason the Bucs went and got Brandon Myers because he was more of a blocking tight end.
Wright has done more in one season than Stocker has done his entire career. Yes, Wright (or Myers) are just keeping the seat warm until Austin Seferian-Jenkins takes over; that is clear.
Joe just thinks this was a loud wake-up call by Lovie. Nothing more.
August 18th, 2014 at 7:20 am
Good for Lovie…..no need to let a player get complacent….see no problem with telling it like it is. I think Wright will get his act together & I also think we may keep 4 TEs…..
August 18th, 2014 at 7:37 am
It would be ashame if it were anything more than that. Maybe Wright is one of those players who can get up for a game but is terrible while at practice. Whatever the reason, he needs to distance himself in front of Stocker.
August 18th, 2014 at 7:48 am
The new uniforms are pitiful…….Something needs to be done.
August 18th, 2014 at 7:53 am
I think it’s smoke like they were saying about not showing anything till the regular season, that’s why they have myers and stocker out there right now.
August 18th, 2014 at 8:00 am
You think that he would have called out his D-ends, guess clayborn is getting a pass,, again!
August 18th, 2014 at 8:01 am
lol…dude was a monster last year. if lovie aint diggin him I’m sure new england will take hime and he’ll put up 800-1000 yards.
August 18th, 2014 at 8:02 am
Wright has some of the better set of hands on the team. This is smoke, and motivation only. Belicheat managed to do just fine with Hernandez, if Lovie and Tedford can’t, then it’s an indictment on their coaching.
August 18th, 2014 at 8:03 am
If we keep Myers or Stocker over Wright then I just give up.
August 18th, 2014 at 8:43 am
Wright and ASJ are the future at TE. Lovie’s not going to let Wright lose his focus for an instant on being a better football player.
With Stocker and Myers, I honestly can’t tell the difference between either of them, except that Stocker is still upright, which is shocking.
August 18th, 2014 at 9:00 am
The problem is like Lovie said. If you’re not a good blocker, teams just consider another WR & adjust their personnel accordingly. Therefore, the mismatches on a LB disappear. And Tim Wright is a slow WR, but could be a dynamic TE mached up on LB’s. But without the blocking, he’s not getting the respect as a TE, and his therefore his ability to be effective is significantly diminished.
August 18th, 2014 at 9:10 am
Hmmmmm other than the head coach said he isn’t catching or blocking well, the man has nothing to worry about.
Oh, and the fact we have a beast of a rookie at his position and brought in a free agent.
Not very good tea leaves from his perspective.
August 18th, 2014 at 9:19 am
Joe,
You’ll need to update your “message board-trademark-guy-thingy” with the Buc’s new putrid colors…
August 18th, 2014 at 9:26 am
Has anyone noticed how terrible the offensive scheme looks, I see nothing good. When are they gonna run a fly route to our TALL/GREAT wideouts. We cant even get the ball to them cause the routes take to long to develop.
JOE WHEN IS THE OFFENSE REGIME GONNA BE LOOKED AT???
August 18th, 2014 at 9:35 am
Who was the brain trust who decided to come up w those uniforms?
August 18th, 2014 at 9:55 am
I am starting to really like the new uniforms. I think I’m in the minority due to all the negative comments but I think it would make for a interesting new JBF poll question.
August 18th, 2014 at 10:47 am
Robert Herron drops passes like it’s his job but somehow he is praised openly & virtually guaranteed a roster spot. The HC/GM will not admit that one of their FAs or draftees aren’t cutting it making it much harder on guys like Wright who have to play mistake free football to have a chance. Best 53 my assss!
August 18th, 2014 at 11:16 am
Lovie said “…he’s a big part of what we want to do with the two-receiver, two-tight-end set.”
That means he is keeping Wright.
I like the idea of 2 WRs, 2 TE sets. Love that idea. But if you are gonna run it, then yeah, you need to be able to block when required.
Lovie is just motivating him to play to the level if his skill ability.
August 18th, 2014 at 12:11 pm
If The_Buc_Realist and DallasBuc had a child together, do you think that child would say anything except: “Adrian Slowborn!” and “No competition allowed!”?
August 18th, 2014 at 1:40 pm
i wish some posters would be in the dog house and lose their roster spot…
seems like some posters get a pass, too 😉
August 18th, 2014 at 1:51 pm
There are probably about 62 GMs and HCs around the NFL itching for Tim Wright to be cut by the Bucs.
Lucky for Tim, even if he gets cut, he probably scores a higher paying contract.
August 18th, 2014 at 4:40 pm
His first words would be ‘McClown is a loser’.