Lovie Sets All-Pro Standard For Mason Foster
September 1st, 2014
Joe realizes many Bucs fans hear the name Luke Kuechly and bang their head against the nearest wall because in 2011 the Bucs drafted Mark Barron but could have had Kuechly, who landed in the middle of Carolina’s dominant defense.
The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year is everything he was hyped up to be.
Kuechly has been an animal in his first two seasons, and today Lovie Smith issued a Kuechly challenge to Mason Foster.
Lovie said Foster must outplay Kuechly on Sunday.
“It’s as simple as that,” Lovie said.
On the heels of Gerald McCoy claiming Foster is “night and day” improved in pass coverage, Foster sure has a load of pressure on his shoulders.
Joe’s confident this is strategic by Lovie. First, Lovie must believe Foster will respond to a public challenge. Second, in a contract year for Foster, the Bucs surely want to see what they have in him quickly.
September 1st, 2014 at 5:09 pm
I don’t think i’m going to make it to Sunday, let alone sleep Saturday night.
September 1st, 2014 at 5:21 pm
There’s always hope.
September 1st, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Foster is quietly one the best players on this team. Very underrated.
September 1st, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Kuech is over hyped and over rated. Hopefully Martin makes him look silly again. GO BUCS!!
September 1st, 2014 at 5:43 pm
Sorry joe, but keuchly is the most overrated player in the league,while LVD gets tackles for loss, keuchly is busy getting ran over and dragged left and right by smaller RBs. He is grossly overrated. He’s not even the best LB on his own team.
September 1st, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Luke kuechly is the definition of overrated. Look up his highlights and almost half of them he isn’t even the first person to the tackle. Also if we had selected luke in the first, Carolina almost certainly would have taken lavonte, or at the very least we wouldn’t have drafted him because we already took a linebacker. Lvd has outplayed kuechly both years they have been in the league. Kuechly simply had more talent around him, and played on a better all around defense. If teams could go back and draft again that year. Lvd would be a top 3 pick and selected before kuechly no matter what the draft order
September 1st, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Foster 3rd round….if he plays anywhere close to Kuechley’s level….we are in great shape.
Mason Foster will do just fine….Sunday & beyond!!!
September 1st, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Night and day? Hope GMC wasn’t wearing dark sunglasses when he said that.
How do cover skills improve to that degree in 5 months?
September 1st, 2014 at 5:57 pm
Wrong again guys. Luke is far and away the best MLB in the NFC.
Lavonte doesn’t play the same position, so comparing them makes you look bad. David is the best WLB in the NFL.
That’s Middle linebacker,,and weakside Linebacker.
We could have had them both. But Dom drafted a Safety that can’t cover- and is pretty much useless.
Any idea why he didn’t play in game 3?
Foster has been horrible in coverage- but McCoy said he is much improved.
I hope so- in the Tampa two, he is always in coverage- never in the box
But better than Luke? He’s never showed the skills to be a good starter so far- much less best in the NFC?
Good luck with that- id love it to be true
September 1st, 2014 at 6:18 pm
Capt.Tim..is spot on !
September 1st, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Kuechly is one of the most overrated players in football.
He in no way, shape, or form deserved the DPOY last year.
September 1st, 2014 at 6:28 pm
biff barker Says:
September 1st, 2014 at 5:50 pm
How do cover skills improve to that degree in 5 months?
That’s easy;
1) Drop 30 pounds
2) Install new defensive system, the Tampa 2
3) Have one of the best players to ever play that position (Hardy Nickerson) be your position coach.
4) Contract year.
Any more questions?
September 1st, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Um, you don’t win defensive player of the year by accident guys.
You may as well not even comment anymore with that nonsense.
September 1st, 2014 at 7:05 pm
What the capt said! Spot on!
September 1st, 2014 at 7:05 pm
Say what you will, but I will always wonder about what the line backing corp of LaVonte David, Luke Kuechly, and Mason Foster would have done to opposing offenses!
September 1st, 2014 at 7:07 pm
I love the fact that Lovie has no problem with publicly challenging his players to be better than and out-play the other team’s great players and units.
September 1st, 2014 at 7:14 pm
Foster has shown great flashes of promise, even garnering pineapple talk from Joe on multiple occasions. While he has had a couple great pick 6’s, he’s more of a run stuffer. With Lovie’s new scheme, he will have to be more on coverage.
All in all, for a 3rd rounder he has been a more than decent replacement for Barrett Ruud IMO.
September 1st, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Lol yea he won an award, thats a sure sign that he’s the best in the business. I mean theres no way peoples opinions could be wrong. Over Rated pile jumper.
September 1st, 2014 at 7:28 pm
Capt Tim right on. Dom had a history of double dipping in the draft. Except that time it would have been two grand slams instead of the pop outs he hit
September 1st, 2014 at 7:46 pm
Capt Tim, you are absolutely incorrect. Had we drafted Luke in the first round we never would have drafted Lavonte in the second. That’s just not how teams usually draft, especially at the LB position. Maybe you should get your head out of your a$$ and be happy with the D we currently have.
September 1st, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Actually, Buc Fan #237, I’d like to think while LK is great most times on the run, and has great instincts… he wasn’t the BEST candidate for DPOY. That in my opinion, and I will state that again, in my own Opinion… that he was outplayed by many other Defensive players.
Should it have been Lavonte? that would have been nice, but I think Earl Thomas, JJ Watt, or Navorrow Bowman (Regardless of injury) had much better seasons overall.
September 1st, 2014 at 7:58 pm
I’m happy with the guys we have…..they are bigger/better -foster and better – david
September 1st, 2014 at 7:59 pm
Bucsfan 237. So if you do nt win defensive play of the year by accident then. Why hasn’t LVD won the title because he is a far superior football player than any linebacker I the NFL in my opinion. Wasn’t he the only nfl player to have 144 tackles, six sacks, five interceptions and two forced fumbles in one year. Yet he didn’t even get to eat pineapple last year wtf.
September 1st, 2014 at 8:15 pm
The game should be a low scoring defensive battle. The home crowd will be loud and help the Bucs to a season opening division win. Anything less is not acceptable and will be a monumental bummer. Go Bucs!
September 1st, 2014 at 8:18 pm
Uncle Albert-
Why wouldn’t we? We drafted 2 DTs back to back!
Then we drafted 2 DEs back to back.
Luke and David play different positions- it was out of character not to draft 2 Lbs
You obviously have no clue of how this team drafted.
Blind and Clueless!
Stick yer tongue out of yer blind, empty hear-
Taste like Crap?
Now we know who’s head is where
September 1st, 2014 at 8:26 pm
I honestly prefer (a fit & trim) Foster over Kuechly…. Kuechly is kinda a hybrid of LVD & Barret Ruud… but with Ruud’s lack of killer instinct & aggressiveness
September 1st, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Objectively speaking, this is the season where we’ll see if Dom made the right move by drafting Barron over Keuchly. Starting this Sunday
September 1st, 2014 at 9:19 pm
You morons are the ones who also ran Ruud out of town too.
I look back and actually feel sorry for Raheem Morris now… he wanted to keep Ruud yet Mark Dominik let Steve Dumig talk him into letting Ruud walk.
The Bucs needed him desperately that year… and the following.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:00 pm
Some of you might want to go review some of Luke’s tape.
He is a beast
September 1st, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Pretty Dumb there Joe and a reach. If we draft Luke we dont draft LVD. David is better than Luke and any sane researcher knows this. We know you dont like the Barron pick. Glad we have LVD though.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Capt Tim. He is no LVD.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:08 pm
Didn’t Foster lead all rookies in tackles in his rookie year?
September 1st, 2014 at 10:10 pm
Uh not even ever close but it’s a neat idea Lovie hahahaha
September 1st, 2014 at 10:51 pm
LOL!!!!!
That’s just hysterical!!!!
September 1st, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Luke is good not as great as some ppl think cant really compare him and David
September 2nd, 2014 at 4:43 am
Cap. Tim I’m sure is a smart guy. He simply is wrong. Happens to the best of us. Switch Lvd and kuechly so that 54 is on Carolina and vise versa. Kuechly winds up in the same category as Barret rudd. Slightly above average middle linebacker on a sub par team. Decent tackler and that’s it. Not a good pass rushing lb or good in coverage for that matter. Decent at calling plays and reading offenses bit that is his peak…decent. over hyped coming out of the draft and ppl want to stick to their guns and ride him to a dpoy when there were at least 5 better players on the defensive side of the ball last year. Only one of them being lvd. Carolina would have been a top 5 defense without him. Probably not number 2. But still top 5. Mason foster is only slightly below kuechly in skill set. Carolina boy has offense reading to a t. But that is the only advantage in my opinion as far as lb skills. Kuechly got beat in coverage constantly
September 2nd, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Kuechly is good but, MVP of the D? That’s a stretch; may not even be their best LB. No doubt he benefits from an excellent front 7.
If Barron were not so underwhelming, at a position that is normally drafted much lower, we probably would be bothered less on the topic.
Remember too, Star Loutuliea (sp) was available for the Bucs had Dumbanic not given it up in the absurd Revis deal. We’ll always discuss these two Panthers that should have been Bucs, if we only had an NFL GM at the time.