“Don’t Talk To Him!”
June 23rd, 2015
Notorious eye-RAH! Kaufman shares a locker room tale
It’s well known that the guy Lovie Smith and Jason Licht pegged to be their franchise left tackle last year, Anthony Collins, was so bad that he’s out of professional football at 29 years old.
So what exactly went wrong?
That’s unclear. But it’s apparent Collins was not giving his all on and off the field.
In a rare glimpse into locker room antics, the Custodian of Canton, eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, shared a Collins story that illustrated an attitude problem.
During a recent interview with Jenna Laine on WHBO-AM, Kaufman told a story of a postgame scene on the road last year. The Bucs had just lost in midseason, and Kaufman explained he was interviewing friendly right tackle Demar Dotson “three stalls down” from Collins. Then, out of nowhere, Collins started shouting at Dotson, “Don’t talk to him! Don’t talk to him!” Keep in mind Dotson is the same age as Collins and had been with the Bucs for five seasons.
Kaufman said Collins’ strange bitterness continued the next day in Tampa and there was no logical reason for it.
Kaufman, who recently penned a feature on left guard Logan Mankins, said Collins was “Mankins’ misfortune” and second-round pick Donovan Smith is an upgrade in many ways.
“This rookie sounds a lot more mature than the veteran Collins,” Kaufman said of Smith.
Yeah, weird things sometimes go down in the locker room after games. Joe actually found Collins to be an approachable fun guy until he clammed up in November. Remember, Collins was credited with the Pittsburgh win, and he had his famous popcorn line.
Joe looks forward to the day Collins surfaces and gives his take on what went wrong. Joe suspects it will be some sort of blues song, like that of ghostly Michael Johnson and his agent.
June 23rd, 2015 at 9:06 am
Very strange behavior to say the least!!! But with all the knowledge that has come out with concussions and/or mental disorders, I hope that the guy might still have medical access even though he is not with a team currently.
June 23rd, 2015 at 9:33 am
This goes to show you that no matter the talent you have, if you don’t have the right coaches in place you will LOSE. It’s a shame what happened last year considering all the talent we had on offence. If you don’t have good coaching in place, it will look like basicly how we looked on offence last year. We were being coached by someone who never coached in the NFL and lacked experience working with pro players. I salute him (Marcus Arroyo) for stepping in given the circumstance but it altleast set us up for some greater players we needed (Draft). I think Collins should have got another shot with some better coaching and all around better depth on OL. When you lose the game you sacrifice your body for it gets people acting stupid and I think that happened a lot in our locker room last year. (AND THE YEAR BEFORE) Lol
June 23rd, 2015 at 9:53 am
Note to self: don’t accept incoming calls from Cincinnati.
June 23rd, 2015 at 10:27 am
@Raymond Jameis Stadium
Your acting like Anthony Collins is some foreign recruit that is learning football for the first time. This guy has been playing football for most of his life. He was given a chance to be a starting tackle and he failed miserably. This whole league is about opportunity and he missed the biggest opportunity of his life and it’s not Coach Arroyo’s fault, it’s not Warhop’s fault, it’s not Lovie’s fault, it’s not Dungy’s fault, it’s not Jed Bush’s fault, and it’s not the Pope’s fault either!! IT’S HIS FAULT!!! If he was so TALENTED then why isn’t he starting somewhere else!?!?
THANK YOU!!!!
“It’s as simple as that” – Lovie Smith
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:33 am
What a difference 8 months make, looking back at comments on Collins. It’s the what have you done for me lately league.
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:33 am
I’m beginning to think Collins’ crappy attitude rubbed off on EDS. Actually, I’m hoping, and it wasnt the other way around. They EDS for some reason. Maybe without crybaby Collins around, Mankins can help get EDS’ attitude in the right direction once again.
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:34 am
*They KEPT EDS for some some reason
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:48 am
@OneLove says,
“…This whole league is about opportunity and he missed the biggest opportunity of his life…”
Collins didn’t miss his opportunity. He was apparently only looking for a payday, just like Ghost Johnson, and he got it. This is one of the reasons FA doesn’t always pan out. I get what you are saying, but Collins motivation was obviously misdirected.
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:50 am
Prior to being signed to a juicy deal, Collins had never been a starter. He filled in admirably when the starter went down in Cincy but that’s it. There’s a huge difference between being a guy who can come in in a pinch and play a few snaps and a guy who must have their A-game day in and day out. That comes with expectations. Collins was a shot in the dark which failed.
@Clod- ES (minus the D) wasn’t bad in Green Bay which is why the Bucs were comfortable shipping Zuttah. In hindsight, it was a downgrade. That being said, as I said at the start of last season, you can’t just get rid of everybody. He’s not the worst in the league, so, there’s that!
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:54 am
@Bucsfanman
Sounds like our new Defensive Ends!!!
June 23rd, 2015 at 11:55 am
@Raymond jameis stadium
ur so on the mark with ur comments…Collins was in fact so immensely talented, that he was never able to earn a starting gig in Cinnci where he was let go from. And that talent was SOOO EVIDENT to the 31 other teams in the league that he’s out of football now…Yep, ur sooo right. The effort the guy put on tape was SOO the fault of the coaching staff. Wasn’t Joe the constant voice this time last year that was stating how we shouldn’t think that a guy who couldn’t even earn a starting gig with his last team can somehow now suddenly become starting material?? But yet once again, it was the coaches fault right?? I thought Marvin Lewis and Lovie Smith were supposed to be friends?? Doubt that is the case anymore.
June 23rd, 2015 at 12:06 pm
@Raymond Jameis Stadium Says:
“…This goes to show you that no matter the talent you have, if you don’t have the right coaches in place you will LOSE…”
IMO, you are missing the mark. Bad coaching may, or may not, contribute to our Oline woes. But over rated players that were brought in is the mani culprit. Collins sucks, which is why he is not on someone else’s roster. Instead, you should blame Lovie for his horrendous personnel moves, especially dumping players from a average Oline and bringing in far worse players
June 23rd, 2015 at 9:52 pm
Anthony Collins exposed the Buccaneers scouting department and their front office. Did anyone in Tampa take into account that Andy Dalton is one of the fastest snap to release QB’s in the league? When actually asked to pass protect without Dalton at QB, Collins was exposed. Collins is probably not one of the smartest guys and he’s got attitude problems. Did anyone in Tampa investigate Collins involvement with 2.5 pounds of marijuana on 9/21/2011 with a Bengal teamate? Collins did not fit in the Tampa locker room and there wasn’t people to keep him in check. Collins crappy attitude rubbed off on EDS, Mankins and the entire offense last year. Between him Cousins and Gilkey they made the scouting group look terrible. It will look even worse if Pamphile and Edwards do not perform this year. At the end f the day Collins and Johnson are sitting pretty taking over 10M from our team this year without playing a down.