Welcome To Pads
July 31st, 2016
Angry at cheap shots in underwear football.
Football is finally here (to a degree) this morning.
Underwear football, for the time being, has been pushed aside. Time for big boy football; real football. Shoulder pads, leg pads, the pop of pads and helmets piercing the humid Tampa morning air.
In short, the Bucs get to hit each other today and not get in trouble.
Per the recent CBA between the NFL and the NFLPA, the first three practices must not be in pads, but the third practice, players are allowed to wear shoulder pads.
This morning when the Bucs take the practice fields being One Buc Palace, full pads will be worn. Hitting is the order of the day.
Real football.
So guys like Major Wright, who blasted Brandon Myers with a forearm shiver to the grill yesterday, can do so today, so long as it isn’t a belt to the head.
Yeterday, such a blast didn’t go over too well with Bucs coach Dirk Koetter.
“Yeah, that was a cheap shot,” Koetter said. “That was a cheap shot. He would have been ejected, he would have been fined and it was a 15-yard penalty. We don’t need those kinds of hits. Those kinds of hits don’t do us any good because they won’t be good on Sunday.
“Now, there are some other hits out here, some banging, that are legal. I always talk to these guys: ‘We’ve got to take care of each other on the field. There’s hitting in live contact and there’s hitting against our teammates.’
“Sometimes the rookies have a hard time learning that. Like everything out here, it’s a work in progress.”
Guys like Wright don’t need to head hunt teammates to make a point. He’s likely on the roster come September (unless he continues to make cheap shots). Save the Jack Tatum hits for at least a preseason game.
Last thing the Bucs need is for a guy to be put on IR because a teammate wanted to go all John Lynch in practice. That’s dumb.
July 31st, 2016 at 2:00 am
They should just cut him
July 31st, 2016 at 6:10 am
I get the “go all John Lynch in practice” reference Joe, but not sure Wright deserves the comparison with Lynch for his cheap-shot to the head of a teammate. Lynch hit as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen, but I can’t ever remember seeing him cheap-shot anyone.
July 31st, 2016 at 6:36 am
These guys having been waiting forever to lay a hit on someone, so I can see there eagerness, with that said don’t injury your teamates. I’m heading out to the practice this morning so hopefully there’s plenty of hitting going on with the pads on for the first time.
July 31st, 2016 at 8:10 am
It’s inevitable. Go Bucs!
July 31st, 2016 at 8:50 am
It happens….sometimes simply instinct…..
July 31st, 2016 at 10:49 am
Don’t hit your own team players that hard. I know some players are looking to impress, yet it’s not worth losing an important player for potential months. Technique should be the aim, not force.
July 31st, 2016 at 10:53 am
DR as usual FTW. Lynch was NOT a cheap shot artist. DB55 did not cheap shot people…and even Sapp was not a cheap shot player.
Save the Jack Tatum hits for at least a preseason game.
JOE
OK I’ll throw myself under the bus for nitpicking here and I’ll give the pass in that your were probably snarking.
BUT…we don’t want Wright or any player to do cheap shots like this even in a pre-season game! We don’t need a player suspended for the first four games of the regular season and is there any doubt in today’s concussion conscious league that Goodell would bring the hammer down hard if a hit like that is televised during a game?
And heaven forbid we have any human compassion but it also has the possibility of really hurting someone. What if Brandon Myers had ended up like Darryl Stingley?
July 31st, 2016 at 11:52 am
St. Pete. DR said he CAN’T ever remember Lynch cheap-shotting someone.