“I Went Ballistic”
May 4th, 2017
Bucs fans react.
Cool story on how Tampa Bay fans attending the draft in Philadelphia last week reacted to the Bucs choosing a receiver.
John McGonigal of the Centre Daily Times chronicled how fans of various teams responded to Penn State players getting selected over the three-day NFL holiday.
There, McGonigal ran into quite a few Penn State fans in full Bucs regalia who couldn’t believe the luck to get Chris Godwin in the third round.
But the best reaction came not from a Penn State fan, but a fan from a vile rival, and that would be a Michigan fan. The Wolverines guy put aside his college allegiances and admitted he went bananas when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht pulled the lever for Godwin.
Still, Mercurio, donning a bright red Kwon Alexander jersey, is a Tampa Bay supporter.
He watched Godwin and the Nittany Lions win the Big Ten title and saw Godwin cruise through the Southern California secondary on Jan. 2. At the time, Mercurio was gritting his teeth. Now, he’s glad to have Godwin.
“I didn’t even know he was still available,” the Millersburg native said. “I erupted when they picked him. I went ballistic.”
Also, another cool item in the story was when the Bucs picked Godwin, Penn State fans other NFL teams decked out in various teams’ gear broke out in a Penn State chant.
May 4th, 2017 at 2:37 pm
Pretty cool. I was also really stoked when I heard his name called to be a Buc. I was on cloud nine after we had O.J Howard and then Chris Godwin. I was a little deflated with the selection of Justin Evans initially but after digging deeper into him, I am fine with him as well. This season is going to be a lot of fun I do believe.
Fire them cannons!!!!!!
May 4th, 2017 at 2:55 pm
The “Greatest show on “real” turf”.
May 4th, 2017 at 2:57 pm
great pick!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
May 4th, 2017 at 3:05 pm
You really want to go ballistic? Check out our FIFTH round pick –
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Jeremy+McNichols+2017&&view=detail&mid=98EE1522D52FD26ADD6F98EE1522D52FD26ADD6F&FORM=VRDGAR
Doug Who?
May 4th, 2017 at 3:13 pm
Wow. Quite a nice film on our new Boise guy. Speed!
May 4th, 2017 at 3:15 pm
The bucs got a steal with this pick i believe. I was watching the draft at the bar with a friend who is a eagles/penn state fan. When they announced the pick, i jumped with excitement, but my friend was pissed because the bucs picked him. Obviously he hates the bucs. The fact that he admitted the bucs just made a great pick lets me know how lucky this team may be. In licht I trust.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:17 pm
Ghost…he still looks slow to me and that’s against inferior comp. Not knocking the kid, but I don’t think Doug is sweating the 5th round pick.
There’s nothing that impresses me about McNichols.
Want to see the better Boise State rb?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBITqIfjdRA
Doug is clearly better.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:27 pm
Buc1987:
I’m not saying McNichols is the next Barry Sanders, but his 40 time is a good bit faster than Doug and the last time I saw Doug Martin run for the Bucs he looked awful.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:29 pm
Now that’s a cool draft story.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:33 pm
GhostofTedford, I try not to get excited about highlight reels. They only show the very best plays, maybe 5-10 of hundreds. I prefer to watch game tape on players to get the real vibe.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:34 pm
^^^why?? Why draft what we already have? Seems to me if you can’t draft better than what you have …..draft elsewhere!! What I don’t see in the aforementioned tape is @Brandon The MIDIGATING FACTOR JOE MIXON!!
May 4th, 2017 at 3:34 pm
Wausa, it will al get worked out in camp.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:39 pm
Love this guy, and Joes I’ll give you credit as you called him months ago as being a possibility.
Random question: no body really expected OJ to be there at 19 – I wonder who we would have picked had the most probable case occurred and he was gone..
May 4th, 2017 at 3:46 pm
Godwin impresses me. Probably DeSean’s replacement in the future,
Like I said Doug’s “highlights”clearly show who the better back is. Not just speed. In fact after watching the 2 highlight reels I don’t think I’ll ever trust a 40 time ever again. So thanks for that. lol
May 4th, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Godwin was a great pick in the 3rd round. We are extremely fortunate he lasted all the way to pick #84.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:48 pm
Thanks for that link GhostofTedford.
I noticed one thing that really fired me up. There were a half dozen or so runs down the sideline with a defender obviously ready to make the tackle…instead of taking it OB and wrapping up a good run, McNichols lowered his head and crashed for even more contact. You could tell he’s the kind of back that welcomes contact not avoids it. One thing is certain…he’s no Sims!!! He may catch out of the backfield and cut well in the open field but this kid seems to actually enjoy contact.
As for speed….87 makes a good point about the level of competition making it hard to tell about speed…but he surely does not look slow…and then in that one highlights he did the anti Turtle Hamster…he broke into the clear with a DB chasing him…instead of getting hauled down from behind he actually increased the separation. I’m surely not used to seeing that here for quite awhile.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:48 pm
mike10…that’s a tough call. They had a buffet in front of them.
Look how long it took for them to turn the card in.
That was hilarious. Like2.5 seconds.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:55 pm
87
The stats tell a different story. Homie surpassed Dougie numbers in just half the time.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:56 pm
DB…I’m just going by what I see.
May 4th, 2017 at 3:57 pm
Yeah, he doesn’t look spectacular on the highlights, especially against some pretty small and weak defenses.
I do like the pass catching/blocking aspect he has though and I think as part of a bad ass offensive scheme with all of our new talent he could do very well and take Sim’s spot.
Go Bucs!
May 4th, 2017 at 4:08 pm
@Brandon THE MITIGATING FACTOR JOE MIXON!
May 4th, 2017 at 4:28 pm
More than likely they would have took adoree Jackson. (If the titans were smart enough to take OJ)
May 4th, 2017 at 4:29 pm
@Buc1987,
I agree he may not be as fast but like Stpetebucfan stated, he does not avoid contact, many of those plays he could have gone out of bounds but chose more yardage and contact. He looks more hungry than Dougie also.
I do not envy Coach Koetter –
Rodgers, Barber, Martin and now Mcnichols…..could he possibly keep all four???? NAH, I don’t think so either. Cannot wait for the season to begin.
May 4th, 2017 at 4:29 pm
oopps forgot Sims….honest mistake really.
May 4th, 2017 at 4:41 pm
The biggest difference between Doug Martin and Jeremy McNichols is the fact that Doug Martin cost us pick 36 and 101. Jeremy McNichols cost us pick 162, Doug will have to out produce McNichols at a rate of 6-1 to be a better value pick.
May 4th, 2017 at 5:17 pm
I want to believe Godwin will be our #3 this year. However, I just don’t see him beating out Hump or being better in the slot.
I know the idea is well we’ll see 4 wideouts sometimes. But Howard is so good that you can leave him in the slot as well.
Great long term investment though.
May 4th, 2017 at 5:40 pm
If Dirk Koetter is going to a lot of 2 TE sets. Adam Humphries and Chris Godwin will play minor roles in this offense. There won’t be enough balls for everyone, I just don’t see Cameron Brate or O.J.Howard spending a lot of time on the bench. Chris Godwin will get some playing time, he eventually will be the heir to Desean Jackson. I believe the Bucs 3-4 WRs won’t get as much playing time because of Howard and Brate.
May 4th, 2017 at 5:50 pm
“I was going to the draft but I got a bad case of Shingles”
Kobe Faker
May 4th, 2017 at 6:21 pm
Dont look at godwin as strictly a slot receiver. The important thing is to look at him as a top 3 receiver on this team. Dirk will be creative. As dirk says, its about getting the best 11 on the field. You will see desean in the slot which he has played alot throughout his career and evans lined up in the slot at times in order to dictate matchups. Koetter has put vjax and evans in the slot before in the past and im willing to bet he will do it again. Godwin can play the outside when djax or evans is in the slot and in sure he will line up in the slot as well. This roster is about flexibility. Thats why humphries playing time may decrease because he is strictly a slot wr.
May 4th, 2017 at 6:34 pm
Well said webster. Hump will see his time. But djax can play slot and really cause havoc playing on the same side as evans coming in motion to the slot for crossing patterns while godwin is on the opposite side. Would further confuse defensive assignments creating big blown plays for 1 on 1 with evans , howard slipping into the seem or djax taking a 7 yard slant 40 yards . Koetter can open up his whole playbook.
May 4th, 2017 at 6:41 pm
And all of these toys are coming at the perfect time with Winston going into year 3 when this would have been his draft year had he stayed in college. Exciting times. I am one of those people too that have alot of friends with different teams and they are all telling me that the bucs look scary. One can only hope that the paper will translate to the field
May 4th, 2017 at 6:51 pm
So let me get this straight. This story is about a Michigan/Buc fan that likes the Godwin pick? Slow news day much?
May 4th, 2017 at 7:20 pm
If D-Jax or Mike Evans goes down the Bucs would almost be in the same spot as they were last year at WR had they not taken Godwin. There is more RB depth for THIS YEAR than some think if they keep Martin (only if they think he is clean.)
I haven’t sen him play, but it sounds like a good pick.
May 4th, 2017 at 7:47 pm
There is literally zero excuse for Jamies now. He has everything a qb could ask for. Its time to.shine.jaboo
May 4th, 2017 at 9:58 pm
I finally went and watched highlights of Godwin – wow, he looks so polished and smooth. At his size and with his combine how did this guy fall to the 3rd round?
May 4th, 2017 at 10:20 pm
Rod
did you the corners and safetys Godwin went against?
there like 6 guys that went in the first round. all the corners and safetys in ohio st, adoree from usc etc
he was the number 1 wr for penn state and had safety rolling on top of him
6 1″ and 209 lbs with 4.42 OFFICIAL time at the forty and best of all wrs in the 20 yard dash at the combine….. fealess catching in the middle
and nipples Hump is better than Godwin?
Godwin will have more catches and yards than OJ howard
May 4th, 2017 at 11:15 pm
Had intel that suggested Bucs really, really liked Adoree’ Jackson. And whaddya know, Licht’s former right-hand man picked him at No. 18.
May 4th, 2017 at 11:17 pm
You prefer Joe shut his site down for a day? There are thousands of stories on this site you can read. If you don’t like the subject matter of a story, don’t read it.
Whining about one story you don’t want to read is like a child bawling at a buffet because, among dozens of items served, there is also a pan of green beans.
May 4th, 2017 at 11:18 pm
GUNNA be the “Greatest Show on Grass”!!!
May 5th, 2017 at 12:15 am
JabooBuc, the term is color. It’s a sort of chronicle of an event but narrated through the fan’s experience, or smth like that. It’s common for sports news shows on TV to do a color piece, especially when the game or event was dramatic, thrilling or/and has the basic building blocks for a more emotional narrative. Thing is, the format it’s not that common as text. I get how you don’t care about this Michigan guy and it seems purely anecdotal, but I have to confess I’m a little jealous for not being there, as the resulting draft is quite positive for the bucs. I hope I can be there for the next one in Dallas (if they do it there) and I hope we pick last.
May 5th, 2017 at 8:06 am
The moral of this story laddies is it doesn’t matter from what college a player goes to, once they become a Buc they’re your player. A real Bucs fan will recognize a real player that will help us pick last in the draft. Nice reference Vico
May 5th, 2017 at 8:09 am
Joe, great response to your readers. Don’t like it, don’t read it but no “whining” about content. Always funny to hear business owners that act like we need them more than they need consumers.
Let’s be real here. Joe’s content is free. Joe started here out of love of the Bucs. And Joe will finish here because of love of the team. The site works because Joe speaks plainly and directly. Joe’s not pulling any kind of “act” as you mention. Every post here will draw a head shake from a percentage of readers. Joe can’t invest time caring who likes what and who doesn’t like what. –Joe
I like most of the content you provide. However, I thought it was a story that lacked value. I am choosing to let you know. If you would rather I didn’t let you know then that says more about you than me.
May 5th, 2017 at 8:25 am
And you make money here by selling ads based on views correct?
You’re missing the point. Joe investing precious time babysitting malicious and/or hateful commentary, or commentary that attacks Joe’s credibility, is time Joe doesn’t invest serving readers on all things Bucs. Anything that takes away from Joe’s work on the Bucs is bad for business. Traffic here goes up every year and Joe’s astounding traffic metrics have been studied by the biggest sports media conglomerates in the world. Joe’s not interested in traditional everybody’s-right customer service principles that don’t apply to this website. –Joe
May 5th, 2017 at 11:41 am
BigHogHaynes Says:
May 4th, 2017 at 4:08 pm
@Brandon THE MITIGATING FACTOR JOE MIXON!
—————–
Why do you keep calling me out to point out your inability to spell the word “mitigating”?
So you can’t spell, here’s your D- grade to take home and hang on your fridge.
May 5th, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Joe, not sure where my “malicious and hateful” comments were but hopefully you realize the irony of your response. Again, enjoy the site.
May 5th, 2017 at 4:42 pm
Doug only had 47 touchdowns in 4 years while McNichols had 54 touchdowns in two years