Agent Of Change
June 12th, 2017
BY IRA KAUFMAN
Every NFL team needs a Robert Ayers.
In Dirk Koetter’s manic quest for a bad-ass group of marauders, Ayers could serve as the poster child. Except he’s no child … he’s a grown-ass man.
When the 2016 Bucs were floundering at 3-5, guess who stood up in the locker room and said this garbage will not stand? When players complained that Mike Smith’s defensive scheme wasn’t a good fit for Tampa Bay’s personnel, who told those malcontents to shut their pie hole and play ball?
That would be Mr. Ayers, whose piercing stare let’s you know quickly that this is a guy you don’t mess with.
“I don’t really look at it as me being a leader,” he says. “I personally view myself as a guy that, I go hard and my goals are just high. I don’t believe in settling.”
Robert Ayers
We all know what happened after Ayers and his teammates had a little animated chat during the bye week. The Buc defense had just been ravaged by Oakland and Atlanta, yielding 58 first downs, 1.087 yards and nine touchdowns.
In the final eight games, Tampa Bay’s defense allowed only 13 TDs.
Ayers missed four games early in the season with an ankle injury and finished with only 6.5 sacks, three less takedowns than he registered in a career year with the Giants before hitting free agency.
But if Ayers didn’t reach his personal goals last fall, he still made an impact on a young club learning how to win.
“I anticipate Robert to continue to be the type of leader that he’s been,” Smith says. “He’s been very influential in bringing a toughness to our defense, and that’s very important. We’ve got to continue to work on our toughness and our resiliency.”
Good Hate
Expectations are high at One Buc Place, especially after encouraging off-season additions, but it won’t be easy to end a nine-year playoff drought. There will be challenging moments, and when those hard knocks come, that’s when a veteran like Ayers steps up to tell adversity to take a hike.
“The idea of another man being better than me at anything has always been something that I hate,” he says. “The idea of another team thinking that they’re better than us is just something that I hate. I really hate to lose. So enough was enough. I wouldn’t give myself any credit for our turnaround. I don’t know, we just got it turned around, I guess. I just want to win, man, and that’s all it was about.”
The last time the Bucs earned a postseason berth, Jon Gruden coached a veteran group dripping with leaders. When consecutive losses against the Lions and Jaguars dropped the 2007 Bucs to 4-4, they didn’t sulk.
Instead, they responded with five wins in the next six games to right the pirate ship and claim a division title.
That club wasn’t overly talented, but Tampa Bay benefited by veteran direction provided by Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and Kevin Carter. And while Gerald McCoy leads by example and Kwon Alexander is an emerging star, Ayers reigns as the nasty straw that stirs the drink.
“If you get used to losing, then it becomes the norm,” he says. “If you get used to winning, then you don’t accept anything else. I think we just needed to create an environment of winning, an environment of competing and challenging each other, pushing each other.
“That’s what I think I kind of brought to the table, because I’m not afraid to say anything to anybody, no matter the stature or what their level of accomplishments are, or even a coach. I’m not afraid for you not to like me. I don’t really care about being liked. I don’t really care about opinions of me. I just want to win. So I think we kind of challenged each other and pushed each other to change things around here.”
In the end, that’s how Ayers will be remembered around these parts. He wasn’t just a free agent.
He was an agent of change.
June 12th, 2017 at 9:32 am
I love his mentality. Another year in this locker-room will hopefully rub off on the rest of these guys.
June 12th, 2017 at 9:57 am
I don’t really care about being liked. I don’t really care about opinions of me. I just want to win.
We can celebrate that he is a big, mean, scary dude on the DL but these sentences illustrate what Ayers really brings to the team. FOCUS!!!
June 12th, 2017 at 10:06 am
I love how he’s willing to do the “wet work” in the locker room. Good job Mr. Ayers!
June 12th, 2017 at 10:22 am
Inspiring stuff. Really hope he is wearing a Buc super bowl ring in the next few years.
June 12th, 2017 at 10:34 am
The majority of leadership happens when players lead by example and produce on the field. I like Ayers competitiveness the limited time we’ve actually seen him on the field. The idea of him being a substantial leader with his mouth……..while being on the injured list………doubtful.
June 12th, 2017 at 10:39 am
Ayers brings a solid mind. Ayers brings ADULTHOOD by example. The beauty is this guy IS NOT egotistical. You don’t settle for less and do everything under your power to accomplish! This guy takes his teammates to the heart of the matter and helps them play with passion for the teams benefit! – family.
Ayers, Winston, Spence, Alexander these guys don’t settle for less. – Bad A$$ Stick Carriers
Licht is creating a special Buccaneer Team.
Ira you make Joe Bucs Fan Great!
Go Bucs!!!
June 12th, 2017 at 11:05 am
I’m not afraid to say anything to anybody, no matter the stature or what their level of accomplishments are,
———–
Smith says. “He’s been very influential in bringing a toughness to our defense,
————
Lmao, I scream, you scream, they are all screaming at ice cream.
How you let rookies and first year FA take over your team and your def? Somebody gotta step up and lead.
When the 2016 Bucs were floundering at 3-5, guess who stood up in the locker room and said this garbage will not stand? Not the all-pro, all-world, ice cream man. Losing is okay as long as you have fun. (Insert batman slapping robin meme here)
June 12th, 2017 at 11:27 am
I’ll piggyback on Derrick Brooks here…You start from zero and build every season. I’m cautiously optimistic here. 31 other teams inproved also. Our 2 biggest keys will be….Will our Defense start the season fast? And will Mr. Winston start IMPROVED..from last season.
June 12th, 2017 at 11:49 am
Yeah OK, so he’s the “vocal” leader DB55. What’d that get us last year? Part-time player and the same as a rookie off the street with a bum shoulder.
Everybody on defense needs to step up their game, including the loud ones.
June 12th, 2017 at 11:56 am
We don’t need a loud mouth Robert Ayers and his measly 6.5 sacks. We need another quiet Simeon Rice and his 15.5 sacks.
June 12th, 2017 at 12:03 pm
Smith says. “He’s been very influential in bringing a toughness to our defense,
June 12th, 2017 at 12:09 pm
What’d that get us last year?
I got us 9 wins which is more than ice cream has ever one as the “leader” of the def, outside of his rookie year and we all know how influential rookies are in the NFL.
June 12th, 2017 at 12:30 pm
I’d say our 9 wins was more a testament to the additions of Grimes and VHIII.
Previously, we had cereal boxes playing corner!
June 12th, 2017 at 12:48 pm
The Giants went 6-10 during both seasons this Loud-Mouth was on the team. Last season they replaced him with Oliver Vernon and they went 11-5. Yeah they sure did miss his Loud Mouth and motivation.
June 12th, 2017 at 12:49 pm
The real story here is the b*tching and moaning that was going on in the locker room about the scheme. That has been the M.O. around these parts for a long while…with complaints about Bates, Rah, Schiano, Lovie. Sure, some of that was poor Xs and Os, but some of it was also on the players failure to adapt and execute. I hope #93 and #54 can look to Ayers and Alexander and step it up.
June 12th, 2017 at 1:07 pm
In 2014 and 2015 the Giants defense gave up 4.9 and 4.4 Y/A rushing with Loud Mouth Ayers. Last season without Loud Mouth Ayers they gave up 3.6 Y/A rushing. In 2014 and 2015 the Bucs defense without Loud Mouth Ayers gave up 3.9 and 3.4 Y/A rushing. In 2016 with the Loud Mouth Ayers the Bucs defense gave up 4.4 Y/A rushing. He’s a huge liability against the run, 29 tackles last season in 12 games. The most tackles he has in a season in his entire 8 season career is 41. And he suppose to be a BEAST, this is a joke.
June 12th, 2017 at 1:22 pm
@LakeLand- If they could just leave out the comparisons to GMC and let Ayers’ talk/play stand on its own these conversations would be unnecessary. We laud him for talking like a bad-a$$ because we think that talk=production.
I love his fire but don’t put down others because they lack his “personality”.
June 12th, 2017 at 1:36 pm
Bucsfanman, I love trash-talking players, Warren Sapp is one of my favorite players of All-Time. But Robert Ayers just talk a lot of trash and his production is lacking. 8 seasons and 32.5 sacks and 175 tackles, he was a 1st round draft pick. To be exact he was the 18th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. And he has been a bust, his trash talking is a cover for his poor performance on the field. It’s definitely not motivating, he’s only fooling the blind fans.
June 12th, 2017 at 1:57 pm
Amen to the trash-talking players LakeLand!
I agree to a point. By definition, his production indicates a “less than stellar” career. He just kind of reminds me of the “enforcer” position in hockey. The guy that gives that spark in the locker room and on the field.
By some’s measurement here on JBF, GMC would be a HOF’er by comparison!
I’m glad we have him and I hope the line wreaks havoc this year.
June 12th, 2017 at 2:06 pm
And yet he was the biggest beast on the dline last yr … go figure
June 12th, 2017 at 2:18 pm
Nice piece Ira.
“…players complained that Mike Smith’s defensive scheme wasn’t a good fit for Tampa Bay’s personnel…”
Wait – WHAT? – Which players?
I follow the Buccaneers as closely as just about any fan and I don’t ever remember hearing this. Was this previously “reported” and I am just forgetting this happened? – or is this the first time this specific information has ever been revealed?
June 12th, 2017 at 2:38 pm
“And yet he was the biggest beast on the dline last yr … go figure”
Based on stats?
June 12th, 2017 at 4:31 pm
@Ira
Next time you’re around Ayers, would you break out your Grand Sage Candor, and ask Ayers if he has had any choice words that he has passed along to Chris “Iverson” Baker about it taking him more time to garner his socks correctly before practice than it takes him to hoover one of the many meals I’m sure he devours during the course of a day?
June 12th, 2017 at 5:29 pm
Great stuff Ira!”the nasty straw that stirs the drink “, “he’s a grown ass man”!
June 12th, 2017 at 5:56 pm
Alzado, dobler, taylor, sapp……and now Ayers. Just what a defense needs, a killer instinct.
June 12th, 2017 at 6:39 pm
Such a predictable post from loser55.
June 12th, 2017 at 10:58 pm
Such overrated B.S.
How about hiw that same”dripping with Leaders” Buc team went in the Tank, losing 6 straight- and getting Gruden fired?
All the rah rah stuff is for the fans.
In the NFL, every player is either self motivated, or they sign a contract and lay down on you.
No amout of speeches makes any difference
What Matters is this.
You gave more guys- who can beat the man across from him- than your opponents have.
Period.
Finally we have enough good players to beat most teams.
And that wouldnt change,if they were all mute( except for on field communication- but you get my point)
June 14th, 2017 at 10:00 am
Ben the Ga Buc Says:
June 12th, 2017 at 10:06 am
I love how he’s willing to do the “wet work” in the locker room. Good job Mr. Ayers!
___________________________________________________________
Yep. No one likes to be pee’d on.