Simms Would Still Practice
June 29th, 2020
Expect players to get COVID.
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing by some, outraged over the fact park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback Tom Brady has the nerve to work out with a few of his teammates while “The Sickness” spreads like a biblical plague.
Some believe Brady will be responsible for players getting sick months from now.
Shortly after the NFLPA issued a warning for players not to work out together, a former NFL offensive lineman suggested that was wishful thinking. Players will workout, he said, their livelihoods are on the line.
Yes, players other than Brady have spotted leading workouts.
A former Bucs quarterback took to national television to tell viewers that if he were still an NFL quarterback, you’re damn right he’d be working out with teammates, and the NFLPA could shove their advisory.
Former Bucs quarterback Chris Simms, who led the team to the NFC South title in 2005, appeared on “PFT Live,” seen weekday mornings on NBC Sports Network with co-host, the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, explained that even though “The Sickness” has brought this country to its knees, he’d still be out on a field somewhere throwing footballs.
Simms also said if fans want a football season, there is no way around the idea that players will get infected, that’s all there is to it.
“No crap they are testing positive,” Simms began. “This is what is going to happen. … I have become less and less optimistic about football unless we wrap our heads around in the NFL that you are going to get this, this year. That is going to be the price of doing business. I don’t sit here feeling proud to say that.”
What Simms was proud of saying is that he has a responsibility to himself and his teammates and his organization to be ready for training camp.
“If I am a quarterback of a team and it was June [29th], I just don’t care,” Simms said. “I am going to go out there and throw footballs with other guys on my team. I don’t care if the NFLPA sent this letter out. I am worried about my craft and where I am going to be at.”
Simms emphasized that doesn’t mean he would be irresponsible. He would try to follow social distancing guidelines and keep disinfected as best he could. But he would work out. Period.
If the NFL is to be played this year, Simms added, there is no way of putting players in a bubble. Fans, coaches, players, suits and owners better come to grips with the expectations players will get infected.
“Of course we are getting it,” Simms said. “It’s going around rampant around our country right now. And let’s try to deal with it the best way possible. I don’t think I’m being insensitive.”
Joe doesn’t believe Simms is being insensitive, just pragmatic. That makes Joe wonder if Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians is going to be tempted to put Brady in quarantine until September.
June 29th, 2020 at 6:20 am
Pressing forward is what is necessary everywhere……but with extreme caution with measures designed to mitigate the infection. Players will get sick….everyone is at risk but continuing to shut everything down is worse.
June 29th, 2020 at 6:51 am
Let me translate what Tampabaybucfan just said!!!!!!!!!
Tampabaybucfan says: “Press forward because I want to watch football!!!!!!!!!!!!”. “Be careful, but not careful enough that it effects me”!!!!!!!!! “Players are expendable!!!!!!” “I don’t care if everyone is at risk”, as long it does not effect my life and watching my football”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Signed,
Very Unconcerned Tampabaybucfan
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 29th, 2020 at 6:57 am
Logical point of view Simms has. Bet his dad has the opposite take.
June 29th, 2020 at 7:12 am
Let me translate what El SuckoPessimisto is saying….
Shut everything down….ruin the economy cause havoc within households…..misery & domestic v…..because all I do is sit in my Mom’s basement and spout negativism, doom & gloom.
And, he’s right….I do want to watch some football…..just like most normal fans.
Anybody agree?
June 29th, 2020 at 7:14 am
The highlight of El Suckopessimisto’s day is to attack TBBF……laying in wait…..excited at the opportunity…..sometimes he posts an attack when I’m not even posting…..what a sick, sick pitiful troll.
June 29th, 2020 at 7:18 am
I’m beginning to wonder if ElsuckoPessimisto is a paid operative designed to generate site traffic…..because his motivation to engender animus from most all other posters is mind-numbing.
June 29th, 2020 at 7:20 am
Today would be a good day to start a campaign to get rid of ElSuckoPessimisto…
I call on all JBF posters to join me in an effort to have him neutered. No more sheep-humping for him.
June 29th, 2020 at 7:21 am
Wear you flippin’ mask, now! It will be required on game days.
June 29th, 2020 at 7:47 am
It’s hard to believe we’re six weeks away from the first pre-season game, and not yet a single mini-camp or OTA. This isn’t shaping up well at all. I think there will be a season for sure, so I am very happy that Tom Brady has held the workouts that he did. I hope there are more.
June 29th, 2020 at 8:15 am
I’m guessing Nancy Florio’s head exploded when Simms said that
June 29th, 2020 at 8:16 am
Looks like this would have been the year to start a rebuild. Players are being guilted for holding a small group training. I think we can write this season off. At least we won the off-season with our acquisitions.
June 29th, 2020 at 8:39 am
It is a shame that everything has become political and not really personal. This virus will not go away, as a country we neither have the discipline nor the ability to wait it out. So many will get it and probably already have it or had it. A vaccine generally takes a long time to produce and is usually only partially effective so we will still be dealing with this as time goes on. Do we live our lives and learn to use more caution or do we continually wait for someone else to say this is right or this is wrong as years go by. In hindsight everyone will look back at what we have done and judge it based on their own agenda and not just for the tragedy that it is and was. As we don’t know the future we can only live the best can in the present and try and learn. So the players not knowing this disease nor the effect it will have on them or those around them but preparing for what they know is a eminent danger of playing a sport which is physical and dangerous, they are preparing the best they can. No one knows the future nor what is best for all, so hopefully each one of us will do what we need to in the best manner possible and continue to learn and adjust.
June 29th, 2020 at 8:54 am
Put the Media in quarantine and we’ll all be better off
June 29th, 2020 at 9:15 am
I’ve been posting the same message for weeks. If they are going to have a season players are going to have to play. Coaches have to coach, and support staff need to be in place. People are going to get sick. They might just as well get sick if they don’t play. No one is 100% safe doing anything, even staying at home during a pandemic. The one time you have to get food you can get it. All sports now are an experiment. The NFL, NBA, and MLB are all starting up at about the same time. We’ll soon know how this experiment goes.
June 29th, 2020 at 9:25 am
If the NFLPA and NFL are worried about ten dudes on one field, WTF are they going to do when 90 and a shedload of staff show up at training camp? Every player who plays this year is at a very significantly enhanced risk of getting it. Fortunately they’re all young (players, not necessarily staff) and should in nearly every case handle it well. Some with asthma or other issues might be at a greater risk, and they certainly can sit out if they want. This is going to be a really unreal year of football, if we even have one.
June 29th, 2020 at 9:49 am
Joe: “led team to the NFC Central title?”… wrong decade my friend.
June 29th, 2020 at 10:01 am
Bobby:
Good catch. The division switch came three years earlier. Thanks.
There is a cool story Joe may write about how the Bucs wound up in the NFC Central even though they are a Florida team.
June 29th, 2020 at 10:27 am
After reflection, I would like to apologize to Tampabaybucfan!!!!!!!!!!! It was wrong of me to point out how callous and narcissistic He really is!!!!!!!!!!! It was wrong of me!!!!!!!!! So I will take full responsibility!!!!!!!!!!!! After reviewing the past, I correctly criticized Tampabaybucfan of being wishy washy and passive aggressive in his post and that he should post the truth and how he really feels!!!!!!!!! So it was wrong of me, to point out the truth, where he displayed just how self-absorbed and heartless that he really is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I apologize Tampabaybucfan!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 29th, 2020 at 11:14 am
Wow, almost a thread about the key thing about 2020 NFL season! Wake me up when you guys want to have a cogent discussion as to whether or not we really SHOULD have a season and how we COULD have a season with the virus out of control in numerous states (including one very close to you all).
BTW, only 8,500 NEW Florida cases yesterday.
No worry, nearly 1,400 hospital beds available.
Another note: NPR had interview today with your ex-virus stat keeper about how she was fired because she would not fudge her data.
OK, now you can continue arguing who is going to catch the most passes from Brady this year.
June 29th, 2020 at 11:15 am
Whoops!
June 29th, 2020 at 11:28 am
It seems to me that the shutdown accomplished nothing but causing a lull in the number of cases reported. The virus didn’t go anywhere and apparently will be with us going forward into the future. The best course of action would be to learn to live with it, while taking precautions for the most vulnerable people. There will be no second wave because the first wave doesn’t appear to be going away.
June 29th, 2020 at 12:38 pm
Suffering…this isn’t the 17th century…we don’t have to learn to live with it. But it will be a struggle. Most of you are too young to remember Polio…I barely do. Or Tuberculosis. These things have their way with us for a time…but we will prevail. The question is, how many must die and suffer as a result of it. We have some say so in that…how we live and the preventative measures we take. I’ve been giving it to you straight. And one thing about the human condition. If immunity lasts less than a year, and we are aging daily, how long will it be before any of us will age, develop conditions, and lose our immunity? And be more vulnerable to this disease. We must not give up or resign ourselves to failure. But we must take precautions.
June 29th, 2020 at 1:38 pm
Mark2001, I am old enough to remember polio and have two friends who suffer from its effects. It was a scary time for our parents and thankfully a vaccine was found. I am not advocating we ignore the virus. What I am saying is we have to adapt because I don’t believe it is going away. However that is to be accomplished l have no idea other than to say we can hide ourselves away, we can prevent human contact, we can bring the entire globe to a halt and the virus will still be there. There may or may not be a vaccine found. Who knows at this point. Yes, peoples lives are at stake. But there are very few to zero countries that can economically withstand an endless shutdown. People need to work to make money. Money is required to obtain the things required to survive in this day and age. The companies that provide those things need workers and money to make those things. The governments need our tax money to fund themselves and all the social programs that exist. None of that can be accomplished if we continue to keep everything closed. Eventually it will fall apart and then we will be longing for the 17th century!
June 29th, 2020 at 2:54 pm
Suffering, there is a world of difference between total shutdown and full-tilt boogie opening that your governor thought would please the dear leader.
Mask wearing in any close enclosed space, limiting large group meetings, outdoor dining only to start, increased use of take out and delivery services, and other steps that medically and logically make sense. What is obviously not in the immediate future is fully opening bars and gatherings of sports teams that have not been in severe isolating protocol.
Sorry if you own a liquor only bar or a football team, but that’s 2020. 1 +1 =2, 2+2= 4. Same logic.
I, too, remember polio. What I can remember is being withheld from groups of kids and long, long line getting vaccinated.
June 29th, 2020 at 3:29 pm
bucsfaninoregon…yeah…what you said is on the money.
And those vaccines marked the arms of many of us for over a decade.
Life in the meantime has changed. And those that can’t deal with it will find themselves out of business or afflicted; or their loved ones may very well suffer affliction.
June 29th, 2020 at 7:09 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
“… El Suckopessimisto… laying in wait…..excited at the opportunity…”
.
.
I think you give Realist a little Buccaneer woody! Have a heart, man!
June 30th, 2020 at 12:04 pm
As far as the virus goes don’t forget the US operates bio weapon labs across the Earth. This is all about population control and your taxpayer dollars pay for it.