“I Was Off”
November 2nd, 2020
Lofty status.
Brace yourself.
Prior to the season, a certain national NFL stenographer ranked all 32 NFL teams from Nos. 1-32. And the Bucs’ ranking sparked outraged for the long-time chronicler of the NFL.
He ranked them at No. 5. And the author now admits he had the Bucs ranked too low.
Who is this mysterious typist?
Why it’s none other than hot-dog-eating-contest-protesting, mock-draft-scowling, L.L. Bean-wearing, Second Amendment abolitionist, Mike-Florio-arguing, parrot-insensitive, chewing-with-his-mouth-open, soup-gulping, California-train-romancing, anti-football proliferation, outhouse-admiring, airline-napping, steerage-flying, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal-picture-taking, video-game-playing, Taylor-Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, craft-beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training, Budweiser-tolerant, baseball scorecard-keeping, pasta-feasting, vomit-dodging scrooge, Kay-Adams-following, social activist and NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports.
Looking back at his preseason rankings, King confessed today he erred with Tampa Bay. So in a way of redeeming himself, King now writes the Bucs are the second-best team in the land, trailing only the mighty undefeated Steelers.
2. Tampa Bay (5-2)
Brady, explosive, 32 points a game, weaponry, Arians, Antonio, blah blah blah. Justifiably, there’s been so much talk about the efficient and explosive offense, but the Bucs are here because the defense is maturing at the perfect time. Hard to imagine this changing tonight at the 1-6 Giants—the Bucs and Steelers have the best defenses in the league headed into the second half (the Colts are great numerically but haven’t played a great offense yet), and you’re not going to play deep into January without being able to stonewall good teams on defense. Already stout against the run, Bucs GM Jason Licht fortified that by picking up nose man Steve McClendon from the Jets; Tampa’s allowing a league-low (by a lot) 3.0 yards per rush. Devin White and Lavonte David are two of the best linebackers in football, and the young secondary played one of the best games against Aaron Rodgers in recent years in the Week 6 rout of the Packers. “Nothing scares us,” cornerback Jamel Dean said. “We face Tom Brady in practice every day.” It’s still early, but I like my preseason NFC Super Bowl choice. (Don’t screw it up, Antonio.)
The McLendon trade, the more Joe reads about it, the more Joe is confused how in the heck AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht got this guy for pocket change?
Look, Joe hopes like heck furniture-tossing Antonio Brown works out. On paper, it is unreal to think about what he can bring to an already loaded receiver corps.
All the work a certain middle-aged quarterback has done to try to rebrand Brown may just pay off big time.
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:21 am
Peter King must be a sheep!!!!!
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:24 am
Signing AB was an excellent move…..The Bucs offense has been solid up to this point but they still lack an identify. Brady has yet to develop a chemistry with ME13 and even Godwin has been spotty with production.
The past couple of weeks the main source of offense has been heavy on the run game and a Brady to Gronk connection. Hopefully AB will allow this pass game to open up.
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:35 am
Licht deserves credit. Brady. JPP. Suh. All free agents. Fournette for free. Rosen for free. Both top 10 picks. Dean. Winfield. Davis. Edwards. Godwin. All drafted. McLendon trade.
But I suppose some FSU hater will bring up Winston and the kicker. And Gay. He will be blamed for every one that did not work out.
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:45 am
I really don’t like Peter King.
He used to be good a long time ago before he started bowing down to Corporate sports reporting outlets…..
King is a sheep for the masses
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:45 am
If Steve were 25 instead of 34 I doubt that the Jets would have traded him and certainly not for what we gave them. Not much of a threat to get a lot of sacks, but looks like a perfect fit with us. Besides, the Jets are notorious for doing dumb things (just like we have been) and Licht took advantage of them. Licht is on a freaking tear the last couple of years. Better late than never. 😜
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:47 am
ModHairKen, agreed. Licht may have put together the best offseason in NFL history. What’s funny about your list you actually left off a few names (Wirfs, White).
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:57 am
Joe, thanks for highlighting your pre-ambles in red, it is nice to be able to skip all that cr@p and just read the article !
November 2nd, 2020 at 11:57 am
“The McLendon trade, the more Joe reads about it, the more Joe is confused how in the heck AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht got this guy for pocket change?”
Hmmm, let’s see. Jets are 0-8; McLendon is 34 years old. My guess is that Steve wasn’t their future DT (22-year-old Quinnen Williams & 25-year-old Folorunso Fatukasi seem to be doing fairly decent actually). Awesome pickup for us though.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:01 pm
This makes me nervous… I’m optimistic, but not ready to put them that high yet… still feel like teams can throw deep against SMB/Whitehead and still haven’t fixed that. Have to win every game we should win like tonight and not sure how Saints game will go. Hoping we look more like the team we have recently, but I still think both Saints and Bears are better teams than people give them credit for.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Anthem, perhaps King is the weenie arm you’ve loathed all along?! He certainly isn’t in our huddle.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:07 pm
Steven007…Drew Brees has a weenie arm.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:17 pm
Coburn Says:
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:01 pm
This makes me nervous… I’m optimistic, but not ready to put them that high yet… still feel like teams can throw deep against SMB/Whitehead and still haven’t fixed that.
I get this point but how many NFL teams get beat by the passing games. That is why there is an average of 245 pass yards a game. The bucs have allowed 225 pass yards a game and the teams they played against are actually average over 300 yards per game.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:19 pm
1987, he truly does. His short game is still on point though. Linebackers are very important next week.
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:30 pm
Lol, the outrage bc he ranked the Bucs at 5 and now “admits” it was too low. I’m as big of a homer as everyone else in these parts and wasn’t certain the Bucs were top 10 until that beat down of Green Bay!
It’s tough to rank the Bucs ahead of KC tho, I’d have the Bucs at 3. They’re the defending champs and no one can defend them, except a raider team who got lucky 1 week I guess. Maybe we’ll find out what gives in the AFC championship and then the Super Bowl?
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:44 pm
someone owed licht 1…lol…thats how joe…
GO BUCS!!!!
November 2nd, 2020 at 12:46 pm
“Nothing scares us,” cornerback Jamel Dean said. “We face Tom Brady in practice every day.” …Well, Devin White recently scoffed at that notion in an interview noting the defense hasn’t faced Brady in practice since training camp.–Joe
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
November 2nd, 2020 at 1:27 pm
A Big Thank You – I second that. Immediately knew what to skip and read the article. Now he just needs to do the same for Brady and we will both be able to save time.
November 2nd, 2020 at 1:37 pm
Peter King is a fake news douchebag, and I hate when these idiots finally jump on board since that generally means a collapse is coming. This Giants game is a game the Bucs, outside of 2002, almost always lose. I hope Brady can overcome that – but Brady couldn’t overcome the Bucs always losing in Chicago.
However I said before the Chicago game that the Bucs would lose it, because they ALWAYS lose in Chicago — and I said people would panic, but then the Bucs would beat Green Bay and people would then be putting them in the SB.
Anywho while I was completely firm on the Bucs losing in Chicago, I’m not at all firm on this game. This is a game the Bucs “almost” always lose, meaning it’s not written in pen – and I don’t think these Bucs will lose this game. If they do, then they win next week versus the Saints – so we got that going for us. But hopefully they win this and next week.
November 2nd, 2020 at 2:25 pm
There will be a lot of people eating crow instead of turkey this Thanksgiving!
November 2nd, 2020 at 2:39 pm
Relax Rod
They will blow out the N.Y. Midgets. Its s NEW DAY
November 2nd, 2020 at 2:51 pm
“2nd amendment abolitionist Peter King.”
November 2nd, 2020 at 3:03 pm
All these regular season games are fun to watch buuuuut some are more important than others. This Saints game coming up will tell if the Bucs are really a top 3 team or just a pretender.
November 2nd, 2020 at 4:06 pm
I don’t know if the Bucs should be number 2 but there is a lot of bad football being played this year. It’s just nice not being one of those many bad teams.