Takes Some Luck To Be Champions
June 5th, 2021
Meaty talk on Bucs.
Ian Beckles believes the Bucs got lucky last year. And hearing him explain his thought process, he’s not wrong.
Injuries are luck. Bad luck. And lack of injuries is good luck.
If someone could predict injuries with a reasonable degree of accuracy, that person would make an absolute killing working in the NFL. A fortune.
Last year the Bucs got damn lucky with injuries. Good luck, as the former Bucs guard and current popular local sports radio personality points out.
So Beckles took to his podcast “In the Trenches” to explain if the Bucs are going to be successful in their quest to Go for Two, they need that same good fortune again.
“The thing is, the Buccaneers got a lttle lucky last year,” Beckles began. “You have to get a little lucky to win the Super Bowl.
“The Buccaneers got lucky last year. Other than O.J. Howard who they lost for the majority of the season — listen, if you told me at the beginning of the season if you had to lose one player what position would it be, I would say tight end. Because we have four legitimate tight ends.
“So we lost O.J. Howard which to me may have been a bonus. You saw more Rob Gronkowski. We ended up running the ball more with Gronkowki in there. And that’s what ultimately led us to winning that Super Bowl.
“The Buccaneers got lucky last year.”
The Bucs have been incredibly lucky the past three seasons with the health of the offensive line. Probably the most banged up the line has been since Dirk Koetter took over as coach was last year, and even then the Bucs lost, what, 7 out of 100 potential starts in the 20 games among the five starting linemen?
Beckles added the Bucs pretty much have to cross their fingers they stay equally healthy this year, even with several key starters well over 30, when players generally see their bodies break down.
“So we gotta figure out a way to get through the season unscathed as well,” Beckles added.
In other subjects discussed on his pod, Beckles said:
* The Bucs aren’t married to Ronald Jones. They aren’t married to any running back.
* Beckles said he just cannot swallow the medicine some are pushing that the current Bucs defense is the best in franchise history. He said when this Bucs defense starts shutting down offenses regularly for six years straight, then he may reassess.
* In discussing the best defensive tackles of all time, Beckles raved about Aaron Donald as maybe the best defensive tackle to ever play. Even better than former Bucs great Warren Sapp, he said. Beckles added that if he ever found himself on the same field as Donald, “I don’t know what my gameplan would be.”
As always, Beckles welcomes feedback and encourages listeners to submit Bucs questions by e-mailing him at IanBeckles@RadioInfluence.com.
Enjoy an Ira Kaufman Podcast. Click below to listen or subscribe at Apple Podcasts.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:16 am
The 2020 49ers were without Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel, Richard Sherman, Dee Ford and Raheem Mostert — among others — for extended periods last year. That’s what turned a SB team into 6-10.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:16 am
Better lucky champions than Great losers.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:19 am
Hard to argue with Beckles on this one.
The Bucs were lucky. Every SB winner needs luck, and the team will need some in 2021.
I also agree: the D has a LOT to prove. They have more potential than track record. They need to turn the former into the latter.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:40 am
We were lucky with more than just lack of injuries.
How many times did we get a first down with a timely penalty on the opponent?
I’m not sure but it was a lot.
It was great but I’m not expecting it again this season.
Hopefully things keep going our way and our players don’t buy into the hype.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:41 am
As they say “Better to be lucky than good”……but it wasn’t luck to draft Wirfs & Winfield Jr. It wasn’t luck to sign Fournette & Antonio Brown along with Gronk & Brady.
It took great skill to put the SB winning roster together and to coach it to victory.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:44 am
This defense has a long (but hopefully not TOO long) way to go to equal that 1st Bucs SB defense. The record of continuous games of at least one sack and interception per game will stand for a while.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:52 am
Beckles is spot on about this one; it does take a certain amount of ‘luck’ when it comes to injuries. Not just the number of injuries but also who they happen to. Last season, ‘Out’ was reported only 15 times while ‘IR’ was reported 137 times and COVID19 was reported 20 times (172 total reported in those 3 categories). Vita Vea (13 IR) & OJ Howard (16 IR) were the biggest names lost, but the majority of time lost was for players like Barner (5 IR), Franklin (20 IR), Logan (12 IR), Auclair (7 IR), Seaton (20 IR), Shipley (9 IR), Hurst (7 IR) & Molchon (8 IR).
2019 was somewhat worse but still not all that bad with 43 games reported in ‘Out’ and 160 games reported in ‘IR’ plus 0 COVID19 (203 total reported). Of course Bucs only played 16 games in 2019 as opposed to 20 games in 2020, so we really did do considerably better last season in terms of injuries.
Tend to think that a lot of the credit should go not just to the players for apparently taking better care of themselves AND playing through some pretty tough injuries, but also to Anthony Piroli and his Strength & Conditioning staff as well as the Bucs medical staff. Also wondering if maybe the new practice facility might have made a considerable difference since Bucs most likely didn’t lose as much practice time as they would’ve in years past. Every little bit helps.
June 5th, 2021 at 8:59 am
Luck plays a part in all sports. Some more than others.
June 5th, 2021 at 9:00 am
Absolutely correct, 100%. To get to the top, some luck MUST be involved; it is not a matter of just being good. When I coached basketball, my team that won the state championship was NOT my most talented team over the years. But they got some breaks along the way.
One of my favorite sayings is “I’d rather be lucky, than good”. And it is so true.
June 5th, 2021 at 9:04 am
When i see the word “meaty” & Beckles , I’m inspired to get the meat sweats today!
June 5th, 2021 at 9:25 am
We were lucky as well with the injuries other teams had in the playoffs, but no doubt were deserving champions.
June 5th, 2021 at 10:02 am
Luck doesn’t get u to 5 Super Bowls in the last 7 years. Luck doesn’t win 4 of those 5 Super Bowls.
June 5th, 2021 at 11:10 am
I know that Reggie White played more end than tackle, but I still think that he was the best at either position. An argument can be made either way whether Sapp or Donald is the better tackle. I’ll say this much, Donald has played a lot more end than Sapp ever did, so it’s not apples to apples. Plus, Sapp has more sacks (for now…) and a ring. Donald lost in his lone superbowl and when it’s this close, everything matters. To me, Sapp is the better tackle, while Donald is just a better football player.
June 5th, 2021 at 11:48 am
“There was no luck
Defense wins championships and it was proven to be true again
Bucs defense was peaking at the right time and all 3 levels were playing at a high level that throttled the opposing offenses
the Bucs defense had playmaking players on all 3 levels to change and dictate the game
DC Bowles was dialed in with his playcalling and made all the right moves
*Kobe believes that the Superbowl would have been more competitive with KC with 2 legit tackles but the outcome would have been the same
Stop changing History”
Kobe Faker
June 5th, 2021 at 12:07 pm
They’re going to repeat Beckles.
June 5th, 2021 at 12:21 pm
Best Defense IMO was the 99 team that lost to the Rams “greatest show on turf” 11-6 in the NFC Championship Game- if we had the offense we have now back then- we would have been undefeated and would have won another SB.
June 5th, 2021 at 12:39 pm
Teams that win super bowls usually do have lucky things happen for them. But, the Bucs did work hard, took chances and were the tougher team.
June 5th, 2021 at 1:18 pm
The great Ben Hogan coined one of the best sports quotes ever. “I find that the harder I work, the luckier I get.”
June 5th, 2021 at 1:25 pm
A few facts about Beckles:
•Teams he played on went 47-96-1, a 32.6 “winning” percentage
•He went to an Eagles team that had back-to-back 10-6 seasons before he got there, they had records of 6-9-1 and 3-13 after he got there
You’d think his teams would’ve won most or all of their games with his great orating skills.
June 5th, 2021 at 3:38 pm
As far as season ending injuries go he’s right. But we had a lot of players miiss time for injuries and other reasons. During the season and in the playoffs. We group was hurt most of the year that why they signed brown. Alex Cappa was hurt we didn’t have vita for a loooong time. Winfield missed a playoff game D.Whute missed a game.
June 6th, 2021 at 10:26 am
Luck is being a marginal NFL player and extending that career to a cushy media job where you work a few hours a day
June 6th, 2021 at 5:40 pm
HUH???
We lost Vea for most of the season. Cappa got hurt.
Our WRs were banged up for much of the season, both Evans and Godwin.
Davis had some injury issues.
June 7th, 2021 at 9:01 am
While no one can argue the Bucs were not hurt by the injuries it did have, we have created a two headed monster. Depth at many positions and a scoring offense to overcome opponents in most cases. Even in the 1st Kansas City game, they torched us first quarter, then had to hang on with everything they could muster.
This depth and scoring prowess is even more impressive considering we had many new players, no OTAs, limited preseason interactions and dealing with Covid-19.
Here’s hoping our injury situation continues to show in our favor but give some due respect to a coaching staff and GM to get as much talent on this team.
We did lose some very important players during the year, Vita Vea, oJ as mentioned, Ronald Jones due to Covid and broken finger, Debon White due to Covid during Playoffs, and dom’t forget we lost our starting right guard during the playoffs and had very respectable replacements available at those times.