King: Chucky Made a Smart Move

November 10th, 2008
Peter King of SI.com thinks that just because Chucky gave the Bucs a few days off during the bye week, that the players now worship the ground he walks on. Joe disagrees.

Peter King of SI.com thinks that just because Chucky gave the Bucs a few days off during the bye week, that the players now worship the ground he walks on. Joe disagrees.

As Joe has stated many times, NFL fans who do not read Peter King’s weekly Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com are cheating themselves. This morning King writes about how Chucky gave the Bucs the week off for the bye week.

In the time between last week’s column and this one, the Bucs did not practice. Not once. Jon Gruden didn’t give his players a bye week. He gave them a bye-bye week. Smart move. You think his players won’t come back hungry to play hard for him the last seven weeks?

Joe does think that Chucky giving the Bucs a week vacation in the middle of the season is a good thing, both physically and mentally for the team. But to suggest the coach who, per a recent poll commissioned by the NFL Players Association, is one of the most disliked coaches by NFL players will suddenly be beloved by Bucs players is a stretch.

Players who like a coach like a coach. Players who don’t like a coach don’t like a coach. Just because the coach gives the players a few extra days off doesn’t mean the players all of a sudden think of him as their best friend.

Unless Chucky — or any coach — drastically changes his demeanor, players aren’t going to change their feelings toward him over a few days away from One Buc Palace.

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