Say It. Say It!
March 1st, 2022
Now Joe has written before how Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich does not like specific, direct questions (which is one reason why Joe believes Leftwich winces when he sees Joe at one of his press conferences).
Leftwich likes to talk in platitudes and rarely gives straight answers. Sometimes he just outright avoids a question and babbles about something unrelated. There was one instance that Joe remembers vividly; Leftwich being perfectly straight and direct and Joe gives him major props for doing so.
When Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians first arrived in town, Leftwich was constantly asked about Mr. Entertainment, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, starting or not starting.
Leftwich apparently had his fill. In a question about Jameis’ job security as a starter, Leftwich said, “He’s our quarterback (then waved his arms like Vernon Hargreaves or a baseball umpire signaling “safe” and said), that’s it!”
Boom. Done. Leftwich was never asked again if Jameis may or may not start.
Why is Joe bringing this up? Of course the Bucs need a quarterback and Joe is sifting through each word NFL coaches utter about their starting quarterbacks who insiders feel may be available. New Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell has been talking a lot about Kirk Cousins, who some have rumored to be on the trade block.
And while O’Connell talks a lot about Cousins, he’s like Leftwich — he talks in grandiose platitudes and generalities. Joe has yet to read O’Connell say directly, “Kirk is our quarterback for 2022.” Take O’Connell’s quotes to Albert Breer of SI.com yesterday.
“I have a lot of respect for him and the level at which he’s played the position at for a long time now, the consistency, the durability,” he says. “There’s a lot to like about where he’s at in his career and the experiences that he’s had and continued growth. That’s the important thing, is that he continues to chase the growth and try to chase that excellence he’s hunting as a quarterback and as a leader. … But he’s done a lot of good things. You watch the tape, you just purely turn on the tape and you see a guy playing the position at a really high level, in complete control of his game leading the unit. So, I’m excited about getting him going and how we’re going to build it.”
Joe really wishes someone would pull a Sam Kinison on O’Connell and scream, “Say it. Say it! Is Kirk Cousins your starting quarterback this season or not. Say it! Ah, ah, aaaahhh!” Perhaps Joe will get a chance this week in Indianapolis at the combine.
Oh yeah, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and Arians will be speaking today from Indianapolis. Just a hunch quarterback chatter will come up.
March 1st, 2022 at 6:14 am
Loved Kinison in Back to School. He left too soon.
March 1st, 2022 at 6:17 am
Love the picture of Sam Kinison
March 1st, 2022 at 6:33 am
Trubisky, Gabbert and Trask….battle it out, and we’ll have 3 capable QBs in tow…
March 1st, 2022 at 6:41 am
I hope Cousins is his QB, I sure would’nt want him to be the Bucs QB. Look Joe, we already have our own Cousins, his name is Gabbert. He’s our Jimmy, Teddy, Carson. He’s all those QB’s. The difference is he’s been in the building the last three years, you don’t have to teach him the offense, he can find the meeting room on his own. Trask will follow along. Watson, and Wilson are the only true upgrades, and landing anyone of them is a pipe dream.
March 1st, 2022 at 7:06 am
@ Hodad
Exactly right.
March 1st, 2022 at 8:04 am
Just not that impressed with Leftwich….don’t think he could make it on his own….and he butchers pressers.
“We just want to win football games”….”We just want to put our players in a position to succeed” “He do what he do best”
Horrendous
March 1st, 2022 at 8:19 am
If you even decide to get married…. Remember this f*cking face^
March 1st, 2022 at 8:21 am
If you ever decide to get married…. Remember this f*cking face^
March 1st, 2022 at 8:21 am
Hated Kinison. Such an asshole. Good eiddance to bad rubbish.
March 1st, 2022 at 10:14 am
Thomas.. not really an A hole. Know people that were in Sam’s HS classes with him. He was a quiet guy that grew up dirt poor, and not the hellraiser you might think. Of course in a factory town school, everything wasn’t sweetness in light, if you know what I mean. You had to kick some A or be kicked. After you won a few battles, and gained a reputation as someone not to mess with, you could exist peacefully. And if you couldn’t,… a sad case. He was a Pentacostal PK, who when he came of age, went through the roof. It happens.
March 1st, 2022 at 10:34 am
OK Boomer..
March 1st, 2022 at 11:23 am
Pff top 100 player in NFL ranked 41. QB KIRK COUSINS, MINNESOTA VIKINGS and was the no6 QB on their list.
SISdatahub ranked Kirk Cousins the 11 best QB in the NFL in 2021. He was 33-7 and 67% with 4,221 ranking 9th.
He would be a major upgrade compared to all FA and tradable QBs beyond AR, Wilson and Watson.