Peter King Is “Worried” About The Bucs
February 28th, 2011
Unrest in the Middle East (boy, there’s an oxymoron), the skyrocketing cost of gas nor the plight of his cherished New Jersey Devils can tear away oatmeal-loving, popcorn-shoveling Peter King from fretting about his beloved National Football League.
In particular, King is losing sleep over the future of the Bucs.
The SI.com columnist, in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column, decided to pester a general manager of a team this weekend in Indianapolis at the great American track practice NFL Combine who King believes will be bruised by the coming NFL lockout.
That general manager was Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
(My, Dominik has become quite the media darling in recent days, hhmm? Just like Joe predicted he would.)
King is of the mind that the Bucs will be hurt by the lockout worse than any other team, hence why he shadowed Dominik this weekend.
But the Bucs are a good example of why fans should be worried about their team this offseason if there’s a prolonged work stoppage. They have one of the youngest teams in football and one of the most intriguing after a highly unexpected 10-win season; they’re the first team since 1990 to start 10 rookies in a game, which they did in a 2010 game. Dominik has had an excellent past two months inside his own building, locking up every assistant coach contractually through the 2013 season while the head man, Raheem Morris, is signed through 2012, and the Bucs will surely try to remedy that soon. Dominik has his scouting staff, led by underrated director of college scouting Dennis Hickey, signed for multiple years too.
“Honestly, with the coaches, instead of worrying about their next deal, I want them worrying about the next down,” said Dominik. “With the scouts, I want them to feel like we have faith in them. Look at the two Super Bowl teams this year, and what do you see? Stability. Green Bay and Pittsburgh are two of the teams in the league I think we all admire for their long-term approach. That’s what we want to build.”
This is the kind of team that needs a good offseason program, with players on a schedule and needing regularity. You don’t want young players, particularly young players with off-field issues in their past like wideout Mike Williams, being on their own for months at a time. I heard some teams fret over the weekend about offensive linemen possibly not working out much, and coming back woefully out of shape. There are all kinds of worries. But Dominik is a realist. If he’s worried, he’s not saying. And he’s not saying much.
King goes on the write how a number of NFL teams have put together memos and videos on how the teams should work out in the offseason, even simple stuff like what exercises to do and not to do in order not to hurt oneself, and the suits on Park Avenue in Roger Goodell’s war room have nixed each attempt, fearing a lawsuit.
This is just beyond silly. What’s to stop, say, Josh Freeman from picking x-high school to work out at, for argument’s sake, Jesuit, and Dominik or one of his minions telling Jesuit officials in person (sans, traceable evidence) what the Bucs should do and said school official relaying this information to Freeman?
Then, after the season resumes, Team Glazer makes a handsome donation to Jesuit for the school’s hassle.
No need to worry Peter, Joe has a hunch Freeman will take care of things.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:23 am
“…oatmeal-loving, popcorn-shoveling Peter King from fretting about his beloved National Football League.”
Always my favorite line…There’s a video of Peter King on buccaneers.com and during the video there are several moments where he iss swishing and swirling his tongue in his mouth like he just finished eating….the first thing that came to mind is the quote posted above. LOL
February 28th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
This offseason will separate the men from the boys — will Josh Freeman’s leadership ability produce tangible results when he picks up the phone to get all his receivers down to Tampa (or undisclosed location) for workouts?
Should be interesting. Hope it doesn’t come to that.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Ten Years from now we will still see this Mike Williams “Off the field Issues”. He was pulled over for what speeding? C’mon give me a break. I’m sick of seeing that from National Media pundits
February 28th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
I think you meant ‘Peace in the Middle East’ would be an oxymoron, Joe. Unless you think the norm is peace? Good try though. Being clever and comedic is for those Hollywood idiots you like to talk about. You know, the ones who might be big enough pussies to know who James Franco is. Not bad asses like you.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Either you got a good football team or you don’t. Lockout has nuttin to do with it. By the time the season starts who gathered in the offseason won’t mean squat.
February 28th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Mike Williams is a good kid with a great mom. I believe she will keep on the straight and narrow. He had problems at Syracuse. One was he had a problem with school. Was eligible because of grades and the other was he missed curfew. With the grades he went to another school to become eligible. Missing curfew well he quit school because the coach was going to kick him off. He learned from that and proves to us he can do it. I am not sure of the running back but he did not cause any trouble last yr and I believe he is another that leaned his lesson. We do have some folks who proved us all wrong (Talib and the safety,) Jackson. Both players NEED to stay busy to stay out of trouble.
February 28th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
@Eric
You really do not understand football, do you?
As far as the article, I’m a firm believer that time proves all things out. Just as time prove King wrong last year, it will also do so this year.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Here go with Mike Williams “off the field issues” again. Mike Williams only real off the field issues were in passing his classes at college and thats not an issue now. The charges against the guy were completely dropped with the SA admitting there was no real evidence and these ignorant national media guys are going to pigeonhole him for the rest of his career like he’s some kind of lawbreaking wild child. Pisses me off.
March 1st, 2011 at 2:33 am
The talk now is that the NFLPA will decertify on Thursday. If that happens the players won’t be locked out I thought? Also, if the union goes through with this decertification can the players strike? All this leagal posturing gives me a headache.