Culture Change Affecting Da’Quan Bowers
April 10th, 2012
Joe can only imagine the depth of the about-face inside One Buc Palace over the past eight days, since players were formally introduced to Greg Schiano and his staff.
The contrast to the Raheem regime has to be stark.
Schiano’s schooling everyone on the new Buccaneer Way and how discipline will go down. Military Mike Sullivan is leading the offense while loyal lieutenant Bill Sheridan teaches the Schiano defense. All happening while Bucs success operative Butch Davis stares everyone down in silence.
Joe can’t wait to see how this all translates on the field.
But off the field, the impact of Schiano already is reverberating. DaQuan Bowers took to his 76,000+ Twitter followers yesterday to announce that his new head coach is in his head in a big way.
@DaQuanBowers91– Schiano hit home in our little meeting today made me rethink about somethings ……Sept cant get here fast enuff lol
Of course, there’s always a chance Schiano simply just recommended a new pregame meal to Bowers, but Joe suspects this all runs a hell of a lot deeper than calorie counts and choices of carbohydrates. Especially coming from Bowers, who’s an introspective musician type to start with.
Joe keeps hearing in his head Ronde Barber’s laugh last week when the Bucs icon talked about the tighter ship now in place at One Buc Palace. That snicker measured something very significant.
April 10th, 2012 at 8:08 am
Can’t wait to see Daquan this year…what a talent that guy is. I am willing to bet we won’t be the most penalized team this year.
April 10th, 2012 at 8:12 am
I can not wait to see him with a full year to heal now, he started to come on the end of last season without much help around him
April 10th, 2012 at 8:14 am
Crack the whip on Tweeting.
GMC owes you 50 pushups per character tweeted.
That should harden up Softy, right Thomas?
April 10th, 2012 at 8:20 am
The development of Bowers and Clayborn are two of the most interesting stroyline heading into next year. If Price and McCoy can have successful offseasons and play a full healthy season as well, then we could have a dangerous front four. Not to mention the rotation of Amobi Okoye in the mix. Looking forward to September, though as a fan, myself.
April 10th, 2012 at 8:40 am
@Joe
Just so you know, your short witticisms to go over well. Gives a nice chuckle when stuck in the office on a sunny day. Continue.
April 10th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Contrasting styles usually translate into more wins. When Chucky’s pound the rock philosophy was completely accepted, it gave us a Super Bowl victory. The difference was, that was a veteran ballclub.
They never again bought into Gruden’s ego driven style and almost incomprehensible offensive play calling. Gruden’s desire was to trick the other team into a mismatch other than to just line up and play smash mouth football. Problem was that when a player was injured, you couldn’t just sign another player to plug into the offense. They would need at least a year to learn remedial Mandarin Chinese that his offense seemed to be based on.
I believe Coach Schiano will do well to keep it simple, draft a powerhouse tackle (Kalil) in the 1st round, and win our division with dominating ground and pound offense. Every thing else will take care of itself.
Dontae Hightower would be great in the 2nd round even though I heard he had a negative 7 score in the Wonderlic. I also heard he may have followed @QBKilla on Twitter, both terribly negative rumors, both sure to cause his drop out of the 1st round. I believe Coach Schiano will be able to straighten him out and salvage his once promising career.
April 10th, 2012 at 8:52 am
Makes me laugh when I read people talking about Kalil and being a power tackle, it lets me know they his name and not much else about him. He is an average to below average run blocker with great pass pro skills. His run blocking is what could cause him to drop but this is a passing league.
Good point on Gruden always trying to trick people though
April 10th, 2012 at 8:53 am
THAT is an epic picture Joe! Well done.
April 10th, 2012 at 9:02 am
Why all the criticism over the “next Chuck Noll”.
Doesn’t anyone remember how he improved Monte Kiffin’s defense?
April 10th, 2012 at 9:33 am
Joe,
I know it is a little off topic, and a little early in the day for draft talk, but regardless of whether the Bucs take Claiborne or Richardson with their first pick I think that, if available, Josh Robinson would be a great 2nd round pick. If we get Claiborne, it gives us a chance to double up on a position, like we have done in the past, and we would then have 1 premier CB in Claiborne and 2 solid CB’s, one with a very high upside, in Wright and Robinson. Claiborne and Robinson would have Barber there to mentor them and let them know what it takes to be successful in the NFL. I personally think Barber will eventually make it into the Hall of Fame, so it would be fantastic for the young corners to have him as an asset.
On the other side of the coin, if the Bucs select Richardson with their 1st pick, then Robinson gives us a young CB with very good upside to learn under Barber as well.
I guess that was a long way to ask, what do you think of Josh Robinson in the 2nd round?
April 10th, 2012 at 10:44 am
steveK
GMC is one of the hardest working players on the team, so “softy” doesn’t really fit him. Neither does the pushup comment.
His future is in question, but not because he doesn’t work hard or play well. His injuries were freak accidents. He can still come back from them and become one of the best players on the team.
Look at Matt Stafford. His first few years were riddled with injuries. Now he’s suddenly amongst the best in NFL history so far as passing yards go.
April 10th, 2012 at 10:49 am
J 2.0
I see your point on doubling up on corners, but I don’t think Dominick will do it. I think he signed Wright to play in Talib’s spot at #2 and Mo Claiborne was always meant to be the #1. Assuming he’ available at least.
I suspect Talib will have to earn his #2 spot when he returns…if he returns.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:42 am
I am so excited about this young D-line! Can’t wait to see all 7 of them play together!!
Good post today guys.
Miiguel was pretty spot on about the Gruden years.
J.2- I hope we double up on Cb- its a great draft, and our secondary is a disaster!
Man- cant wait to see our O-line and D-line play this year!
Most excited I’ve been in a while !
April 10th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I think the message has been sent, especially with TJax being cut today, there is one and only one way, The Schiano Way.
April 10th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Interesting that new coach is referred to by last name in the tweet. It would have been first name for the coach last year. Different level of respect?
April 10th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
please stay healthy this season.