New Territory For Anthony Collins
October 29th, 2014
Anthony Collins will do something he’s never done before on Sunday
Bucs fans have high standards at left tackle.
They got used to a monstrous ironman at the position, a big man who didn’t miss a start from 2007 through 2013, a guy who was once voted by his peers as a “Top-100” player in the NFL, a guy who is having a strong bounce-back season in Oakland.
Joe suspects many Bucs would be stunned to know Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has only been sacked seven times through seven games with Donald Penn protecting his blind side.
Yes, new Bucs left tackle Anthony Collins has big shoes to fill. And he hasn’t done that yet.
Collins has played a couple of excellent games for Tampa Bay, and he’s dropped a few big-time clunkers, highlighted by the can of whoop-ass Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen dropped on him Sunday.
Collins has never started more than seven games in a regular season. So Joe sees Collins as a guy entering new territory Sunday in Cleveland. He’ll be starting his eighth game of the year, the same day he turns 29 years old.
The Bucs showed a leap of faith this offseason when they paid Collins like a starting left tackle — and made him their starter.
Damn, Joe sure hopes Collins is entering the upside of his career, rather than the downside, as it appears. It’s brutally difficult in the trenches, and the weekly pounding doesn’t suit every big body. Collins already is banged up and it’s unknown whether he can handle a full season.
October 29th, 2014 at 8:34 am
I’m having trouble handling a full season of what is going on with this team.
October 29th, 2014 at 8:36 am
A shining example of the stellar talent evaluation of do-no-wrong Lovie and his lapdog GM!
Rest easy Bucs fans we have at least 2 more years of this nightmare to endure.
October 29th, 2014 at 8:41 am
The territory he is entering is Bucs drafting a LT and putting him on the bench. He has these remaining games to prove he was worth the pick. I think he is a good player and the Bucs O-line coaches probably tried to make too many changes to his natural game, IMO. Questioning these teaching coaches
October 29th, 2014 at 8:47 am
“Joe hopes…”?????
Seriously? When will Joe understand that “hope” is your worst enemy in the market place and on an NFL football field.
Hope is the backbone of fandom. One team wins a ring. The 31 others have hope. –Joe
October 29th, 2014 at 8:50 am
I’m not watching the Bucs until draft day.
October 29th, 2014 at 8:53 am
We need 3′ strong drafts to have a team that will win without smoke and mirrors. Greg did a better job then lovie
October 29th, 2014 at 8:55 am
The level of incompetence at every level of the coaching staff is astonishing
October 29th, 2014 at 8:56 am
Man this guys licks balls period! And the old man next to him that was supposed to “solidify” our line according to JOE is just as bad.
October 29th, 2014 at 8:59 am
Another horribly sad part about losing Donald Penn was that he was a truly cool dude. He was a great locker room presence and seemed to be a real stand up guy with the media, acknowledging when he had bad games. Hated to see him go.
October 29th, 2014 at 9:03 am
Too early to permanently bench Collins….but I would like to see Dotson at LT and Pamphile at RT with Edwards brought into the G rotation…..we need to play our younger players to get them experience.
At this point in the season what harm can it do to send Collins a message!!!
Looking forward to Sims & want to see lots more of Herron….
October 29th, 2014 at 9:04 am
Paid a RG/RT primo cash to be average at LT. And I’m supposed to trust Lovie to add more of his guys? Smh….
October 29th, 2014 at 9:05 am
4 of the 5 guys we replaced on the OLine are much worse than the guys we jettisoned, and they all cost a lot more money than the guys we dumped in terms of guarantees going forward. Lovie hates his QBs, thats why he has never had a mediocre offensive line in Chicago or not, just poor to worst in the league lines. Unless he falls into a few more HOFers like he did in Chicago, I doubt he wins 7 games before he’s fired. So why wait?
#fireloviebeforehecausesirreparableharm
October 29th, 2014 at 9:15 am
Why did we break up an O-line with stars like Penn and Zuttah?
Yes STARS.
Because Lovie was given a budget I would Imagine.
This epic fail move was courtesy of the Glazers limiting funds
and Lovies overconfidence in his ability (or lack thereof) to
build an O-line from scratch.
At least Oakland and Baltimore have top notch O-linemen at our expense.
We flat out suck a*s as an NFL franchise and it all starts and ends with the
soccer-loving NFL-apathetic owners.
Or wait?……….NO!…….It’s obviously the fans fault that the Bucs suck!
Maybe it’s all part of a larger plan to destroy the team before a move
to London? That would fit right in with the owners surreptitious nature.
October 29th, 2014 at 9:35 am
Releasing Penn and trading Zuttah for a ham sandwich was a mistake at the time and looks like an even bigger mistake now. Coaches are often arrogant and think they can do no wrong. Lovie is no exception.
The focus is shifting towards the draft, which is unfortunate at this time of year, but there’s nothing else for the fans to hang their hats on. I’m not convinced of Lovie’s prowess as a talent evaluator. It’s hard to get excited about the draft when Lovie seems to be the judge and jury at One Buc. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him draft a kick return specialist in the early rounds. He’s longing for another Hester.
October 29th, 2014 at 9:52 am
lovie will screw the draft up too.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:14 am
I agree with Howard Cosell, the Glazers are inept just like their team. I was amazed that the team even floundered into a Super Bowl win. While going through all the losing early years I did’nt think the Bucs would ever win the big game in my lifetime. And London, I think they want our Bucs and the Glazers are the vehicle that could and would move them there.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:20 am
Either Lovie (I say Lovie, cause Licht doesn’t do anything without his masters’ blessing) can’t evaluate talent for $hit or the position coaches and coordinators can’t coach talent. Either way something has to change. Why can some coaches do relatively well with mediocre talent? This coaching staff needs to learn to use players to their strengths and not just try to keep fitting square pegs into round holes.
I’m tired of watching players leave this team only to thrive on other teams!
October 29th, 2014 at 10:31 am
Agree with you TampaBayBucfan. Not only do our young OL need experience we need to find out THIS year if they have any potential. We might have a hidden jewel.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:40 am
Now we know why none of the other 31 teams wanted Anthony Collins…
October 29th, 2014 at 10:50 am
Howard Cosell says
“Because Lovie was given a budget I would Imagine.
This epic fail move was courtesy of the Glazers limiting funds”
WTF are you talking about? Do you know how much Collins is getting paid? BOAT loads. Do you realize how much money was thrown around this past off season by the Glazers?
October 29th, 2014 at 10:52 am
Can we just say Lovie and Jason made some horrible evaluations on the OL this past offseason. Well let’s correct that. They made horrible player evals across the board. I was excited we would see some more dollars spent to upgrade the team, but this roster stinks.
I see why Chicago kept Lovie far away from player personnel.
Collins – bust
McClown – bust
Johnson – bust
I would love to have Penn, Joesph, Zuttah back. Zuttah is doing well as part of one of the best OL’s in foorball
October 29th, 2014 at 10:54 am
Howard…Lovie was given plenty of money to go shopping and this is the result of it. This is all Lovie Smith’s, don’t try to give him a scapegoat by saying the Glazers did not give him enough money to spend…
The Glazers are spending a Gawd awful amount on money on this team right now.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:57 am
Can we ask Lovie & Jason about their win now comments at the beginning of the season. There are now moving to the 2015 draft. Very Sad.
Like it or not Lovie gets 1 more season and then Glazers will be paying 3 coaches as they hire a new HC.
Lovie makes Greg look great.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:58 am
Lovie got rid of 1/2 the roster from last season and the team looks worse, including uniforms.
October 29th, 2014 at 11:01 am
Let’s be honest the money given to McClown, Collins and Johnson we could have kept the whole OL and then some.
October 29th, 2014 at 11:10 am
I read an interesting article (can’t remember who wrote it) that said Licht was the first GM this past off season to use mainly statistics for player evaluations. The article sited other NFL scouts saying this method cannot work because it is impossible to accurately use individual based statistics in the NFL where team oriented circumstances like coaching, injuries overall team talent for both the team and their opponent has a huge impact on a player’s performance. The scouts simply concluded that statistics can help but good old fashioned tape is still the best evaluation tool.
October 29th, 2014 at 2:12 pm
I say move Dotson over to LT and rotate in some of the rookies for experience. If Collins has hit the wall, then give him a rest to refresh, although they just had a bye week, how fresh does he need to be?
October 29th, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Lovie needs to stop fooling with glorified backups like Collins, Johnson, and McCown. Cut these guys and get somebody PROVEN.