And If They Played To The Whistle?
November 25th, 2014
Teammates let down Louis Murphy
The easiest thing about playing football is going hard to the whistle. It takes no talent to give maximum effort. That’s learned at the Pop Warner level. Most plays are no more than six seconds of mayhem. Is that too much to freakin’ ask?
Joe presents Exhibit A from the Tampa Bay debacle in Chicago.
Here’s the NFL.com video link to Louis Murphy’s awesome catch-and-run late in the second quarter Sunday. Murphy broke three tackles en route to a huge gain that set up the Bucs for what sadly was just a field goal to take a 10-0 lead.
Joe asks you to watch Luke Stocker and Mike Evans in the video. Both quit on the play after a few seconds, and then they decided to keep playing after they watched Murphy work.
What happens if Stocker and Evans actually play hard for every second and focus on blocking as soon as Murphy catches the ball? It sure looks to Joe like they could have gotten out in front of Murphy and helped him score a touchdown.
The quit shown here is inexcusable, especially from a couple of young players in the first half of a game. And that’s what it is — quit.
Playing hard consistently is critical to winning games. Fans shouldn’t expect less.
November 25th, 2014 at 11:40 am
How bout you layoff of them Joe? Can’t you see that Luke stocker is tired from having to play the last few games. Dudes been injured his whole entire career and now javorski is hurt! Lol.
Mike is just a baller he’s the only one on o besides vjax Rainey and Lou Murphy that shows any emotion or cares.
November 25th, 2014 at 11:45 am
I guess that was the bucs offensive coordinators strategy in the second half throw the ball to players that were ignored in the first half such as Louis Murphy. the bears defense had all the other offensive weapons figured out in half 2.
November 25th, 2014 at 11:46 am
I noticed that on that play, too.
While its not excusable, its also not uncommon amongst ALL teams, even winnings ones. He looked like he was for sure going to be tackled and managed to break a few. Its rare that you see WR running in to pile on.
What was more disappointing was how Stocker was too slow to get out of Evans’ way when he did decide to turn it on.
November 25th, 2014 at 11:47 am
Unfortunately it’s not isolated to just the offense.
November 25th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
@JOE
What the FUK are you talking about. Look at the video right. Murphy was dead in the water. He had to break two tackles. When Evans turned around he saw Murphy was about to be tackled and it should have been a tackle. He broke that one then a LB came and missed as well. That’s when he began to run and attempt to block again. No way he could have predicted that Murphy would break those tackles. Instead talk about your weak a$$ TE who’s jock you swing off of every chance you get. Your man hasn’t done $hit and routinely gives up on plays. He’s the next coming of Ricky Dudley. All the size and talent but can’t block or catch worth $hit. And no heart.
November 25th, 2014 at 12:32 pm
Ray Ray having problems with the wifey? Hey diddle diddle ….
November 25th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
I do not believe the Bucs are quitters or are lazy or out of shape. I believe this falls under the general problem of being mentally weak and unprepared.
All of the stupid penalities, especially the end zone taunting boneheaded moves, penalties that literally changed possession from the Bucs having the ball back to the other team because of a brain dead penalty on special teams.
This team is totally lacking in focus. Sorry but that goes to the coaches. If the coaches can see that, and LEARN from it, then perhaps there’s a chance for improvement.
November 25th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
I totally agree with Joe, you play till you hear the whistle.
November 25th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
Not sure if that’s the best example of not hustling, however a great example of loafing is Michael Johnson; I isolate my view on him a lot, he regularly jogs and loafs on most every play…he tries to get a burst initially, but when he get’s blocked (99.774% of the time) he doesn’t fight…Adrian Clayborn was the opposite, always fighting, pushing and hustling…
November 25th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
That’s why you can’t criticize Lovie for trying to push the playoff hunt. These guys are all very dejected and need some silly thing to rally around.
Ain’t workin’ so far, but worth the try.
November 25th, 2014 at 5:20 pm
Ray Rice Says:
November 25th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
@JOE
What the FUK are you talking about. Look at the video right. Murphy was dead in the water. He had to break two tackles. When Evans turned around he saw Murphy was about to be tackled and it should have been a tackle. He broke that one then a LB came and missed as well. That’s when he began to run and attempt to block again. No way he could have predicted that Murphy would break those tackles. Instead talk about your weak a$$ TE who’s jock you swing off of every chance you get. Your man hasn’t done $hit and routinely gives up on plays. He’s the next coming of Ricky Dudley. All the size and talent but can’t block or catch worth $hit. And no heart.
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I don’t think I normally agree with Ray and his choices of who he punches in elevators, but in today’s NFL if you lay a block on a guy away from the play as a guy is being tackled, you are likely to get penalized. If you are one second late, it is pretty much guaranteed.
November 26th, 2014 at 2:13 pm
Mike didn’t he was gonna break those tackles. But Murphy did. Mike should have been there for him.