Donald Penn Has Already Called Out Saints
December 28th, 2010
Well, it has come down to this: For the Bucs to have any shot at making the playoffs, they must (finally) beat a team with a winning record.
It’s a feat the Bucs have not been able to pull off, which, though many Bucs fans were sent into orbit at the mere thought of it and tried to make excuses to how trivial it is, that nasty little fact is the singular reason why the Bucs are on the outside of the postseason looking in.
To finally break that ugly streak may mean a playoff berth. Not breaking the streak, no playoffs. Very simple.
It seems as if Donald Penn had a premonition. Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune noted that Penn has already done his part to prepare the Bucs for this critical showdown.
The Bucs left tackle called out the Saints after the chain-whipping the Bucs received from the Saints earlier this season.
Now, comes the rematch next Sunday, which will take place in the cage known as the New Orleans Superdome.
Two teams enter, only one, possibly, comes out with an NFC playoff berth.
”I told the Saints when we played them the first time, I said, ‘We owe you one, and we’re going to see you again, and it’s going to be worth a lot,’ ” Penn said in the Buccaneers’ victorious locker room after Tampa Bay’s 38-15 blowout victory over the uninspired Seattle Seahawks. “I told a lot of them that. This is what it is.”
The gauntlet has been thrown down. The match in the octagon has been set.
Either the Bucs beat a team with a winning record, or they start preparing for the draft.
December 28th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Ok Penn, you better show up this game. No getting blown through by some scrub DE.
This game will be huge for measuring our progress. Neither team has excuses and everything to play for, so both will go all out.
If we can finally string together good performances in all 3 phases, we can do this. The saints looked very beatable yesterday.
And note to Rah: Please, please, please; if on the most crucial drive of the game, if you put Elbert F’in Mack on Colston, my head will explode!
December 28th, 2010 at 10:40 am
We shall we.
December 28th, 2010 at 11:34 am
“they must (finally) beat a team with a winning record…
It’s a feat the Bucs have not been able to pull off…
that nasty little fact is the singular reason why the Bucs are on the outside of the postseason looking in.”
Joe, what’s the basis for the above assertion?
There was no loss more damaging to their playoff chances than the loss to the Lions — a team with a losing record. Had the Bucs beaten the Lions, they would be in control of their own destiny. They would be going into week 17 with two possible ways of making the playoffs — beating the Saints or having the Giants lose to the Redskins. Packers would be out of the picture because Bucs would hold tiebreaker (record in common games).
The only other win that would’ve been equally valuable to their postseason chances would have been Atlanta (either one). Turn any of their other losses (all of which were against teams with winning records) into wins, and the hypothetical road to the playoffs would be tougher — the Bucs would either need to beat the Saints or have BOTH the Giants and Packers lose.
Clearly, it’s not that most of their losses happened to come to winning teams, it’s that there were a few close games that they could’ve won but didn’t. They were in a position to win each of those three games (Atl away, Det@home, Atl@home) but either didn’t pull it off or let it slip away. That’s what has the Bucs “on the outside looking in”.
December 28th, 2010 at 11:45 am
No need to get the Saints all riled up.
December 28th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
@Gary That scrub DE is gonna be jimmy wilkerson. who played for the bucs last year.
December 28th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
That scrub DE was far better than Kyle Moore or Michael Bennett
December 28th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
This message is for Joe Since the saints already clinched then they have nothing 2 play for right bc either way there not gettin a home game so there dont have noting 2 play 4 so they would rest some starters so no one would be subject 2 injury right?
December 28th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I really wish that Penn would shut up at this point and play better and let his play on the field do the talking. After his obvious schooling at the hands of backup Lions defensive ends I started to wonder how much we can count on him and decided to do a little research into Penn’s claims of having put pro-bowl caliber play on tape this year. Well I didn’t have to dig deep to find out that we have had the wool pulled over our eyes with this guy. Probably partially do to how much he hypes himself up. The reality is this according to pro football focus-
“Only ten tackles have yielded more pressure than Penn this season (five sacks, eight hits, 33 pressures)”
I guess we had no choice but to sign this guy to his fat contract considering we really had no other options after Dotson went down but I would love for the Bucs to draft a left tackle this year. Not 1st round. Although I wouldn’t be opposed to it if that was by far the best player available when they pick. But I simply think the Bucs need some pro-bowl caliber talent on this line for the offense to take that next step and be able to score 30 plus points against good teams too and we are simply deluding ourselves at this point to think that Donald Penn will ever be worthy of a pro-bowl. All im saying is, don’t run your mouth about how you deserve to be in the pro-bowl and then go out and get embarrassed by guys like Turk Mcbride. Penn’s absolute sh*t performance was a very big factor in the Bucs, likely playoff killing, loss to the Lions and we need to make a bigger deal of it and the Bucs should think twice about trusting this guy to help take them to a super bowl at left tackle.
Im sorry but the reality is that the incredible mobility of Jeff Garcia and now Josh Freeman have masked the fact that this guy is an average at best left tackle who has played over his head at times against some great opposition but has also looked poor against lesser opposition. A great offense needs a dependable left tackle. Not a guy who poops his pants against the backup ends, on a 3-13 team, when the playoffs are on the line.