Stop Whining About Blount!
January 19th, 2015
LeGarrette Blount heading to the Super Bowl has Bucs fans manufacturing revisionist history.
Some followers of Joe on Twitter remind Joe of his old man. A hardcore Cardinals baseball fan (Joe’s dad in high school once saw Dizzy Dean pitch), Joe’s dad whined like an old woman for decades about the Cardinals trading away Steve Carlton.
Didn’t matter that Carlton eventually retired, went to the Hall of Fame and the Cardinals won countless pennants and three World Series titles since Carlton was dealt for the immortal Rick Wise, Joe’s dad never got over it.
The way Bucs fans were pining for Sir Smokealot running back LeGarrette Blount last night was the same damn thing.
Why? Hasn’t that shipped sailed years ago?
Nevermind Blount was anything but a team player with the Bucs. When Doug Martin had his breakout rookie season, Blount pouted and, even after a Bucs win, would be the first Bucs player off the field, sprinting to the locker room to rapidly dress and race out of the stadium without showering as if the Ebola virus broke out in the Den of Depression. Joe saw it more than once with his own eyes.
Joe remembers weeks after Blount was traded talking to a high-level executive with the Bucs, when Joe recounted the aforementioned story to said executive, that man pointed a finger right at Joe and said, “And THAT’S one reason he’s not here any longer.”
But if Blount had a plenty of carries and the Bucs got pistol-whipped, oh, Blount was in good spirits.
Never mind that the Patriots had already let Blount walk in free agency. And the Steelers cut him. And all that was after the Bucs could only get a third-day draft pick for him.
So please stop with this revisionist history. Blount was traded — and subsequently let go by two other clubs — for a reason. And if he was still here, Joe doubts he would be a starter.
Now if you want to whine about how Darrelle Revis is going to the Super Bowl, that’s a whole different story.
The haters can’t hang that on former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
January 19th, 2015 at 6:21 am
I hope GMC or Lvd does not read this article! They both will be running off the field first in hopes to be traded to teams that go to the playoffs!
#lovie plus bucs equals worst NFL team!
January 19th, 2015 at 6:47 am
Lol the fact you’re making such a story out of this speaks for itself…it is what it is.
January 19th, 2015 at 6:48 am
Man, I miss our old uni’s!
New Uni’s = Clown out fit=Circus
January 19th, 2015 at 6:54 am
I second the uniform comments.
January 19th, 2015 at 6:55 am
Simple fact is if LGB was still in Tampa, he shouldn’t be the LGB who played last night. The on and off field recipe of the Patriots is just a better fit.
January 19th, 2015 at 7:31 am
Blount
Revis
Talib
Bennett
Four players from our team that have been to the Super Bowl in the last two season including this year.
January 19th, 2015 at 7:36 am
If Revis’s contract was not so absurdly fat created by the Rock Star GM ($16,000,000 per year) Revis might still be on the team. That’s way too much money for one damaged CB.
Its still a little painful to see Blount, Revis, Wright all going to the Super Bowl, and we have Logan Mankins. #FleecedByThePats
January 19th, 2015 at 7:39 am
Revis at $16 million > Verner and Johnson. Not even particularly close either. We gave away one of the two best players at his position, in his prime, when we only got his rehab year. That’s far, far more egregious than Blount. Besides the Steelers gave him away for free, at least we got a pick and a track guy.
January 19th, 2015 at 7:40 am
He was just trying to avoid MRSA
January 19th, 2015 at 7:44 am
The Bucs have had dozens of players over the years who were mediocre here but soared when they went to other teams.
In some cases, it says something about the individual. In many other cases however, it speaks volumes about the up-and-down quality of Bucs coaching and management over the years.
January 19th, 2015 at 7:46 am
Blount isn’t that great and is a horrible teammate, look how he acted in Pittsburg.
Revis had a humongous salary and didn’t fit our scheme, and obviously didn’t want to be here.
Talib had some issues. Most wanted him gone.
Bennett was inexplicable given our pass rush problems.
But, all water under the bridge.
January 19th, 2015 at 7:47 am
Stop whining about Blount, he might not even be a Patriot next season.
Stop whining about Blount, we’ll be smiling soon. Why?
Because : http://blacksportsonline.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Jameis-Winston-Bucs-Jersey.png
Jameis Winston is coming Tampa!
January 19th, 2015 at 7:48 am
If you can’t fit elite players into your scheme, it’s probably because your scheme completely sucks. It just shows the inept talent evaluation we’ve seen for really the better part of a decade. Last offseason just took the cake with how poorly it worked out. There’s a reason this franchise is such a mess right now.
January 19th, 2015 at 7:54 am
Preach it Joe! Blount was a mess and I can live with him being 1/22 of the reason a team is going to the Super Bowl.
As far as Revis goes, just because what we did with the cap space he freed up didn’t work out, doesn’t mean that he is therefore worth 16 million.
January 19th, 2015 at 8:00 am
Revis still isn’t the player he was. Yeah he’s on the pats and all, but the previous week he got burned pretty good by the Ravens. That happened quite a bit during the season too.
He’s not the island of old.
The pats have been consistent winners before he got there, not like he turned their team around or something.
They got Brady…..a great QB.
Till we get that all the Blount’s and Revis’ in the world won’t help. Remember we still sucked when we had those guys.
January 19th, 2015 at 8:10 am
Brady is the reason the Pats do well. Nce you have a special QB, you might have an occasional bad year as you build around him, but you’ll compete…a lot.
Mariota will be that for the Bucs.
January 19th, 2015 at 8:25 am
The reason Revis isn’t here is because Lovie is a moron. Who cuts their best player your first month on the job. And what kind of message does the send to the rest of the team. We can see the message by the 2-14 season Lovie posted.
January 19th, 2015 at 8:28 am
@Jason Licht:
When did Talib get to the Super Bowl?
(Without a ticket, that is)?
January 19th, 2015 at 8:35 am
Revis would not have made a bit of difference, just like he didn’t the year before when he was here.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:08 am
Don’t forget that Casillias is also going to the SB…..and where was Tim Wright last night…..our number one reciever….traded away for “peanuts”…..not much action….
As for Blount….my post last night says it all….
Tampabaybucfan Says:
January 18th, 2015 at 11:33 pm
Screw LGB……Steelers found out what we found out…..so he can play for the Pats….so what…
January 19th, 2015 at 9:15 am
@bucrightoff Says:
“…Revis at $16 million > Verner and Johnson. Not even particularly close either. We gave away one of the two best players at his position…”
Exactly right and well said. People just don’t understand he is worth that money with the talent he has. He is a huge part of making the Pats D awesome, which factors into the wins they have and the fact they are going to the Super Bowl. Brady is great, but if the D can’t stop anyone, where are they? That is worth multiple millions right there.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:20 am
And how did we do with that “second best player at his position”?
Same as we did without him.
Lovie took over a train wreck. All will be well, given a little time.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:20 am
Eric REVIS island is still even as a shadow of its former self is far better than our entire secondary.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:22 am
Wasting a one and a two draft pick and overpaying him by the tune of at least $4 million dollars just to use him in zone coverage was a huge blunder. Why don’t you think we should blame Dummynick for that, Joe.
Letting Michael Bennett go and wasting all those high picks and on a player who was still rehabbing a serious knee injury as probably what cost your so called rock star his job.
If it wasn’t, it was probably all of those terrible drafts he oversaw for the last 5 years.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:22 am
We let him go michael the ghost Johnson and. A VERNER. How is it that one player played better this year then both of the ones we got t replace him. The bucs make supid mistakes like this that cost the franchise for years to come.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:28 am
The key to the Revis release is Michael Johnson….if he had performed as expected we would not be regretting the deal….also, we gave up picks for Revis and we could certainly have used them.
I think it is quite obvious if you look at our past draft history that Dominick failed miserably….Barron, Clayborne, Revis/Trade/Freeman….but it’s the failures in the 2nd-5th round that mount up….we have very few players to show for all those drafts.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:35 am
Are you really going to blame Blount for pouting when he was in the doghouse for no reason and he wasn’t the only player with problems with Schiano? Blount just likes to be given a chance and the Patriots do that. You can bring up the Steelers and you can bring up the Bucs, but the facts are both teams are home and coaching plays a large part of that.
And while we’re at it, can we stop doing the same thing with Rainey? There were several points during this season where he was clearly the best RB on the roster only for him to be benched for political reasons then relegated to return duties. Nonsense like that really needs to stop. We’re not a team blessed with talent, so we need to make good use of what we do have.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:35 am
Well Johnson was hurt all year, and Verner has played in the pro bowl.
But with our pass rush it’s very hard for a corner to look good.
Can’t judge it after one year. When Lovie gets more players that fit his system you will see how Verner and Johnson fit into the mix.
He will get us a top ten defense, as he has consistently done throughout his NFL coaching tenure.
Again, one year with five draft picks to work with and no QB.
Lovie Smith did not create this mess. That cake was baked for years before he arrived.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:41 am
@Stranger
Rainey “benched for political reasons”
Explain please….
January 19th, 2015 at 9:47 am
The Patriots pass rush is mediocre too, they only had 4 more sacks all year than we did. So that excuse doesn’t play. Revis is better than our entire secondary combined no matter how much the homers here want to hate on him. I can’t for the life me understand why people feel the need to bend over backwards to avoid even slightly blaming Lovie for anything. Is his .300 playoff make percentage and .330 winning percentage against above .500 teams that impressive to you all?
Lovie is just the continuation of a 10 year trend of poor coaching and poor management. Drafting a QB at #1 isn’t changing the poor coach and management, until those things do we’re never going to be anything that matters. Just another mediocre team that fights between 3-13 and 10-6.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:49 am
Draft Leonard Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUyapfBnjV8
January 19th, 2015 at 9:51 am
Hahahaha, wrong link
this one….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOEQS_ucHpg
January 19th, 2015 at 9:55 am
Perhaps he was a difficult personality here in Tampa, but if he had been recognized as at least a useful player, we wouldn’t have had the trade up for Trent Richardson drama (how’d that turn out T-Rich fans? I hated us trading up for T-Rich) and we wouldn’t have drafted Doug Martin and effectively ended Blount’s career here. Good players want the ball, Blount was no different. He sat and watched Martin take the #1 spot from day one and there was nothing he could do about it. I’d be pissed too. Most people would be. At the very least, he earned a shot at the #1 job based on his rookie and 2nd year performances but instead he sees a rookie drafted in the 1st round to take his place.
If I can’t whine about Blount, how about we whine about Revis, Tim Wright, Chris Jones, Kyle Arrington, Johnathan Casillas, and any other former Bucs the team couldn’t jettison fast enough and send to the New England Patriots, from this point forward to be called “Buccaneers North”?
January 19th, 2015 at 10:02 am
We are the Patriots farm team. At least we can be proud to have sent the kids to the big leagues.
January 19th, 2015 at 10:32 am
Yes, yes, yes. Blount is a slug. Still doesn’t make the fact that the Bucs have made a cottage industry of supplying elite teams with talent for 40 years go away! The decision makers at One Buc, no matter who they have been, seem to almost always make the FREAKING WRONG decision!
January 19th, 2015 at 11:37 am
I’d also like to WHINE about Revis, Wright, Bennett, and Casillas while I’m at it..
January 19th, 2015 at 12:41 pm
Why does it seem almost every Bucs player that leaves here goes on and has success with other teams? Casillas, Blount, Bennet and idk if more are in the Superbowl
January 19th, 2015 at 12:43 pm
and yes I did leave out “He who must not be named” because I’m still pissed we let our shutdown CB go
January 19th, 2015 at 1:06 pm
Fans hanging onto Blount the same way Joe hangs on to Michael Bennett? Weird.
January 19th, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Blount may have been a disgruntled Buc with temper issues, but his overall play for the Bucs I appreciated.
January 19th, 2015 at 3:02 pm
Bring back the old unis
January 19th, 2015 at 5:00 pm
I feel like not too many people appreciated Blount when he was here and couldn’t get him out of here and on to the next RB quick enough – even before Martin got drafted. If anything the Bucs need to start learning from their history. Maybe not so much just about letting good talent go for next to nothing, (although I lost count of how many former Bucs were starting in the playoffs), but making a more honest reflection of your roster and not always looking so quickly to kick a guy to the curb for the “next-best-thing.”
January 19th, 2015 at 9:00 pm
Hey, Jason Licht, your boy Talib was lit up like a Christmas tree by the Colts. Blount disappeared last year against the Broncos. Although I wish they had kept Bennett, Jacques Smith had just as many sacks this year playing half a season as Bennett did playing the whole year.
Last years team, playing primarily a zone defense, had no business overspending on a CB and throwing away a one and two draft pick so he could rehab.
Now just shut up.
The Steelers lead had enough of Blount’s antics, too
January 19th, 2015 at 11:35 pm
Hey…!! Bucs fan, don’t feel bad There is one player that the Bucs got reed off and he has not made it to the Super Bowl, sleeppy Josh Freeman, but then a gain you never knowwwww!!
January 20th, 2015 at 4:02 am
Whatever… this team sucks for a reason Joe, and it has a lot to do with former players starting for other playoff teams – use whatever excuse you want to rationalize them not being here.