Countdown: Top 10 X-factors For 2018 – No. 2
July 24th, 2018
Only two days until training camp starts at One Buc Palace!!
So we’re up to No. 2 on the mighty countdown of the 10 X-factors for your 2018 Buccaneers season.
Enjoy!
No. 2 – Brent Grimes
Before Joe gets rolling on this no-brainer, please closely read a January Instagram post from Grimes’ spouse, mercurial NFL super wife Miko Grimes.
Congrats to my hubby on completing year 12 of his NFL career!! 🍾🍾🍾I dont normally post videos of people catching tds on my man but this one is significant for two reasons. 1st.. its the ONLY TD caught on #BrentGrimes the entire season. 2nd… peep how PERFECT the pass had to be to get it by him. He jumped damn near 15’ across the end-zone tryna break it up.😳😳😳 Thats the exact typa fu*k sh*t he was on this season and every qb in the league knew it, so they avoided him as much as possible. He wasnt over 80% healthy a single game this season, btw, and he gave the whole league PROBLEMS at the blossoming age of 34!🕺🏼Who remembers the Dolphins media and front office saying he was washed two years ago and not worth the money?!!
In a quarterback-mighty division of a passing league, the Bucs will be relying heavily on a 35 year old cornerback who, per his wife, was never better than 80 percent last season. That makes talented Grimes an X-factor with a capital “X,” especially with no other established starting cornerback on the roster.
On the upside, Grimes suffered a nasty gash in a training camp practice last year that required several stitches and kept him out of the entire preseason. That wasn’t an age-related injury, though he was banged up in September with a shoulder issue that lingered and cost him multiple games.
Grimes is a gamer, though, a freak athlete and a team player, and Joe doesn’t think for a second Grimes is just cashing a final payday and preparing to coast through this season.
The Bucs very well could get a Pro Bowl season out of Grimes — or a fade-away year from an undrafted guy who signed with the Falcons in 2006.
No. 3 – Jameis Winston
No. 4 – Rookie Corners
No. 5 – Jason Pierre-Paul
No. 6 – Todd Monken Impact
No. 7 – Ronald Jones
No. 8 – Contract Years
No. 9 – Ryan Fitzpatrick
No. 10 – Noah Spence
And just in case you missed the series introduction, here are four guys you won’t see on The Countdown and why.
July 24th, 2018 at 12:52 pm
grimes rocks. as joe said….one of the few times i don’t see this as a player just collecting a check. he’s a baller through and through.
if he doesn’t i’m sure his wife would smack the $hit out of him lol
July 24th, 2018 at 1:02 pm
Are we seroius??? Mikko Grimmes!!!!! come on Joe!!!
July 24th, 2018 at 1:16 pm
over 8 games played +175
under 8 games -155
“#1 X factor is (should) Peyton Barber
Peyton Barber and his production on 1st and 2nd down will be Koetters best friend. Koetters offense will only run effectively with Barbers success and threat on 1st and 2nd down.”
Kobe Faker
July 24th, 2018 at 1:30 pm
I love Grimes but would like to learn more about him only playing the left side and off coverage and how it effects the team’s flexibility on defensive scheme.
If Koetter and Smith earn the ability to coach here next year it will be interesting to see how much those constraints did or didn’t restrict their ability.
Will Carlton Davis (or whoever is our top cb) be following J Jones wherever he lines up and will they be mixing up coverages much more often?
July 24th, 2018 at 2:03 pm
If Brent Grimes is the #2 X-factor then Miko Grimes has to be the #1-X factor.
#Get after it!
July 24th, 2018 at 2:06 pm
He gave the league problems….blahaha
Grimes is good for a play or 2 and the next play he will surely get but not, ankles broken, or loaf in the run game. But but but I know he is 35 years old. Give me a break
July 24th, 2018 at 2:40 pm
Wow, just wow! Lamarcus is just the picture of positivity!
Hopefully, he will remain healthy and as freakish as ever. If we finally get some pressure, watch for this guy to flourish.
July 24th, 2018 at 3:34 pm
Bucs just traded Gerald McCoy DeSean Jackson. And a 1st round pick next year for Aaron Donald. Wow and signed him to. 5 year 100 million dollar extension.
July 24th, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Stop googling it it is wishful thinking but I wish they would do this trade
July 24th, 2018 at 3:38 pm
Lamarcus he gave up one touchdown. And led the league in passes defensed. Man all while takin everyother play off and at 80% health. How can anyone say anything about a 34 year old corner and those numbers. Haters gonna hate
July 24th, 2018 at 3:58 pm
He started this X-Factor countdown with a picture of Koetter and his play-calling has to be the #1 X-Factor for this entire team.
If he continues to run the ball on 1st and 10 for a 2 yard loss, I’ll pack his bags for him.
July 24th, 2018 at 4:18 pm
GMC doesn’t make the list?
Aren’t we at the point where “questioning [him]” is what we should to, the legacy goes up or down baed on this part of his career.
I like the guy, to me he is the heart of the D. The year will go on D, they way his season goes. JPP is the thing GMC has been missing.
July 24th, 2018 at 4:19 pm
Nobody better make any negative comments about Grimes because Debilah will come thru the screen and smack the S&$? Out of you!
July 24th, 2018 at 4:26 pm
Grimes health is a huge x-factor as he is our only above average player in the secondary. We’re blessed to have him stick around. Hopefully the d-line can help hide the rest of the group.
July 24th, 2018 at 5:02 pm
Grimes deserves an SB as much as anyone. Hope he gets one this year, right?
July 24th, 2018 at 5:06 pm
#1 X factor gotta be the whole D line. FA’s,Trade, and a first rd pick spent on along that line. Koetter said at the end of last year that was the biggest deficiency. Too much invested there. Jason Licht, Mike Smith, and Dirk Koetter’s Tampa careers hang in the balance over that Dline. IMO of course.
July 24th, 2018 at 5:35 pm
Miko should be pissed that Jameis screwed this year up, and any chance that Brent had to even sniff a Super Bowl. Probably his last year and an almost zero chance of playing in the post season. Who could blame him if he does decide to coast? “Bon voyage Brent” thanks for giving us your everything.
July 24th, 2018 at 5:54 pm
I wanted Grimes years back and Miami got him. Dude is a baller. Too bad all the rookies are being tarnished with bad coaching setting back their young, short nil careers
July 24th, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Miko is so charming in her support for Brent. I’d like to have both of their autographs just because of their uniqueness.
July 24th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
So that makes Dirk Koetter the #1.
I would have put Jason Pierre-Paul at #1.
July 24th, 2018 at 6:19 pm
Maybe the #1 is OJ or Godwin…but I doubt it.
July 24th, 2018 at 6:24 pm
Glad he’s back, would be even better if he can hang for one more year.
Shado 31, out.
July 24th, 2018 at 6:45 pm
#1 could be Ryan Fitzpatrick. The outcomes of the first three games will determine our entire season and the pursuit of playoffs.
July 24th, 2018 at 7:08 pm
I know this is rare air, but didn’t Darrell Green play into his 40s? With his body and nutrition, I could see him being very good for a good bit longer.
July 24th, 2018 at 8:10 pm
DRFEELGOOD
You stole my post. LOL Exactly.
Darrell Green is HOF and was truly exceptional. He had world class speed in college and brought it to the NFL where he won the old NFL fastest man contest four years in a row. He’s clearly faster than Grimes but he didn’t have the same hops. Size…probably a tossup.
Green used to call himself the “itty bitty guy”…he was only 5-9 and that may have been a stretch. His peers called him “the ageless wonder.”
Now please do not confuse my point. I’m not suggesting that Grimes is as good as Darrell Green….very few DB’s have ever been that good which is why he’s in the HOF.
My point is not that Grimes is comparable to Green talent wise…but that he could easily perform to his max talent level well into his late 30’s early 40’s like Green. Miko has his back on more than twitter. She prepares special health food for him…encourages his hard work and training…Grimes could play another 3-5 years…or he could fade this year…only time will tell but I for one am not giving up on him until HE decides he’s had enough.
BTW…Green was truly an amazing player!
Oldest player with a 35+ yard gain(lateral on punt return), (42 years, 327 days)
Oldest player with an interception return for a touchdown in overtime, (35 years, 249 days)
Oldest player with an interception (41 years, 304 days)
Oldest player with an 80+ yard interception return (37 years, 309 days)
And…oldest NFL defensive back at 42!