“I Kind Of Feel Bad For Mike Evans”
July 23rd, 2019
Predicts horrid year for Bucs.
A popular podcast called “Stick to Football,” anchored by respected Matt Miller of Bleacher Report, is so down on the Bucs it makes Joe look like a cheerleader.
Miller is joined along with co-host Connor Rogers and someone with the handle of “Mello.” Boy, a one-word nickname just screams radio/podcast entertainment to Joe. Howard Stern and Chris Russo, watch out! “Mello” is coming for your jobs!
None of the hosts have any faith the Bucs have a prayer for a winning season and not even Bucco Bruce Arians can save this team.
Essentially, the three find it difficult to believe a team loaded with tight ends and receivers, a quarterback they don’t believe will even finish the season, what they view as a shaky offensive line and no running backs (their words; not Joe’s, not that Joe disagrees) can hang in the rugged NFC South.
Defensively, the trio is of the mind the defense has two players, one of which (Devin White) has never snapped on his chin strap in an NFL game. The trio also give love to Shaq Barrett. (No, not one mention of Vita Vea between the three).
Miller believes the Bucs are stuck between a rock and a hard place — just enough talent on offense to tease people but maybe not enough to win games, and on the other side lies an opportunity to blow up the entire roster and start a rebuild for 2020.
“I believe in Bruce Arians,” Miller said. “I don’t know how long he’s going to be there or will [have] enough time to fix this mess.
“It’s very hard for me to just believe in this team right now [with] more than four wins. I’m sorry Bucs fans, I really am. I just think they’re in the middle of — they don’t know. Should [the Bucs] rebuild with a new quarterback or should [they] try to find someone to fix [Jameis]?
“All I can say is, I kind of feel bad for Mike Evans right now.”
Miller added he would instruct top-level Bucs scouts to be at every game, at every practice and damn near sleep with the top quarterbacks expected to enter the 2020 draft to be prepared to pick a quarterback first overall, if necessary.
Rogers confessed he doesn’t expect America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, to even be the Bucs’ starter in the latter half of the season, a notion “Mello” not only agreed with but thought undrafted free agent quarterback Nick Fitzgerald could be starting in December.
Joe believes it is rank idiocy to suggest Fitzgerald will be starting, short of every quarterback ahead of him on the depth chart getting hurt! Anyone even letting that out of their mouths shouldn’t be allowed a forum to even discuss powder puff football.
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:20 am
See this is a prime example of people who NEVER, NEVER watch this team play. If one looks at this team and doesnt come away saying that Evans, OJ, Marpet, Godwin, Vea, LVD, Nassib and yes Jameis are talented along with seeing potential in ROJO, White, Murphy-Bunting, Edwards, Whitehead, Davis and Dean then they clearly are not watching. And on the Jameis piece I mean does anyone truly believe these 3, one simply is the main guys little brother, boy some good qualifications there, can evaluate QBs better than Bruce Arains? I mean are these people on crack when they say these things? And again WHEN they are wrong with any of this stuff will they be held accountable?
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:23 am
Well Duh. He is right. I do believe that Fitzgerald will be the 3rd QB. BA will not keep Ryan Griffin Who was nothing more than a DK science project.
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:25 am
I definitely feel bad for reading this whole article.
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:27 am
FINISH DRIVES!
Make field goals, score touchdowns and we are in the mix.
Joe! Glad to see you are accepting of your pessimistic and curmudgeon attitude! Not a cheerleader….Hah!
In BA I Trust!
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:36 am
i feel bad for the entire team and what they had to endure 2 years in a row…..
GO BUCS!!!!!
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:37 am
Joe, taking a shot at a host with a one word name like Melli when you hide behind the Joe title is a little hypocritical. Put your name on your posts, can’t act like a journalist with integrity on the podcast by protecting unnamed sources but won’t put your name on your post…
Enough ball busting for the day
Go Bucs!!!
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:47 am
Inaccurate. For years the Joes have been on local radio using our real names and twice weekly on Ira’s pod we identify ourselves.
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:51 am
Here is what we can expect next (midway thru the season): are the Bucs contenders or pretenders. I just don’t believe these guys have really watched the team, they are just piling on. I get it, Bucs haven’t won or proven anything.
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:51 am
I can’t see Winston getting benched no matter what. That is, if he plays well, nothing to worry about other than evaluate if he fixed his on field problems and off field issues that he alone is responsible for. I’m frankly skeptical of that.
If he plays terrible, it will mean the season is lost anyway, and they have to reboot, so why not get every bit of evaluation out of him they can. If he plays badly and gets benched, indeed, the Winston years are done in Tampa. But BA won’t bench him (really, what does he care in the end…he’s not hanging around for a rebuild). If Licht puts pressure on BA to bench him, then Licht is admitting his biggest mistake of his career has happened, and will be gone too. So why bother.
But dang, let’s wait until they are 2-6 to talk about this stuff. Hopefully, it won’t come up.
July 23rd, 2019 at 11:55 am
Haven’t seen any of Griffin in games, but saw him in preseason last year and I see him practices, and he’s actually VERY sharp. I’d not be surprised if he beats Gabbert out. Wish we would have played him last year some. Of course, he’s getting older himself.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:02 pm
These folks do not watch Tampa Bay games. They only see highlights and the only highlights they show are of Jameis throwing Interceptions.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:07 pm
Can’t wait for TC to start so we can get some real news vs reading a bunch of uneducated national media throwing out lazy bucs predictions for us to talk about.
I’d do the same if i were them. Don’t blame em. Hopefully the team uses it as fuel. They’ve been media darlings too often. I have a good feeling almost now that everyone thinks we’ll suck.
I think we were the least Favorited team week 1 last year @ the Saints. Like 1-2% of anyone was betting on the Bucs despite it being a divisional game. We thrive in the national perception of suck but as soon as anyone gives us a chance we tank lol. Hopefully if we get off to a good start everyone is saying “the collapse is coming”. Maybe the equivalent of a REalist reverse jinx with all his sh1t talking this sseason
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:09 pm
Rookies (and Jameis) started camp this week. Let’s get off the BSPN train and talk some Bucs, Joe. All these people were S-ing-the Bucs-D last year at this time so it’s no skin off my back when they say we’re going to go 5-11. At least 7-9.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:12 pm
We won 5 games last year with a QB controversy, sub-par coaching, a sub-par running game, an offensive lineman that was practically invisible, and the worst defense in the league, yet we can’t win 4 games this year? Miss me with that BS. Our team has better coaching, we don’t have to wait and see, Joe could coach a defense better than Mike Smith and Koetter is no Arians. We will be stronger, faster, and and more aggressive defensively. No doubt Jameis will play better, no distractions, better coaching, and we saw him play well enough to win and the last half of 2018 season but thanks to our putrid defense we couldn’t stop anybody. Our WR corps will be one of the best in the NFL. Now if you want to believe that we won’t win more than 5 games keep that same energy when we reach 9 or 10.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:15 pm
Jameis will be the starter throughout the entire season, barring injury.
So there’s that.
Like Syl said they don’t watch our games or really know anything about the Bucs.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:15 pm
more group think
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:17 pm
It’s simple for me. All these heads who are Buc Experts have to put food on the table or pay for hookers or whatever they do with their money. One of their favorite things is ranking sh*t in the offseason. So they go back to the W/L schedule and compile gerneral assumptions about every team and every minute stat that might support a printable exercise. Most don’t know the first thing about the Buc’s. All the haters buy into this garbage and spend half the offseason posting BS and the other half sitting in their Doctors office because of their high blood pressure. Not one fan can change one stat about the Bucs. If words could tackle and catch passes we would all make the pro-bowl. Football is designed to enjoy, (Hence:Game) We all know what opinions are like. Glad we are back in camp and it’s real again.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:17 pm
7-9
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Paving the road for yet another Coach of the Year award?
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Speaking on rookies, Anthony Nelson almost through the sled over its head in the Bucs.com rookie highlights video. With him at DE this is the most powerful Dline in the NFL. Certainly not saying the best. He’s definitly on rookie radar.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:35 pm
Nick Fitzgerald who couldn’t even manage to complete a pass in college against Florida last year, lol. Okay. That’s the problem with podcasting though, anybody can do it.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:41 pm
So I come here for Bucs happenings because let’s face it the national media hasn’t seen a Bucs game since we kicked the crap out of the raiders for the trophy, even then the national media came to watch the raiders. Why did they give love to Shaq Barrett, because he had a band they recognized from outside Tampa, just like Ariens, Suh, Pierre Paul, djax. If you watch national media outlets these are the names you hear because honestly they don’t know or care to put in the homework to know anything else about the Bucs.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:43 pm
This dude is a complete moron. The local media knows a ton more than any of these guys and he sounds like a true idiot desperate to be heard and yet you continue to post anything this guy says about the team. Thank you for calling him an idiot for suggesting a winning nfl coach would even consider taking a look at an undrafted rookie his first year when all the guy cares about is winning. Its completely pointless unless you give these guys credit or ridicule for their takes once the season starts. Otherwise your just playing to the negative crowd
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:43 pm
All of a sudden the light came on Joe. The DEN OF DEPRESSION isn’t RayJay. It’s JoeBucsFan.com. You need to replace the ‘Fan’ with ‘Whiner’. JBW.com … yup, that’s better.
And please stop giving idiots like this a voice. Matt Miller doesn’t make you look like a ‘cheerleader’. He just makes himself look like an idiot. Find someone to ‘fix Jameis’, a QB who’s thrown for an average of over 260 YPG? ‘Feel bad for Mike Evans’, a WR who amassed over 1,500 yards last year and who’s averaged over 1,200 yards per year for his 5 years? Two guys who together are making over $40 mil per year. And feels ‘bad’ for them? Ya right.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Kind of feel bad for Evan’s right now really? Has anyone on that show seen his stats and the numbers he put up? I’ll go out on a limb and say if hes put up these numbers with winston, Fitzpatrick and Josh McCown he’ll be just fine going forward. Rare that fans can call talking heads complete idiots and be 100% accurate. They are much worse at their jobs than Winston. At least do some research before making moronic statements.
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:55 pm
It’s sports reporting guys. Nuance is replaced with hyperbole. It is what it is.
But it’s not logical! As DK like to point out roughly 33% of every NFL roster turns over every year. The teams are not the same.
If they have the GOAT at QB combined with the possible GOAT coaching…then yeah you can safely bet the Pats will compete.
There are maybe a half dozen other teams with organizations so strong they rarely if ever suck…I”m thinking Pittsburgh…and a few others here.
The vast majority of teams just change too much. Remember after realignment how many times in the NFC South teams went from worst to first? It’s the NFL…a rout is a ten point win. This isn’t cushy college ball where a team like Alabama or Clemson face opponents whose best player might be 2nd or third string on Bama or Clemson. In the NFL there’s a much finer line in terms of talent level and 1/3 of that is going to be different this year anyway.
July 23rd, 2019 at 1:00 pm
I will feel sorry for ME13 when he stops dropping the ball and stops leading the league in offensive pass interferences. Pushing guys off that are half his size is mind boggling. I want him to be Elite but he has work to do
July 23rd, 2019 at 1:08 pm
Silent_Partner Says:
July 23rd, 2019 at 12:35 pm
Nick Fitzgerald who couldn’t even manage to complete a pass in college against Florida last year, lol.
UF is DBU!!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
July 23rd, 2019 at 1:14 pm
” top-level Bucs scouts to be at every game, at every practice and damn near sleep with the top quarterbacks ”
2 problems, the Bucs have no top level scouts and they would have to get their noses out of Division 3 schools.
In order to scout top level talent, you have to scout top level schools.
That’s why they reached for Bunting at Central Upper Michigan University instead of choosing Mullen at the National Champion Clemson Tigers.
July 23rd, 2019 at 2:06 pm
Let’s hope these guys are Wrong, although I do often feel bad for ME13. Could you imagine the stats this dude would put up in NO or NE.
July 23rd, 2019 at 2:40 pm
Bleacher Report is fake news, they literally just publish clickbait garbage and nothing else.
July 23rd, 2019 at 2:48 pm
Pittshore – talk about a science project…how bout Jamies? All that film he watches, all the W’s he eats, all the previous transgressions and he pumps out prolific everything!!!
Prolific Yatds Passing
Prolific touchdowns
Prolific interceptions
Prolific fumbles
Prolific boneheaded decisions
Prolific immaturity
I’m hoping 2019 is Prolific Wins!
In BA I Trust!
July 23rd, 2019 at 3:45 pm
Well the good news is that Bucs fans have been doing this for a long time so we believe the Bucs are going to be much better this year. And if there not there’s always next year.
July 23rd, 2019 at 6:23 pm
Joe if you think what they are saying is rank idiocy then why did you bother to write up this piece.
Don’t we deserve better then read options from idiots?
July 23rd, 2019 at 8:19 pm
Bruce Arians,” Miller said. “I don’t know how long he’s going to be there or will [have] enough time to fix this mess.
Who’s mess is this?? GM Licht, he cant draft, manage a salary cap or sign free agents.
Even my dumb ass can see this.
Glazers suck
July 24th, 2019 at 3:59 am
First off the pick you used of this gentleman looks as if he just farted and is figuring out if you smell it. And Evans is doing just fine. Thanks for your concern sir but he is setting records down here. Cant wait to see what BA and crew have in store for Evans the mismatch king.
July 24th, 2019 at 3:53 pm
Bleacher Report writers are by far the worst in the game in every single sport. Any article written by someone at BR is absolute TRASH. No matter what the topic is, it will be an absolute waste of time reading.