Five Things

September 14th, 2020

Monday stinks enough as it is without making it worse waking up after a Bucs loss. So let’s get going.

The Quarterback.

There is no doubt that Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks to have ever lived. Some say he’s the greatest. Joe is still partial to Joe Montana. But that’s not what this column is about.

Rarely has Brady, the park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Bucs quarterback, had days like he had in his Bucs debut. Was it this stuff about having a short offseason and not knowing his teammates well enough? Or is it Brady, 43, is finally showing his age? Or a little of both?

Ironically, the way Brady played yesterday is the exact same reason he is here. Brady’s predecessor, who had grown into a prolific passer, was a turnover machine. So let’s compare Brady and YouKnowWho against the Saints in recent games.

Brady at New Orleans 2020
23-36, 239 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTS, 3 Sacks

Jameis at New Orleans Oct. 19, 2019
15-27, 204 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTS, 6 sacks

Jameis vs. New Orleans Nov. 17, 2019
30-51, 313 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INT, 2 Sacks

Nothing to write home about in any of those games. And the quarterback performance is roughly the same in each.

Joe doesn’t think the Bucs waved goodbye to a guy to a former overall No. 1 pick that they spent five years grooming to get a guy with six Super Bowl rings just so the production at quarterback stays about the same. The six sacks Jameis took last October is glaring because unlike Brady, Jameis was mobile.

Not buying offseason excuse.

One thing became obvious yesterday: the con of preseason games. There is no way one could have watched Sunday’s games and concluded the NFL cannot survive much longer without the preseason.

Tristan Wirfs (more on him later) and Antoine Winfield, Jr. (more on him later) did just fine for a pair of rookies in their first times facing someone on another NFL team, thank you. Rookie Joe Burrow of the Bengals connected on 23 of 36 passes. Like Brady with the Bucs, Burrow wasn’t on his current team last year ,nor any NFL team.

Second-year guy Kyler Murray of the Cardinals connected on 26 of 40 passes and he had new receivers. And Burrow and Murray each had half as many picks as Brady. With a new head coach and quarterback, the Panthers rolled up 30 points without a turnover.

Every NFL team had virtually no offseason and Brady was not alone in having to learn new receivers or new to a team. So Joe isn’t buying that excuse of a limited offseason hurt the Bucs offense.

Did the Bucs’ offense look shaky on their first drive?

Behind the 8-ball already.

Bucs fans didn’t want to read this today

Per Nate Davis of USA Today, the Bucs’ chances of making the playoffs, if you are a slave to history like Joe is, took a major hit yesterday.

How important is a 1-0 start? Since the NFL expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978 (minus the strike-shortened 1982 season), teams losing their opener have reached the playoffs only 24% of the time.

This makes Joe just want to go throw up. However, not factored is the NFL has expanded the playoffs this year. Previously you had your four NFC division winners advance,and two wild cards. Now there’s a third Wild Card team.

In an offseason of unparalleled hype, Joe cannot imagine what Team Glazer might do if the Bucs miss the playoffs this year. Again.

Paging Shaq Barrett.

Joe loves Shaq Barrett but the current reigning NFL sack king was pretty invisible yesterday. He had three tackles, no assists. Oh, and a pass defended. That is it.

Not a good way for Shaq to ball out again and get that long-term contract he was looking for. Could it have been that Shaq just had a bad game or the slimy Saints were determined to take him out as they did twice last year?

Joe guesses the latter. But hey, Shaq couldn’t say he wasn’t getting help because Jason Pierre-Paul was hurt. JPP played.

Joe fully expects Shaq to make his mark against the Stinking Panthers. The Bucs need his production.

Rookies look solid.

Entering the game, Joe was wringing his hands in fret over Saints Pro Bowl defensive end Cam Jordan schooling rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs. As it turned out, we all should have been worried about the other Bucs’ tackle.

Joe isn’t saying Wirfs played a perfect game. He was beaten clean by Jordan for hit on Brady, and he had a well-timed penalty in the second half, where Wirfs seemed to channel his predecessor Demar Dotson with a false start.

On defense, Winfield, also in his first NFL game, played like the baller he looked to be in college. And he nearly had a sack on Drew Brees, chasing the fortysomething out of the pocket.

The two rookie starters were solid. They sure didn’t embarrass themselves. In Joe’s eyes, that’s a fantastic sign.

67 Responses to “Five Things”

  1. Believe it when I see it Says:

    Joe should have made this piece 6 things and then gone over the putrid stomach churning diarrhea inducing I’m just here for the paycheck play of Donavan Smith.

  2. BucDan Says:

    My five things:

    1. Special Teams is still horrendous. FG unit sucked. Punt coverage unit sucked. Kick coverage unit sucked. Kick return unit sucked.

    2. Our offensive play calling is atrocious and we had no scripted (or just terrible) plays for our powerhouse of playmakers. We’re making it easy for the other teams. Saints changed the course of the game once they went to multiple sets and had the Bucs defense on their heels.

    3. Still no run game push. I watched every other team have a decent run or two yesterday. The Bucs O-line couldn’t get out of RoJo’s way or he just has terrible vision. More plays from Fournette we’re needed, IMO.

    4. Still have pre snap penalties! One cost us a shot at momentum on defense!

    5. Rookies looked solid. Wirfs held his own and Winfield Jr. was all over the field.

    Wake up call for the Bucs.

  3. Jeff Says:

    More Bucs Garbage. 7-9 is the best they can hope for. I’ll watch one more game. After they lose to Carolina, I’m done for the season.

  4. TampaBay AllDay Says:

    No doubt yesterday’s game is 90% on coaching

  5. El Buco Realisto Says:

    1 down, and 8 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are the sheep surprised??????? Because they never pay attention!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. Allbuccedup Says:

    The difference here Bengals and Cardinals have the new wave of head coaches the Bucs have the Ole stale biscuit head coach blame everyone except for himself.

  7. TheBradyBunch Says:

    They look like bad football team that is not well coached. Not an encouraging sign.

  8. ww Says:

    Surprised at the confidence in Brady turning it around. His last 9 games including yesterday, stats back it up: 5 bad games, 3 avg games, 1 great game (Buffalo). Win/loss 4-5 with 2 wins coming in games he played bad just great defensive play. Thats 2/3 of a season of being a below average QB. Even if some of yesterday is adjusting to new team by the 2nd half of the season when on the same page, he will have taken too many hits. The accumulation of hits is different for old guys, he will wear down and play worse second half of season similar to last year? And Gronk looked done.

  9. WyomingBucsFan Says:

    Gronkowski looked good at RT last night, could be our best pass blocker!

  10. Danny C Says:

    Is no one going to say anything about Donovan Smith and how he got taken to the woodshed by a backup defensive end multiple times! Davneport didn’t play, but whoever that back up was, Donovan Smith made him look like he was a probowler.

    This team and the penalties.
    3rd and 23… penalty…first down…toudchdown
    4th and 3…penalty…first down…Vea you are literally in front of the ball. Put some ear plugs in so you don’t hear the snap….JUST LOO AT THE DAM BALL it’s 6 inches from your faces

  11. AMI_Chris Says:

    I am so sick of caring for a team that does so many colossally stupid things during the course of a game. Thank God for the Lightning. Go Bolts!

  12. Jameis's Burner Account Says:

    First of the Saints are a really good defense and the bucs along with many other teams NEED the preseason. The NFL or the cities need fans in the stands, the game and the atmosphere was just BLAH no juice. As I sit here nibbling on my fresh Cajun Crablegs I also noted that my buddy Donovan Slipth still is training for that job at Adventure Island as a turnstile. Unlike my 5 years in Tampa we all know that Brady will straghten this out. Hey did Gronl play on Sunday? My man Brate where was he

  13. JustBucNwin Says:

    The DL didn’t get much push! We lost the battle of the trenches on both sides!

  14. D-Rome Says:

    Danny C,

    I completely agree with everything you said. Donovan Smith was beaten like an unruly antifa protester on several occasions.

  15. 941bucsfan Says:

    Yea Danny C has good points… BUT all that stuff has been happening the last 10 years. It aint nothing new… just because we got a diff QB donovan smith is all of sudden supposed to be good… WE HAVE ALREADY KNOWN HE WAS TRASH

  16. BUC CHEEKS Says:

    1st. Realist you’re clown shoes and you know it
    2nd. It’s one game, relax
    3rd. THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT FOOTBALL TEAM
    4th. Tom Brady has gone to the Super Bowl every time he’s lost the opening game
    5th. Go BUCS!!!!!!

  17. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    I have consistently stated that this game would come down to Turnovers, Penalties & Special Teams……

    Well, we had 3 turnovers…..untimely penalties and our ST had a blocked FG & a fumble……terrible field position throughout…..

    It is a very good thing that Pinion’s kickoffs were all touchbacks because I dread our kickoff coverage.

    It was not….and I repeat was not our running game……the Saints ran for an average of 2.4 ypc and they won.

    Bucs beat Bucs

  18. Kobe Faker Says:

    “Good news and bad news

    Good news is that we faced the man that knows the weakness of the Bucs. Dope Smith and Fat Cappa

    DC Dennis Allen can scheme and destroy the Bucs oline

    Bad news is that Dennis Allen gave other DCs the blueprint. However the Saints defense and Coordinator is the best we will face”

    Kobe Faker

  19. Here we go again Says:

    Gee who is calling the plays? New qb, same results!!!!!!!

  20. Erik Hesson - Fine Artist - City of St Pete Says:

    Stupid penalties at terrible times, a couple near-miss plays on interceptions, and a couple bad throws lost this game for us.

    18-1.

  21. Casual Observer Says:

    Agree with Allday. Bad coaching is the prime problem. Hope they can learn.

  22. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Saints had a couple of nice misdirection plays and executed the entire game with few mistakes- I credit that to the their team being together for a long time, so the lack of pre season affected them less.
    The out call to Watson vs Jenkins was a dumb call, period.
    The Bucs just had a disastrous 2nd quarter – penalties, poor execution, poor play calling .
    Bucs needed a turnover to get some momentum and it didn’t happen.

  23. PSL Bob Says:

    Didn’t take long for the sheen to wear off our shiny new Tompa toy. Back down to earth for most of us. Maybe the Bucs are just a blackhole for NFL talent. You get sucked in and the sour history of the organization just crushes any talent that’s there.

    Brady had some throws yesterday that are just inexplainable. I was preaching all preseason how his accuracy would lead to a lot of YAC. He had that one great throw to Godwin for a big gain, and hit a wide open OJ for a touchdown. But other times his passes sailed on him or were just off target. The Pick-6 was so Jameis-like I nearly spit out my beer.. If the next game looks anything like what we saw yesterday, I’m going into hibernation early.

  24. VABucsfan Says:

    Make a statement BA!!! Move Wirfs to LT and start Haag at RT! Bench Smith! Accountability starts now!

  25. Bobby M. Says:

    I’ve never watched Gronk closely before, its always been bits and pieces of highlight plays…..but watching him yesterday, he looks sluggish on his route running. Now….maybe that’s just how he’s always been and his size allows him to rumble pass defenders.

  26. LVMYBUCS Says:

    Get over Winston dude is a BUST 99% of the NFL teams know it. Did anybody catch when they started talking about all the int’s last year they pan the camera to Winston THAT S—- WAS FUNNY

  27. LVMYBUCS Says:

    Winston is just another RG3 deal with it and move on.

  28. Bucy Says:

    You forgot Brady’s rush td so it’s 3 tds. Still way better than aimless don’t kid yourself slow joe

  29. Yehaw Says:

    LVMYBUCS Says:
    September 14th, 2020 at 8:38 am
    Winston is just another RG3 deal with it and move on.

    Racist dumb$@#%^

  30. nick houllis Says:

    Jeff and many here are perfect example why today is called OVERREACTION MONDAY…. half teams are winless and half will be undefeated!

    For the millionth time 99% of the time there is no such thing as bad coaching: (the exception is run play on 3rd and 14), it always come down to poor execution.

    Brady isn’t too old, I didn’t see his passes deep have any problems finding home in scotty millers arms, or Godwin, or Evans ! meanwhile his short passes will be more accurate than the last guy. Brady will be fine.

    P.Barber had 2 TDs for Washington football team. could it be the Bucs and not the Bucs RBs?

    Hats off to Bucs DEFENSE… held Brees to 160 yards, Thomas to 17 yards, and Kamara to 16 yards! BUT… 2 TDs. Front seven look great. pass rush could improve but Brees gets rid of ball fast.. lets see what happens!
    I am the OPTIMIST, and I Approve this message!

  31. idiaznet Says:

    If anyone cares to remember, Our Super Bowl winning year we lost to the Saints in the first game of the season as well. I remember the same kind of screaming then too. Oh how “the game has past Gruden by”, “This team is too old”, “Brad Johnson can’t move”, “He is a turn over machine”. All this was said, then the defense turned it up the next 2 games and the rest is history.

    This was one game. The first game. No one knew what they had till they played this game. If this continues then we can panic. Give this coaching staff time to fix things. I guarantee you that Brady will not let this happen again. You could see that JPP was pissed as well with some effort from guys. The captains will get this team together. Just give them the chance.

    After all everyone picked the Saints to win the division. Only our fans picked us to win. Even Howie Long said that we would lose, but later in the season that this team will roll.

  32. LVMYBUCS Says:

    LVMYBUCS Says:
    September 14th, 2020 at 8:38 am
    Winston is just another RG3 deal with it and move on.

    Racist dumb$@#%^

    How is that racist? WOW for you to infer that from my post says a lot about the way you think. Just to clarify I was speaking of X Washington Football team QB RG3 who was a first round pick and a Heisman trophy winners and sucks, just like Winston. Please dude grow up its not always about race.

  33. LVMYBUCS Says:

    Yehaw Says:

    September 14th, 2020 at 8:43 am
    LVMYBUCS Says:
    September 14th, 2020 at 8:38 am
    Winston is just another RG3 deal with it and move on.

    Racist dumb$@#%^

  34. August 1976 Buc Says:

    Losing s*cks, There are positives and also lot of poop on the field. The defense is going to be fine. It’s Carolina week, and with simple execution on offense, the Bucs win. GO BUCS!!!

  35. stpetebucsfan Says:

    TBBF

    Thanks for bringing some facts to the game. Joe is over the top in his criticism of ROJO. We rushed the ball fewer times for more yards than the Saints.

    Penalities…we were awful yet the Saints were just as bad yardage wise.

    ST’s…we had ZERO yards…the Saints had over 100.

    A couple of thoughts…The Saints had as many penalty yards as us but aside from Lattimore’s shove of ME for 15 the rest of their penalties were penalties of effort…interference….not pre snap penalties at the WORST possible time in terms of the situation…giving a team a free first down when you had the stopped is unforgiveable. Again the Bucs are just stooopid when it comes to penalties.

    Let’s see if BA and Brady can coach the “stooopid” out of this team. If they do, I remain optimistic.

  36. Bucsfanman Says:

    I knew this was coming! Yep, it’s definitely overreaction Monday.
    1st- STOP, please stop trying to compare Brady with our former QB. ALL players have bad games AND, “the former QB” did that garbage for FIVE straight years!

    2nd- The Saints have reigned as one of the best teams in the NFC for a good while. They were the better team yesterday.

    3rd- The offense will be just fine. LT is no surprise but Wirfs at RT did pretty good considering.

    Penalties and special teams killed us yesterday. When you look at the stat sheet, the defense played well. The penalties have got to stop. 4th and 2? That’s sandlot garbage! You KNOW it’s coming!
    Do we even “coach” special teams?!
    Get on the phone to retired Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer and bring him in ASAP!

  37. Adrnagy Says:

    Brady cost us the game with the pick 6 ! Period.

    Bucy Says:
    September 14th, 2020 at 8:39 am
    You forgot Brady’s rush td so it’s 3 tds. Still way better than aimless don’t kid yourself slow joe

  38. Chris Says:

    So glad we tagged Barrett. He didn’t show up yesterday.

  39. onlymylifematters Says:

    Let’s see if BA and Brady can coach the “stooopid” out of this team. If they do, I remain optimistic.

    Who is going to coach the stupid out of the washed up has been that never was BA? You can chalk this season up to another desperate PR stunt by the Glazer family. NO ONE BUILDS A ROSTER WITH WASHED UP SENIOR CITIZENS.

  40. stpetebucsfan Says:

    Bucsfanman

    In another life I was covering VA Tech as a broadcaster when Beamer was hired.
    Got to see his first few seasons up close.

    You are correct if he’s truly available. He’s my age! Are we sure he even cares about football enough to come out of retirement?

    Perhaps my post is biased. While like you I admire Beamer’s skill set I’m loving retirement too much to even imagine jumping into the mess that is the Bucs special teams.

    But if he would…I agree with you.

  41. TampaTown Says:

    How come every time we’re on national TV we sh!t the bed?

  42. firethecannons Says:

    The Saints need a serious beating. Kamara and his smiling diamond grill, Taysom Hill very irritating also–guy never stops laughing at us. Gadget plays in our face. Lattimore and his slimy self, picking fights. sean peyton and his pursed lips–dude always look angry.Wonder who is going to take them down this year–that is going to be fun to watch. Football is not always about watching your team but watching other hated teams like the saints lose.That is fun too.

  43. Miketb19 Says:

    Everything is going to be good guys it was just the first game we got 15 more to go
    Tom is going to get sharper with everyone now that he got some live game reps and see what he needs to correct and I believe he will do that no problem

    Also let’s not forget that our defense went toe to toe with one of the best offenses in the league I mean we held Mike Thomas to 17 Yards Receiving and held Kamara to a 1.2 yard per carry so defense will be just fine

    Once we get things tightened up we’re going to be unstoppable

    I don’t think anyone on this site expected us to go 16-0 in the regular season lol

    We got punched in the mouth by a top 5 team in the league let’s see how they react and that will tell you where this team is headed

  44. SOEbuc Says:

    My God Joe. You sound like a national local bandwagon analyst. How about the “Bucs 2020 stud RB” RoJo showing his typical play. Especially if Wirfs did his job but one thing I saw was him getting run around for that blocked kick before you start s-ing his D. No run game means less time for Brady and his throwing options. Waiting till game three before Fournette becomes #1 RB.

  45. SOEbuc Says:

    ^^someone let Byron know RoJo is not Kamara and he’s not gonna produce on a pitch or run to the outside.

  46. Darin Says:

    24% but when they won SB they lost opening game at home to Saints. So there’s that. Moral of the story is here come the Panthers. One at a time

  47. Tampabuscsbro Says:

    Jesus, also if anyone calls me racist for trashing on Winston.

    Go into the archives and look how may times I shilled for us to go get Bridgewater since October.

  48. SOEbuc Says:

    And how about ST and defense. I don’t put that BS PI call on our young secondary coming together to knock away a ball, but that’s just your typical sh!try NFL refs. Dean got cooked by Cook because he was taken a light stroll. Mike Edwards going for a diving TD pass on an already short kick to put the Saints into easy scoring position. Think of these things before you “I’m not buying it” on Tom Brady.

  49. Bucamania Says:

    MIke Evans being a NON FACTOR was huge. Dude was ineffective and pouting the whole game. Lattimore got in his head AGAIN.

  50. Brad Says:

    Brees attempted 3 passes over 8 yards. Not much time to get a pass rush against the best line in the league. I wouldn’t worry about Shaq.

  51. Ftmyersbuc Says:

    Anyone else notice ryan succoo actually looked great, right down the middle when they block for him. Also Bruce arians doesn’t have a hair on his a$$ if doesn’t cut mike Edwards for that kickoff play. He needs tti go 1 score game and you do that? And you expect us to think you can play safety? No way

  52. SOEbuc Says:

    Bucamania

    Evans had so much better day than so said the best WR in the league. At least Evans got a TD eventually. Couple of 23 year olds got in his head. 3rec 17yrds. This secondary played well at a lot of moments yesterday and will only get better.

  53. Ra'Shad Brown Says:

    Joe

    I would like to disagree with your assessment on Shaq Barrett. I saw shaq being used to bump Kamara as he was coming out of the back field. In my opinion, it took kamara out of the game and it made Brees have to look elsewhere. i saw him in coverage as well. I just wish Dean didn’t get lazy covering Cook, cause that was a throw of desperation. I thought the defense played well enough to win. The special teams and the pick 6 is what hurts the most. I’m not jumping off the bridge just yet like some fans.

  54. Bucsfanman Says:

    stpetebucsfan- Are you a Hokie?!
    I’m pretty sure Beamer isn’t coming out of retirement. Worth a call though.
    For those that don’t know, special teams was a VT specialty.

  55. ocala Says:

    The Bucs need to be honest with themselves. Donovan Smith is terrible. Would not surprise me when the Bucs cut him after the season that he is done with football(it just might not be his decision).

  56. Craig Says:

    It is nice to have a QB who will accept the blame, even though the pick-6 was Leftwich’s. That play should have been trashed last year.

    Jamel Dean proved that for all of the good, one bad apple can spoil the whole thing. It took gimmick plays for the Saints to move the ball, but one lazy play took the wind out of the Bucs’ sails.

    Where was Shady McCoy anyway? He would have, at least, gotten some separation from the defenders, something that didn’t happen often yesterday.

    The Bucs were thoroughly out coached by Peyton.

  57. View from 132 Says:

    Shout out to the new (old) uniforms. Man it was nice to see the Bucs look like a pro team again.

  58. Kris Says:

    The Bucs lost their opener against the saints the year they won the Super Bowl. Just saying

  59. Arians Is Over-Rated Says:

    Sunburned Santa is an overhyped head coach. And guess what Tampa Bay, we got em! 4 more years! 4 more years!

  60. lambchop Says:

    If other teams and players were able to pay well in Week 1, you also have to look at solid players like Carson Wentz who played like it was his first game. I have a feeling the Washington DLine had something to do with his performance.

    The bottom line and the similarity between Brady and Wentz’ performance was a lukewarm OL against a stout DL.

    Your OL is only as good as your weakest link. DSmith has to play lights out or he needs to get benched. Maybe put Wirfs at LT and try Haeg at RT, or look for help on the streets.

  61. unbelievable Says:

    Is Joe finally realizing that Arains is completely full chit in most matters, and that Leftwich is a terrible play caller?

  62. unbelievable Says:

    Bucamania Says:
    September 14th, 2020 at 11:18 am
    MIke Evans being a NON FACTOR was huge. Dude was ineffective and pouting the whole game. Lattimore got in his head AGAIN

    ________________________________

    Except he drew multiple PI calls that kept our scoring drives alive, and also caught our last TD.

    All on a bad hammy too. Oh BTW he was only targeted 4 times the whole night.

  63. unbelievable Says:

    That’s said, I agree about Lattimore behind in his head. Yet again.

    Mentally weak this team. Every. Single. Frickin. Year.

  64. unbelievable Says:

    *being in his head

  65. JimmyJack Says:

    Joe thank you for being the only media(to my knowledge) not buying this offseason excuse crap. All day it’s all I heard. It’s a detriment to the fanbase to have a phony excuse at the ready.

    What kind of sick bastard think you need 3 preseason games to know how to block the guy in front of you? Or not jump offsides?

    But no that’s the excuse everybody is riding.

    Tom Brady needs preseason games to know not to throw that boneheaded pick six? Is this really how freaking pathetic the majority of of media is? Where some of these creeps born without spines or did they lose is along the way?

  66. The Mechanik Says:

    To all the sky is falling people, please calm down. It’s the first game of the season. The super bowl winner has NEVER been determined after one game…

    Having said that, let’s see how they respond against Carolina. If they struggle and or lose, I’ll start to panic.

    Now about this Saints game… This game came down to miscues in all three phases. You cannot have that many penalties, turnovers and mistakes and expect to beat a team like New Orleans. To me, that’s on the coaching. There is way too much talent on this team for them not to consistently win…

    I really do believe they read their press clippings and thought every team would just lay down as they walked to a super bowl… There seemed to be no sense of urgency…

    Yes, Donovan Smith is a barely average LT and we need to find someone else.

    The only thing the defense was missing yesterday was turnovers. They are the strength of this team. They throttled Drew Brees and the Saints offense.

    Again, wait until next Sunday and see how the game against the Panthers goes. That will tell you a whole lot about if this team is legit…

  67. The Mechanik Says:

    Btw, Jamel Dean wasn’t at fault for the Brandon Cooks reception… Arians said they were in a cover 2 and the safety incorrectly bit on an inside route. Dean was rightfully expecting the safety over the top…

    I too thought, WTF was Dean doing but as it turns out, he played his position right…