Super Bowl Mentality Lingers
January 5th, 2023
Akiem Hicks explains.
Look, the last two years were fun as could be. A Super Bowl win and a team that looked like it was headed to a second straight title game but got tripped up.
It takes a lot of professionalism to be an elite NFL team. The Bucs have not been elite this season, but there is a strong sense of professionalism and pride in the Bucs locker room that has carried over from the past two seasons.
Joe spoke with a number of players yesterday about Sunday’s lame-duck game. It doesn’t matter one iota what happens Sunday. The Bucs will host a playoff game next weekend. Only the opponent is unknown.
The players either gave Joe the evil eye or politely but firmly corrected Joe for even suggesting players might dial it back in Atlanta.
Bucs defensive tackle Akiem Hicks basically said the Bucs are professionals and professionals bust their tails when they step on the field.
“You just go out there and do your best on Sunday,” Hicks said. “I think that’s a good way to hold yourself and take care of business during the season.
“Every week, be prepared to play regardless of what the stats are.”
Just to provide an idea of why we can or should expect the Bucs to try to ball out is, as Joe was told, guys still want to get paid.
A number of Bucs players are not under contract for next season. If they lay back at all on Sunday, the eye in the sky never lies and putting that kind of film out there can kill a player’s chance of grabbing a key future contract.
Fair point.
January 5th, 2023 at 4:00 am
I don’t think any of those players want to be associated with winning a division with a losing record. They want to win that game.
January 5th, 2023 at 5:49 am
’79 Defense … Yea verily. No professional wants to be remembered as being on a team with a losing record. I have no doubt this team has their sights on being Super Bowl champion. The teams who won the Super Bowl with the worst regular season records after 14 or more games were the 2000 Ravens (8-8), the 2007 Giants (8-8) and the 2011 Giants (7-7). IOW no team with a losing regular season record has ever won the Super Bowl. The 2022 Bucs don’t intend to be the first.
January 5th, 2023 at 6:22 am
@Defense rules, where are you getting your numbers from? 07 giants were 10-6 in regular season. 2000 ravens were 12-4. I get the point you are trying to make. The best bet we have at winning it all is Brady playing like Eli Manning did in 2011, which is playing out of his mind and being the solo reason for all post season wins. Our O-line is too trash to give him a chance to do that.
January 5th, 2023 at 6:23 am
They’re all competitors. Only way for a coach to lose a game is to put lesser players in and hope they get beat. I’ve never been paid for a game played in my life but tried with everything I had to win every one. When you love to compete you try to win. We’ll see who bowles plays
January 5th, 2023 at 7:22 am
No way that happens for a chance to win a Superbowl alot of players are going to have to step up tom Brady alone will not be able to shoulder that by himself.
January 5th, 2023 at 7:30 am
No. No. Nope. Don’t give me this Super Bowl Mentality crap. They looked poor for much of last week. And the first Carolina game. And Pittsburgh. And Cleveland. They have not looked dominant since the first NO game.
Offense: Drops. Holding. False starts. Fumbles. Interceptions.
Defense: Missed tackles. Soft coverage and no aggression. Absent pass rush.
Special teams? Horrid.
Coaching: They don’t look at statistics. They don’t apparently look at film. Running on first play of game and second half. No emotion from HC on field.
This is not a good team. This is a bottom of the second tier team.
Until they prove differently.
January 5th, 2023 at 7:30 am
GOT TRIPPED UP??????? wow you’re way too nice
January 5th, 2023 at 7:33 am
Bucs want to make it 3 in a row……secure a winning record and post a win going into the playoffs…….they will be playing to win…..period.
And lots of luck getting Brady to sit……ain’t happening….maybe midway through the 4th Qtr if the Bucs have a 3 touchdown lead.
January 5th, 2023 at 7:46 am
I’ll tell y’all one thing that drove me nuts, especially early in the season. That was the corners played waaay too deep, (soft coverage). I’m just a former coal miner from Southern WV but i have enough common sense to know that if you give someone like Gronk or Deik Henry a 10 yd start, he’s going to knock the race off your face. Also that gives the offense 10 more yards to embarrass the corners and make my head explode
January 5th, 2023 at 7:51 am
Accountability is a good thing – it makes players perform better –
January 5th, 2023 at 7:54 am
Meh.
Whatever.
Maybe the OL can actually realize that when the play call is a power run, they are supposed to run block and get some push on the DL. They seem to either think every play is a pass, or that it’s Dancing with the Stars.
January 5th, 2023 at 8:17 am
Collecting a paycheck and Superbowl mentality. I’m not making th connection for your blurb here. Who wrote this? An intern?
January 5th, 2023 at 8:55 am
How about they’d like to finish with a winning season. 9-8 sounds a lot better than 8-9.
January 5th, 2023 at 9:20 am
That’s pretty funny coming from Hicks. The guy can sure talk a lot but doesn’t really produce on the field. I’d like to see him bust his tail on the field.
At any rate if the Bucs are truly professionals this season, they better go into the playoffs with a winning record and not phone it in against Atlanta.
January 5th, 2023 at 9:33 am
This is why I hate the coveted clinching of the number one seed in the playoffs. Even if you’re the so called best team in the AFC of NFC. Other teams are sharpening the axe. Well you’re on a bye week getting soft. Soak up the rays after the goal is complete.
January 5th, 2023 at 9:48 am
alton@ Exatly what I was going to write. Bad coaches produce bad results. Re-watched the Carolina game and Bowles time management before the 1/2 was as bad as it gets. Carolina 3rd & 20 with 35 seconds left. Bucs have 1 TO in their pocket. Instead of taking the TO on the 3rd & 20 and hoping for a incomplete pass making them punt on 4th with 30 seconds on the clock. Instead he waits until the play is over and takes a TO with 4 seconds left. WHY? This team is not good due to coaching.
January 5th, 2023 at 10:09 am
That’s not all that’s lingering. Todd dealt it everybody else smelt it.
January 5th, 2023 at 10:10 am
Super Bowl mentality? WTF?
One quarter of decent football last week, t, wo 4th qtr. last-second wins against bottom-dwellers and one decent game (Germany) do NOT reflect any “Super Bowl Mentality.”
Maybe some alien overlord or mystical shaman has cast a spell on these guys, but until they PROVE it 4-quarter-style on the field, these guys need to shut their mouths and play.
And Hicks has played in 4 post-season games…lost 2…and never played in a SB. What, exactly, does he know about “Super Bowl Mentality?”
If I could buy this bunch for what they are worth and sell them for what they *think* they are worth, I could buy the Bucs.
January 5th, 2023 at 10:11 am
, two 4th qtr.
January 5th, 2023 at 10:55 am
Brady understands t a Stupor Bowl mentality; he is, however, not really a part of this team. He removed himself from being a teammate by taking half of the training camp off and created further distance with the Kraft wedding.
If Brady can show some humility, if he has any, and be accepted back into the team effort, he could make a lot happen.
Maybe not a Stupor Bowl though.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:00 am
Bucs are playing a bad ATL team…So, expect Bucs top10 DEF to perform admirably. It’s the inconsistent OFF that should be worried about.
January 5th, 2023 at 1:47 pm
Catcall@ you mean the same D that almost blew a 21 point lead in their last meeting when Captain White declared he was napping in the 4th qtr?
January 5th, 2023 at 1:50 pm
If you’d rather rest than play for a winning record, you’re a loser.
January 5th, 2023 at 2:49 pm
Jonny … Good catch. Took that from a Bleacher Report article referencing 8-8 teams & the Super Bowl but on relooking at it I kinda overlooked one critical word … ‘following’. Here’s a quote from that article …
‘There have been a total of four teams, 1999 Titans, 2000 Ravens, 2007 Giants and the 2008 Cardinals that have reached the Super Bowl following an 8-8 season and two of those teams, the Ravens and Giants have won the Super Bowl.’
January 6th, 2023 at 2:20 am
Played on a few teams where we had a few guys who loafed on the field. Seemed like those were the guys who ended up injured. Just an observation. I think Hicks has been around long enough to have seen this himself.