Lavonte David On Jameis Winston’s 30 For 30 Season
April 5th, 2026
Gunslinger.
Years ago, Joe tried “The Red Zone” because so many folks hyped it up.
Joe didn’t get it.
The thing was way, way, too ADD for Joe. It was (virtually) nothing but offensive highlights. Hated it! Dudes can get highlights anywhere for free. Why pay for them?
Besides, when Joe wants to watch a game, he wants to watch a game!
When Joe watches a game, he wants to immerse himself in it. The highs and lows, the ups and downs, ebbs and flows, the buildup of the drama, the witching hour, all of that and more is why Joe is addicted to the game.
Each possession has its own story.
None of that happens on the Red Zone Channel. It’s just highlights, often fully out of context. More often than not Joe would be screaming at the TV because the powers that be would flip games just when something got interesting.
NNNNOOOO!!!
This is why “this Joe” is adamant if Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and screamin’ Stephen A. Smith co-hosted Red Zone Channel, it would be a riot! They’d unload on players, unload on coaches and tear apart fidgety, itchy-trigger fingered producers for having the gall to leave a Packers game for a Jags game.
When Joe did watch the Red Zone Channel, he wished one of those masochistic nuns Joe had in grade school would be around to whack a producer in the hands with a wooden ruler so he’d put the remote down (sorry, Joe doesn’t know the technical term for TV producers to flip games just so they can flip games).
Russo and Smith would be awesome! No one will change “this Joe’s” mind on that!
But you know, the perfect quarterback for Red Zone Channel had to be America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston. When he took the field, you had no idea what was going to happen but you were sure something would happen.
It would either be a pass so awesome you’d jump off your couch or a pick so awful you’d howl so loud it would scare the neighbor’s dog.
That seemed to be the mindset for recently-retired Bucs icon Lavonte David.
Last week, appearing on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast co-hosted by his former Nebraska teammate and Titans linebacker Will Compton and former Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan, David was asked about Jameis’ 30-for-30 season when he had 34 touchdowns, 30 picks and 5,000-yards passing.
David busted out laughing when asked about Jameis.
“You knew what you were going to get,” David said. “Jameis was going to sling that ball and it was either going to be a touchdown or an interception.”
David described Jameis as a classic gunslinger and with gunslingers, you better be prepared for picks because gunslingers get shot.
David said the Bucs defense knew when they left the locker room, Jameis was going to throw to the wrong team sooner or later.
“What stood out was us, defensively, it got to a point that season that when the offense got the ball, none of us [on defense] would sit down. We would stand up to wait to go on the field.”
Only, David said, after Jameis would throw a pick, the defense could take a breather on the sidelines.
“And when Jameis would throw that interception, ‘OK, he got that out of his system,'” David said. “We’d go out there and get him the ball back and he’d go out there and start slinging it again.”
David said the way the defense looked at it, they wanted to get Jameis the ball “as much as we can because we knew, sometimes, it was going to be good, but sometimes, it’d be on the other end.”
Despite all the picks, David said everyone in the locker room liked Jameis so much they couldn’t hold a grudge against him. David said players liked Jameis so much because they knew he was trying so hard to do right that they couldn’t get mad at him.
“Nobody was pissed off at him about it,” David said.
But along came Tom Brady. And we know no one on the Bucs was p!ssed about that!
April 5th, 2026 at 12:52 am
For me, I love Red Zone. The only game I REALLY want to watch, is the one that has the Bucs. I couldn’t give two caps about any other team, except maybe for my fantasy team players, which is where Red Zone comes in handy. I don’t have time to watch more than one game, or I want to just kinda know what’s going on with everything, so to have it all at one spot is great for me.
April 5th, 2026 at 1:05 am
Winston was pure entertainment. That’s for sure. Kept you on the edge of your seat for the whole game. He had all the traits to be the best. Just couldn’t keep from making those god awful int or fumbles.
April 5th, 2026 at 1:28 am
When losing and mediocrity is commonplace and comfortable why get mad?🙄
I’m sad to hear 54 say that but glad he stuck around to get a ring and experience some winning.
April 5th, 2026 at 3:59 am
Oneilbuc, how did life after the bucs work out for your boi? He didn’t win all the superbowls like you said, must have been everyone else’s fault that he didn’t succeed…..
April 5th, 2026 at 4:16 am
Then, you must not have been gambling. It was absolutely PERFECT. No commercials. JUST when every team made it inside the RedZone and a few MAJOR turnovers and plays during all the games. I had the NFL Sunday Ticket for 15-years, that came with the RedZone channel. I was like Joe and refused to watch it! I was a PRO in the 4th-Quarter with the remote… All my gambling buddies couldn’t get over it! I would just get in a ZONE LoL. But, once I started ‘giving in’ a little, I ended up cancelling The “Sunday Ticket,” & went strictly REDZONE. Though, just like with everything else, GREED eventually RUINED-IT, too!!!! When the Hanson brother was doing it without ANY commercials… You couldn’t BEAT IT.
April 5th, 2026 at 4:18 am
So, in other words… “I” WAS the RedZone Channel, before the actual RedZone Channel even existed. Hahah
April 5th, 2026 at 4:27 am
I would NEVER ‘use it’ for College tho!!!! That’s when I revert back to my remote control SKILLS. The NFL doesn’t mean sh!t to me as far as the other teams go. 💯 Couldn’t care less. College is another story. I want to see the cheerleaders, all the hot girls in the stands, & I want to hear the bands, & see and hear the stadiums, & etc. I DVR all the games and NEVER watch a single commercial ONE, for over 12+HOURS on EVERY Saturday!!!! THE NFL has NONE of that, or is even anywhere CLOSE. It just cannot be duplicated. The game of COLLEGE Football.
April 5th, 2026 at 6:51 am
You know, even WITH all those picks, we’d have gone 9-7 with a normal kicker
April 5th, 2026 at 7:11 am
The more LVD talks the more I understand why the Lost Decade happened.
Maybe you SHOULD have been pissed off at JayMiss #54.
April 5th, 2026 at 7:39 am
More from the LaVonte Chronicles hahaha
April 5th, 2026 at 8:22 am
LOL BA was pissed about it Mr David. The D at times was gassed because of it sir. Rule number one for elite NFL QBs? Don’t turn the ball over! Two excerpts now of giving passes to an @$$ hat QB.
Agree 100% about Red Zone crap Joe. I may have watched a grand total of 3 minutes of it. Just a big nothing burger to me. When they interrupt the game I …AM…watching with it? I tend to look for something to throw!
Go Bucs!