Marvin Lewis Is A Bitter Bucs Basher

October 6th, 2010

How bout those Bucs massively overpaying for a free agent!

Who knew?

Apparently, during his conference call with Bucs beat writers today, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis cried about the Bucs flashing fat cash and signing a rookie sixth-round pick he released but planned to put on the Bengals’ practice squad, so documented Anwar Richardson, of The Tampa Tribune.

The player in question, wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe, was offered about 3 1/2 times the minimum practice squad pay after he was cut by Cincinnati and jumped to the Bucs, reports Richardson.

Instead, Tampa Bay signed Briscoe and offered him a contract worth the rookie minimum salary, which is $325,000. Practice squad players typically are paid $5,200 per week, roughly $90,000 for all 17 weeks, but Tampa Bay exercised its option to go above and beyond to obtain Briscoe.

Lewis was not happy by Tampa Bay’s contract offer to Briscoe.

“He was in camp for us, but when you overpay a guy on the practice squad, you create a problem in the system for teams,” Lewis said. “I don’t know that teams want to set the precedent and they did with Dezmon.”

Lewis moans and groans even more. You’ll have to read Richardson’s story.

This bitching by Lewis is ludicrous. He cut Briscoe. And when rookies are cut, their agents (at least the good ones) are pouncing on every possible offer and trying to find the best potential spot for their clients.

Surely, the Bucs were a preferred desitination for a young receiver like Briscoe, given Tampa Bay’s interest in young players and it’s extremely inexperienced receiving corps.

Luring potential practice squad guys with extra money is standard practice, despite the way Lewis shamefully whines about it. Last year, Bucs quarterback Rudy Carpenter personally told Joe that the Cowboys offered him a big raise to stay on their practice squad, but he jumped to the Bucs because he thought had a real shot of making the roster here. And it turns out he did.

Just a hunch, but Joe suspects that somehow Lewis’ bitterness towards the Bucs front office is related to Antonio Bryant and the costly medical debacle that he was for the Bengals.

Joe hopes Lewis is a sore loser again on Sunday.

41 Responses to “Marvin Lewis Is A Bitter Bucs Basher”

  1. tj Says:

    Maybe he bitter he did not get the bucs job in 01 and the ab thing

  2. bucfanjeff Says:

    Let’s win and put it all to rest.

  3. Pete Dutcher Says:

    If the kid is that good, I want to actually see Dezmon Briscoe play a little. Is it possible the Bucs could have 4 great WRs on the rost by years end?

    Interesting.

  4. Pete Dutcher Says:

    I suppose this is as good a place as any to make my prediction. I’m calling this week a win for the Bucs…and we’ll owe most of it to the defense, who will step up, anxious to prove they are better than what we all witnessed last week.

    T.O. will be upset…Ocho will want out of town on the first plane, and Lewis will wish he was coaching the Bucs.

  5. Mike Williams for MVP Says:

    Is he really serious…he’s playing on the practice squad trying to work his way to earning a helmet to wear on game day. Its his fault that he cut him, its a business in the end! Just look at what happen with the Raven when the lost out on Trevor Price. Sound like he’s making excuses already just in case he takes an L this weekend.

  6. pete I Says:

    Oh well… I am not sorry he did not get the job in 2001. He has not shown that he can make the calls to get a team to the promised land. Even with a “good” offense. All that O talent over the years and a pedestrian 58-57-1 record as Cincy coach.

    Chances are he would not have led the Bucs to glory in 2002 and Gruden could at least do 500 ball.

  7. New Era Bucs Says:

    This was won of the funniest stories I’ve read in a while.Great stuff! This definitely made my day.

  8. RahDomDaBest Says:

    Lewis is confused how the Bucs passed on him YET HIRED RAHEEM MORRIS!!!

    As is everyone else.

    I would take Lewis all day over Raheem.

  9. BamBamBuc Says:

    If Lewis wanted to keep Briscoe, he could have kept him on the 53 man roster. He was probably signed to the league minimum anyway. They took a chance and they lost. Now he’s with the Bucs, and Lewis isn’t happy. Just like the Titans wanted to keep Blount.

    Funny thing is, when you look at it, when you have guys like Stroughter (7th round), Williams (4th round), Grimm (7th round), Biggers (7th round) all playing each week, and many more that are still on rookie contracts or RFA tender offers…. there’s a reason the payroll is the lowest in the league. How many were undrafted? They usually sign league minimum just to play. 3rd and 4th round draft choices don’t get signed to mega-million dollar contracts until they finish their initial contract and prove themselves. We’ve got guys like Black and Hayes, Kyle Moore… all playing for minimal salaries at this point. Caddy & Ruud playing on RFA tenders. For us to keep these guys, the team salaries will have to go up significantly, when that time comes.

  10. King Says:

    He wasn’t up for the job when Raheem was hired Rahdum. He interviewed for the job when the Glazers let Dungy go and they traded for Gruden instead.

  11. thegregwitul Says:

    RahdomDaBest: Lewis was set to be hired by Rich McKay and the Glazers decided they wanted to go in a different direction (offense) as opposed to bringing in another defensive coach. The coach Tampa ‘traded’ for was Jon Gruden and I’m hoping you know how the story goes from that point forward. Raheem would have been 27 or 28 years old at the time, and I think he was a part of Monte’s staff, but if you insist on mocking the current coach, get the facts straight.

  12. thegregwitul Says:

    BamBam: I agree regarding the infusion of youth over the last two years. I shake my head anytime I read/listen to the Glazer bashing. Say what you will about their play for Man U, but I’ll become a concerned fan when we start losing our young talent to free agency. Josh Freeman, Mike Williams, Aqib Talib, heck, most of the team is young and the plan is to have them grow together. The Bucs will discover some gems and potential steals and I’m sure they’ll deal with a bust or two, but once these guys become unrestricted, we’ll see how serious the Glazers are about winning. I believe they will step up and lock up key players long term. I think we’ll see a much different approach as soon as the labor issue is resolved, and this team will be all the better for being patient.

  13. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    @RahDom,

    I’d take a severe case of gonorrhea over having to read any more of your worthless comments.

  14. RahDomDaBest Says:

    A history lesson? Don’t you think that just by me mentioning that subject would prove that even I knew what happened? The only way to know about it was to live through it. You can’t find stuff like that on Wikipedia.

    The fact is it happened. And that means Lewis hasn’t forgotten about it.

    And all things considered, he most likely isn’t a huge Glazer fan as a result.

    Funny thing is, the Super Bowl winning coach got fired, and Lewis still has his job. The Glazers could have hired Lewis AND still got to keep all those draft picks.

    So Lewis looks at the whole picture and probably laughs… laughs just how DUMB the Glazer Brats really are.

  15. gitarlvr Says:

    Don’t anyone play a board game with Marvin Lewis, he might swipe all the pieces off the board and run home crying if you beat him.

  16. passthebuc Says:

    to the gregwitulsays:
    insightful comment. I agree. In the past we have given big fat contracts to John Guru’s future hull of flamers and got nothing in return. everyones comments at that time was why not build from ground up. Now that we are building via the draft, I hear nothing but complaints about the Glazers and our coach. I say give them the time they need to develop a long term philosophy.

  17. FIRE GREG OLSON! Says:

    RahDomDaBest is a F*****G MORON.

    Yeah I’m sure the Glazers look stupid with their Super Bowl Ring. STFU. You have no clue how to even frame an argument.

  18. RahDomDaBest Says:

    But couldn’t have Lewis won that Super Bowl with Dungy’s team too???

  19. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    @Rah,

    So you want Lewis over Raheem? Then don’t you ever complain (or blame Raheem) about us having a player get suspended or arrested! They have had 21 arrests since 2005 (32 since 2000), including 10 in one season. Go ahead and defend that. He is a career 500 coach with the same number of playoff wins as Raheem. In 8 seasons he has posted 2 winning seasons, the first of which took him 3 years to accomplish (not to mention having a tremendous amount of talent). But it’s funny how it’s okay to be patient with him, but God forbid give Raheem 2 seasons. I challenge you to defend yourself, but I have a feeling you’ll go back into your hole until the next article you can spin in a negative light.

  20. eric Says:

    One thing if we had hired Lewis, no draft choices would have been sacrificed. Just food for thought.

  21. RahDomDaBest Says:

    Lewis speaks English. Lewis is actually a pretty good coach.

    When Raheem Morris gets to a .500 career winning percentage than lets bring Raheem into the Lewis Gruden Dungy conversation, mkay?

  22. RahDomDaBest Says:

    5-15… I don’t think Raheem will ever be .500 career. Sorry ladies.

  23. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    @Rah
    Yeah, so a first time head coach would have come in and taken over a veteran team and lead them where Dungy couldn’t. Also, did you just call it Dungy’s team? So are you saying Gruden won with Dungy’s team? Hmmmmmm, open mouth – insert foot please. Does it take a lot of work to be as stupid as you are or does it just come naturally?

  24. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    @Rah (again),

    Generally when you make an argument, you have facts to support your opinions. Sorry, but “I don’t think Raheem will ever be .500 career” is not a fact. Jimmy Johnson went 1-15 his first year and looked like a moron in the process. How’d that work out for Dallas? Don’t give me that crap about him already being a great coach because he came from college and college coaches are almost never successful in the NFL. “Lewis is a pretty good coach” is not a fact, what is your basis? What about the arrests, is that okay with you? Would you be happy with 8 years of the same coach, only 2 winning seasons, and no playoff wins? Something tells me not. You are blinded by your love of Gruden, you should really seek help for that.

  25. McBuc Says:

    Rahdom…Your statements above show why no one lets you make decisions regarding their football team. Most first time coaches have a losing season or two, but we have gone down that road before. If I name a few you will say that Morris should not be mentioned with them, but at one point in time yahoos like you were saying the same thing about the legends. Now, I am not saying Morris will be a great coach one day, but he is the coach of my team and I will root for him to win…just like I did since McKay was coaching. Morris speaks English just fine, try listening to his p[presser instead of regurgitating what you hear from others.

  26. McBuc Says:

    Hiring Lewis made no sense when we had Dungy. When they fiorst anounced it it made no sense. the Glazers stepped in and hired Gruden, and thank god they did. Gruden gave us just enough offense to pull it off. Remember how we really poored it on during the playoffs that year?

  27. New Era Bucs Says:

    Wow this RahDomthe best chick sure something else. Pretty sure the reason Steve White does not write here anymore is because of your ignorance and laughable posts. Get a life

  28. jesse j Says:

    there is no way this rahdomdouche is serious about anything he says. He really cant beleive the nonsense he spews. NO WAY! He has to be some unemployed panthers fan living in his moms basement with nothing better to do. RahDom, dude, get a life!!!!

  29. jesse j Says:

    eric says: One thing if we had hired Lewis, no draft choices would have been sacrificed. Just food for thought.

    C’mon, really? you made my brain throw up! Lewis has NEVER won a playoff game in 8 seasons. Stop it please.

  30. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    Very well said McBuc. Funny how he now goes into hiding now. I have a funny feeling he’ll be back.

  31. RahDomDaBest Says:

    Wow the venom.

    If any of you had a brain you would understand sarcasm when it is used. You would understand that you are the ones reacting in disgust at my piercing comments to your illogical support for Raheem.

    But anyway, I was using your “He won it with Dungy’s team” position against you tools and you AGAIN failed to see it. If the great Satan won it with Dungy’s team, then Marvin Lewis would have won it with Dungy’s team right? Right???

    LMAO!!!

    Then somebody said, wahhh, Lewis is only a .500 coach.

    Raheem is 5-15, not even close to .500. The dude needs to win 10 straight to be .500. Even if he won 2 for ever 1 game lost, it would take him a while. Either of those 2 cases won’t happen with Raheem.

    Raheem can’t even hold Marvin Lewis’ clip board much less his playbook.

    What surprises me is that you clowns defend Raheem Morris like he is automatically an NFL coach… forget classifying him as a good to decent coach… you guys think he actually has the aptitude to even BE an NFL coach.

    The Glazer’s have made the fanbase suffer through last years disaster. And then they set us up for yet another disaster this year. Watch and make excuses while Raheem runs this ship into the ground in year 2.

    I’ll leave it as that, you goofballs…….

  32. eric Says:

    I hope Rah doesn’t decide not to rush the passer this week…………..

  33. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    Rah,
    Sarcasm, yeah sure buddy, whatever. Who died and made you the judge of aptitude? It takes a special kind of asshole to wish disaster for someone who you don’t even know. You, my friend, are the most special of all.

  34. BigMacAttack Says:

    Lewis stands for everything that is Mediocrity. He will be out of the league before he comes close to winning a Championship.

    Raheem, like the majority of players on his team is ascending. That is a good thing and Rah stated it very well, devoid of himself, but he is too.

    Raheem is 5-14, and they must have fired the KKK math teacher. The time for bashing Raheem clearly is not now. He is still making mistakes, but they are fewer and farther in between. There are a number of lousy teams this year and the Bucs just aren’t one of them.

  35. Dave W. Says:

    “Raheem is 5-14, and they must have fired the KKK math teacher.”

    LMAO!

  36. AriToldMeTo Says:

     ”That’s a first,” Morris said in his post-practice press conference.

    “I’m really not concerned about Marvin Lewis’ comments about how we run our organization,” Morris continued. “It’s a credit to our management and our ownership, in what we want to do and how we want to go get them. I heard that comment. That’s Marvin’s opinion. Good for Marvin.”‘

    http://bucshots.blogs.heraldtribune.com/16125/lewis-chastises-bucs-over-practice-squad-player/?pa=all&tc=pgall

  37. Eric S Says:

    I am sure Marvin is still sore he didn’t get the job in 2002. Why people say 2001 is beyond me. I don’t think Marvin would have taken the Bucs to the promise land. He has shown to me that he is a mediocre head coach. I didn’t know the news about Steve White. That’s too bad.

  38. McBuc Says:

    Rah, why do you think Mossir supporters all hate Gruden? I am a huge fan of Gruden. Why do all Gruden supporters have to hate Dungy, I am also a huge fan of Dungy. How do you know that Morris will not be at least a .500 coach? Based on his first year as a head coach? Do you remember Billickeck coaching in Cleveland, or maybe you were not born yet. How about the Tuna in NY, you surely were not born at that point. How about Jimmy Johnson in Dallas, oops, you still were not born. The list goes on. We could pull up even more coaches that had bad starts and never made it, as well as coaches that had great starts and never made it. There really is no way to predict it. The way they are building the team is the right way. When you are in your 10th grade PE class, ask you coach…maybe he can spread some light for you.

  39. Capt.Tim Says:

    Yeah, it was obvious in one post that RahDom’s extremely racist remarks offended Mr.White. He asked Joe ” how much of this does it take?”. This was just before he announced he was not posting here any longer. I don’t know if those 2 events were connected. If That idiot RahDom in any way contributed to the loss of Steve White, we should have him cremated. Steve White’ s articles were excellent. And no one gives two s*^ts about that simple minded racist RahDom. He’s a waste of the air he breathes.

  40. McBuc Says:

    Capt…I doubt Rahdom’s statements had anyting to do with Steve moving the column to his blog site. I think he just wants to move his stuff “in house” so to speak. I am sure this site helped his blog pick up a bunch of readers. Anyway, Steve is too smart and too big of a man to be run off by a 10th grade jack arse like Rahdom.

  41. BigMacAttack Says:

    Yeah and his 10’th grade Coach played for Cleveland under Belichick.