Great Player; Brutal Team
November 1st, 2025
Remembering a great season.
Sometimes the way Joe and fellow fans bang away on keyboards complaining about Bucs subjects (partly because the Bucs are this-close to making a major postseason splash) it’s impossible to see the forest for the trees.
We are living in one of the two golden ages of Bucs football.
The late 90s/early aughts were the first Super Bowl era. This decade is the second Super Bowl era.
Those two periods sandwiched the horror show known as The Lost Decade, which was so bad it even swallowed good players.
Take Lavonte David. His 2013 season was spectacular. But it was all washed away from people’s memories because of the Bucs going 4-12, firing then-Bucs commander Greg Schiano and replacing him with lousy Lovie Smith.
Joe still gets the shivers remembering those days.
Over at BSPN, friend of Joe, Aaron Schatz, the developer of DVOA and the former ringleader of Football Outsiders (RIP) typed a column on really good players with spectacular seasons on terrible teams.
David and the 2013 Bucs made Schatz’s list (Joe isn’t surprised; Schatz may be David’s biggest cheerleader in the national media).
David has played for much better Buccaneers teams, including the 2020 squad that won the Super Bowl. However, 2013 — when the team finished 4-12 — was the only time he was a first-team All-Pro.
David had five interceptions, seven sacks and 13 quarterback hits. I keep track of a stat called defeats, which combines turnovers, tackles for loss and plays to prevent a conversion on third or fourth down. David had 52 of them in 2013, the second-highest total since at least 1989, behind only J.J. Watt’s 2012 season in Houston.
Schatz regularly takes to Twitter or his podcast and moans how people don’t consider or even think of David as one of the all-time greats.
Schatz has even written that he has offered, free of charge, to make David’s presentation to the Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors — if David ever makes it that far. He should. Someday. (Attention, Ira!)
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November 1st, 2025 at 9:19 am
Lavonte is that man!
November 1st, 2025 at 9:19 am
You’d want a rep like him to defend and promote David. He understands why David is not getting the recognition but has the passion to get hin the Hall of fame.
November 1st, 2025 at 9:20 am
You go Ira!
November 1st, 2025 at 9:31 am
Yes Joe, it is clear David is the victim of the lost decade. Incredible player not only do stats show, but if you were one of the few to watch Bucs games at that time, David stood out. One could argue due to his incredible play on such a bad team it makes him an even better candidate. It is hard to play that good on a team that is so bad!!!.
November 1st, 2025 at 10:15 am
If David would’ve caught half of the interceptions that he dropped, his HOF nomination would be a no brainer.
November 1st, 2025 at 10:33 am
ya know, our all white modern unis are just so wack and make the players look like mr. rourke and tattoo from fantasy island…
but these creamsicle all whites certainly do hit differently…!
we always went with the more orange infused retros over the years, but these unis are bad azz…and def gotta stay sprinkled in when the team offers up the retro vibes every year…
it’s just a really good look
November 1st, 2025 at 10:40 am
That era was as lousy as the uniforms Nike trotted out during that time. CamelToes on the line Greggy, over the hill and stubborn Lovie Dovie…oof. David is this generations London Fletcher…great but a bit under the radar.
November 1st, 2025 at 10:52 am
Schatz could be the set-up man…Ira the closer. Ira is the Mariano Rivera of closers for Buc Hall of Fame candidates. Two 1st ballots, rightfully pushed Rondè thru and helped with the borderline Lynch case.
November 1st, 2025 at 10:56 am
You can bet your bottom dollar, LVD stood out. He also is a class act, off the field. Joe, you think The Lost Decade was a “horror show.” You should have been around during The Dark Ages!! It lasted longer than a decade! Bleh! LVD was also offered more $$ several times by other teams to join them. He said, nope. He and his family had settled here, and they liked the area. Where have we heard that one before? LOL. This fan firmly believes Mr. David will be enshrined in Canton. Derrick Brooks, move over for your fellow HOFamer LB. I’m glad he has his SB ring, too.
November 1st, 2025 at 11:00 am
Plus, I love the original unis and logo. They remind me of Florida, and always have. 🙂
November 1st, 2025 at 11:55 am
Unfortunately he has been overshadowed by LB’s in the same era.
November 1st, 2025 at 12:35 pm
It will be quite an Honor for the Sage to prepare a great presentation. No he is not letting anyone else do this job.
Thanks for sharing Joe.
David is the man!
November 1st, 2025 at 1:26 pm
Seems like he has been playing better this year in the last few games. Love to see a comparison in career stats to players in the hall already as well as Bobby Wagner and Fred Warner. That’s his main competition.
November 1st, 2025 at 2:58 pm
Yeah, it’s frustrating how hard he has been looked over and ignored throughout all of those baddddd seasons. It has really, kind of shocked me. Cause, I would’ve thought after being selected ‘so high’ up on the NFL’s Top Players Under 25 List, that he still would’ve continued to get a lot of ‘national’ attention. It’s just hard to figure… I mean, he continued to make several appearances on shows like Cowherd for awhile, too! Also, for awhile, the Bucs were usually a very popular preseason pick to win their division by the ‘national’ media (for a good 4yr stretch, given their roster talent, until the media finally just gave up on them and was tired of picking them). I suppose it’s just a lot harder to get promoted by the NFL, when being a Defensive-Player on a bad team. Especially, being in more of a mid-market like Tampa Bay, and not having a large ‘national’ following. If he had been in Dallas or Pittsburgh, he’d be a definite ‘first-ballot’ favorite. I thought if maybe, he could stick around for another two-seasons, then he could grab that ‘all-time’ tackles leader record, and then that would at least give his chances a huge boost in making the HOF, eventually! But, I believe that “Father-Time” is really starting to knock on his door now. It’s going to be tough. But, I believe that he can eventually ‘get-in’ with some help. He definitely, deserves-it. 💯
November 1st, 2025 at 3:02 pm
Seems-like, it was Bobby Wagner getting all of the accolades and then the “All-Pros” that went along with it, as being a part of that “Legion of Boom” Defense in Seattle.
November 1st, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Hope we win one for Lavonte. Such an underrated hall of fame career. Love watching him play.
November 1st, 2025 at 3:25 pm
Hope we win one for Lavonte. Such an underrated hall of fame career. Love watching him play.
November 1st, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Means more to me if gets a 2nd ring than the hall but if he or Mike gets into the HOF I will be there if able. I do turn 70 in less than a week.
November 1st, 2025 at 5:42 pm
Lavonte David is a slam dunk hall of famer. Should easily make it in his 1st 5 seasons. its really a travesty that he’s been snubbed of so many all pros/pro bowls because of s
November 1st, 2025 at 7:50 pm
LVD lets the play and numbers speak for themselves. He’s got just as good or better numbers than players in the HOF. Give the man his jacket. He deserves it more than most players. You ever heard of LVD in any trouble or starting any drama. NOPE. all he does is makes plays for 13 years. All while playing for a terrible team and never jumped ship.
November 1st, 2025 at 9:25 pm
Saw one of those videos the other day asking an ex NFL player to choose which linebacker he would keep compared to another. Obviously David got shat on quick and pretty much every other linebacker was better than David. I just hope David knows how much the Buc fans appreciate him and everything he’s done for this organization!! To have a guy like him fill Brooks shoes is damn impressive and he has always done it the right way!!! He may get slept on all the time, but the Tampa fans know how great he is and how lucky we’ve been!! It’s a very very small list of better linebackers than him! It’s been a blessing to watch David for this many years now and I’m doing everything I can to fly out to Tampa from Utah to watch most likely the only home game I’ll ever see in person just to see him play.
November 2nd, 2025 at 1:21 am
Lavonte would be at least a 10 time pro bowler and a 1st ballot HOF lock if he played for an nfc east team or a California team.