Pewter And Read for June 18th, 2013: Buccaneers Getting No Respect Around the Web
By Leo Howell
The Pewter and Read has more Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ news and opinions for you. Ready for another edition? Here we go…
- We’ll start with a couple of articles that come across as a bit negative about the Buccaneers. The first comes courtesy of NFL Spin Zone, a sister site to The Pewter Plank that covers the NFL in general. They did a “very early” version of “In or Out” for the NFC in regards to the playoff picture, and they have the Buccaneers on the outside looking in. The main reason cited is the play of Josh Freeman, in which the author obviously does not have much faith. I think most Bucs’ fans agree with that sentiment. but there is certainly a scenario in which Josh Freeman does about as well as he did in 2012, and the Buccaneers still make the playoffs. How well they do once they reach the playoffs is the concern in that scenario.
- The next article is a bit more inflammatory. Bleacher Report’s Michael Schottey put together power rankings of every NFL team’s roster at the midpoint of the offseason, and ranked the Buccaneers 23rd, behind the Lions, Chargers, and Dolphins, just to name a few. He claims that the Buccaneers should have a good team on paper, but then ranks them in the bottom 10 in the NFL. I take issue with the Buccaneers being behind the Chargers, who don’t have a position on the field where they can claim a clear advantage over the Buccaneers. I also take issue with the idea that the Lions are better, as they simply have more top-end talent with Megatron and Suh providing elite talent at their respective positions. And if Josh Freeman is the reason the Buccaneers are ranked so low, they should at least be ahead of the Ryan Tannehill led Dolphins! I feel like the Buccaneers still have a lot to prove, but I am sure no one minds being the underdog heading into 2013.
- Ever wonder how much a number is worth? Darrelle Revis proved it can be worth quite a bit of money. The former Jet wanted to keep his usual jersey number of 24, which was held by Mark Barron in Tampa Bay, so he reportedly paid the Alabama product $50,000 for the jersey number, according to Yahoo! Sports. Barron is not the most well paid player on the Buccaneer defense by any means, so this kind of paycheck was definitely a strong incentive to relinquish the number to the All-Pro newcomer. As for Revis, the 50k is a drop in the ocean compared to the 16 million dollars he’ll make every year in Tampa, not to mention the off-the-field revenue streams for endorsements and product lines he puts his name behind.
- And for some news that will hopefully turn out to be positive, new defensive backs coach Tony Oden took some time for an interview with Pewter Report, and had an interesting comment about the Bucs’ defense in 2013, especially as it pertains to his DB’s and the impact they can have on the front seven’s ability to get after the quarterback. Go check it out and get to know a bit about the thought process behind the Bucs’ new coach who gets to work with Darrelle Revis and company this season.
That’s it for today. Stop back tomorrow for another batch of Bucs’ news and notes!