OT: Official 2021 Tompa Bay Gronkaneers Thread

[Deus Irae]

Yeah lots of good looking QBs this year.

I look at this list and I can see Mac developing into a Cousins, Mayfield, Wentz, Tannehill type QB. Their teams are happy with a middle of the road QB. However, it might be tough for some Pat's fans after being spoiled with a top 3 QB for the better part of 20 years.

I compared Manning and Brady for many years and one thing no one talks about is why Manning looks like crap come playoff time while Brady still slices top defences. Manning matches up well to Brady except he has a longer release time and his short passes are slow compared to Brady's lasers. The split second slower allows a top defence just enough time to break up the pass.
Mac maybe accurate on his short/mid passes but they are slow like Mannings.

The top 10 QB have special attributes going for them. Unfortunately, I don't see it in Mac. I am hopeful he'll develop into a top 15 but yeah, I'm almost certain top 10 is out of the question. Pat's didn't put a serious effort to trying to keep a top 3 QB, so they shouldn't really complain anyways.

I don't look at Jones and immediately see Brady, like some might. I do, though, see a guy who can certainly improve his arm strength. And that's what I'm going to wait on before declaring any kind of ceiling on the kid. If Jones were a maxed out muscle guy (Hello, Vernon Gholston!), I'd have been adamantly against the pick, and the player. But he's not, and that's good. This is one of those cases where a guy having a bit of a dad bod upon entering the NFL is a good thing, because it means there's a good amount of improvement to be made, at least potentially.

 

[RicoG]

After last weeks game against the Eagles,

Antonio Brown moves up 2 spot to 25th in all time receiving yards with 12164. There's a big jump though to get to top 20 with Jason Witten at 13046.

AB now has 83TD moving him up from 26th to tied for 23rd. If he keeps getting a lot of targets, he'll be approaching Gronks TD numbers who has 90.

With just 27 yards, Mike Evan's jumps 4 spots and past Gronk to 79th all time with 8686 yards.

 

[amfootball]

I don't look at Jones and immediately see Brady, like some might. I do, though, see a guy who can certainly improve his arm strength. And that's what I'm going to wait on before declaring any kind of ceiling on the kid. If Jones were a maxed out muscle guy (Hello, Vernon Gholston!), I'd have been adamantly against the pick, and the player. But he's not, and that's good. This is one of those cases where a guy having a bit of a dad bod upon entering the NFL is a good thing, because it means there's a good amount of improvement to be made, at least potentially.

I am wondering what his arm will look like when the weather turns cold.

 

[RicoG]

Another interesting nugget that I'm surprised has not been written about. Bucs have 3 of the top 6 TD leaders among active players.

Gronk with 90
Ab with 83
Jimmy Graham with 82 (surprised that he's still around)
AJ Green 68
Hopkins 66
Evan's 65
Devante Adam's 64
Julio Jones 60
DeSean Jackson 57

If Jimmy Graham retires and Evan's continues to be a TD machine, the Bucs could have the top 3 TD leaders in 2022.

 

[sb1]

The top 10 QB have special attributes going for them. Unfortunately, I don't see it in Mac. I am hopeful he'll develop into a top 15 but yeah, I'm almost certain top 10 is out of the question. Pat's didn't put a serious effort to trying to keep a top 3 QB, so they shouldn't really complain anyways.

Right now I see a future Alex Smith in Mac. Or maybe Kirk Cousins.

That doesn't have to be a bad thing. Smith was a really good QB when he has a good team around him. Remember he kicked the tar out of the Brady Pats - twice. Having a Smith clone though means the margin for error for BB or whoever our next GM might be is much smaller than it was with Brady.

If the Pats wanted to do better than Mac then Lawrence was the guy to get but we had no shot at him.

 

[sb1]

I'm glad we didn't move up for Fields.

Maybe it's just me but I don't see the playmaking ability with his legs that he was advertised to have. Might explain the sacks. Going to be a long day for him with that Bucs pass rush.

Buccaneers must exploit Justin Fields in matchup with Bears

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers must exploit the inexperience of Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields to win on Sunday afternoon.

thepewterplank.com

 

[Tottie]

Right now I see a future Alex Smith in Mac. Or maybe Kirk Cousins.

That doesn't have to be a bad thing. Smith was a really good QB when he has a good team around him. Remember he kicked the tar out of the Brady Pats - twice. Having a Smith clone though means the margin for error for BB or whoever our next GM might be is much smaller than it was with Brady.

If the Pats wanted to do better than Mac then Lawrence was the guy to get but we had no shot at him.

Both Smith and Cousins would be a tremendous result for us. Not saying Mac can't do it because he can and maybe even be better. He has alot going for him but he needs to improve on pocket movement and anything over 15 yards looks like it wants to dive to the ground sort of like old Manning. He's so accurate though and has anticipation. The problem is many people think BB will make up the rest and that simply isn't how it works.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Approximate AAV Averages. Top four WR/TEs…rookie deals don’t count.

J. Smith (12.5M)
H. Henry (12.5M)
N. Agholor (12M)
K. Bourne (5M)
Total: 42M

M. Evans (16.5M)
C. Godwin (16M)
R. Gronkowski (8M)
A. Brown (3M)
Total: 43.5M

 

[Tottie]

Approximate AAV Averages. Top four WR/TEs…rookie deals don’t count.

J. Smith (12.5M)
H. Henry (12.5M)
N. Agholor (12M)
K. Bourne (5M)
Total: 42M

M. Evans (16.5M)
C. Godwin (16M)
R. Gronkowski (8M)
A. Brown (3M)
Total: 43.5M

You should do a team that doesn't have Brady since 2 of those deals are because of him. I wonder what the Chiefs, Packers, Bills, Cowboys look like.

 

[skinnydog]

You should do a team that doesn't have Brady since 2 of those deals are because of him. I wonder what the Chiefs, Packers, Bills, Cowboys look like.

I'm not sure about that. AB's issues have held him back in terms of $. Gronk, with his injury history, is probably not getting more than that from another team.

 

[gobesmug]

Yeah lots of good looking QBs this year.

I look at this list and I can see Mac developing into a Cousins, Mayfield, Wentz, Tannehill type QB. Their teams are happy with a middle of the road QB. However, it might be tough for some Pat's fans after being spoiled with a top 3 QB for the better part of 20 years.

I compared Manning and Brady for many years and one thing no one talks about is why Manning looks like crap come playoff time while Brady still slices top defences. Manning matches up well to Brady except he has a longer release time and his short passes are slow compared to Brady's lasers. The split second slower allows a top defence just enough time to break up the pass.
Mac maybe accurate on his short/mid passes but they are slow like Mannings.

The top 10 QB have special attributes going for them. Unfortunately, I don't see it in Mac. I am hopeful he'll develop into a top 15 but yeah, I'm almost certain top 10 is out of the question. Pat's didn't put a serious effort to trying to keep a top 3 QB, so they shouldn't really complain anyways.

It's an interesting idea on the slower release angle with Manning.

I think the biggest factor with Manning is psychological. He shredded the Pats in the regular season but fell short in the playoffs.

It's like Peyton was so obsessed with being considered the best that he felt insecure about making a mistake in the playoffs that would hurt his image.

His best performance in the playoffs was the second half against the Pats. After being down so much at halftime he must have finally felt like whatever I can't hurt my legacy and player loose.

 

[Deus Irae]

Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski did some running before practice Thursday with Roger Kingdom and trainer Bobby Slater. OJ Howard is practicing. Didn’t see Antonio Brown, Jason Pierre-Paul or Lavonte David during portion open to media.

Antoine Winfield Jr. is in pads and back for a second full day of practice. Will update where he is in concussion protocol later but this is a huge sign.

For the second day at practice, no detectable tape on Tom Brady’s throwing hand/thumb.

 

[Deus Irae]

Tom Brady has done some work outside the pocket this season, whether running for a few first downs or making a throw or two on the move. OC Byron Leftwich says Brady feels better but “it scares the hell out of me.”

 

[Deus Irae]

Bucs have more yards on pass interference penalties (204) than the Steelers, Texans, Seahawks, Chiefs, Dolphins, Cowboys, Cardinals, Bears, Giants and Eagles combined. Can they make those flags go away like they did last year?

Returns from injury should help with this one.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Returns from injury should help with this one.

Remember last year’s conspiracy theory because they were drawing way more PI calls than other teams?

 

[RicoG]

Approximate AAV Averages. Top four WR/TEs…rookie deals don’t count.

J. Smith (12.5M)
H. Henry (12.5M)
N. Agholor (12M)
K. Bourne (5M)
Total: 42M

M. Evans (16.5M)
C. Godwin (16M)
R. Gronkowski (8M)
A. Brown (3M)
Total: 43.5M

The bargains are really outplaying their contract, but really AB is likely going to make 6 million total as he has 3 million incentives that he will mostly meet.
He has a million in per game bonuses.
2 million in performance bonuses. He is already almost there with TDs when he gets 5 and again for 7.

He is on pace for 1300 yards and 13TD if he plays every single game the rest of the way. Wonder if the Bucs would double his contract and incentives to 12 million/year and make it for 2 years. Would it be enough to keep him?

 

[Tottie]

Remember last year’s conspiracy theory because they were drawing way more PI calls than other teams?

It doesn't get talked about if it's in Brady's favor. Remember the Eagles superbowl when they changed the review rules that gave the Eagles RB a TD at the back of the end zone? Not a single 'reporter' talked about that. What about Dee Ford being offsides? No one talked about the KC fumble wiped away by the biggest garbage holding call on Jackson right before that. Literally never heard anyone talk about it. If the bears this weekend are missing their second best pass rusher due to COVID and the D gets slaughtered....you get the point. Maybe not the Bears because no one cares but that's just how it is.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

It doesn't get talked about if it's in Brady's favor. Remember the Eagles superbowl when they changed the review rules that gave the Eagles RB a TD at the back of the end zone? Not a single 'reporter' talked about that. What about Dee Ford being offsides? No one talked about the KC fumble wiped away by the biggest garbage holding call on Jackson right before that. Literally never heard anyone talk about it. If the bears this weekend are missing their second best pass rusher due to COVID and the D gets slaughtered....you get the point. Maybe not the Bears because no one cares but that's just how it is.

Same type of dumb stuff as the homers on this forum…selection bias.

 

[Tottie]

Same type of dumb stuff as the homers on this forum…selection bias.

It goes on and on going decades back with Manning too. Remember the 2015 AFC Championship game where we had to go to Denver with some guy off the street at RB and missing starters everywhere and barely lost by a missed extra point? Mahomes would lose that game by 2 scores and all that would be talked about is the injuries. People expect Brady to win no matter what. No matter injuries or who he plays with or where the game is. If he misses a throw or gets a call it's rigged.

 

[RicoG]

Remember last year’s conspiracy theory because they were drawing way more PI calls than other teams?

It's frustrating, but that's how the NFL is. Over the course of a year, you get a sense on which team and/or QB are the NFL head office/media favorites and favorable calls go their way. Sometimes it's certain reffing crews favoring certain teams.

Pats are a good sample size to look at. The years they won the SB, they generally had some favorable calls they needed along the way. The years they lost, the opposite.

As was pointed above, the Eagles SB had loads of example. Even at the last hail mary pass, there were 2 egregious offensive interference penalties. Gronk was held down and couldn't even jump for the ball. The reason Gronk was alone at the end zone was that Hogan was blindsided and slammed out of the play as he was running in the middle of the field toward the end zone.

The calls were clearly going against the Pat's. The only way they could have won was by outplaying the Eagles by a significant margin. Which they could have if they weren't busy shooting themselves in the foot,.. Butler comes to mind.