Any Offensive Leaders On The Team?

March 07, 2009 at 11:14pm by Scott   •  5 Comments »

Something I was thinking of the other day (you know, besides the normal stuff like ‘How do I adequately explain why this vacuum attachment is protruding from my pants?’) is how there is really no solid veteran leadership on the offense. We’ve got personalities like Antonio Bryant, Jerramy Stevens and Kellen Winslow on the same team and a young and inexperienced quarterback that is going to have to deal with all their demands for the ball — not to mention any additional bullshit they may stir up. Granted, Bryant and Stevens have been great teammates since they’ve been in Tampa, but they also had a strong offensive personality like Jon Gruden kicking their asses every time they might have thought about being assholes. And if they wouldn’t listen to Gruden, they had Jeff Garcia, Warrick Dunn and Ike Hilliard in strong leadership roles on the field. Will Bryant and Stevens continue to be model citizens in the locker room, or will they revert back to their pre-Buccaneer jackassery, especially with a child like Winslow perhaps playing the role of the rotten apple?

Who could possibly be the guy on offense to maintain order? Davin Joseph comes to mind. He’s a team captain, plus he’s also the most physically imposing figure on the team — not an unimportant characteristic of a peacekeeper. Jeff Faine, as the best player on the offensive line, has earned a certain amount of leadership responsibilities by virtue of his play. And, well, that’s about it. At least that’s all of the guys who have demonstrated a level of leadership so far on the offensive side. Is that enough to keep three potentially unstable egos in check for an entire year?

I’m banking on the fact that Bryant and Stevens have grown up, will continue their positive ways into the new season, and not be affected by whatever nonsense Winslow is going to bring to the table. And between Joseph and Faine, he’ll be kept in check. God, I hope that’s the way it happens. Chris Hovan is the new head guy on defense and he’s going to have his hands full with the new free agents (assuming they sign any) and defensive rookies (oh, they better be planning a defensive frat party for the draft) and won’t be able to spread himself thin enough to cover the whole team. The leadership/chemistry angle is going to be an interesting one during training camp.

Programming Note: Due to some weird circumstances around here, there will probably not be an entry on Monday. Then, depending on other stuff, I will either be out of pocket for a couple more days, or I’ll have so much damn time on my hands that I’ll be constantly writing and refreshing this site to check for new comments (please, LOVE ME!!) You know what I need? An unpaid part-time intern. Who wears short skirts. And doesn’t mind constantly picking up pencils that I mysteriously drop behind my desk. Or, lacking that, someone who doesn’t mind posting an entry from time to time when I’m not available. If you’re interested in the former position, send a picture or movie with you and a banana and/or an ice cream cone. If the latter, find a football story and write a short entry on it. Any style or angle is fine, as long as it’s compelling, mesmerising, a tour de force! I’ll look them over and possibly post them for the public to vote on. Use the contact link at the top-right for my email address. Get to it boys and girls.