Bucs add more quarterbacks for camp

I picked up a young man at a hotel and took him to One Buc Place. He said last year he was the third string QB for Jacksonville and he did not throw a pass all season. He should be a "camp body" this summer.

I looked it up and that would be Ricky Stanzi. He's a good looking kid in great shape. Why not give him a look see.

The Bucs must have been waiting for him because security had him on the guest list. I dropped him off and he went inside. Got to wish him all the luck in the world.

The image is One Buc Place in the side view mirror.

Jerry Smith Redskins TE was gay

Jerry Smith made football history in the 1970s when, as a player for the Washington Redskins, he caught more touchdowns than any other tight end in NFL history. But Smith is probably better known for being a closeted homosexual and succumbing to AIDS in 1986 at only 43 years old.

I am an amateur historian of the AFL/NFL circa 1961 - 1973 which was the pre-VCR era. This time period was the formation of the AFL and the Superbowl before tape recorder ability. Many of the networks have lost the tapes of championship games and much has vanished from history. One player was Jerry Smith.

In the Redskins Dolphins superbowl Smith was open in the endzone with seconds left but Billy Kilmers pass hit the crossbar resulting in a Miami victory. The following year the goal post were moved to the back of the endzone. Washington may have won if not for that

Tony Dungy and a lost blog

I have had a popular blog Tampa Taxi Shots since 2005. That may be coming to an end.
I have thr service througj Typepad and keep billing me every month and I just can't afford it. Blogger is free and it is owned by Google. So why should I run up a $300 bill that I cannot pay.
I have been taking down many of the photos that I want. The photo of Tony Dungy taken at the university of Tampa during his last training camp as coach of the buccaneers means a lot to me. This was taken with film.

Morris Claiborne scored a 4 on the wonderlic test and may have a learning disability

LSU CB draft prospect scored the lowest ever for a high prospect. A former coach said the kid has a learning disorder that affects his reading ability.

Considering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are considering taking him in the fifth pick, Should this be a problem. All the signs say no.

In the 3 day mini camp underway by the Bucs, they are using 37 year old Rondie Barber at safety, and rumors that Aquib Talib is being shopped. The Bucs are very thin in the Defense of backfield.

I say they draft Claiborne over lead pants Trent Richardson from Alabama.

Anything can happen on draft day but I hope the Bucs take this kid. Our defense has been tourched in recent years and it needs the upgrade badly.

Is Gerald McCoy A Bust In Tampa Bay?

Gerald McCoy was the 3rd overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was projected to be a starter at defensive tackle from the fist game of the season. His performance has been less then what a top pick should produce.

That really is the problem. He has been OK. That is great for a walk on, unrestricted free agent or a 5th round pick. McCoy was one of the top picks and shows no real muscle in the middle. Season one was cut short by a bicep injury. He is healthy now and complaining about how hot it was by the third play of the Lions game last Sunday.

We have seen this before in Tampa with Eric Curry and Gains Adams. They were top picks with no upper body strength. Guys that cannot bench press can't move anyone out of the way. McCoy may just be too weak for this type of job.

I say, by the end of the year if he is not a dominating presence in the NFL, get rid of him. I know that sounds cruel. Life is cruel.

Race factors into evaluation of Gerhart - NFL Draft

Toby Gerhart has a problem. He is one the highest rated running backs in the NFL Draft this year. He has power, strength, speed, durablity, everything you would want in a feature back. The problem is he is white. Thats right - a white guy. The fact that he was runner up in the Heisman Trophy contest means little to the NFL talent scouts. It still means enough that he may go in the second round, just like Mike Allstot did. I know John Gruden would not like this kid. Gruden disliked any white athlete. Would you call this reverse racism?

"When NFL scouts look at Gerhart, they see a 6-foot, 231-pound power back who ran for 1,871 yards and 27 touchdowns last season, getting edged out by Alabama’s Mark Ingram in the closest Heisman vote in history. When they look at Gerhart’s numbers from the NFL scouting combine, they see that he ran a 4.50-second 40-yard dash and registered a 38-inch vertical leap, both impressive numbers for a player his size." Yahoo Sports

Gerhart says that when many scouts came over to watch him work out at the combine, they were not aware that he was white. After seeing his skin color, they lost interest. What? Have any of them ever heard of John Riggins? He was one of the best feature backs ever and I believe he was a pale face. He was fast, strong, durable and aggressive just like this kid. To many disciples of Gruden out there if you ask me.

I know some team will give this kid a chance...I hope its the Bucs. Then we will have our Warren Sapp and Mike Allstot back. Now how cool is that!

Tampa Bay Must Draft Ndamukong Suh

Ndamukong Suh was tested scientifically by ESPN in all the important measures of speed, power and agility. The most important measure was the impact he had on crash test dummies that had more impact than an automobile accident...more like a freight train. If the Buccaneers don't draft this kid in the third spot, it will spell the doom for Raheem Morris as the head coach here. He should just resign or be fired on draft night.

Josh Johnson Is Dynamic For The Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers almost set the NFL record for going without a first down in a football game. They were going nowhere against the New York Giants today in Raymond James Stadium, until Josh Johnson came in. In the the 4th quarter Ray Morris put in Josh Johnson from San Diego State to play quarterback, and it was clear that he added a dynamic that has been missing from the Tampa bay Bucs since Steve Young was here. I believe they should start him next week and forget about Josh Freeman until they really need to play him.

COLTS VS GIANTS: THE GREATEST GAME EVER

ESPN is airing a documentary on the 1958 New York Giants-Baltimore Colts NFL championship game that has been called the greatest game ever played. Not coincidentally, that's the name of the ESPN program that will be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The game was played 50 years ago, on Dec. 28, 1958, at Yankee Stadium. It was the first, and only, NFL championship game to go into overtime. Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas led a score-tying field-goal drive at the end of regulation to make the score 17-17. Unitas then threw often to Raymond Berry while moving the Colts 80 yards. Alan Ameche scored the game-winning touchdown on a one-yard run.

What the NBC network did not know at the time, was what they had on their hands. The game aired at 4 PM ET and went on into the Sunday night. Since it was the first (and only) NFL title game that has gone overtime, it went way into the night. People on Sunday evening are usually at home. NBC discovered when the rating came in that virtually every home in America with a tv had the game on! They could hear the cash registers ringing. This game was the beginning of one of the most successful sports leagues in history driven by beer advertising.