Carolina Panthers special teamer Dante Wesley was suspended by the NFL for one game after this hit on Tampa Bay Buccaneers punt returner Clifton Smith. Wesley was on punt return coverage in Carolina’s game with the Bucs Sunday when he left his feet to strike Clinton Smith in the neck. Wesley was at least one whole second ahead of the ball. Smith did not signal for a fair catch.
“I was just trying to make a play,” Wesley said after the game, a 28-21 Carolina victory. “You can check my record. … I’ve never really tried to hurt anybody.”
Coach John Fox said after watching the film Monday he didn’t believe Wesley was trying to injure Smith, who did not return to the game. via.
Whether it was intentional or not, one game seems a bit light to me. Even in the NFL, an entity renown for its regular showcasing of terrific athletes colliding into one another, this hit has a unique resonance with me, and a disturbing one. This wasn’t a lineman getting blocked on an interception or a receiver getting laid out over the middle. This was one guy using his body as a bomb to attack someone as defenseless as someone in an NFL game can be.
This cannot happen again. That needed to be the message sent by the NFL in dealing with Dante Wesley, who seems to have no problem fining the hell out of anyone on plays from scrimmage. Instead, it’s “Hey, this will look great on our highlight reel. Think you could try again on the Dolphins in Week 11?” vid.
The second offensive coordinator firing happened within the last 24 hours–and we’re still a week away from starting the GD season. Jeff Jagodzinski was relieved of command of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense earlier today–less than eight months after his original hiring.
“I’m not here to bash Jeff Jagodzinski. What he did, coming in here and implementing the plan and having an idea … was good,” Morris said. “We’re just at a different state right now. We need to be more direct. We need to have more precision. We need to know where we’re going.”
Jagodzinski was offered a demotion to quarterbacks coach, but declined. via.
Jagodzinski was fired from Boston College after the school issued him an ultimatum regarding the New York Jets’ coaching vacancy. So it seems apparent that Jagodzinski has a bit of a hearing problem. Maybe he can catch a break and cite the Americans with Disabilities Act to get his job back. Wow, even Boston College is looking pretty good after this. At least you’ll have the holidays off this year, Jeff.
STOP THE PRESSES! Put away whatever bullsh-t story you’re reading about the Iraq war or the auto industry bailout, and pay attention to this front-page A1 above-the-fold news: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers held cheerleading tryouts!
It doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie or a three-year veteran… If you want to be a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders, you have to try out.
“They have a little more to lose if when they’ve already been on the team,” Bucs cheerleading coach Sandy Charboneau said. “There’s a lot of competition.”
More than 300 women attended try-outs [this weekend] at the University of South Florida Sun Dome for one of about 30 spots for the 2009-10 squad, Charboneau said. “They’re vying for a small percentage of women that can be in the NFL.”
…and by “NFL” she means “football fans’ twisted erotic fantasies prominently featuring garden vegetables, barbed wire, and motor oil.” Or is that just me?
(keep clicking through for largest image)
|Full gallery at Tampa Bay Online via Don Chavez|
Buccaneers linebacker Geno Hayes got face-raped by a pair of scissors over the weekend after his girlfriend stabbed him. Hayes suffered wounds to the head, neck, and probably ego as well. Usually when I lose blood, I feel like more of a man. And then the nurse offers me cookies. And then I offer her a cookie…and that’s why I don’t give blood anymore.
A sheriff’s spokesperson said Hayes, 21, was treated and released from a hospital Saturday evening. He suffered superficial wounds.
Hayes’ girlfriend, 19-year-old Shevelle Bagley, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Hayes played in nine games in 2008, his rookie season. I’m pretty sure that Shevelle Bagley is of no relation to Ed Begley, Jr, who surely would have endorsed running over Hayes with an electric car. That probably would have made a better Photoshop.
Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden was fired last week, and at least one person isn’t too broken up about it. Former Bucs defensive end Simeon Rice was a little more than candid about his feelings on Sirius NFL Radio.
“You look at what he did when Chris [Simms] damn near died on the field, he wanted to release him right when he got injured. I get hurt, my shoulder’s torn off the bone. This dude releases me. You know what I mean? I’m your guy. The list goes on.
“Keenan McCardell, that situation was a debacle. Keyshawn Johnson, another situation [that] was a debacle. Joey Galloway, which was his man, was in the doghouse all year because he got injured, broke his ankle or whatever. Brad Johnson, that situation was bad. Brings Jeff Garcia in here, oh, he’s going to change things. I helped recruit him [and he] released me, kept Jeff and then put him in the doghouse. Gets rid of Brian Griese, brings him, starts a controversy. It was chaotic…
“I’m just giving you facts. I’m not giving you how I feel personally. How I feel personally? I
could tell you that, too. I think he’s a scumbag. I think he’s a scumbag personally… You know what he told me? ‘Simeon you’ll be here in the next five years.’ I got injured [and] this man’s never said one word to me. I won a Super Bowl for you. I got 13 sacks, 12, 15 every year for you. I balled. I got injured [and] you let me go like it was nothing.”
Rice finished the interview by praising just about every other coach in the Tampa organization. Then he left to go take a dump on Gruden’s porch.
The highlight of yesterday’s Bucs-Chargers game — aside from the fact that it gives us a Philip Rivers-Jay Cutler battle royale for the AFC West next week — was Jeff Garcia opting not to slide after a scramble, and paying for it by getting Quentin Jammer’s shoulder planted into his helmet (video and more pictures after the jump).
I admit, I saw this and I was like, “Sweet! There’s blood on his face.” But the commentators really went crazy for it. They were so excited it was like a couple tiger sharks were calling the game. “GRRRR that’s some old-timey football!!!” Please, it’s just a nosebleed. I get those all the time when the pressure changes, and you don’t hear anyone calling me gritty.
