Don’t Blame The Coach
October 4th, 2025
One of the great special teams aces in Tampa Bay history has spoken out.
Joe’s talking about Hall of Fame cornerback Rondé Barber. He was still playing special teams for the Bucs in his 16th season.
Barber has a WFLA-TV streaming show and tackled the subject of the Bucs’ ailing special teams play this year.
Barber was adamant that special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey is a heck of a coach and the Bucs’ screwups aren’t on him.
“It’s players, 100 percent on the players. You’re on the field to do one thing and you have to do your work. If you don’t detail your work, you don’t deserve to be there,” Barber said.
The Jets’ blocked field goal returned for a touchdown two weeks ago was a freakish play by an extraordinary athlete and the Bucs don’t deserve blame, Barber said. But he fingered Sean Tucker, Payne Durham and long snapper Evan Deckers for the other terribly costly screwups this season.
Simple, simple details were skipped, per Barber, and he said the Bucs surely were obsessed with them all week in practice.
“Everybody’s going to be dropping, hands out, feeling potential rushers, so they don’t have the slips and the cracks that led to this blocked kick,” Barber said.
Joe expects the Bucs special teams to be tightened up tomorrow in Seattle. As for the rest of the season, Joe will have to see it to believe it.
READ NEXT
Bucs Special Teams Coach Makes An Opening Statement