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The Carlton Davis Revenge Game

November 5th, 2025

Joe loves the revenge game concept.

Earlier this season, Joe was fired up to see the Haason Reddick revenge games against the Eagles and Jets.

The idea was that Reddick, the newcomer Bucs edge rusher, would be all jacked up to face his former teams, clubs for which he had some beef. Well, those games didn’t materialize into anything terribly exciting from Reddick.

But some revenge games can deliver something special and Joe wonders whether that will happen Sunday.

That’s when the Patriots will enter The Licht House with a 7-2 record and tens of thousands adoring Patriots fans screaming for their team.

On that New England team is Buccaneers Super Bowl cornerback Carlton Davis. The 2018 Bucs second-round draft pick was the Bucs’ top-dog cornerback from 2019 through 2023. Then the Bucs punted Davis in March of last year in a trade with the Lions.

Tampa Bay recouped a third-round draft pick but also coughed up multiple sixth-round picks along with Davis. The veteran cornerback’s response on social media seemed to be one of surprise.

After an injury-plagued season in Detroit last year, Davis was gifted a massive contract in New England, where he hasn’t missed a game but is their No. 2 cornerback behind Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots’ first-round pick in 2023.

Davis is an emotional guy and a trash talker. And he’ll be all jacked up for Sunday, Joe suspects, locked in on pregame Bucs film and heckling Baker Mayfield, and anyone else under whose skin he thinks he can get under.

It might amount to nothing, but Davis is a talented player at 28 years old. Joe is confident Davis wants to show the Bucs he’s a lot better than Zyon McCollum, the guy who replaced him.