Bucs’ Super Bowl-winning coach weighs in.
There’s no doubt about it: Chucky has always liked quarterbacks — until they played for him.
Chucky, the first Bucs’ coach to bring home the Vince Lombardi Trophy, was in the WFLA-TV Channel 8 broadcast booth Saturday night with a front-row seat to backup quarterback Jalon Daniels working magic again late in a worthless preseason game as Daniels battled the Chiefs’ X-Ray technicians and bartenders.
Chucky the Bucs Fan loved how Daniels added juice to the Bucs offense and got production. But Chucky the Coach, during the game broadcast, threw some cold water on fans, pointing out that Daniels is still learning the playbook, an NFL offense and is green as grass.
Yesterday, Chucky appeared on WDAE-AM 620/WDAE-FM 95.7 to talk Bucs with Tom Krasniqi. There, Krasniqi asked Chucky if Daniels should make the team’s 53-man roster cut on Sunday.
Chucky says, no doubt he should. Still, Chucky said, Daniels has a lot of work ahead of him.
“Well, I don’t know what Todd Bowles is thinking,” Chucky said. “I’m not going to speak for him, let me make myself perfectly clear.
“But I know, as a head coach, you’re going to keep the guys that perform the best. And when you look at performance, if that’s your criteria, especially at the quarterback position, it hasn’t been close.
“This kid just in the game. I see him audible in at the line of scrimmage. Granted, he had a couple false starts that I always put on the quarterback, in the New York game. I also saw a couple of fumbled exchanges that are a problem. I put that on him in the Kansas City game.
“But if you’re basing everything on performance, I think this kid has has won the job provided he closes it out in Jacksonville with another solid performance.”
Joe already notices fans on social media lobbying Daniels to be the immediate backup to Baker Mayfield. That’s premature in Joe’s eyes.
No, Jake Browning did not look good on Saturday. But if he is (God forbid) to play for Mayfield, it’s a very good bet Browning won’t have five turnstiles in front of him like he did Saturday.
Browning absolutely got beat to hell. He never even had a chance to set up properly.
Something Chucky didn’t mention in his interview with Krasniqi but did mention during the broadcast Saturday night: Chucky noticed more than once how Daniels was late getting out of the huddle. Chucky said that is usually when a guy is struggling with the playbook. In other words, he doesn’t have it down yet.
Minutes later while interviewing Mayfield live during the game, Chucky asked Mayfield about Daniels. Mayfield said Daniels’ biggest obstacle will be learning the playbook, which is tough for a rookie. That’s basically what Chucky had identified a few moments earlier.
So Daniels is really raw. Joe just doesn’t think Todd Bowles would trust Daniels with the keys to the car. Yet. Hell, Bowles didn’t trust Kyle Trask and Trask was a veteran.
Does Joe like Daniels’ rizz and talent and production? Oh, yes. But being the No. 2 quarterback with the Bucs trying to return to the playoffs? As the great voice of Chicago sports radio, Mike North would say, “Slow down.”
Was able to jump on the 10 Tampa Bay News app to talk about the rise of Jalon Daniels.
I am skeptical Daniels would slip through waivers meaning the Tampa Bay Buccaneers must find a spot on the 53-man roster for him.
Having said that, I think he is still QB3.
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