Team leader.
Yesterday between heaves, Joe was waiting, almost begging for some Bucs player to light up a teammate.
No, Joe is not talking about punching another guy. But Joe, late in the game, was waiting for Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield to come off the field, fastball his helmet at the bench, and start reading people the riot act, including his offensive coordinator Zac Robinson.
Joe wanted to see someone do a John Lynch in the 1999 playoffs when, at home against the Redskins, the offense was doing nothing. The Bucs were only in the game by the grace of their defense.
Lynch picked off Brad Johnson near the sideline. When the play was over, he walked near the offensive coaches and did a Gronk spike with the ball, as if to tell them it was high time to get off their dead asses and start getting some production.
That never happened yesterday. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen last week. Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, A’Shawn Robinson was fed up with the Bucs defense playing half-arsed and he was going after people in the Bucs’ locker room last week.
That seemed to work. The Bucs defense had a solid and maybe strong game Sunday. The Bucs didn’t lose because of the defense, that is for sure.
But now the problem is, if Robinson’s leadership skills came a week too late?
Word out of Tampa is A’Shawn Robinson was vocal in the locker room this week as Tampa tried to recover from 0-2 hole. Makes a play to match the leadership. pic.twitter.com/c438gMSSSp