Called out.
A fun and telling moment was captured by the hot mic pinned to Lavonte David’s shirt.
The Buccaneers linebacker legend didn’t play in preseason against the Steelers in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Smart! There was no need to risk David in a worthless game, but David was a busy guy on the sidelines studying his teammates.
He also was mic’d up. The Bucs published highlights of David’s vocal night on their YouTube channel.
One moment shown was David expressing his disappointment in Vita Vea in real-time, “Lift your head up,” David barked about Vea on the sidelines.
Interestingly, Todd Bowles was next to David at the time and appeared to almost wince, turning his head and scratching the back of it.
When Vea came off the field, David found a moment to confront his beastly defensive tackle.
“You had your head down on a tackle and you missed two sacks. You ever play football before?” David said to Vea.
Vea’s response? “It don’t count right now, alright?”
David laughed out loud in response. The two were seen later standing together, Vea in street clothes, smiling and cheering on teammates.
Joe sure hopes preseason doesn’t count and is little more than a mirage, especially after Bucky Irving ran 8 times for 12 yards with the first-team offense in that game.