I guess the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were feeling pretty chuffed with themselves after the preseason Week 1 shutout of the Kansas City Chiefs. Perhaps a good humbling was in order.
Fortunately for them, they had Tom Brady and the Patriots on the schedule Thursday night, and that humbling was served up pretty efficiently. After the game, Bucs second-year defensive tackle Gerald McCoy described how Brady was able to help the Bucs recognize that they still have work to do.
You can listen to his awesome comments by clicking on over to Boston.com, but here are a couple of the money quotes.
A lot of times we'd get the call but we couldn't get lined up. They were moving the ball so fast. Now we have to learn to recognize formations to attack quicker. [...]
Man, I'm telling you man, they came out, they'd turn around huddle, snap, oh, 'There's the Mike, Go!' I was like, 'Dang! Um, Mr. Brady, can we line up?' He didn't care. He was like, 'You're not going to line up.' When we turned around one time I checked back around and my hand was going to the grass and they were like, 'Hut!' And I said, 'Noooooooooooo!' [...]
[Bucs rookie DE Adrian] Clayborn came to me and was like, 'Oh my god, it was so fast!' I said, 'I know! That's what I've been trying to tell you!' It was a reality check, we needed that.
And somehow, Chiefs backup quarterback Tyler Palko got caught up in all this. And not in a terribly flattering way.
[Bucs rookie LB] Mason Foster? He needed to see Tom Brady. He didn't need to see Calabaloo from last week, whatever the dude's name was. I'm sorry if you can hear this. I don't know who you were, I'm sorry. It's nothing personal. (Tyler Palko?) Falko, yeah, 'The Replacement'. [Foster] needed Tom Brady. That's what he needed. Now he knows that the preseason is a glorified scrimmage.
Here's what I'll take from this: 1) Gerald McCoy, in his second year, is already a veteran leader on a good young Bucs defense. 2) If the rest of the Bucs youngsters are listening to him, that defense will learn what they need to learn, and they'll be fine. 3) For the rest of his career, Tyler Palko will be known to me as "Calabaloo."
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