Joe is confident Lavonte David could find a job in the NFL next season. He leads the Bucs with 105 tackles and hasn’t missed a game.
But it’s obvious that David’s game has regressed significantly. Even ex-NFL players are not wincing when they say David’s play is showing his nearly 36 years on the planet.
Joe sees it on the All-22. David can’t play sideline-to-sideline anywhere near the way he used to, and he’s no longer special in coverage.
Even Todd Bowles publicly wagged a finger at David on the Buccaneers Radio Network this week for screwing up in coverage on the Panthers’ final touchdown.
Sobering times. Joe assumes David will hang it up soon after this season — based on what Joe has heard and sees.
David’s body language should be an interesting read playing against his hometown team on Sunday. Joe can only imagine how many David friends and family will be in the crowd in Miami Gardens.
Joe hopes Bucs fans can abandon their Todd Bowles rage for a while and savor David’s final snaps of this season.
Last week, David joined his good friend Gerald McCoy, the six-time former Pro Bowl Buccaneer, for an interview on NFL.com.
David addressed the recennt sad and notorious Todd Bowles profanity-laced rant and David talked about that message getting through. Well, the evidence of that is shaky.
“Like you don’t see that out of Coach Bowles, obviously,” David said. “You don’t see that a lot out of Coach Bowles. He’s always an upbeat, even-keeled guy. For that to happen, you know, we took heart in it. We gotta hold ourselves accountable.”
David also talked about how the Bucs need to be more physical, especially early in games. He added that the main thing for the Bucs defense against Carolina would be starting fast.
That didn’t happen.
The Panthers took the opening drive to the Bucs’ 6 yard line. The Bucs defense then stuffed a run on third down to force a field goal. But the Panthers led 13-10 at halftime after an explosive play to close the half.
David also mentioned how confident the Bucs remain in the midst of their losing stretch. Joe almost thinks that confidence (overconfidence?) has been hurting the team in recent weeks.