* The Bucs own this one. Due diligence is still overdue on Antonio Brown. He’s a big-time talent with a well-chronicled problematic past. There are reasons why other teams have parted ways with him. But he was vetted by Tom Brady and was a major contributor to last year’s Super Bowl championship.
So, where do you draw the line? Temper tantrums, assault charges. Stuff happens, even to elite wideouts. But how about a counterfeit vaccination card? That’s a premeditated deception that puts others at potential risk. It’s lying to your franchise, teammates and coaches. We know that head coach Bruce Arians, a three-time cancer survivor, is “pissed.” So, presumably, is the NFL, which suspended Brown (and teammate, safety Mike Edwards) for three games.
Will the Bucs bring either one back for another playoff run? Right now, they’re not saying, which probably says volumes.
* Perspective: This time last year the Super Bowl-champions-to-be Bucs were 7-5; this year they’re 9-3.
* In 1997 Steve Spurrier was paid $2 million a year by the University of Florida. Game on.
* “A talent-acquisition business.”–How new UF football coach Billy Napier described college coaching.
* “If you equate it to college education, it’s insane. If you equate it to business, it makes sense.”–Jackie Sherrill, retired Texas A&M football coach and athletic director, on the soaring salaries for college football coaches.
* Hispoor Jacksonville start notwithstanding, Urban Meyer says he’s staying put, for now, in the National Football League. Steve Spurrier (Washington), Lou Holtz (New York Jets) and Nick Saban (Miami) faced the same dilemma—and then pivoted back to the college ranks after disappointing NFL experiences.
* Another bowl game could still be added to this season’s lineup. That would make it 42. Remember when a bowl invite symbolized a reward for an especially good season? Now not even a winning record is a requirement. No wonder they have names like the Cheez-It Bowl.
* Yo, Philly. No surprise that late in the Lightning’s 7-1 rout of the Flyers in Philadelphia, the crowd was voicing its disapproval. “What’s left of the crowd is booing,” pointed out Bolt’s play-by-play announcer Dave Randorf. Flyers’ management also voiced its disapproval by firing head coach Alain Vigneault shortly thereafter.