He has slapped us all for the last 5 years. Make that four, as he had a solid season his rookie year which seems longer ago than the Superbowl. He has slapped his quarterbacks, he has slapped his coaches. He has slapped us now too.
Michael Clayton has used up every excuse in the book. Not even a note from his mom will relieve him of his debacle yesterday, or what he has had to say about how he feels about the whole thing. We heard about his injuries, and how he is physical. We heard that he was in Coach Gruden's doghouse, which we now must wonder how small of a house that is that Jon could not put this receiver (position used lightly) deeper in it so he could not find his way out.
To think, he could be a Seattle Seahawk right now if someone did not believe the excuses and passes given to him by the Tampa Bay area.
But no insult, no dropped passes, not one of the 7 passes which lead the NFC in 5 games, compares to the insult to every person who will appear at Raymond James stadium this week. In the middle of the worst recession in generations, when people are losing homes, record numbers of foreclosures, whole families out of work, and blackouts are threatening to take Bucs games off the air for the first time..well, ever, at Raymond James, Clayton has the nerve to say he doesnt worry about what people say about his drops because his check is already in the bank?
Why did we ever invent Direct Deposit, because I would like to see this man pick up (after dropping it) his check from the Bucs. I have worked at some places where you must tell your boss what you have done to earn your paycheck. What short visits to One Buc those would be.
In case you missed it..
"I ain’t worried about that," he said. "People who say stuff, they’re not out there on the field. Nobody who writes (stuff) or says (stuff) can say anything about a player because they’re not on the field. It’s real serious out there. That’s why I don’t pay any attention to that stuff because the mentality is that you make up for it and you come back and catch the next one. I mean, regardless of what they say, the check is in the bank. That’s not changing. It’s about this team right now. Nothing can break that or make me feel bad or worry because somebody’s talking about me in the paper. We just have to keep our heads."
Mr. Clayton will probably wonder why so many Bucs fans are cheering for Barrett Ruud every time Clayton is on the video board. That is, the fans who will actually show up.
Mike Nugent is no longer on this team, because he was not earning his paycheck. Gaines Adams, we will not even discuss, because this man does not even have a stat line this week, so we cannot talk about him, or his MVQ (Most Valuable Quarter). Instead, we will listen to Head Coach Raheem Morris and his press conference, and hope he has seen what we have seen, and that is enough of Michael Clayton.