clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Piscitelli not happy with how demotion was handled

Rather than regurgitate someone else's work, Ill quote it and add my thoughts below.

The quote is from this article on PFT

Buccaneers strong safety Sabby Piscitelli isn't happy with the way he lost his starting job to Sean Jones.

And Bucs coach Raheem Morris isn't happy with the way Piscitelli expressed his unhappiness.

"I don't think it was ever a competition,'' Piscitelli said. "That's just my opinion, and I'm going to go with it. I just, personally, don't think it was ever a competition. That's all I want to say on that.''

Morris replied by saying that Piscitelli's problem wasn't that there was no competition -- it's that he approached the competition as if it weren't a competition.

"If he thinks that way then that's probably why he didn't get it,'' Morris said. "I think you go out there and you do your very best at everything you do. That's Sabby's problem at this point. Again, that's Sabby's problem, not mine.''

Piscitelli said he was informed that he's no longer a starter in a text message from defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake.

"I didn't like that,'' Piscitelli said of finding out that Jones beat him out by text. "So I told [Lake] I'd talk to him first thing in the morning, but I guess they already posted it [on the team's web site]. So, I sat down with [Lake] in the morning and had a discussion like a man and talked to [Morris] later.''

It sounds like Piscitelli and Morris still have some issues to talk about.

Sabby can't be too surprised. He had a 2009 season that was awful on every level. Additionally, with a young team, competition is important at any position, so he shouldn't have been surprised that the team brought in another player to challenge him. Now, no player likes to lose their starting job, so his disappointment is natural and understood. But I don't think the best way to go about voicing it is in the media. Keep it in house, play better, and you'll get your shot. Sabby has the physical talent, but the mental part of the game seems to still elude him. This certainly won't quiet those concerns.