T-Jack’s Sunday Morning Pep Talk

I played football starting at a very young age. One thing I’m very sad to say I never had was a really fiery speech to get me jacked up for the game. You see speeches in movies or really good ones sometimes get posted on youtube, however none of those apply to our beloved Bucs. Well I say no more. Starting today and every Sunday tune in for a pre-game pep talk that is sure to get you primed and ready for whichever opponent the Pewter Pirates are facing. I will be taking some liberties with grammar and sentence structure as this is meant to be read as though Coach Schiano were addressing the team in the locker room right before the game. So without further ado, here is your Sunday morning rally cry!

"Gentlemen…

It’s been 252 days, since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last took the field. In that game the Buccaneers were blown away to the tune of 24-45. That’s the last memory anyone has of this franchise. The memory of a team that lost 10 games in a row. The memory of a team that quit. A team that gave up. I feel bad for that team, but let me tell you something men…

We are not that team!

Some of you in this locker room were part of that team, however believe me when I say that not a single one of you is the same player, or the same person you were then. The slate is clean gentlemen. Yet everyone seems to think that we’re not a very good football team. No one respects this football team. Why should they? We can’t even sell out our home field…

Everyone, our own fans included, have made a dangerous mistake. This is a new team. This is a team that will stand toe to toe and punch them in the mouth. This is a team that is going to run the ball right down their throats over and over and OVER! This is a team that is going to hit harder than them. We’re going to run faster than them. We’re going to play smarter than them. And at the end of the day when it’s all said and done, we’re going to win football games.

Today our opponent is the Carolina Panthers. Cam Newton. He’s unstoppable if you believe the media. He’s a self proclaimed superman. He’s sitting right now in the visitor’s locker room and I’ll bet he’s feeling pretty comfortable. Because he came here, in OUR house, and owned it last season.

But that was last season...

All during the offseason we’ve been talking about a new day is rising. The new day is no longer rising men. The new day is here! And in this new day we’re going to take our house back! We’re going to put Cam Newton on his back all day! Every time he runs the ball we’re going to make it feel like he just tried to kiss the front of a runaway freight train! We’re going to rattle his cage. We’re going to be in his face! We’re going to make him wish he’d never even heard of Raymond James Stadium!

When we go out there today I want us to play with an intensity they’ve never seen before. I want the Panthers to look across the field and be genuinely afraid because they know they can’t match the passion and intensity we’re going to hit them with! All the fans that didn’t come to the stadium today, I want them to feel like they missed out. I want them to feel the ground shake from the frenzy we build in here today. I want to stir the echoes and remind people of the proud history of this franchise.

When we go down that tunnel I want you to let it wash over you. We’re the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is our field. We protect our field.

Let’s go build a legacy!"