Gerald McCoy is not 'soft' for helping people up

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 1-5, and lots of people are pissed off. As a result, people are now searching for things to criticize -- and we're back to the old criticism of Gerald McCoy helping opponents up after a play. Something he's done since he entered the league, and something he's emphatically said will never change.

And yet, for some people, this means the Bucs' best player is "soft".

I've got news for those people: Gerald McCoy has been helping opponents up since he came into the league, even as he kicked their ass play-in, play-out. Helping people up has never stopped him from getting to the quarterback, or disrupting a run play. It's never stopped him from doing his job.

The criticism of McCoy's behavior declines to look at the observable facts, and instead decides to analyze the unrelated looking for some ephemeral character faults. It's the result of angry people feeling the need to see that anger visibly reflected on the field, and taking every player who doesn't act out that anger at every opportunity as a personal slight, rather than just human beings doing what they do.

Here's what should actually piss you off: the way the Bucs have been playing between the whistles. The fact that their secondary can't cover a dead rat. The fact that their offensive can't lead can't block a turnstyle, and that even the simplest blitzes confuse the blocking scheme. The fact that the Bucs are 1-5 and have been blown out twice. The fact that the Bucs can't execute one of the most basic schemes in the NFL.

The one thing that shouldn't piss you off? Gerald McCoy helping people up. Because that's the one thing that has absolutely nothing to do with why the Bucs are losing.