Buccaneers Tweets of the Week: 3/8-3/14

This week has been absolutely insane, both for the sports world and the world as a whole. The ongoing pandemic has turned everything upside down and there’s nothing we can do about it beyond taking the proper precautions to stay healthy, checking in on our loved ones, and simply being there for one another.

This isn’t an easy time for anyone, but chances are, you know someone or multiple people that will be taking this situation harder than others—whether in terms of physical or mental health. If you get nothing more out of this, I’d just say that I hope you’ll check on that person or those people in your life and let them know that you’re there for them and that we’ll all get through this together.

Whew, OK. The heavy stuff is out of the way, so from here on out, the goal is to find an escape from that weight! Twitter can be a frustrating place sometimes, but it can also bring about a lot of good. That good stuff can be fun, too! That’s what the aim of this feature is each and every week. If you’re new to this, we take a look at some of the best tweets from any given week from Buccaneers players, coaches, team personnel, or pretty much anyone that has anything to do with the organization.

So, let’s get down to it. These are some of the best Bucs tweets of the week that began with March 8 and ran through March 14:

It’s been a week and this is still a struggle

Daylight savings time is a phenomenon that I’ll just never understand. How this is something that exists in some places but not others will never fail to confuse and annoy me. You can tell me time is a social construct, but I’ll just respond with more confusion, surely. Anyway, this tweet accurately describes what many of us went through this week. Losing an hour of sleep might not have hit you too badly on Sunday—it was Sunday, after all—but Monday? Oooh, boy. I was woken up by two dogs around 7:30 Monday morning... on my day off. So, on top of being awake earlier than I intended, I felt the lost hour of sleep that day. And then I ever really recovered throughout the rest of the week. But, like the tweet says, I put on a brave face and had to go about business as usual. It wasn’t fun. I’m sure I’m not the only one that is still feeling this tweet on a deep level.

The Buccaneers’ support for girls high school flag football doesn’t stop after high school...

One of my favorite parts of this weekly feature so far has been the fact that, each week, I’ve been able to highlight some sort of example of the Buccaneers organization’s dedication to diversity in football. In the first installment, it was a look at a Black History Month feature. And now, for the last three weeks, it’s been example after example of the team doing wonderful things to continue its commitment to setting the tone for women in football/sports. This week, along with getting word out about the success of their second annual girls high school flag football Preseason Classic, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation made sure to promote its new Girls in Football Scholarship. The scholarship was established “to assist female high school seniors participating in a form of football (touch, flag, tackle, etc.) who plan to continue their education in college,” according to the team’s website. More information, including eligibility guidelines, can be found on the site. The deadline to apply is March 23.

News we all needed: It looks like Devin White has himself a new horse!

One of the major storylines surrounding the Bucs’ selection of Devin White with the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft had nothing to do with football. It had to do with his love for horses. He has loved them since he was a young kid, and he owns several of his own. Of course, we were all heartbroken for No. 45 over the loss of his beloved Daisy Mae last summer. That’s why it’s so great to see the news that White looks to have gotten himself a new stallion. Here’s to the many memories that are to come for the 22-year-old and the latest addition to his family!

A very MUCH-NEEDED PSA, especially for this time of the NFL year

There are a lot of folks on Twitter who seem to think the person running their favorite team’s Twitter account wants their opinion on personnel decisions. Don’t be one of those folks. The Bucs tweeted this much-needed reminder this week amid more arguments surrounding the quarterback position. With the free agency period coming up and the draft following soon after, remember that the team’s social media manager isn’t making the decisions. They don’t decide whether they want Jameis Winston back or if they want to move on to someone else. Now, of course, you’re free to do what you want. I’m just suggesting that everyone be smart about what they’re tweeting and keep in mind, the person behind the account isn’t Jason Licht or one of the Bucs’ coaches. And I’m not discouraging engagement, either. I mean, I’m certainly no stranger to tweeting at the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it’s always in good fun.

A Buccaneers-produced YouTube series that needs more attention is back in our lives

In the Current is a fantastic YouTube series the Buccaneers have put together, and its third season just got underway this week. The newest edition has a heavy focus on the NFL Scouting Combine, but it also takes us back to Shaquil Barrett’s first NFL Pro Bowl experience and then looks ahead to the upcoming free agency period. There’s a lot of great footage in here (it is the Bucs’ social media/creative team, after all), so I’d encourage you all to check it out. Plus, considering the state of sports right now, you could always go back into the archives and watch any In the Current episodes you may have missed in the past.

Our first look at the Bucs new uniforms?

The Bucs announced that they were getting new uniforms a few weeks ago, but also said that the official unveiling wouldn’t come until April. But we were bound to get a leak eventually, right? This appears to be just that. Uni Watch has always seemed to be a reliable source, from what I know, so I believe Paul really did vet this “industry source” that gave him a look at Tampa Bay’s new threads. In his article (linked in the tweet), he included a description of what he saw and even added a rendering he had someone mock up based on the bits he saw.

According to his descriptions and the subsequent renderings, the team is largely returning to its previous uniforms from the Super Bowl era, only with some tweaks. The lack of orange is the big difference, but all in all, these uniforms look similar to the ones prior to the alarm clock jerseys. Without the orange accents, the jerseys look a little too much like Atlanta’s for my liking, but they still look good nonetheless. The numbers look better, the wordmark being back on the chest is a welcomed sight and the new pirate ship being on the sleeves looks good (from what I can tell). There have been mixed reactions to these, and you can even take this all with a grain of salt since none of it has come from the team itself. We’ll have to wait until April to officially see them. Until then, this is what we’ve got.

Hey, even NFL players have to finesse, right?

We’re living in interesting times, and with everything going on, prices for flights have gone down. Ryan Jensen, looking to finesse some deals, wants an early release of the 2020 NFL schedule so he can save on his family’s tickets to the Bucs’ away games. Who could blame him, really? Of course, the league won’t release the schedule until April—if not later with the state of things. Sorry, Ryan.

Big things ahead for Devin White, indeed

Devin White does more than ride horses. He plays football pretty dang well. After early setbacks led to a frustrating start to his rookie season, the former LSU Tiger stepped up in a major way for the Tampa Bay defense. He quickly became a spark for the team and pretty much dominated throughout the second half of the season. Seeing him play alongside Lavonte David in 2020 and beyond will be something special. Plus, watching White’s rookie highlights might be a decent way to pass the time until fall comes around.

One relatable Donovan Smith tweet per week, everybody knows the rules

Is Donovan Smith the most relatable player on the Bucs’ roster? Judging by his repeated inclusion in this feature, there’s a case to be made. With cancellation after cancellation in the latter part of this past week, I think we were all scrambling to find something that was still going on as planned. Sports are an escape for many, including myself. So, to not have them to turn to in a time like this, it’s not a great feeling. Smith, who was set to see his New York Knicks take on the Heat in Miami this week, is right there with us.

Things are still sounding good on the Shaquil Barrett front

Man, seeing Shaq Barrett’s smile when talking about sticking around with the Bucs is something that should make us all feel good. In an appearance on NFL Network, the league’s 2019 sack leader made it clear that he still wants to remain in Tampa Bay and that, if necessary, he’d play on the franchise tag with no problems at all. He sounds eager to keep things going with the Bucs and the Bucs have stated time and again that he isn’t going anywhere. We’ll find out soon enough just how the team will handle the situation, but I think for now, everyone can feel good about seeing Barrett in red and pewter this fall and—hopefully—beyond.

Matt Gay’s foot raised some big bucks for local children’s hospitals this year

First of all, without that rough Week 17 performance, Matt Gay’s rookie season would’ve been looked back on pretty fondly. He was 27-of-32 on field goals before that final game, having gone 11-of-12 on kicks between 40-49 yards out. But an 0-for-3 season finale tainted everyone’s memory of his first NFL campaign.

All of that aside, Gay performed for a greater cause all year long, and it’ll warm your heart. He was a part of “Kicking for Kids,” which involved Raymond James donating $1,500 to Tampa Bay-area children’s hospitals every time he made a field goal during the 2019 season. So, with 27 successful attempts, $40,500 was given by the sponsor. That’s amazing enough, but the video tweeted out by the team on Friday gave us even more to smile about. Gay, Raymond James and the Buccaneers hosted kids from the designated hospitals at the team’s facility and spent some time with them. Those kinds of moments won’t soon be forgotten by the children or their families. This is just the latest example of the organization’s incredible efforts in the community. Let’s hope this is a campaign that continues in 2020 and Gay goes on to make even more field goals to lead to more donations.

Some outstanding news for two outstanding people!

And finally, some more exciting news that came out Friday. Chris Godwin and his longtime girlfriend, Mariah DelPercio, are engaged! The two started dating back in high school and, by all accounts, are terrific humans. Speaking from experience, they’re both great. Myself and Bucs Nation’s David Harrison got to speak with both of them at the Team Godwin Foundation launch back in November, and they were nothing but gracious and kind to us.

The work they’re doing through the foundation for at-risk children and animals is nothing short of incredible. Since coming into the league in 2017, Godwin has done some big things on the field. But to see him and DelPercio being so involved in the community has been just as special. If you want to read more about their efforts with the Team Godwin Foundation, I wrote about it here and David wrote about it here. I think I speak for everyone here at Bucs Nation when I say congratulations, Chris and Mariah! Cheers to many more years of happiness together.

If you feel I missed any great Bucs tweets from the past week, feel free to send them my way! You can catch me on Twitter @BaileyJAdams22.