Been meaning to post a recap of my trip to FedEx since I got back but hadn't had a chance to yet. I'll try to do this without making it too long.I had great seats. Front row endzone. I tweeted out a video of the Charles Sims play right after the game and sent to BucsBrief podcast. I'm actually going to break that down a bit towards the end of this story because I thought what actually happened was cool to see. So we're driving in to the stadium and like most stadiums, as you pull in you can see the stadium standing up like a monster form about a half mile out. We're passing "Cash Parking" signs, but decided to keep driving towards the stadium to see what happened. As we get closer the road goes to a one way and theres no turning around. So we're coming straight up to the stadium. A guy stops us. He looks somewhat like a crackhead, missing teeth, etc but he's got a Fedex shirt on and asks us to stop. Crackhead: "Where's you're parking pass?"Us: "I'm sorry we don't have one, we're just trying to figure out where to go"Crackhead: "Tampa fans? Just pull up here, take a left and leave out the stadium, then just go on home"*Everybody laughs*Crackhead: "I'm just playin, just pull right up there" *points to parking lot right in front of the stadium*So we pulled up, parked facing in towards a large concrete pillar so the lack of parking pass would not be noticed, and boom. Free parking a stone's throw from the stadium. There was actually quite a few Bucs fans. More than I anticipated. Was pretty cool to see. Got a beer from a guy in an Alstott jersey and chatted for a bit. This is the view from the seats we had. They are called "Dream Seats" and they are front row. They go around the whole field. These were especially cool because they were in the endzone so there was nothing in front of us. Nothing. No benches, people, cameras. Nothing.
We actually had a few Bucs fans around us and the first half was like a party. Mike Evans caught his bomb in our endzone, but both other Bucs TDs we're on the other side. All the Redskins TD's were in our endzone except for the last one. Really cool seats when theres a lot of close action, when it's down the field, gotta watch the jumbotron. Also, sitting that low and having that angle like you're actually involved in the play, you really see how FAST everything is. I mean you blink and the ball is gone. Also, these dudes are ginormous. William Gholston is huge. Again, the first half was a party. High fives all around. Redskins fans we're booing and there was some pretty loud RG3 chants. Once the second half started, it was all downhill. You could feel that there was no energy, and once the onside kick happened, the Skins fans we're 100% back in it. I don't really want to re-live the second half so - On to some more pictures:Jameis:
My buddy asking Jeff Triplett for a selfie:
My buddy's selfie with Jeff Triplette:
Bobby Rainey:
More Jameis:
Our seats (I had about 9 people send screenshots of me on the TV, the creamsicle stuck out like a sore thumb):
At the game:
The defense:
Now here is the Charles Sims pitch. I took a video of it, as well as the previous Doug Martin run, the blown coverage Redskins TD, and the Jameis scramble that he fumbled. I took screenshots of the video from my phone to break down the play.This is pre-snap as Jameis is coming up to the line:
Notice the 2 unblocked defenders just haaaaaangin out over there:
The fullback shifts and the lineback alerts:
Ball is snapped, you can see Hawley's go the ball up:
Play in motion, ball not yet to Sims:
Ball still not to Sims, but you can start to see the hole opening:
This is the instant the ball hits Sims hands. You can see the hole is there, but linebacker coming from the left is coming:
Sims secures ball, hole is there:
Sims sees the hole and cuts:
Linebacker filling, hole closing:
Hole is closed:
Sims is toast:
After the game, Skins fans were fairly polite. Plenty of "Good game" and "wow can't believe they blew it", only a few dbags that boo'd or yelled dumb stuff. You would have thought they won the superbowl though. They were going nuts. I don't really blame them though. Fairly classy for the most part. All in all, a good trip. Heartbreaker of a loss, but a fun game to be at. The fact that the seats were awesome was a saving grace. On to the next one. Go Bucs.
