I was listening to Pat McAfee (new podcast), and he was talking about Andy Luck, Peyton Manning, and the Colts front office, and he said Luck would have benefited immensely from Manning being his mentor for two seasons. He stated that behind the scenes, Peyton was very demanding of the coaches, his O-line, his skill-set players and the front office/general manager(s). Luck on the contrary never developed that trait and he paid a price for it, i.e. he didn’t demand better line play from coaches, the players themselves, or the management/ownership nearly as intensely as Peyton. He also said it wouldn’t have fallen on deaf ears, because Manning got results, and Luck was their franchise. Instead Luck got smacked around because possibly, of his more mellow in-house demeanor.
Does Winston have any push or say with the Buccaneer organization? He is the franchise savior, supposedly, and the team ownership has stuck their collective necks out to support him through very intense scrutiny as a result of BOTH on and off-field action. Will he - or has he? - asked for better help in the backfield and particularly, with the offensive line? Will that be his saving grace come contract negotiations?
“You guys didn’t give me enough to keep me upright, you guys never gave me a solid run game either. Give me those lineman, I get you in the playoffs!” Will that be the excuse to give him a major extension, if the Bucs go belly-up this year, and more importantly, he has an average season by his standards (High turnovers, low wins, gaudy yardage, 25 TD)?
