FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• In helping me better understand the LCL (lateral collateral ligament) knee injury that defensive tackle Vita Vea suffered two weeks ago, I consulted AdventHealth physician Dr. Ira Guttenberg for his medical expertise. Dr. Guttenberg said that LCL injuries aren’t as common as MCL (medial collateral ligament) or ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).

Bucs DT Vita Vea – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

“It’s mostly because of the overall alignment of the knee, and in football the hits usually occur from the outside of the leg,” Dr. Guttenberg explained. “That puts force on the inside of the leg – or the medial collateral side. With the LCL, players are usually getting rolled over by another player, and the force is coming from the opposite direction – from the inside. That’s why he strained the LCL.”

Dr. Guttenberg is not a Bucs team physician, but agreed with the recovery prognosis.

“It usually depends on the severity of the tear and the degree of the tear,” said Dr. Guttenberg. “It sounds like this is a partial tear and it’s not complete. In that situation it’s going to take 4-6 weeks to get better. If it was a complete tear then that would require surgery to reconstruct it and that would take six months to a year.”

The Bucs haven’t ruled out Vea playing in the season opener against San Francisco on September 8 because it falls in the four-week time frame for his recovery. Dr. Guttenberg said once the LCL injury has healed, Vea is at no further risk of reinjuring it during the season.

“No increased likelihood if it’s completely healed,” Dr. Guttenberg said. “If it was a partial tear it’s unlikely – unless he gets hurt in the same manner – it’s unlikely that he’ll suffer that injury again.”

Bucs S Mike Edwards and LB Devin White – Photo by: Getty Images

• Count Ronde Barber, the latest inductee into the Bucs Ring of Honor, as a big fan of rookie strong safety Mike Edwards, the team’s third-round pick. Barber likes his instincts and nose for the ball.

“I think they see what we all see,” Barber said. “Immediately instinctive and changes the dynamic. That’s the first thing Todd [Bowles] told me was that this kid could start right away. Really? He said he could start right away. We’ll see. We have to go through camp, but it’s obvious. He’s around the ball.”

Edwards is penciled in as the opening day starting strong safety, but he’s expected to miss the second preseason game against Miami on Friday night due to a pulled hamstring he suffered in Tampa Bay’s preseason opener at Pittsburgh. The Bucs have signed 31-year veteran strong safety Darian Stewart for depth, not because the team wasn’t happy with Edwards’ progress in training camp.

Bucs WR Emanuel Hall – Photo by Getty Images

• Tampa Bay claimed wide receiver Emmanuel Hall off waivers from Chicago. Keep an eye on this one. His story is similar to that of Breshad Perriman’s in that both receivers are big and fast, although Perriman had sub-4.3 speed coming out of UCF and was drafted in the first round, while the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Hall, isn’t quite that fast and went undrafted.

Both struggled with drops and injuries in college, but if Hall can stay healthy, catch the ball consistently and make a quick first impression he could challenge Scotty Miller for the final roster spot at wide receiver.

Hall had 97 catches for 2,016 yards and 16 touchdowns, while averaging 20.8 yards per catch for the Tigers in his four-year career. He had back-to-back seasons where he had over 800 yards receiving, while averaging over 22 yards per catch as a junior and a senior. Keep an eye on this guy in the preseason.

• PEWTER REPORT CONTINUES TO GROW ON TWITTER! The PR Twitter account continues to grow by leaps and bounds and there are some big reasons why. We cover Bucs practices, Bucs press conferences and break news on our @PewterReport Twitter account. You might have seen this amazing footage of Chris Godwin’s fantastic reception get picked up by Bleacher Report, The Overtime and NFL Network.

Followed by this fantastic reception by Chris Godwin. pic.twitter.com/KAgQ57mDdt

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) August 14, 2019

So if you aren’t one of the 32,800+ that follows PewterReport.com on Twitter please do so right now so you don’t miss out on Bucs game coverage, press conference notes and video, injury updates, breaking news and notifications about the latest stories and columns on PewterReport.com. Follow us today!

Here is PewterReport.com’s training camp schedule on WDAE:

Friday, August 16 – Mark Cook (3:30pm)
Monday, August 19 – Scott Reynolds (8:10am)
Friday, August 23 – Scott Reynolds (3:30pm)
Monday, August 26 – Mark Cook (8:10am)
Friday, August 30 – Mark Cook (3:30pm)

Weekly regular season appearances twice a day on Mondays and Fridays and a two-segment show on Wednesday mornings begin in September on WDAE 95.3 FM – stay tuned!

• Legendary Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber was a wealth of information during his half-hour sit down with PewterReport.com and other Bucs media outlets following his Bucs Ring of Honor induction press conference. Barber talked about two of the newest players on Tampa Bay’s defense in defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and rookie inside linebacker Devin White.

“John Lynch was the nicest person I’ve ever met, but he was a prick on Sundays,” Barber said. “He was a bad guy on Sundays. It is what it is. There’s a switch. Dude, Ndamukong Suh. If you sit down with Ndamukong just one-on-one and have a conversation with him, you’re like, ‘This is the sweetest man I’ve ever been around.’ He’s huge and he’s like a teddy bear. You put a helmet on him and it’s like, ‘Who are you?’ He’s the same guy. There’s just a big flip, a big switch.”

Barber, who covers the Bucs as part of the team’s preseason TV broadcast crew on WFLA News Channel 8, also came away impressed with White after a recent interview.

Bucs ILB Devin White Bucs ILB Devin White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I love him. He fits the bill, right? He looks the part,” Barber said. “If you look at how Todd [Bowles] has built his defenses over the years, he has two big guys inside, and I presume they have that with Ndamukong and Vita [Vea], but you need two really good, athletic linebackers that can populate the line of scrimmage with speed and force. Not necessarily come clean, just populate that area and cause disruption. Somebody else may come free. That’s Devin White. I see some of his run fits and he still has things to learn. He’ll miss some fits and not chase pullers into the right gaps, but that will come.

“He’s going to be a good player really quick. I sat down with him and did an interview with him for WFLA and I shook his hand and said, ‘Is that guy 21 or 35?’ He’s mature. His influence will be greater than just how he plays on the football field. It will be how he handles himself in the locker room. You can tell. That’s what he is. He’s a natural leader.”

• HOLY SAPP! THE QB KILLA JOINS THE NEW PEWTER NATION PODCAST! You might have heard that Bucs legendary defensive tackle, Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champion Warren Sapp joined the Pewter Nation Podcast this week. Sapp’s critical remarks of former Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy made national news as the story was picked up by ESPN, Pro Football Talk, Bleacher Report and other national media outlets.

See what all the fuss was about and listen as Sapp also talks about the Bucs’ glory days, Ronde Barber, Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh and Todd Bowles’ defense in

Click here to listen to Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 137: Sapp Uncensored

The Pewter Reporters – Mark Cook, Trevor Sikkema, Matt Matera, Taylor Jenkins and yours truly – discussed the Bucs’ 30-28 loss in Pittsburgh in the team’s preseason opener, and Jenkins talks about all the land he would lose (for some reason), while Sikkema’s mind is blown that the Howard Frankland Bridge across Tampa Bay isn’t called the Howard Franklin Bridge like he once thought. This episode is quite funny, folks – and packed with some good Bucs game analysis. Check it out.

Click here to listen to Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 136: It’s Good To Have Land

There is no better time to listen to a new Pewter Nation Podcast, which is presented by Chris Garrido of Westshore Financial, than on your drive home from work on Friday or running around doing errands or at the gym on Saturday. The next Pewter Nation Podcast will be taped early next week following the first padded training camp practice on Sunday.

The popularity of the Pewter Nation Podcast continues to grow. In addition to listening to the Pewter Nation Podcasts on PewterReport.com you can also subscribe to the free podcasts at PodBean by clicking here and on SoundCloud by clicking here. And of course the Pewter Nation Podcast is also available on iTunes. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

• Coming out of Humboldt State in 2018, former NFL Network draft analyst and current Oakland Raiders general manager Mike Mayock noticed left tackle Alex Cappa on tape as he prepared for the Senior Bowl. Mayock liked Cappa’s physicality and toughness, and called him “The Bouncer” because he was always throwing defensive linemen to the ground in a nasty way, just a like a bouncer throws unruly patrons out of the club.

Humboldt State OL Alex Cappa – Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

During practice this week I asked Cappa if he knew Mayock had given him that nickname.

“I did see that,” Cappa said. “That’s not bad! Kinda cool. It’s fun being physical like that. That’s why football is fun – that and the camaraderie with the guys. You get a few less of those moments around here at this level than I did at Humboldt, that’s for sure. But it’s fun playing like that.”

Cappa didn’t look like “The Bouncer” last year as his head was swimming from making the adjustment from tiny Humboldt State to the NFL, and from transitioning from left tackle to right guard. But after getting some needed experience last year and some confidence and better teaching from new Bucs offensive line coaches Harold Goodwin and Joe Gilbert, Cappa is beginning to live up to his moniker.

Check out No. 65 as he throws his man to the ground at the end of Ronald Jones’ first quarter run at Pittsburgh last Friday night.

http://www.giphy.com/gifs/M9fe8pDm5j47jz5ZOw

• One last note on Bucs Ring of Honor inductee Ronde Barber. I’ve known Barber since he entered the league in 1997 as Tampa Bay’s third-round pick. I remember him telling me a story about his draft day experience. Despite recording 15 interceptions in his college career at Virginia and having an All-American resumé, Barber slid to the third round in the draft due to size and speed concerns.

Former Bucs CB Ronde Barber – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What was just as disheartening for him was being picked by the lowly Buccaneers, who were “garish” orange creamsicle uniforms, as Barber put it. Barber dreaded wearing the orange uniforms in Tampa Bay along with the Bucco Bruce winking pirate on the helmet. Yet when he flew down to Tampa for the team’s rookie mini-camp he was pleasantly surprised to see that the organization had changed its color scheme to red and pewter and completely overhauled the helmet, Bucs logo and uniform.

Barber told me in the early 2000s that he was relieved that he never had to play in the old orange and white uniforms, but as fate would have it, the Bucs had a few throwback games to their old unis starting in 2009, and Barber would have to end up wearing the Bucco Bruce look. He never really liked it, so that’s one of the reasons why I chose the cover photo of Barber wearing the creamsicle look for this week’s SR’s Fab 5.

Just a little friendly dig at my good friend, Ronde Barber. And no, I’m still not bitter at not picking up Barber’s wink when he essentially told me the Bucs were going to draft cornerback Aqib Talib in the first round in 2008 (sarcasm)!

Plus, I thought some of the old die-hard Bucs fans would dig seeing a few pics of the old throwback uniforms.

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