FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• It was encouraging to see the team’s first-round pick, defensive Vita Vea, have his most productive day in red and pewter with four tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack, his second of the season, against the 49ers on Sunday. The 6-foot-4 tackle, who is likely slimmer than the 347 pounds he’s listed at, has been compared to Haloti Ngata, a big, 6-foot-4, 345-pound former first-round pick by Baltimore in 2006.

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

Ngata had one sack and three quarterback hits during his rookie season while playing 44 percent of his snaps. Vea has two quarterback sacks and a quarterback hit while playing just over 35 percent of the snaps this year and missing the first three games of the season due to a calf injury, in addition to the entire preseason.

Both Ngata, who played at Oregon, and Vea, who played at Washington, have also had to transition from playing on the West Coast and moving to the East Coast. The point is, let’s be patient. I’m not saying that Vea is the second coming of either Warren Sapp or Gerald McCoy, but it is fair to point out that Vea will tie both of those Bucs greats’ rookie production with one more sack. Both Sapp and McCoy registered three sacks during their rookie seasons.

• Our @PewterReport Twitter account is approaching 31,000 followers. Join the masses! If you aren’t following PewterReport.com on Twitter please do so now so you don’t miss out on Bucs press conference and interview footage as well as breaking news and injury updates. To follow @PewterReport on Twitter please click here, and to follow us on Facebook please click here.

PewterReport.com is also updating our @PewterReport Instagram account more regularly this season. Make sure you are following @PewterReport on Instagram and you can do so by clicking here.

• The holiday shopping season is here and there is ONE PLACE to turn for all of your Bucs, NFL, NCAA, NHL and NBA shopping needs and that’s Fanatics.com. PewterReport.com has partnered once again with Fanatics.com to provide our readers with the best online shopping experience and widest array of team merchandise and apparel found on the Internet.

The best part about it is that when you click on the Fanatics.com banners or links on PewterReport.com a portion of the sale goes to PewterReport.com to help pay for operating costs of the website you’ve come to love and trust for your Bucs news. So whether it’s NFL, college football, college basketball, NHL or MLB gear you are looking for, you’ll find it at Fanatics.com where they have the retro Starter pullover jackets now in stock. Click here and shop today.

DRAFT DIAMOND: VIRGINIA S JUAN THORNHILL
PewterReport.com is the undisputed leader in Bucs draft coverage each year. During the 2018 draft, we accurately forecasted the selection of three Tampa Bay draft picks as defensive tackle Vita Vea, offensive lineman Alex Cappa and wide receiver Justin Watson were all Bucs’ Best Bets.

Draft season for the PewterReport.com staff starts in September as we do a great deal of scouting during college football season. Trevor Sikkema, who also provides content for TheDraftNetwork.com, will provide SR’s Fab 5 with a weekly segment called Draft Diamond where we focus on a different draft prospect each week. This week’s Draft Diamond is Virginia safety Juan Thornhill.

A three-year starter for Virginia, the 6-1, 195-pound Thornhill has experience at both safety and corner, but has played mostly safety for his senior season. He had three interceptions his sophomore year, four his junior year and has five in his senior year.

Thornhill excels in coverage from a variety of techniques. He has a good feel in zone for coverage, and obviously showcases good ball skills with 12 interceptions in three seasons. Quicker receivers can give him trouble in man coverage, but he does provide a good “big nickel” slot option, as well as a good free safety choice. Drafting Thornhill would give the Bucs to play Justin Evans as a strong safety and more in man coverage.

• Here’s a crazy stat for you. The Buccaneers are the only NFL team that has six players with at least four touchdowns. Wide receiver Mike Evans and tight end O.J. Howard each have five TDs, while wide receivers Adam Humphries, DeSean Jackson and Chris Godwin each have four, in addition to tight end Cam Brate.

“That’s just how it is on a team like this with this many weapons,” Humphries said. “It’s tough to get the targets you want when you have so many good players to get the ball to. I’m not saying we didn’t expect to be at the top of the league in passing, because we knew we could do it. It’s just great to see it come to fruition with that many guys on our team having success.”

Kansas City and San Diego are next up with four players with at least four touchdowns, followed by New Orleans, which has three.

• Here is some more insight about Bucs defensive end Carl Nassib, who was a walk-on at Penn State after not starting a game in high school. He went from being a walk-on defensive end who put on 50 pounds of muscle during his time with the Nittany Lions to become the nation’s sack leader as a senior.

“I started in middle school in eighth grade, but I never started in high school,” Nassib said. “These are my first two years of starting in college. I always like to represent walk-on university. My fellow walk-ons on the team don’t think I’m a part of that anymore. They’re like, ‘You’re a graduate.’ No, I still rep that every day. If you have a walk-on’s mentality of grinding every day, and earning your keep every day. That’s just the way to do it I think.”

The Bucs love this kid’s blue-collar mentality and high-motor playing style. What a waiver wire pick-up for general manager Jason Licht.

• PewterReport.com’s Trevor Sikkema, Mark Cook and yours truly brought our “A game” to the latest Pewter Nation Podcast as we talked about the Bucs’ free ticket giveaway and previewed the Bucs vs. Panthers game. Lots of good insight in this one with plenty of entertainment, too. Be sure to listen to Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 100 Part 15: Everything Is Better When It’s Free by clicking here.

If you missed out on Sunday’s Pewter Nation Podcast, Episode 100 Part 14, which came out after Tampa Bay’s win over San Francisco, make sure you listen to it while you are out and about this weekend doing some holiday shopping – or on the way to Ray-Jay to see the Bucs game. You can listen to Pewter Nation Podcast Ep100 Part 14: Off The Schneid by clicking here.

Listening to the Pewter Nation Podcasts on your drive home from work on Fridays or on Saturdays while doing some chores around the house or running errands this weekend is just smart. So do it. The next Pewter Nation Podcast will be taped after the Bucs – Panthers game on Sunday, so stay tuned for the post-game thoughts from Sikkema, Cook and yours truly as Tampa Bay tries to notch another NFC South victory and improve to 5-7.

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. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

• If you happened to miss Bucs defensive end Carl Nassib when he was with the Cleveland Browns during the summer when HBO filmed Hard Knocks, this clip is a must-see moment from one of the episodes where Nassib talks about compound interest and financial advisors.

• Some Bucs fans were scratching their heads when Tampa Bay signed tight end Cameron Brate to a six-year, $40.8 million contract extension in the offseason just one year after using its first-round draft pick on tight end O.J. Howard, who has 11 touchdowns in his first 24 games as a pro. But Brate’s deal was structured so that there is no salary cap hit after this year, so it was essentially a one-year deal.

Brate is slated to make another $7 million next year, but he’s well worth it because he’s a starting-caliber tight end and will prove his worth to the Bucs over the next five games as an ankle injury in New York prematurely ended Howard’s second season in Tampa Bay. In his first game as the starter last week, Brate scored a touchdown, his fourth of the year.

Bucs TE Cameron Brate – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Brate only has 20 catches for 145 yards this season, but his real value is the rapport he has with Jameis Winston in the red zone. Sunday’s opening score of the Bucs in last week’s win over the 49ers showed why Brate was worth re-signing.

“Obviously he’s making the most of what he’s getting now by scoring points,” Bucs wide receiver Adam Humphries said. “In this day and age there can be a lot of pressure for big-time players to score and put up their fantasy points because fantasy football is big now. There can be pressure outside of this building. It’s almost funny because after the Philly game he didn’t have a target and I think I had one target and one catch. We kind of both went home laughing about it because we got the win and we were 2-0 and that’s all that matters.

“We’re both four years into the league and we knew there were 14 weeks left in the season and that things could happen. We were going to get our shots. It’s a long season and guys are going to get hot in games and keep getting their targets. And some guys are going to get hurt. We can’t control it, but guys like Cam and I going to do the best we can to help out this team.”

• Bucs fans, make sure you watch this week’s edition of What’s Cooking? as host Mark Cook has Tampa Bay star receiver Mike Evans on to discuss the upcoming Mike Evans Family Foundation charity event, food and Bucs talk. There’s also a chance for you to bid on a cool Mike Evans-autographed hat with all of the proceeds benefiting the Mike Evans Family Foundation. Click here to watch What’s Cooking? With Mike Evans.

• And finally, I’ve gone to see Dr. Tommy Lane at Lane Family Wellness for chiropractic care for years, and I still see him on a monthly basis for neck adjustments and spinal maintenance, which is critical as we age. Well, there is more than just chiropractic care at Lane Family Wellness.

Not only does Dr. Lane help those victims of car accidents and injuries, but together with Dr. Yvette Suarez, Lane Family Wellness also offers a new, revolutionary, non-surgical treatment for knee injuries called Viscosupplementation Therapy that helps people with chronic knee pain, arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Lane Family Wellness is located at:
1323 W. Fletcher Avenue
Tampa, FL 33612

Treat yourself to the gift of living a pain-free life this holiday season! For more information on Viscosupplementation Therapy at Lane Family Wellness, visit them online at TampaKneeRelief.com to watch a brief one-minute video on the procedure and call (813) 968-4293 to schedule your free consultation.