New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Saints-Bucs game blacked out Sunday

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beastmode (Post 339486)

They are still in the hunt and this game is critical. 12th man being crickets is not going to help the situation. Throw out the Monday night game and that's 11 games in a row blacked out for a decent team. What's going on in Tampa?

I'm being serious, not joking: what's going on with the fans is that the Tampa Bay Bucaneers are in the same division with a lil' team called the New Orleans Saints! As fans, they know they have no shot at anything better than a lucky wild card as long as Brees and Payton are here. With the Falcons holding down the middle of the division (occasionally getting lucky), the Bucs will always be outside looking in at playoff time. Add Cam Newton to the mix, for at least the next four years, and Bucs fans have nothing to cheer about. The fans know they can be a 10 win team and still NOT get in. So why bother?

I also think that the fan base is not sold on the coach and quarterback. I saw a puff piece recently on TV (think it was pregame) that was VERY much geared towards the Bucs players and coaches talking about "Josh Freeman is the franchise quarterback of this team" "Josh Freeman is the leader" "Josh Freeman is the future." And they were sort of saying, "well, we know he's quiet and not very emotional, we know he doesn't look like a leader out there, on the field, we know he doesn't act the way a team leader acts, but he's still the leader!" And THAT to me was a big red flag -- I suspect that the Bucs are going out of their way hyping this guy as a "leader," and saying he's going to be the future for the franchise, because there are grumblings and problems there, and the fans aren't really buying into it. That's just my take on it.