Greg Schiano may insist he still has control of his team, but the fact of the matter is there are players in his own locker room who don’t respect or like what he and his coaching staff stand for. If you need evidence of that, look no further than the comments defensive tackle Gerald McCoy made earlier this week.
During an interview with WDAE-AM 620 on Wednesday, McCoy told an interesting story about Tampa Bay’s coaching staff scolding him during the team’s loss to the Carolina Panthers last weekend. According to the former No. 3 overall pick, he irritated them by helping an opponent off the ground.
“I had my D-line coaches get on to me the other day,” McCoy said, as transcribed by JoeBucsFan.com. “Well, not get on to me, try to get on to me. There’s no way they’re going to get on to me for this. They got upset with me because I helped somebody up [in the game.] So what! I don’t care. Kiss my butt.
“Listen, if I want to help somebody, I’m going help somebody up. Because right on the next play I’m going to knock him down again. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. That doesn’t change how hard I play. As long as in between the whistles I’m not helping anybody up, it doesn’t matter. So what if I help them off the ground?”
Schiano can insist the players on his 0-7 team still respect him if he wants, but I can probably name at least 25 coaches in the NFL whose players know better than to tell the coaching staff to kiss their butt on public airwaves.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” McCoy continued. “Everybody’s not like that. If you don’t want to be like that, keep it to yourself. I don’t care. I don’t go tell them, ‘Hey, you’re not doing this. You’re not doing that.’ I don’t care. Everybody does what they do. If I help somebody up, get over it. Get over it.”
I’m with McCoy. There’s nothing wrong with helping an opponent up between plays. You can be a human being and still compete at the highest level. That being said, it doesn’t surprise me that the coach with these controversial kneel-down tactics does not want his players extending a helping hand. Schiano is a tough guy, which is why current and former players recently ripped him for wanting to be like Bill Belichick. It’s only a matter of time before he’s fired.
H/T Shutdown Corner
