I am not talking about pressure from the Bucs, I am talking about the self-imposed kind.
All off season he spun it for the front office. It's OK that 2 of his OL are gone and his #1 and #3 WR's and his #2 injured. We're just fine, never better.
I think he's still feeling the effect of the fan and media backlash against his contract because if you get paid with the best, you have to play like the best.
Have you noticed how he tries to underplay any physical hiccups like his ankle being about the cleats or the calf didn't bother him when it was obvious it did.
I think he has a case of Superman Syndrome and just being Clark Kent won't fly. He has to do it better.
I do not think there is another position in all the NFL tougher to play than the QB of the DC from an emotional side. It is life in the goldfish bowl exacerbated by the owner and his son always trying to sell him to the fans. And don't think a lot of them don't buy it.
So, now he gets to back off a little, heal up, rehab and reflect on just what happened Sunday night. Not only was he booed but a few morons threw trash at him as he came off the field injured. He has to wonder how it came to this.
I think he has been trying to live up to the contract and the title too much and it got to him and what we saw on that sideline, the deer in the headlights, was the proof of that. This is a man that had no problem in admitting he's had some mental health concerns and I applaud him for that.
This hand injury might be a blessing in disguise for him. He might not even realize how tightly wound inside he is but when I saw him on that sideline, that man looked dazed, confused and a little fearful.
Can't consider this man without considering where he came from and just how he got here as well as how he got the starting jobs in high school and Miss St. He couldn't take the job from the starters but when he got it, he would not give it back. That says something about him, something unusual.
Even those so opposed to him as the DC QB have to agree, they've not seen him play like that. I mean, he was really bad. The OL and WR's weren't great but that wasn't it, it was him. I got the feeling he wasn't playing football, he was fulfilling some role and when it started to unravel on him he started to panic inside and that look he had on the sideline is the look of anxiety.
I really do not think the only problem is with that hand and I hope he gets some help with that while he's not on the firing line.
