Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 12-25-18

Sports
Buccaneers, Falcons Set To Wrap Up Disappointing Seasons
Bucs' Mike Evans Good
Two of the more disap- pointing teams in the NFL will wrap up their season when the Atlanta Falcons visit the Tampa Bay Bucca- neers on Sunday at 1 p.m. on FOX in a matchup of NFC South rivals.
The Falcons (6-9) have won two games in a row and are still far from achieving their expectations but there remains plenty of motivation for the club to finish on a strong note.
If Atlanta can knock off the Buccaneers for the sec- ond time this season, it will finish with a 7-9 record. A win, which would hurt the team's draft standing, would leave the club in sole posses- sion of second place in the di- vision.
in his first year as the team's head coach in 2016. He waited too long before dis- missing defensive coordina- tor Mike Smith and may have been too quick to bench quarterback Jameis Win- ston after three games, but Koetter was not interested in revisiting either of those decisions.
Falcons head coach Dan Quinn sees the importance in finishing 7-9 rather than 6- 10.
Quinn will finish with the worst record of his four- year tenure. After going 8-8 in 2015, Atlanta was 11-5 and went to the Super Bowl in 2016, and 10-6 last season before losing to the eventual champion Philadelphia Ea- gles in the playoffs.
Unbelievable! Bucs Might Give QB Ryan Griffin A Chance To Play
RYAN GRIFFIN
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers do not have a chance to reach the playoffs and the future of head coach Dirk Koetter is uncertain, so the Bucs might take a look at untested quarter- back Ryan Griffin.
Koetter said Monday the team would like to see Griffin take his first NFL snaps in a regular season game Sunday against Atlanta
Griffin was the Bucs' No. 2 quarterback in Sunday's 27-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but has only played in preseason games.
Griffin, 29, competed with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the backup job last season, but Griffin ended up missing most of the 2017 season because of injury.
Griffin completed 68 per- cent of his passes for 518 yards and four touchdowns in four preseason games. He becomes an unrestricted free agent after this season, and Fitzpatrick also become a free agent. So the Bucs want to take a look at what they have.
And Giving Gifts
Case Keenum Says Broncos
JAMEIS WINSTON AND MATT RYAN
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is 5-9 and head coach Dirk Koetter knows his job is in jeopardy. Koetter is only 19- 28 and his future with the franchise, along with general manager Jason Licht, is in doubt.
Koetter has made plenty of mistakes since he went 9-7
Bucs players came into the locker room last week to the sight of custom Bird scooters at each player's locker as Christmas gifts from wide re- ceiver Mike Evans.
The scooters have been popular among Bucs players, and the ones Evans gave his teammates were personalized with each player’s last name and jersey number on the base.
“When I first came in the door, I saw the quarterbacks with them, so I thought it was just certain people had it,” of- fensive tackle Demar Dot- son said. “I was like, ‘How'd you get that?’ Then when I seen everyone had one, that I had one, that’s when I got re- ally excited. Mike’s a special guy on the field and off the field, so that was really nice of him.”
Evans has been riding a Bird around the locker room in recent days, and Dotson asked him about the scooter because he wanted to get one for his son. Evans talked him out of purchasing one, but
MIKE EVANS
then let the secret out to Dot- son a few days early.
“He actually kind of told me because somebody else had a Bird and I was saying, ‘I might need to get one for my son,’ ” Dotson said. “And he was like, ‘No, hold up before you buy one.’ I was like, ‘What you mean: Hold off before you buy one?’ ... He was like, ‘I'm gonna get y'all one. Don't tell anybody.’ ”
Players were still con- sumed by their scooters on Monday in the locker room. Also, defensive line coach Brenston Buckner gave the team’s defensive linemen cus- tom wrestling belts with each player’s name and number on the front.
At Receiving Passes —
Coach Vance Joseph Has
Not Lost Locker Room
The Denver Broncos are limping to the finish line of what has been another ex- tremely disappointing season, and Vance Joseph is ex- pected to lose his job some- time in the days or hours after Sunday’s game, but the team’s veterans insist the head coach has not lost the respect of his players.
While speaking with re- porters after Monday night’s ugly loss to the Oakland Raiders, Broncos quarterback Case Keenum said he and his teammates are still playing hard for Joseph.
“We all want to play hard.
Mike Tomlin Trying To
VANCE JOSEPH
We all want to win for coach Joseph,” Keenum said. “We all love him. He’s an incredible human and a great football coach. I want to play hard for him, I want to play hard for everybody in that locker room.”
Keep Reeling Steelers
Focused Despite Odds
Mike Tomlin isn't going to complain about the officiat- ing. Or lament the turnovers and missed opportunities over the last month that have the Pittsburgh Steelers on the out- side of the playoffs looking in heading into Week 17.
The longtime head coach doesn't see the point in it. Spending too much time look- ing back and not enough time looking forward can be just as dangerous as any of the mis- steps or handful of question- able calls that have hit the Steelers (8-6-1) during a slide that's seen them drop four of five to fall behind Baltimore for the top spot in the AFC North.
"The bottom line is when they're done, they're done, you move on," Tomlin said Tues- day. "What truly defines you
MIKE TOMLIN
(are) the plays that lie ahead." Maybe, but the sting of a 31-28 loss on the road in New Orleans on Sunday could linger well into the offseason if Pittsburgh can't slip past the Ravens to reach the playoffs for the fifth straight year. The Steelers need to beat Cincin- nati and hope Cleveland beats Baltimore on the road after letting another fourth-quarter lead slip away against the
Saints.
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