The Legend Of Gerald McCoy

So I'm minding my own business this evening and I happened to see that TBO had an article up about Gerald McCoy. Obviously anything about our defensive linemen is going to pique my interest so I pulled up the story. It was pretty good stuff explaining how McCoy has been playing well even though the stat sheet may not reflect that to some people and even though he hasn't made a lot of splash plays so far. That is pretty much the same assessment I've made about McCoy after two games so it wasn't all that surprising.

Then I got to this graf:

Finally, on that critical fourth-and-goal play from the Bucs' 1-yard line in the fourth quarter, McCoy occupied three blockers yet again, this time allowing linebacker Geno Hayes to knife through and stop Jonathan Stewart for a 1-yard loss.

I literally let out a chuckle.

But to make sure I wasn't tripping I went back to the DVR copy of the game to make sure. And sure enough there was McCoy on the side AWAY from that play and instead of three guys blocking him he got cut by the guard and the offensive tackle to that side tried to block him high. He actually did a good job of not getting taken to the ground but on that particular play he had no role in the outcome. The guy who DID get the penetration was Brian Price who was lined up on the opposite side and who cleared the way for Geno Hayes to come in and make the play.

It's not a capital crime or anything but at this point I have to wonder who is feeding these kinds of stories to the media. For one I don't think that McCoy needs anybody giving him credit that he didn't earn. And for two I imagine Brian Price might not be too happy about not getting the credit he deserves.

I realize that many beat reporters simply don't have the time to go back and watch the tape to verify their information but I would say that they might at least attempt to so to insure that these kinds of mistakes stop.

It is what it is.