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Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tampa Bay Bucs inactives: Noah Togiai to make debut with Dallas Goedert out
The Eagles are a little under an hour away from kickoff in Philadelphia and the teams just released their list of inactives for Thursday night against the Buccaneer.
Nick Sirianni and the Eagles’ offense will look to establish some form of running game with three starters out on the offensive line and a star tight end unable to play due to COVID-19 protocols.
Tampa Bay will be without three starters and two key players in the secondary.
ESPN says Ohio State is DBU. Ohio State calls its secondary BIA.
The talking heads at ESPN are at it again, debating who the best in college football is. This time it’s positional groups and who’s the cream of the crop all time. It was decided that Ohio State is indeed DBU — aka Defensive Back University.
There was a formula used that would take into account a combination of college success, draft stock, and NFL success. Points were awarded for all-conference and All-American selections, as well as draft positions and NFL evaluations.
According to ESPN, the Mount Rushmore of Buckeye defensive backs included Antoine Winfield, Jack Tatum, Mike Doss, and Malcolm Jenkins. An impressive list for sure, however, there was no mention anywhere of Shawn Springs, maybe the best cover corner to ever wear the scarlet and gray.
Of course, it’s all speculation and OSU has way too many greats at DB to narrow it to just four. Maybe that’s why the Bucks prefer to go with the moniker BIA (Best in America) instead.
Moving on to the 97' draft, the Rams lead it off taking Ohio State OT Orlando Pace with the 1st pick. The Raiders use the #2 pick on USC DT Darrell Russell. With the 3rd pick, Seattle takes Ohio State CB Shawn Springs. At #4, the Ravens select Florida State DE/LB Peter Boulware. pic.twitter.com/SZRYkoj2Ja
— 80s/90s College Football (@Stephen49090103) April 25, 2020
The DBU debate was a close race. Following Ohio State in order was LSU, Alabama, Florida, Miami, Florida State, Texas, USC, Georgia, and Virginia Tech.
OSU also was well represented in other “Position U” battles as well. The Buckeyes were in the top ten for running back, wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, kicker, and punter.
You can see all the debates on ESPN Position U for yourself. There’s plenty of material to argue with your best friend from a rival school.
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The Minnesota Vikings were well represented on PFF’s All-Old Man Team by landing Terence Newman and Antoine Winfield on the list.
Whether it was Mike Zimmer’s era or even before that, the Vikings have utilized plenty of older cornerbacks in order to stop opposing offenses.
So it makes sense that Pro Football Focus named two former Minnesota cornerbacks to its All-Old Man Team: Terence Newman and Antoine Winfield.
Here’s what PFF’s Ben Linsey wrote about Newman:
“Nearly all of Newman’s snaps came at outside cornerback, and he allowed just 245 receiving yards into his coverage all season on over 400 coverage snaps. Newman had nearly as many forced incompletion (nine) as he did first downs allowed through the air (12). He gave the Vikings several strong seasons late in his career, but that effort in 2016 was the best of the bunch.”
Linsey also had positive things to say about Winfield:
“Winfield’s coverage stats were impressive — he allowed a passer rating of just 70.4 on 90 passes into his coverage in 2012 — but not as impressive as his run defense and tackling. Winfield led all cornerbacks this season in run-defense grade (92.3). That was a trademark for the undersized Winfield throughout his career.”
Last offseason, the Vikings opted to replace older cornerbacks with younger, more inexperienced talent. If Cameron Dantzler and Jeff Gladney work out, maybe Minnesota will land more cornerbacks on PFF’s All-Old Man Team down the road. It would’ve been nice for the Vikings to have Winfield’s son, though.
The son of the former Viking great missed the NFC Championship game with an ankle injury.
The son of Vikings great Antoine Winfield is heading to the Super Bowl.
Bucs rookie defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. missed the team’s NFC Championship win over the Packers with an ankle injury. He’ll have two weeks to recover, however, and we’ll see if he’ll be able to get on the field for the team’s Super Bowl matchup against the Packers.
The younger Winfield was a huge part of Tampa Bay’s defense this season, starting all 16 games in the regular season.
Antoine Winfield Sr. made the playoffs five times in his career (four with the Vikings), but never advanced to the Super Bowl.
Another Minnesota connection for the Bucs is rookie wide receiver Tyler Johnson, who attended the University of Minnesota.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t have their versatile, playmaking safety against Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones and the Green Bay Packers during Sunday’s NFC Championship Game. Rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. injured his ankle during practice this week and …
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t have their versatile, playmaking safety against Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones and the Green Bay Packers during Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
Rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. injured his ankle during practice this week and was declared inactive for Sunday after going through an on-field workout with the Buccaneers training staff.
Winfield, the 45th overall pick in the 2020 draft, made the PFWA All-Rookie team after producing 94 tackles, one interception, six pass breakups, three sacks and two forced fumbles over 16 regular season games in 2020.
At Pro Football Focus, Winfield was the site’s second-best safety against the run and fourth-best blitzing safety by grade. He ranked 26th overall among safeties.
Last week, Winfield forced a crucial fumble of New Orleans Saints tight end Jared Cook that eventually led to the game-tying touchdown, helping turn the game in the Bucs’ favor.
Winfield played nearly 1,200 total snaps for the Buccaneers defense in 2020.
Losing Winfield is akin to the Packers not having Adrian Amos.
Mike Edwards will likely replace Winfield in the starting lineup on Sunday.
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Buccaneers CB Antoine Winfield Jr. helped his team beat the Saints on Sunday. He hasn’t forgotten what New Orleans did to his father’s Minnesota team in 2009.
It wouldn’t have been shocking to see Minnesota fans rooting for Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Not only are there two former Gophers playing for the Buccaneers, but the Vikings and Saints have met in the playoffs quite often recently. New Orleans fans have the Minneapolis Miracle and the 2019 overtime loss to dislike Minnesota. Vikings fans of course have 2009, where Brett Favre and Minnesota were knocked out of the NFC Championship.
One of those ex-Gophers, Antoine Winfield Jr., mentioned 2009 after Tampa Bay defeated New Orleans in the playoffs. Winfield’s father was playing for the Vikings when they lost to the Saints in the NFC Championship. Here’s what he said on Instagram after the game:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKMSTqwFdK7/
As seen in video form on his Instagram, Winfield Jr. made one of the biggest plays of the game. He forced New Orleans tight end Jared Cook to fumble in the third quarter. Buccaneers linebacker Devin White was able to scoop up the ball. The turnover led to a game-tying touchdown drive.
Tyler Johnson, the other former Gophers player who came up big for the Buccaneers Sunday, replied to the post as well.
Minnesota Vikings cornerback Jeff Gladney has picked up some comparisons to other physical corners who played with the Minnesota Vikings.
Vikings cornerback Jeff Gladney might be on the smaller side, but he plays the game in a physical way.
Remind you of anyone?
Gladney has drawn some comparisons to former Vikings corner Antoine Winfield for his style of play.
“I’ve heard the comparison to him a lot and I’m just trying to live up to it and leave my history,” Gladney said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.
Gladney was also asked if he sees similarities in his game to former Minnesota corner and current Vikings defensive backs coach Terence Newman. Gladney conceded that he had not heard that comparison before.
“But I guess so, when it comes to coming up in the open field and making tackles,” Gladney said of the comparison. “I mean, I kind of pride myself on that and that’s what I like to do.”
Arguably Gladney’s most memorable play this year was keeping Packers tight end Robert Tonyan in bounds in the fourth quarter. That might not sound like much, but Tonyan is a tight end and needed to get out of bounds, only to be kept in by Gladney. The play ended up costing Green Bay a lot of time late in the game and the Packers lost.
That just shows what the rookie can do as a physical presence on the defense. If he keeps it up, I’m sure the comparisons to physical corners of the past will continue.
Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. could make NFL (and family) history with an Aaron Rodgers interception this Sunday.
When the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers face off this Sunday, it’ll present a compelling matchup between the Packers’ No. 1 offense in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted DVOA metric, and the Buccaneers’ second-ranked defense.
But there’s a side story that makes this game even more interesting. Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. who’s playing at a Defensive Rookie of the Year clip, could make NFL history (and certainly family history) if he’s able to pick off a Rodgers pass.
We take you to the Wayback Machine to Week 4 of the 2009 NFL season, and a Packers 30-23 loss to the Vikings in which Rodgers completed 26 of 37 passes for 384 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The recipient of that interception with 11:47 left in the first half? None other than Minnesota cornerback Antoine Winfield. As in, of course, the father of Antoine Winfield Jr.
This was the 11th season of the elder Winfield’s career, and his second straight Pro Bowl season. If Winfield Jr. is able to pick a Rodgers pass this Sunday, he would be one of half of, to the best of our knowledge, the first father-son combo in NFL history to intercept passes by the same quarterback.
I watched tape with Winfield Jr. in February, and asked him how his father helped him with everything from picking up a quarterback’s tells to route recognition.
“Man … pretty much everything,” he said. “He started me off young, so at a young age, I was out there doing footwork drills with him, watching film and pretty much everything football-wise. I learned a lot from him.
“It comes from him, and from film study.Him teaching me how to watch film. When he was in the pros, we’d sit in the bedroom, and he’d be looking at film, and I’d be watching him breaking it down. Showing me what the receivers do and the route concepts and everything.”
So maybe the Winfields will be talking this week about how best to deal with Mr. Rodgers.
Winfield Sr. also picked off a Tom Brady pass as a member of the Bills’ secondary on November 11, 2001, but as Winfield Jr. and Brady are on the same team, Brady’s safe from the same possibility.
Burleson played with the Vikings from 2003-2005 after being drafted in the third round out of Nevada.
Former Vikings wide receiver and current NFL Network personality Nate Burleson ranked his top-5 teammates during his career over at NFL.com.
Three former Vikings appear on the list.
Quarterback Daunte Culpepper is listed at No. 5, cornerback Antoine Winfield was No. 4 and wide receiver Randy Moss was listed No. 1.
Burleson played with the Vikings from 2003-2005 after being drafted in the third round out of Nevada. In 2004, he had the best season of his career, finishing with 68 catches for 1,006 yards and nine touchdowns.
Here’s a bit of what Burleson wrote about Moss:
Seriously, I would line up next to him, look at the DBs guarding him, and they were already on their heels. Moss already won and the play hadn’t even started. Hands down the most natural and physically gifted athlete I ever played with.
Burleson only played two seasons with Moss, but in those two seasons Moss had a combined 2,399 receiving yards and 30 touchdowns. Not bad.
You can see Burleson’s full list of best teammates here.
Find out which Buccaneers rookie Marc Sessler of NFL.com thinks could wind up as a Pro Bowler in 2020.
The Buccaneers’ third-ranked offense got a major upgrade this offseason with the additions of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, former champions with the New England Patriots who will reunite together in Tampa.
Not only that, but the Bucs added some great young talent in the draft, including offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs, who the team hopes will be a foundational piece along their O-line.
But one of the Bucs’ other big moves was taking talented safety Antoine Winfield Jr. in round two. The former Minnesota star and son of three-time NFL Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield Sr. is ready to live up to his family name.
Marc Sessler over at NFL.com is such a fan of Winfield that he predicted he’d be a first-time Pro Bowler after his rookie year.
Per Sessler:
“The vast majority of Tampa’s starry offensive parts have already made the Pro Bowl. If we can tear ourselves away from Tom Brady and friends for just a second, I present to you the case of Antoine Winfield Jr. His 5-foot-9 frame and notable injury history are talking points, but so are his unteachable instincts, closing speed, versatility and NFL bloodline. Winfield doubled as a safety and slot corner at Minnesota and said at the NFL Scouting Combine that he patterns his game after Tyrann Mathieu. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles helped unleash Honey Badger in Arizona and knows exactly what path to follow with Winfield.”
Bucs fans are eager to see what Winfield can bring to this Bowles-run defense. He’ll hopefully add more strength in the secondary, which came on strong in the second half of last season.
While I think Winfield will be an immediate impact player, I’m surprised Sessler didn’t go with linebacker Devin White as his pick for a first-time Pro Bowler. White seems poised to take a major step forward this season on a team and defense with championship expectations. I think he’ll answer the call.
Plus, he’s already told Tom Brady he’s got his back on defense.
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