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McFarland on FitzMagic: ‘Play the guy with the hot hand’

 
Published Sept. 23, 2018

TAMPA — Why wait until Monday Night Football? We got former Bucs defensive tackle Booger McFarland, the field analyst for the ESPN crew, to break down the Bucs-Steelers matchup. In his straight-forward, brutally honest style, McFarland dissects the Bucs' 2-0 start, why Ryan Fitzpatrick is playing so well and whether the Steelers can bounce back from a 0-1-1 record.

What do you make of the Bucs' fastest start since 2010?

"I think when you look at them right now, they're not playing great but they're still winning and that's the sign of a team that's pretty good. Because you don't have to play great to win. Now when they click on all cylinders, they play well, meaning when the defense steps up and gets some red-zone stops, when the young secondary grows up, then you have the makings of a complete football team. Right now, they're just piecing it together a little bit."

RELATED: How Booger McFarland went from a Tampa FM radio station to 'MNF'

How do you explain the way Ryan Fitzpatrick is playing?

"I think for Fitzpatrick, you're looking at a guy … I want to frame this the right way … he realizes that he doesn't have many more years left. He's saying, 'You know what? The hell with it. We're not going to go out here and play nervous but we're going to go out here and not do anything but have fun. I'm going to dress up in DeSean (Jackson)'s clothes, I'm going to throw it down the field deep over and over and over again, I'm going to check it at the line of scrimmage. Why? Because guess what? I don't have many more of these games left. My career is coming to an end.' …This team is still pretty young. You have a veteran quarterback with a ton of confidence that's rubbing off on a young football team that has a lot of talent and I think that's the reason they're winning."

What do the Bucs do when Jameis Winston returns from his suspension Tuesday?

"It's really not a big question. Common sense would tell you what? You play the guy with the hot hand. That's what common sense would tell you. I think that conversation has been overblown too much in my opinion. I know there's real feeling that Jameis is still the franchise's No. 1 quarterback going forward. Now whether that's this year or next week, it really doesn't matter because you're trying to win right now. I know long-term, everyone I talked to in the organization still feels very confident that Jameis Winston can be their guy for the next five or 10 years."

Do you see the Steelers bouncing back from their 0-1-1 start?

"I think they'll bounce back. You look at Mike Tomlin. He's the second-winningest active coach in football behind (New England's Bill) Belichick. He's never had a losing season. So just the consistency which his team plays with tells you they're going to bounce back. I know there's a lot of noise, but there's nothing a win won't solve."