Bucs Lavonte David can’t wait to play LA Rams in 2022

Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. Nothing could be more true than a recently publicly expressed wish from Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lavonte David, who chided their 30-27 loss in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs as a game that the Bucs should have one. He wants to face the LA Rams in 2022. And it just so happens that he will get his wish.

Of course, he believes that the Buccaneers would have, should have defeated the Rams in the NFL Playoffs. Wudda’. Cudda’. Shudda’. That’s a tough argument to initiate for a team that believes they are competitively superior.

Before giving Buccaneers ILB Lavonte David the floor, it’s a good idea to go over some basic facts. The LA Rams have not lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since the Bucs added veteran quarterback Tom Brady.  At one point in that Divisional Round, the LA Rams were up by a score of 27-3.

In David’s version of that game, the Buccaneers’ defense got them back into the game.

NFL Multiverse

In other versions, it was a game that was all but gift-wrapped for the Bucs, and yet they still lost. How often does a running back fumble at the one-yard line like Cam Akers did? How often does Cooper Kupp fumble? How often does an NFL center hike a football that sails over a quarterback’s head? How often did LA Rams placekicker Matt Gay miss a 47-yard field goal in the 2021 regular season?  For that matter, even on the running play that resulted in a second fumble by just returned Cam Akers, does veteran RB Sony Michel fumble there as well?

You see, those what-ifs can go both ways.

Some players move on. Some let go and focus on the future. Lavonte David is not one of those players:

"“It’s big motivation – huge motivation,” David said. “Because I feel like we (the defense) kind of got us back in that game. Then for us to end the game like that – that’s not what we want to be remembered as. We have the majority of our guys coming back again, so we’re going to have to take another huge leap this year.That taste is definitely going to be in our mouth(s) for a while. I believe we play them in the regular season. Not say(ing that) we’re going to circle that game, but it’s a game that is obviously going to be very important.” -Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lavonte David as per Pewter Reports Scott Reynolds"

The fact of the matter is that the Buccaneers only got back into that game due to LA Rams miscues.

Want to beat the Rams in 2022? Get in the line

If David needs to hate on the LA Rams, so be it. It’s something that the defending NFL Champions will need to prepare for anyway.  As that Scott Reynolds article states, you can bet that the Buccaneers will have the date circled for when the LA Rams are in town.

But they had the date circled on September 21, 2022, when the LA Rams defeated the Bucs by a score of 34-24. They had the date circled on November 23, 2020, when they lost to the Rams by a score of 27-24. And they surely had the date circled for the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs on January 23, 2022, when the LA Rams won once more by the score of 27-24.

David belabors the zero-cover play called that resulted in a 44-yard completion by Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp. But the zero-cover play is a sell-out by the defense that comes with that very risk. It either results in creating a sack, a turnover, or giving up a big play. So the defense made a poor choice? It happens.

Maybe it’s the circle? Maybe David should triangle the date? I mean, if an NFL player chooses to go down the excuse route, does it ever truly end?

I don’t think that the LA Rams fear the Buccaneers. Why should they? So what if Lavonte David is eager to play the LA Rams in 2022. Well, tell him he has to get in line like the rest of the folks who want a chance to redeem themselves.