TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bryant Deserves Recognition

ADVERTISEMENT

By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2008

ATLANTA - For weeks, the Bucs have been touting wide receiver Antonio Bryant as a Pro Bowl and Comeback Player of the Year candidate. Until last Monday, no one seemed to be listening. Maybe they are listening now.

On one of football's biggest stages and in one of the Bucs' biggest games Monday, Bryant turned in the best game of his career with a nine-catch, 200-yard, two-touchdown eye-popper that kept the Bucs alive in what proved to be a 38-23 loss to Carolina.

The performance was the second-best in team history. Only Mark Carrier's 212-yard game against New Orleans, nearly 21 years ago to the day, was better. In a lot of ways, though, Bryant's effort against the Panthers was typical of what he has done for the Bucs all season.

The game marked the fourth time this season that Bryant has had 100 or more yards receiving and the eighth time he has led all Bucs pass catchers in both receiving yards and receptions.

On a grander scale, it left him 10th in the NFL and seventh in the NFC in receiving yards, 14th in the NFL and sixth in the NFC in receptions and sixth in both the NFL and NFC in touchdown catches.

Judging by those numbers, it seems Bryant might fall short of that Pro Bowl berth the Bucs are hoping he will earn. He certainly deserves to be in the discussion, however, and he could eventually earn a spot as an alternate.

As for Comeback Player of the Year, Bryant has good competition there as well. But his chances of winning out over the likes of linebacker Joey Porter and quarterbacks Jake Delhomme and Chad Pennington seem pretty good.

Porter is having a career year for the Dolphins, with a career-best 16.5 sacks, but he's coming off a year in which he played in 16 games, started 15 and simply played poorly in every one of them.

Delhomme is coming back from major reconstructive elbow surgery, and he has been solid for the most part for Carolina, but he ranks in the middle of the pack among quarterbacks in almost every major passing category.

Pennington, meanwhile, has been consistent, has thrown for more than 3,000 yards and is having a career-best season for Miami. But even his comeback from a myriad of problems doesn't quite mirror Bryant's.

Bryant didn't play a down last year. He spent the whole season watching football from his couch. While that was largely his own doing, it shouldn't diminish his achievement this year.

This is a guy who had to overcome not only inactivity but his reputation for being a troublemaker, both on and off the field, and that was just to earn a roster spot.

Since earning that spot, Bryant also has earned a place in the Bucs' starting lineup. He has even managed to push Joey Galloway, Coach Jon Gruden's "White Tiger," to the point of extinction.

Few would have considered that possible a year ago. Few would have considered it possible even a few weeks ago. That's how good Bryant has been, though. He is arguably the Bucs' most valuable offensive player this year.

And at a time when players like Plaxico Burress, Jeremy Bridges and Pacman Jones continue to give the league a black eye, it would be nice to recognize someone who has finally figured out what it means to play in this league.

Yeah, Bryant took this game for granted once, maybe twice. And yes, he caused a lot of problems for himself, his previous teams and previous teammates. But all that seems to be in the past.

Bryant has come back to the league and set it on fire in all the right ways. And he has matured, not just as a football player, but as a person and a teammate.

Bryant clearly has a better understanding and appreciation for the game, and for his role in it, this time around. He's hungrier and appears to be more about team and winning, and less about himself, than ever before.

His, in essence, is the complete comeback. Why not reward him for it?

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT