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Vintage John McKay
One of the highlights of the 1976 season though were the quotes from John McKay. Not just content with being a good coach, McKay was at his hilarious best throughout the 14-game losing streak in that expansion season and beyond.
“It bothers me that they (the national media) have picked us to be the worst team in football. Because what they are doing now is challenging your physical and your mental capacity and my ability to coach you. Now, this hurts me. Second worst team, I could stand it. But not the worst team.”
“We’ve broken down the expansion teams and they’ve averaged winning 2.7 games their first year, which to me is rather difficult. I figured out the 2, but the .7 has got me wondering what the hell is going on.”
When he heard that one of the kickers during training camp, Pete Rajecki, had mentioned he was nervous kicking in front of his coach, McKay asked that the press “Tell Mr. Rajecki that I plan to attend all the games.”
"Kickers are like horse manure. They're all over the place."
"We didn't tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking."
"Intensity is a lot of guys that run fast."
"Emotion is highly overrated in football. My wife Corky is emotional as hell but can't play football worth a damn."
On his team's blocking strategy: "Hold when you're at home and don't hold when you're on the road."
"If you have everyone back from a team that lost ten games, experience isn't too important."
On how coaching an expansion team is a religious experience: "You do a lot of praying, but most of the time the answer is 'no.' "
“I’ll probably take a little time off and go hide somewhere. We will be back. Maybe not this century, but we will be back and we will be a better football team.”
On the Buccaneers poor special-teams play, “They were absolutely horrible and that’s the best thing I can say. Besides that they were bad. These people are not poorly paid you know.”
On the play of Joe Namath in the Jets 34-0 victory over Tampa Bay, “Namath is still Namath, but I must say that our guys were nice to him. I noticed when they knocked him down, they helped him to his feet. That was gentlemanly. I thought one stood around long enough to get his autograph.”
On how badly the Bucs looked in losing to the Steelers 42-0, “There were times I felt like leaving the stadium and hitchhiking home.”
"If a contest had ninety-seven prizes, the ninety-eighth would be a trip to Green Bay."
On Tampa Bay ending its 26-game losing streak: "Three or four plane crashes and we're in the playoffs."
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