Getty Leonard Fournette rallied the Buccaneers and halftime in addition to scoring four touchdowns in the win.
Leonard Fournette wouldn’t tolerate another minute of it with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers trailing 24-14 at the half against the Indianapolis Colts.
“You could tell the mood — people’s energy was down. And it wasn’t like we (were) out there getting our a—- whooped. It’s just the little things separating us to win the game from them,” the Bucs running back said on Sunday, Nov. 28, after a 38-31 comeback win at Indy.
“I’m like, ‘man, you have to have a will and a want. You have to be willing to risk everything play by play. You have to want to win, want to fight each and every play,'” Fournette recalled. “I think they understood that message and came out and played their lights out.”
With the halftime exhortation, Fournette earned the nickname “Locker Room Lenny” as a play off of his “Playoff Lenny” nickname from last season. NFL.com’s Kevin Patra coined the “Locker Room Lenny” nickname.
Tampa Bay turned it around starting with the first drive of the second half, when a Shaquil Barrett strip sack stopped the Colts at the Bucs’ 20-yard line. Two touchdowns and an interception later, the Bucs pulled ahead 28-24 and never trailed again.
“He definitely said some stuff that got us going,” Barrett told the media afterward. “He said we were a special group — that’s one of the reasons he came back. And we know we can play [like] a special group. We’ve just gotta show it.”
“I’m just appreciative of him doing what he did at the end of the game to seal it for us — during the whole game because he was playing good the whole game, making plays the whole game, and that was the difference in the game for us,” Barrett added.
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Join Heavy on Bucs!Rob Gronkowski: ‘He Backed It Up, Too’
Fournette did his part with two touchdowns in the second half, including a 28-yard run for the winning score. He finished with 100 yards rushing and three touchdowns in addition to seven catches for 31 yards and a touchdown.
“He went out there, and he backed it up, too,” Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski said after the game. “It just shows how much respect we give Lenny.”
Gronkowski wouldn’t go into specifics on the speech, leaving that up to Fournette to share instead. The veteran tight end at least shed light on its impact, comparing the low energy locker room before Fournette’s speech to the team that rallied to win at Lucas Oil Field.
“It was excellent. It got everyone fired up,” Gronkowski said. “The second half, we just went out there and played as a team — offensively, defensively — the defense was creating turnovers, we were scoring, Lenny was just running the ball amazing, and we just stuck together too. And to have a win on the road like that — that was a playoff-caliber win.”
Tom Brady on ‘Playoff Lenny’ Performance
Brady relished handing the ball off to Fournette like it was the 2020 season playoffs when the veteran back became known as “Playoff Lenny” and similar nicknames as the Bucs kept winning.
“Leonard played great in the run game and the pass game,” Brady said after the win at Indy. ”
Brady also said Fournette’s speech made a “huge” difference for the team.
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