Getty The Buccaneers' Trey Palmer scoring a 'p***ed off' TD vs. the Eagles.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Trey Palmer got on Twitter/X on the morning before his first postseason game, as the Bucs were ready to play the Eagles to close the NFL’s wild card weekend, and repeated a sentiment that has become common for him. “I’M P***ED OFF!” he wrote. It was the third time in the Buccaneers rookie’s career he has tweeted that before a game.
IM PISSED OFF!!🌹
He took out that anger on the Eagles in the third quarter of the Buccaneers’ win over Philadelphia, taking a short second-and-4 throw from Baker Mayfield around midfield, making the first attempted tackler miss, then zipping between three would-be tacklers and using his speed (4.33 in the 40-yard dash at the 2023 Combine) to blaze into the end zone for a backbreaking 56-yard touchdown.
The play made the score 25-9, and the Buccaneers added another score to close out the 32-9 win.
After the game, Palmer was asked to explain that morning tweet. “Just my mood. I woke up mad. I don’t like birds, you know?” he said after the game, smiling.
Buccaneers’ Trey Palmer Does Well When ‘P**ed Off’
But the odd thing about Palmer’s bad moods is how often the lead to touchdowns. As Dan Gaspar, a DFS analyst, pointed out on Twitter/X, Palmer had announced that he had woken up “p***ed off” five times going back to his college career at Nebraska and ending with December 31, 2023, and had scored a touchdown in all five of those games.
He announced he woke up unhappy on January 7 when the Buccaneers played the Panthers, but did not score a touchdown in that game. Still, a string of five out of six is not bad. And he pushed the run forward on Monday, now having scored touchdowns in six of the seven games he has played following a tweet announcing he was “p***ed off” in the morning.
Before last week (maybe a bit of a heat check), Trey Palmer has scored a TD every time he’s woken up pissed off.
11/19/22 (NCAAF) – 4 receptions, 47 yards, 2 touchdowns
11/25/22 – 9/165/2 👀
10/1/23 (NFL) – 2/6/1
12/31/23 – 4/84/1
+450 ATD odds, +2000 first TD
Palmer finished the game with only the one catch on two targets, but he made it count.
After the game he said he could not recall many details about the play except that he always keeps things simple. “I don’t even remember, I just know, I was gone,” he said. “I just saw ball, get ball, like I always go by. Like, I just like be comfortable before everything. I just make the play when I see the ball.”
‘Raw But Coachable’
Obviously, the Buccaneers are decidedly not ticked off on this or any morning lately, especially not with the performance of Palmer, who could be a steal from the 2023 draft if he can improve his hand and establish some consistency. Palmer fumbled three times this season, on just 39 catches.
Palmer had been a track star and a 5-star recruit at Kentwood High in Louisiana, where he was the state champion in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. He struggled at LSU and transferred to Nebraska. He had a solid career in Lincoln but still was considered a project at the NFL level.
As Lance Zierlein wrote on Palmer’s NFL.com predraft scouting report: “Trey Palmer’s route running is raw, but coachable. He’s an athletic mover with good leaping ability and a quiet engine that can unleash a big second gear to chase the deep throw. Getting Palmer to play to his top speed and with a consistent competitiveness will be the challenge, as his ball skills are below average. The athleticism and speed will be tempting on Day 3, but his upside could be limited.”
The speed tempted the Buccaneers. And it paid off on Monday.