{"id":16548,"date":"2021-02-08T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T17:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=16548"},"modified":"2021-02-17T17:34:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T22:34:23","slug":"tampa-bay-bucs-rb-leonard-fournette-i-just-thank-god-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2021\/02\/tampa-bay-bucs-rb-leonard-fournette-i-just-thank-god-every-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Bucs RB Leonard Fournette: &#8216;I Just Thank God Every Day&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back is a devout Christian and thanks God every day for making a way for him to get where he is today.<\/p>\n<p>Fournette was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished a league-worst 1-15, on Sept.1. He signed with the Buccaneers less than a week later. Now, the Bucs are the Super Bowl Champions, and Fournette still thinks it\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n<p>Getting to Super Bowl LV wasn\u2019t easy either. It was riddled with challenges for the Bucs running back. He couldn\u2019t even hold back his tears after helping his team defeat the Green Bay Packers, pushing the team to the Super Bowl. He rushed for 55 yards and had one touchdown, WLFA reports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t get this moment. It doesn\u2019t come back to you,\u201d Fournette said. \u201cIt is hard to make it to the playoffs. It is hard to make this run.\u201d<br \/>\nThere was a time when he wasn\u2019t sure if he was even helping his team. Now, Fournettte is traveling in a new direction with the team. He also switched his mindset, which has helped the Bucs crush games in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>Fournette rushed for 211 yards and had two touch downs in three playoff games, WFLA reports. He also rushed for 367 yards over 13 games in the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels good just to be a part of being a Buc,\u201d said Fournette. \u201cI just thank God every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fournette was emotional following Sunday\u2019s win. He sat down and called his mom and dad because they\u2019ve been in his corner through it all \u2013 when he was cut and when he hit his lowest points. His mom continued to tell him that God was going to make a way for him. That way ended up being the end of the season during the playoffs, Fournette said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom being cut to going through my trials and tribulations throughout the season, and now I\u2019m a world champion? I\u2019m blessed,\u201d Fournette said on Sunday night after the Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, in Super Bowl 55. \u201cIt\u2019s a great story I can tell my kids about keeping faith, staying focused, a whole bunch of things.<\/p>\n<p>In the long run, \u201cplayoff Lenny\u201d came alive. \u201cMan, I\u2019m blessed,\u201d Fournette said.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to Fournette talk about the road to the Super Bowl in the press conference below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1cIQ1muaxVo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back is a devout Christian and thanks God every day for making a way for him to get where he is today. Fournette was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished a league-worst 1-15, on Sept.1. He signed with the Buccaneers less than a week later. Now, the Bucs are&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":16551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4716,455,4725,4719,4722],"class_list":["post-16548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television","tag-leonard-fournette","tag-super-bowl","tag-super-bowl-lv","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tampa Bay Bucs RB Leonard Fournette: &#039;I Just Thank God Every Day&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2021\/02\/tampa-bay-bucs-rb-leonard-fournette-i-just-thank-god-every-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tampa Bay Bucs RB Leonard Fournette: &#039;I Just Thank God Every Day&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back is a devout Christian and thanks God every day for making a way for him to get where he is today. Fournette was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished a league-worst 1-15, on Sept.1. He signed with the Buccaneers less than a week later. Now, the Bucs are&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2021\/02\/tampa-bay-bucs-rb-leonard-fournette-i-just-thank-god-every-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-08T17:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-17T22:34:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2021\/02\/tampabaybucs.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lesli White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tampa Bay Bucs RB Leonard Fournette: 'I Just Thank God Every Day'","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2021\/02\/tampa-bay-bucs-rb-leonard-fournette-i-just-thank-god-every-day.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tampa Bay Bucs RB Leonard Fournette: 'I Just Thank God Every Day'","og_description":"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back is a devout Christian and thanks God every day for making a way for him to get where he is today. Fournette was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished a league-worst 1-15, on Sept.1. He signed with the Buccaneers less than a week later. 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