Tampa Bay Buccaneers

[thunderkyss]

What say you?

Do you think they're a play-off team? Do you think they are for real? They've got a nice young QB. They've got an aiight UDFA running back.

But I'm not sold.

Last year, they were in a division where three teams won 10 or more games. Coincidence? Or did it have something to do with them playing the worst division in football, the NFC West (7-9 won the division) coincidence?

They had wins against Cleveland, Carolina, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Arizona, Carolina, San Francisco, Washington, Seattle, & New Orleans. The only team in that list with a winning record was the already locked up for the play off Saints.

They lost to the Steelers (38-13), the Saints (31-6), the Falcons (27-21 & 28-24), then they lost to Detroit (23-20) in overtime.

in 2011, they'll play the NFC North
Greenbay (L)
Chicago (L)
Minnesota (L)
Detroit (L)

The AFC South
Indy (L)
Texans (L)
Jags (L)
Titans (W)

& of course the NFC South
Saints (L) (L)
Falcons (L) (L)
Carolina (W) (W)

No, I don't think they are going to go 3-13. But I don't think they'll get 10 wins & I don't think they are going to the play-offs. Not with the Saints & Falcons in their division.


So what do you think?

[Dutchrudder]

I agree with this assessment. They had an easy schedule last year, and they will not do well against the NFC north. I think Minnesota will be terrible this year though, so I would mark that down as a win for them. Detroit is a toss up, but I would favor the Lions at this point (before Stafford and Megatron get injured). Carolina should be better this year with a decent QB and a renewed morale.

[Speedy]

Their division is tough with the Saints and Falcons.

Then the NFC North is going to be pretty tough. Detroit is going to be much improved, so much so, I think they will be in the wild card hunt.

4-6, at best in those 2 divisions.

I could see them going 3-1 in our division with the lone loss being against the Texans. They get the Colts @ home in week 4 and no telling how up to speed 18 will be by then. That gets them to 7-7 in a best case scenario, IMO.

Then they've got Dallas and the Niners. Split?

I'm looking at about 7-9, 8-8 for the Bucs.

[thetexanator]

id say theyre the 7-8th best team in the NFC. they will get better fast when they start spending some of that cap money they have.

[brakos82]

I dare not predict anything in that division.

But if you put a gun to my head and told me to guess, I'd say 9 wins.

[TexanSam]

It's tough to say. I think they regress some but not too much. I would say 8-8.

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by brakos82

I dare not predict anything in that division.

But if you put a gun to my head and told me to guess, I'd say 9 wins.

I think that's about right. They'll have problems scoring enough to compete with the Saints and the Falcons. I think they'll just miss on the last wild card spot to the Giants.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by TexanSam

It's tough to say. I think they regress some but not too much. I would say 8-8.

But is that truly regression? Their level of competition has gone up. If their level of play stays level... their results will go down. If they get a little bit better, their W-L can still go down.

[Blake]

Talib is a bigger blow than people imagine. They will win 7 games this year on the back of their star QB.

[Playoffs]

Love the QB, but not sure they can replicate all of those late saves. May be sophomore slump, looks a bit off in preseason.

Can Mike Williams match his performance?

Talib dodges a bullet.

Frank Okam looking darn good for them in preseason.

I think 9,8 wins.

[Dutchrudder]

The NFL is all about parity, teams go up and down in the W/L columns every year. The Bucs are in line for a rude awakening as they will be playing a much more difficult schedule. I bet they go 6-10 this year, with two of those wins against the Panthers.

[Norg]

there like a exact copy of Jacksonville a very physical team with a big ass QB and likes to run the ball

a team u dont want to grind it out in the dead heat of summer on da road : P

LOL

[Hookem Horns]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

The NFL is all about parity, teams go up and down in the W/L columns every year.

Yeah, 6 wins one year, 7 the next, then back down to 6 and so on and so on.

[Dutchrudder]

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

Yeah, 6 wins one year, 7 the next, then back down to 6 and so on and so on.

What? I don't follow. Tampa went from being 9-7 in '07/08 to 3-13 in '09, and 10-6 in '10. That's a bit of a roller coaster, but I think a lot of that 10-6 season came from having an easy schedule. This year they play the NFC North and AFC South, which are much tougher on paper than the AFC North and NFC West.

[Hookem Horns]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

What? I don't follow. Tampa went from being 9-7 in '07/08 to 3-13 in '09, and 10-6 in '10. That's a bit of a roller coaster, but I think a lot of that 10-6 season came from having an easy schedule. This year they play the NFC North and AFC South, which are much tougher on paper than the AFC North and NFC West.

I never saw this reply DR, I was jokingly referring to the Texans in their "roller coaster" mediocre seasons. When they are peaking it's 8 or 9 wins, when they are down it's 6 or 7. Guess where we sit today? 3-3.

Actually I dragged this thread back up because of the Bucs. After getting smoked by the Niners last week (in a game where I think they got caught off guard early and gave up) they came back today and beat the Saints in a physical game and now are at top of the division at 4-2. They are real young but have leadership at key spots (head coach and QB), something the Texans just don't have.