The “Six-To-Eight Win” Buccaneers
September 4th, 2013
Ross Tucker
Princeton man and seven year NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker, morning host on SiriusXM NFL Radio, is not high on the Buccaneers.
In fact, Tucker ranks the Bucs as the 23rd best team in the NFL. Ugh.
Tucker says Josh Freeman’s inconsistency and a weak defensive front prevent him from believing the Bucs are better than the “six-to-eight win realm.” Tucker breaks down every last NFL team is his latest power-rankings podcast below.
September 4th, 2013 at 9:13 am
Every single media sports “expert” who truly doesnt follow the bucs says the same regurgitated bs!! Cannot wait for the Bucs to show these ass clowns that they were dead wrong about this team!!
September 4th, 2013 at 9:18 am
I happen to agree. 6-8 wins is all I can see for the Bucs. Sorry but no pass rush = big problems.
September 4th, 2013 at 9:19 am
Ross, you’re a d-bag. Keep your trap shut. Hopefully they prove him wrong.
September 4th, 2013 at 9:25 am
Seems spot on. I wish the outlook was different, but the pop-star has not assembled a good team. All the scraps that the bucs are picking up from other teams should tell you all you need to know. It is time to stop claiming that we have all these beast on the defense. They need to do it on the field.
September 4th, 2013 at 9:30 am
Hopefully they’ll be changing their tune after the first few games
September 4th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Joe, the reason most of the guesses don’t work is that when you practice something it is not the same as the real thing. If you are in a aircraft simulator, you may try things because you know you will not crash, same with dance lessons, you will not embarrass your date. Football is no different if you know you made the team, your job is to try things and not get hurt.
I don’t know for sure if the Bucs are going to be very good or very bad, but I do know this game is for real and all of them have a stake in the game because most of them are not going to be earning the money they are now if they don’t produce. Of, course the dumb ones don’t, but I hope we don’t have any of them.
But remember a team is like an band, if one is off key, the whole sounds bad, so now is the time to play together for real and we will see what happens but I bet by half time we will know what kind of team we have.
September 4th, 2013 at 9:40 am
Over the course of the season this may bear true. I do expect the team to start off hot and the lack of Dline depth and talent will take its toll.
As for Freeman – status quo. If you temper your expectations then he can’t disappoint you. Like I said in another thread, I believe we will have the high and low Freeman.
8-8 or 7-9
If we get more then great!
September 4th, 2013 at 9:48 am
Off topic:
You got your wish Joe, Geno named starter week one vs Bucs, per NFLN.
September 4th, 2013 at 9:48 am
Yesterday on NFL AM Eric Davis picked the Bucs for second in the division. He said if Freeman improves he thinks they win the division. Wouldn’t mind an article like that peppered in between all these Bucs suck articles from national media turds. I’m sure people will still read the positives of what national media dummies say.
And if you are going to say “Der Freeman sucks der.” Just save it and go suck an egg
September 4th, 2013 at 10:03 am
I think this guy shaves his eyebrows, because I’m convinced with his California surfer boy slow slur he must’ve sported a really thick uni-brow at one time. Other than that, 8 – 8 is fair. lol
September 4th, 2013 at 10:11 am
Only thing I’m hoping for is that Geno doesn’t outplay Freeman. That would be a total nightmare to start off the season. And I’m not sure I could take 15 more games if Freeman can’t even outplay a rookie who has NOTHING around him.
September 4th, 2013 at 10:13 am
Let me guess, his other bold predictions included having every single 2013 playoff team returning to the playoffs in 2014.
September 4th, 2013 at 10:13 am
Did he actually say “weak defensive front”? Because I would love to know what constitutes as a weak defensive front. We have the second best defensive tackle in the NFL…our first round pick back from a season off at defensive end, Akeem Spence who already looks like an upgrade over Miller and a possible game changer next to McCoy…and Teo Nesheim who pretty much started the whole damn season for the league’s top rush defense last year. Not to mention a future pro bowler in Lavonte prowling behind them.
Revis alone will make this pass rush better…I think the addition of Revis and Spence will make McCoy the ten-sack player that we’ve all been longing for…and hopefully Clayborn isn’t far behind. Sunday can’t come soon enough.
September 4th, 2013 at 10:15 am
pretty accurate. We have 3 issues….. qb play, dl play and depth. We will see. Maybe 5 and bowers play like pro bowlers and we win 11 and go to the playoffs. Maybe the both stink and we win 5. Most likely, its somewhere in the middle. 8-8 in a tough division.
September 4th, 2013 at 10:31 am
too optimistic.
September 4th, 2013 at 10:34 am
Never liked Tucker…he’s very douchey
September 4th, 2013 at 10:37 am
I see the Jets problem right now. Not a single player from Rutgers. What the hell are they thinking?
September 4th, 2013 at 10:43 am
I think the d-line will start off strong. All four of these guy’s will come out like a bat out of hell week 1. They might tail off or have bad games. The secondary will not be as good as most people think. Who know’s about Bank’s and Barron was a big dissapointment last season. We’ll need all of them week 2. Vs the Saint’s. As for the offence, we need to run the ball. Keep it out of Freeman’s hand’s. I can’t take anymore of those 3 and out half’s. 3rd and 7….run it. Mix in some HB or FB screen’s. Those WR screen’s rarely work for us. The few that don’t get knocked down at the line. Freeman has to stop locking into WR’s. A quick glance to the other side of the field would work wonder’s. Rob Ryan said last year “if Free look’s right during his backpedal,he’ll throw right” and the Cowboy’s defence shut us down in that game. Why do you think that Role out right throw back to the TE work’s so well for us. Mind you the bad ref’s were still there at that point. Corner’s were not called for holding for the first 3 week’s. I’m hoping Freeman can fix his 2 major flaw’s. Locking into WR’s and his footwork. Defence’s cheat with Freeman but if the OC and Free can figure that out they could use it to their advantage.
September 4th, 2013 at 11:00 am
I think the Falcon’s will regress this year. The defence is questionable at best and how long will Jackson stay healthy. We matchup better this year with Revis taking Jones Bank’s and the nickel corner taking White. David has Jackson and either safety on Gonzales. Buc’s at 10-6, Falcon’s at 10-6, Saint’s at 8-8 and the Panther’s at 6-10. The Buc’s with the tie-breaker and hosting a wild card game.
September 4th, 2013 at 11:05 am
Football Outsiders does the only analysis that matters, and they have the Bucs on the verge of their elite eight and would be if not for Josh Freeman’s inconsistencies.
September 4th, 2013 at 11:08 am
Ho hum another day in the life of a Buc fan. Bring on the whiners. Oh wait theres already 2 in here already Hey kids let’s play a game. See if you can spot the 2 whiners.
September 4th, 2013 at 11:12 am
Eric ….the Patriots have drafted 5 players from Rutgers in recent years. What the hell are they thinking?
September 4th, 2013 at 11:36 am
The Bucs Suffered Through Bad Luck – Don’t let Tampa Bay’s 7-9 record fool you. Of the nine losses, only two were by more than eight points. The Bucs competed in nearly every game, and led in the fourth quarter in four of the nine losses. The defense frequently had trouble stopping teams on third down, blowing three leads with under two minutes left in the game. Outside of an ugly 41-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints, they lost eight games by a combined 48 points.
September 4th, 2013 at 11:55 am
Ok this is getting ridiculous
justin palowski is a hater, trouble with our local media, the national media always disrespected tampa. finally we spent money but people complain and still say go out spend more to replace this guy or that guy. All the money we spent and were more panicked than last year….NO ONE knew lavonte david would be a beast. NO ONE knew doug martin would be a monster. Everyone kept saying mark barron’s name because he was such a high pick. No expected us to be in the playoff race
If i keep hearing quarterback league i think ill go nuts. Josh freeman is getting shot down everywhere but easily the biggest disappointing game was the bucs superbowl homecoming when we lost to philly in the last second a game which free brought us back to win…that game was more disappointing that both of free’s 4 pick games combined, which is why at the end of the game they showed barber down on his knees in disbelief, its so sad to look at this team and not see talent. atlanta didnt improve enough to beat us, our d line sucks, so does theres and so does their o line so thats kind of a stalemate. they got steven jackson but no one is running on the bucs, that wont change because its a new year, that much wasnt a fluke
September 4th, 2013 at 12:00 pm
I really hope this little tidbit is being put in front of our Dline’s faces on their lockers.
Guarantee Clayborn is going to get nasty about it.
September 4th, 2013 at 12:01 pm
Although I don’t like it, I agree. 8/8 this season. I sure hope I’m wrong…
Go Bucs!!!
September 4th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
LOL SO SAD…people dont know the meaning of fan!!! HOPING for 8-8 is the problem, most teams hope for playoffs or superbowl. 8-8 season would be worse than a 3-13 atleast we’d get a high pick instead of being middle of the pack. all this talk about atlanta but only two teams in this division have a ring. going 13-3 doesnt mean much if you cant compete in playoffs. our core players are much better than atlanta’s or the saints….lol raheem morris is somewhere calling us mental midgets
September 4th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
So sad some people have no reading comprehension…..
I saw no post where anyone said they hoped the Bucs finish 8/8. Hoping for a high draft pick? Now there is a REAL loser mentality.
September 4th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Sure most fans want to see their team go undefeated and be world champs but that is not reality… When their defense is unproven and they still start a known underachiever at Qb, expectations tend to dwindle quite a bit…
I expect the Bucs to find a way to get a least 6 – 8 wins this season… more would be great but it is what it is… Right now they need to get their 1st win of the season… BEAT THE JETS!
September 4th, 2013 at 5:14 pm
Dont let the ‘Princeton’ monikor fool you, Ross Tucker is an idiot.
I dont think his prediction is necessarily far off, but it matters about as much as yours and my prediction. It’s based on 1 man’s opinion, not numbers or any real insight.
September 4th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Moniker. dang phone. But yeah the failure to address the DL at all really may be this team’s undoing (and hopefully Domenik’s, even though I could see JBF sitting in his bathtub eating ice cream and crying his eyes out for months if that happens)
September 4th, 2013 at 9:34 pm
“Hopefully they’ll be changing their tune after the first few games”
They’ll change their tune when the bUCS FORCE THEM TO…by WINNING !!
Which I really feel they might this year. On a like note… they’ll believe the JETS are crap when the Jets force them to…which really looks like it’ll happen this year, too…LOL.
September 5th, 2013 at 1:55 am
actually BucLyfe me and Mel Kiper knew Lavonte would be a monster. I wanted Keuchly but figured we were better off grabbing Lavonte in the 2nd..day before the draft read Mel Kiper tweet “Lavonte David reminds me a lot of Derrick Brooks..watched his film and the rest is history. he is a top 5 4-3 linebacker in the league if not better…if i recall correctly all you guys used to rag on GMAc. “McCoy needs to start focusing on football and stop tweeting” now i read people saying hes the 2nd best dt in the NFL. every year people doubt this team and last year they couldve EASILY gone 11-5, 12-4. cant count how many close ones we lost. oh ya, 8. schedules tough this year but i say 11-5 falcons d sucks everybody blows the Saints because of a lucky superbowl win years ago. Bucs are undoubtedly the most balanced team in the south 1-22. period.