JoeBucsFan.com Predicts A 6-10 Season
September 10th, 2015
Can the Buccaneers be bad and still be on the right track?
Yes. And Joe predicts the Bucs will be in that state in 17 weeks.
Joe projects a garbage 6-10 finish for Tampa Bay in 2015.
“Real recognize real,” as Jameis Winston likes to say. And there’s no way to spin 6-10 as anything other than a crap season.
But in the world of the Bucs, 6-10 is leaps and bounds ahead of the 2-14 record of last year. A six-win finish even would invoke hopeful smiles across the Bay area come January. And 6-10 likely would mean real successes from an offense that’s been the NFL’s worst over the past two seasons.
Assuming Lovie Smith knows what he’s doing, the Buccaneers’ hand-picked veteran defense should at least be an average unit capable of single-handedly winning a game or two this season. Lovie truly has no excuse to miss that mark. None!
On special teams, the Bucs are going with a rookie kicker (Kyle Brindza), a punter (Jacob Schum) with no regular-season experience, and an undrafted rookie returner (Adam Humphries) sits atop the depth chart at that position. They’ll be highlighted in a special teams that was bad during the preseason and shaky last year. Did the Bucs improve on special teams this offseason? Joe can’t answer that, “Yes,” at this point.
On offense, America’s Quarterback, Jameis, has talented weapons around him. Joe has no concerns about Jameis other than his health. Jameis will play like a talented rookie, up and down, but he should be able to put the team on his back a couple of times, despite the weak and thin offensive line in front of him.
That offensive line ultimately will slow the growth of the Bucs this season. Joe would be very surprised if any O-line starter is considered in January as a top-15 player at his position.
As always, Joe sincerely hopes this prediction is dead wrong.
Like all Bucs fans, Joe is aching for a good football team. But 6-10 is a reasonable expectation for this bunch of Bucs. It’s really not too much to ask for the team to, say, methodically march to a 5-10 record and head to Carolina for the finale and win on a high note.
If Lovie Smith can’t pull off 6-10 and drag the Bucs out of the NFC South cellar, then his coaching ability will deserve serious scrutiny — and the inevitable outrage that would infest the streets of Tampa.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:08 am
I’ll buy that
……but I’ll say they’ll go 4 – 12
September 10th, 2015 at 9:14 am
Titans, Jags, Falcons(Twice), Bears, Skins, and possibly a Panthers games are all winnable games. But I don’t expect the Bucs to win all their winnable scenarios. 5 wins is what I expect. Knowing this teams knack for penalties, the d not able to protect leads and bad o line play 3 or 4 wins is likely.
Hope I am wrong though.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:14 am
I would like a HC to emanate a certain fire from his gut, which Lovie doesn’t with his passiveness always portrayed in the media. Lovie’s coaching style IMO has passed him by in today’s NFL. I can see Jimbo being wooed in a year or two to reunite to be the savior of our Bucs. Maybe just wishful thinking, but I think you need the RIGHT COACH to lead your franchise player. Who else fits that bill? Let the bashing begin!
September 10th, 2015 at 9:17 am
4-12, rookies on OL, rookie QB with bad feet, turnstile DL, horrible pass defense, new offense, hurt star receiver = long year.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:18 am
We will know Sunday what kind of year it will be. Titans are as bad as us. Can’t beat them, 6 wins might be a stretch.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:18 am
Your forgetting Jason Licht, he never addressed the O line this off season because he was so scared by the crap he brought in here last year. He should have invested in one or two O-lineman that could have provided some experience on the O-line. Instead he tucked his head in the sand is going with two rookies and weak back ups…so far, Jason has done nothing to warrant any free pass if the Buc’s implode this year.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:20 am
6-10 is certainly possible and a solid prediction. I’m sticking with my optimistic 9-7 but we’ll see.
Week One may set the tone for the entire season. Gotta win on Sunday.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:20 am
I agree, seems a reasonnable prediction for me
September 10th, 2015 at 9:23 am
We will see sunday that the bucs did pick the wrong QB
September 10th, 2015 at 9:30 am
@Joe
Are you predicting a garbage win on the last game. Where the Panthers are pulling starters in the second quarter to rest for the playoff?? just like in 2010 when the Saints did the same thing????
September 10th, 2015 at 9:30 am
I’ll be happy if we go 2 – 14 if we beat the Titans and Cowboys 🙂
September 10th, 2015 at 9:42 am
Im going with 5 wins….maybe 6. Other than the Cinci game, Im just not feeling it. Hope Im wrong and its 10+ and playoffs…..maybe next year though….top picks in the draft to use on DE and O Line.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:45 am
Predictions are always tough because you don’t know who is going to get injured early……two injuries could devastate this team….
So is Joe(s) making the Vegas wager and going with the OVER because I believe the over/under number for TB wins is 5.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:49 am
@Joe
Certainly the reasonable if conservative prediction. Pat Yasikas did a game by game breakdown on ESPN’s web and has the Bucs going 8-8.
I believe the Bucs have 8-8 talent but combined with some luck and horrible competion I think we can get to 10-6 but then folks here believe I’m delusional.
This is the second day in a row that I’ve seen what is a FACTUAL error from posters. Yesterday Tmax said Lovie has done NOTHING to address the Oline.
Today Buc enough posts
Your forgetting Jason Licht, he never addressed the O line this off season
No posters here seem to forget that they used two draft picks last year and whiffed on a high priced FA. Draft picks were late round but they were the FIRST OL draft picks in how long. That is called addressing the OL!! They failed last year but they DID address the issue!!!
This year they invested the 34th pick..that’s two picks out of the freaking FIRST ROUND!!! Then they did the same thing in the 3rd again very close to be a second rounder!! They signed Goz the best FA available. I realize that many of you negative nellies wish to pronounce failures before the first freaking play of the season but IMHO that’s beyond unfair and premature and it is NOT a fact simply because you type it anymore than my 10-6 prediction is fact.
And lastly…Lael Collins was not availabe for the Bucs!!! Please stop posting that we should have WASTED a late draft pick on him. Why do you suppose NO OTHER NFL team did yet somehow the Bucs were going to lure him to Tampa with less than a grossly overpriced contract?
I get 2-14 sucks…I get that 30-70 sucks even more. I certainly respect the healthy skepticism of Joe and others who see 5-6 wins…but many of the points the debbie downers are making are simply not factual.
Jeebus haven’t we sucked enough for you to at least stick to facts without making more crap up like L&L haven’t addressed the OL.
There was one incredibly overpriced..old guard..think Logan Mankins type available this off season. Did you really want to go that route again?
September 10th, 2015 at 9:50 am
Couldn’t be mad with 6-10 if you compare it to last season, but unless the Bucs are gifted a couple wins at the end of the season, I’m sticking to my 4-12 prediction.
L&L don’t seem to know what an NFL offensive line is supposed to look like, and for that Jameis and the Bucs will suffer. Top it off with Lovie’s uber-conservative playcalling and lack of a pass rush and you have yourself a losing team.
Keep Jameis healthy and try not to make him the next David Carr and we have some serious potential.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:53 am
FUK man. I have no say over what record they’ll have. I can predict all I want. I just want this $hit to begin already.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:53 am
Oh ye of little faith. To start out with so little confidence is depressing, you can’t call it reality because it hasn’t happened yet. Think positive, there really isn’t that much difference from team to team. It’s all about execution. No, I’m not talking about picking up a paper thin burrito to take a bite and the ingredients falling out. Anything can happen.
September 10th, 2015 at 10:03 am
@St Pete- I like your enthusiasm and optimism but where do you see 10 wins coming from?
Yes, the Bucs attempted to address the o line with unproven draft picks. But when is the last time this team had multiple successful draft picks from one draft class? Building thru the draft is a good strategy when the team is actually good at drafting. Jury is out on Licht, so far. But after one season he only had one pick who contributed in 2014. The rest were injured and unproductive.
I have the Titans, Jags, ATL(twice), bears, skins and maybe one panthers game as winnable. But there are always those games that are winnable that are lost by penalties or the d blowing a late lead like they did last year. So it’s not likely they win all the winnable games.
Just how I see it. But again I hope I’m wrong. As im sick of the losing
September 10th, 2015 at 10:10 am
@Tony
I think N.O. could be two wins…certainly one. They’ve had a horrid off season.
Lost their #1 target for Brees and arguably the best offensive player behind Brees. They lost the #1 player from a defense that was worse than our’s last year and so Junior Gallette at least won’t be in JW’s grill. Their locker room was a mess last year…Sean Payton seems disinterested….I think we go 4-2 in our division and we need to “steal” another game from that horrid 3 game mid season stretch of unwinnable games. That’s how I get to ten.
Check out Yasinkas predictions on ESPN online, he breaks it down game by game and you can play along with him. He has 8 wins but that includes losing to Carolina twice..I expect to split with them getting me to nine and a prayer for that tenth win. LOL
September 10th, 2015 at 10:12 am
6-10 is the realistic ceiling for this team. 2-14 is possible again if the offensive line is as bad as it might be and there is no pass rush whatsoever with a few injuries in there as well. Split the difference and this is probably a 4-12 team. Lovie just isn’t a good enough coach to bring up a team from the bottom, he’s a guy who can succeed with an established, veteran roster, but his track record developing players is quite poor. Ideally this is the last year with him and Licht.
September 10th, 2015 at 10:31 am
I tire of hearing folks complain about the OL.
From my chair I’ve seen a disproportionate effort to get better at the OL the last two years.
And the Bucs aren’t alone. I read an article where like 75% of teams in the NFL are as concerned about *their* OL as much as the Bucs are.
The Bucs are hardly alone.
Fact is the reason the OL positions are so weak is because the DL positions all around the NFL are so strong. There are MANY more solid, NFL-type DL coming out of college than solid NFL-type OL.
In fact, the very few teams with stellar NFL O-lines are the freakish exception, not the rule.
While that doesn’t excuse the Bucs, the oft-repeated line “they didn’t do anything to address the OL” is complete horsebaloney.
And for all the Collins talk? C’Mon! AT THE TIME HE WAS UNDER THE CLOUD OF SUSPICION OF THE MURDER OF A GIRLFRIEND AND THE POSSIBLE MOTHER OF HIS CHILD.
Had the Bucs drafted him, the same crapweasels complaining about “not enough emphasis on the OL” would have been complaining about “they drafted a guy with low character.”
Sheesh…..
September 10th, 2015 at 10:32 am
7-9, with the team catching fiire the last half of the season.
September 10th, 2015 at 10:36 am
I think Licht was wise to not bring in too many FA O-linemen. He knows this is not the year for a playoff run. Let’s see how how draft picks perform and next year we’ll have a much better idea of where to spend the money. Next year we’ll have Marpet and Smith with a year of experience and then anything we bring in will be true depth. Just what we did for the D-line this year. We’ll have Dotson back mid season. This is not the year to be loading up on FA’s. Next year….
September 10th, 2015 at 11:13 am
Soooo..JoeBucsFan is on recoed:
Jameis wins 6 games…
The rest of the Bucs lose 10 games….
September 10th, 2015 at 11:18 am
@St Pete- I see New Orleans differently. They still have Colston and Cooks added a dynamic back in CJ Spiller and Peyton and Brees are a deadly duo for the Bucs. Traded their best receiver for one of Seattles best o linemen.
If their d can be just average which Ryan coached well in his first year there, I think they win the division. I just can’t find 9-10 wins on this schedule. Wish I could be as optimistic as you though
September 10th, 2015 at 11:32 am
@Cobra
Where you been bro? What a pleasure and rare sight recently to read a post with excellent points. I hadn’t thought of it but you are correct. The best athletes are going to the defense or the offensive skill positions not the line.
Some “expert’ also pointed out that the emergence of the spread offense in college has hampered OL development.
@Tony Certainly accept your healthy skepticism. Your opinion is certainly considered far wiser than mine.
September 10th, 2015 at 11:56 am
@st Pete-I’m in no way claiming to be a expert. I base my opinions off trends and the eye test.
September 10th, 2015 at 11:57 am
They traded up for Marpet and took him at the end of the 2nd….
But as far as everyone on these boards are concerned, unless a player is an All Pro, Pro Bowler in his first couple snaps as a pro, he’s obviously a bust.
September 10th, 2015 at 12:06 pm
@Celly
Thanks for that correction. I had forgotten that it was TWO 2nd round picks that did NOT address the OL.
Where you been bro?
September 10th, 2015 at 12:11 pm
What was joe’s prediction for last year? Oh yeah. No wonder this sounds familiar, lol.
September 10th, 2015 at 12:14 pm
@Tony
I hear you and your post clearly reflect that you’ve given them some thought and don’t just come on here spewing the Bucs suck and Lovie is the worst coach ever.
If I were going to scapegoat anybody for 30-70 it would clearly be the Glazers.
They are the only constant through our ordeal.
But I give them slack because they hit a home run with that investment in ManU that made them Billionaires! Wouldn’t we all have done the same?
Now that the investment is paying off at least the Glazers have returned their attention and $$$ to the Bucs. The fact that they signed off on a controversial pick like JW in the need for a franchise QB.
Rah…Schiano..and Lovie are only bit players in our 30-70 run. And life is cyclical and luck has a big part…MRSA? A franchise QB going mental?
We are DUE for some good luck!!!
September 10th, 2015 at 12:14 pm
I’m predicting:
2-6 in the first half of the season. After that, I’m making no predictions.
And one of those two wins is NOT against Mariota, so if we win that game I will be getting more than expected!
September 10th, 2015 at 12:16 pm
@StPeteBucsFan
They were already Billionaires. In fact, didn’t they pay a billion for ManU?
September 10th, 2015 at 1:17 pm
Bonzai…lol Joe’s been predicting 6-10 since 2013 I believe.
September 10th, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Been dealing with some personal issues (father-in-law was sick and wound up passing away)….
Plus work’s been hectic….
…and it gets boring coming on here hearing the same negative people speak about the same thing over and over and over again, some of which is not true… so no need to waste the keystrokes.
September 10th, 2015 at 1:41 pm
We will know more and have actual information to work with regarding the fate of this year’s team once we have seen the first few games.
After the Houston game we should have a much better idea of the state of this franchise and what realistic expectations are for 2015.
I look at the roster and see a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. Some of it is unproven at the NFL level – but the talent is obvious to the eye in practice and preseason games. (IE Winston, Marpet, D. Smith, Kwon, Humphries, Brindza)
If all or most of those players just named can play reasonably well or better as rookies – then this team has enough talent to win at least half their games this year. If more than one of those players does not work out well at all – and/or the injury bug hits hard – then Joe’s 6 win prediction is probably about right.
If a couple key rookies (IE: Winston and Alexander) have break out seasons right off the bat as Evans did last year – then it is certainly possible to have a 9 or 10 win season playing a 4th place schedule in a division that sent a 7-8-1 team to the playoffs last year.
Its almost silly to predict at this point because we just do not know a LOT of things about this team right now. Pre-season is SOOOO deceiving.
I’m on record with a pre-season prediction of 8-8 – but this year could easily swing 2-3 games either way from that.
5-11 is possible (although unlikely IMO) and 11-5 is also possible (yet unlikely).
If we come out flat – lose to the Titans and look pretty bad doing it – then yea – it could be another long and painful season. But I highly doubt that is going to happen.
In the season opener – I expect a strong effective running game and that Jameis will play very well against a pretty pathetic Titans defense – and that the Bucs defense will do a good job and keep Mariota mostly in check. Bucs win by 10 points or more most likely. We just flat out have a better team than Tennessee does.
Assuming that happens – which I think it will – I would caution fans not to get too giddy and jump on the “we can go to the playoffs” bandwagon at 1-0. Tennessee is a bad team and we need to see a few games and some consistent good play before we get too excited. If Jameis and the Bucs offense can look pretty good against a strong Houston defense for instance and we are sitting at 2-1 after that 3rd game – then I think hightened expectations and legit excitement for this year’s possibilities will be appropriate – but not until.
We need at least a 3 (regular season) game sample size to get even a feel for where this team is really at right now.
Go Bucs!!! Start this season off right and get us a big home win against Mariota and the Titans along with some much needed confidence and positive momentum heading into a divisional game against the Saints in their building.
That would shut up the Lovie Haters, Winston haters and general Negative Nancys that grace us with their presence on JBF for at least a week…..
September 10th, 2015 at 1:42 pm
£800 million, as per wikipedia.
that’s $1.235B
September 10th, 2015 at 2:15 pm
I’m calling for us to finish the year off at 7-9.
September 10th, 2015 at 2:44 pm
lmao @ “realist” keeping it “real” and predicting the Panthers will have playoff advantages locked up (meaning they won like 11-12 games at least). For being so hard on your own team I laugh at how optimistic you can be about your predictions for a rival team.
The Panthers have regressed 2 years in a row now in talent. Their #1 WR is a 2nd round draft pick rookie. Their other WRs are Tedd Ginn & Corey Brown (who?). They were a 7 win team last year. Not sure why they would improve by 4-5 wins without upgrading anything on their roster while the rest of the division improved.
Their O-line is questionable and they didn’t address it in the draft till late. Their main RB has durability questions. They have a solid front 7 but it isn’t as elite without Hardy. Their starting CBs are an old Charles Tillman and some guy named Josh Norman. Washed up Roman Harper at S and Kurt Coleman at FS.
I predict a 3rd or 4th place Panthers finish in this division this year. Just due imo. If we sweep any NFC South team I think it is them.
September 10th, 2015 at 2:54 pm
My game by game prediction:
Week 1 vs Titans: Win
Week 2 @ Saints: Loss
Week 3 @ Texans : Win
Week 4 vs Panthers: Win
Week 5 vs Jags: Loss
bye week
Week 6 @ Redskins: Win
Week 7 @ Falcons: Loss
Week 8 vs Giants: Win
Week 9 @ Cowboys: Loss
Week 10 @ Eagles: Loss
Week 11 @ Colts: Loss
Week 12 vs Falcons: Win
Week 13 vs Saints: Win
Week 14 @ Rams: Loss
Week 15 vs Bears: Win
Week 16 @ Panthers: Win
9-7 overall. 4-2 in division. Lose 1 game we shouldn’t in the Jags. Win a game or 3 we probably shouldn’t between @panthers/vsGiants/@Rams.
Optimism! Glass 3/4 full lol
Schedule is really not scary. Bears should suck this year. Redskins should suck. Rams/Jags/Giants not exactly top teams. Division is weak.
September 10th, 2015 at 2:58 pm
I should include Houston in a group of 4 games where the Bucs should definitely not be favored (@ Houston / @ Panthers / VS Giants / @ Rams). I doubt the Bucs will be more than like 3-4 point underdogs in these games though
I like Houston but Foster will be out and they don’t have an elite QB. Their D is good but not like Seattle-good or anything. HC is good
September 10th, 2015 at 3:17 pm
My game by game prediction:
Week 1 vs Titans: Win
Week 2 @ Saints: Loss
Week 3 @ Texans : Loss
Week 4 vs Panthers: Win
Week 5 vs Jags: Win
bye week
Week 6 @ Redskins: Win
Week 7 @ Falcons: Loss
Week 8 vs Giants: Win
Week 9 @ Cowboys: Loss
Week 10 @ Eagles: Loss
Week 11 @ Colts: Loss
Week 12 vs Falcons: Win
Week 13 vs Saints: Win
Week 14 @ Rams: Loss
Week 15 vs Bears: Win
Week 16 @ Panthers: Win
I’m going with 8-8. Panthers might be downright terrible.
September 10th, 2015 at 3:20 pm
This is the way I see it, we lost nearly 10 games last season by one 8 point score…and that was with both sides of the ball learning completely new schemes. This was a changed team over the last part of the season defensively. I see them building on their defensive success and improving under Koetter offensively, and narrowing that gap against other teams by no less than 5 points per game. Give us 5 points per game from last season and we’re probably around 8-8.
September 10th, 2015 at 3:40 pm
Im not too educated on which teams run the 3-4 Defense, but those that do are automatically being counted as a loss as soon as I find out….except the Titans game. For some reason I think we win that one at home just because the guys are so tired of losing….. as long as Jameis doesnt throw many INT’s anyway.
September 10th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
I’m going with 8-8. Panthers might be downright terrible.
Well actually what you predicted is 9-7. I could interchange mine with yours honestly in terms of the games I think we can hopefully win
September 10th, 2015 at 5:14 pm
I’m going all in at 11-5, and we win the NFC South. It was 10 years ago when we went 11-5 with Chris Simms and Brian Griese at QB, and 3 rookies starting on offense. I like the talent that we have, I think that we will be in every ball game. This 2015 squad is loaded with new players, and I think they are a huge upgrade from last season. We will have 9 new starters on offense and defense, new kicker, punter and return man. We have a lot more depth at every position, new OC and new QB coach. I’m excited about this season, we have some hungry players. And it’s time for them to eat, we have arrived.