Picking 10 Wins (At Least)
September 9th, 2020
Joe listened to the one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of SiriusXM Radio fame yesterday when he had a great point.
If you dabble in win totals for this football season — college or NFL — you are at the mercy of the football gods. All it takes to have your “over” bet blown to hell is for the quarterback for the team that you laid cash on (get it together folks in Tallahassee, geez!) to catch The Sickness.
Boom, you’re done.
(And yes, the Sage of Tampa Bay sports, the King of New Port Richey, Pro Football Hall of Fame selector Ira Kaufman will make his football season debut with Russo today at 5 p.m., heard exclusively on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio. Ira will join Russo every Wednesday at 5 p.m. through the Super Bowl.)
So it is with that in mind that Joe would still lay cash on the Bucs’ over if the win-total was 9.1 games. And so too would Jenna Laine of ESPN.
Over or under 9.1 wins? Over. Brady hasn’t had a cast of receiving talent like this in a long time — possibly ever. If the defense can step up and carry the momentum built at the end of last season, and they can get stability at the kicking position, they’ll be a legitimate threat to win the NFC South and more.
At 9.5 wins, Joe was really on the fence and leaning towards the under. Oh, Joe thought the Bucs would win nine games. However, Joe was skittish of the questionable running game outside of Shady McCoy.
Yes, Joe knows Ronald Jones is a starting running back but his body of work in two years of pro ball is simply not enough for Joe to rest easy at night. Too much hope and not enough evidence. And Joe absolutely hates the word “hope,” especially with cash on the line.
However, since last week Joe would be all over the over-9.5. Why? Leonard Fournette, Joe feels, makes the Bucs complete on offense.
September 9th, 2020 at 9:12 am
I heard somewhere that the second have of the season we had an easier schedule, hence the defensive improvement, this concerns me with our dbs
September 9th, 2020 at 9:13 am
12-4. Good chance they drop games to the Saints, Packers, Chiefs (not saying that thse losses have to happen), and they will have at least one other head-scratching clunker/off day in there–hopefully not a trap game but quite possibly. Hopefully this off day happens late in the year to help them re-focus on their game for the playoffs. Completely unscientific: I’d put playoff odds at 90%, division title at 70%, NFC Championship at 25%, and winning the SB at 20% overall. If they go to the SB, odds are 70% they win just by location and energy/hype alone. Biggest variables: COVID and injuries. They have the roster and the coaches to get this done!
I hold to my guns that last year they’d have been 10-6 or better with a more effective QB and K. Both of those guys are gone now, replaced with clearly a better QB (can’t get better than the GOAT) and proven kicker. Plus the team is better; no one was allowed to walk who was critical to keep. Nassib was the closest to that, and was great to have, but not critical.
September 9th, 2020 at 9:15 am
@Sarasota, some have opined the QBs throwing the ball were not as good. That may be true to point, but looking at previous yeas, guys who were never starters and not even in football more than a year or two torched the Bucs in the past. I think the improvement is real.
September 9th, 2020 at 9:21 am
3 losses to expected teams…
2 losses that are head scratchers…
11-5
September 9th, 2020 at 9:22 am
what if mold gets all up in the locker room…
what if?
September 9th, 2020 at 9:31 am
It would not be a giant step to improve 3 wins from last year’s 7-9 season.
Our kicker absolutely lost us 2 games and massive turnovers cost us more than 1 game….
I still predict that our defense (few talking about it) will be much improved.
September 9th, 2020 at 9:31 am
Regardless of numbers of wins, we are going into Week 1. Time to get amped up! Finally! Game predictions today and tomorrow, first game tomorrow night, and then it’s football weekend! Don’t need no stinkin’ pre-season! And at least for a couple of weeks, fans of 2/3 of the teams are thinking/hoping for a playoff year. Go Bucs!
September 9th, 2020 at 9:33 am
11-5 – Loses against Saints, Falcons, Packers, Chiefs and @ NY…
Wildcard playoff spot. NFC Championship loss.
September 9th, 2020 at 9:38 am
Easy bet on the over
If you are in vegas or have buddy in vegas , pull the trigger.
Injuries do happen
However, dont forget jpp came in later in season and was not 100% for multiple games. He is a beast. Cant double shaq as much. Defense could be nasty . Dbs another year under belt and winfield hopefully balls Out at safety.
Will not talk about offense cause it speaks for its self. Wirfs is rookie but our right tackle was weak spot last year. Heard cappa blew up (strength wise)
September 9th, 2020 at 9:58 am
The running game will be better, no doubt, but the stars of this offense will be Evans, Godwin, Brady and Gronk.
September 9th, 2020 at 10:06 am
ESPN has an article that came out this morning reporting the Bucs have had more action than any other team at ‘multiple U.S. sportbooks” to win the Super Bowl.
In the same article a Las Vegas sportsbook reported taking a ‘big bet” on the Bucs to win the most regular season games. The manager there said ‘basically we’re trying not to take any more bets on the (Bucs)”.
September 9th, 2020 at 10:48 am
I guess I’m the only one on the 19-0 band wagon
September 9th, 2020 at 10:51 am
12-4!!!!!!!
we start out 3-0…
tough loss to the CHARGERS 28-27..kicker haunts us….
horrible loss to the RAIDERS 31-17…fumbles, INTs, bad defense, poor special teams…
tough loss to the RAMS 32-31..ramsey late game INT as we are marching in FG range…
BS loss to KC 38-35….REFs make 3 BS calls that cost us the game…2 on offense that lead to a FG instead of a TD…1 that helped KC get in FG range to take the led….
we sweep the division!!!!
SB CHAMPS!!!!!…BUCS & BRADY MAKE HISTORY!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!!
September 9th, 2020 at 11:30 am
7-9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My prediction last year was 6-10, but even El Buco Realisto did not predict all of the backup QB’s they played at the end of last year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first game is their best chance for victory!!!!!!!!!! The offense has no tape and tendencies on tape yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Most teams will have major injuries in the first 4 weeks!!!!!!!!!! A lot will depend on if a teams star will go down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Old cheating goat arm will start to lose steam after week 3!!!!!!!!!!!! Old cheating goat will be pretty beat up by week 8 thx to the poor tackle play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ole stale biscuit will be asleep at the wheel even worse than normal in the back half of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 9th, 2020 at 1:10 pm
Interesting if you look at the power rating of the Bucs in Lindy’s NFL Magazine only the Saints and KC have a higher rating, which if we play to our rating we should be 13-3. But that was before we landed Fournette. El Buco Pessimisto is anything but Realisto. He also makes fun of BA, who is the best Head Coach we have landed since Chucky who took us to a Super Bowl with a team turned around by his predecessor. BA took over a terrible team and has now a top team which he turned around!
September 9th, 2020 at 6:02 pm
While the Covid is certainly the wild card this year, I’m not certain it’s worse than any other injury as long as the player is healthy to begin with…that’s certainly a question and of course the older the more frightening but Brady has been OBSESSIVE about maintaining his health.
So a healthy guy will miss two weeks to quarantine. Obviously depends on which two weeks but a hammy is certainly worse than two weeks and can linger the entire season. Blow out a knee which is always a possibility…already happened once to Brady…and the entire season is gone!
Luck is always a major factor when it comes to injuries or the Covid.