Easiest Schedule?
May 14th, 2021
Spreadsheeter not impressed with Bucs’ Week 14 foe.
Man, Joe hopes this guy is right. Joe just doesn’t see it, though.
After the 2021 schedule was released, BSPN asked several of their experts to weigh in on various schedule subjects.
In asking for schedule winners, Mike Clay, a spreadsheeter, believes the Bucs were a winner. Why? He thinks the Bucs have a soft schedule, especially for a Super Bowl champion.
Clay thinks little of the defending AFC East champs, the Bills, because he doesn’t believe they are “intimidating.”
Tampa Bay has the league’s easiest projected schedule based on my evaluation of each 2021 roster. The Bucs face the NFC and AFC East divisions, which aren’t particularly intimidating, and they’ll also benefit from a relatively light slate of six divisional games against the Falcons, Panthers and Drew Brees-less Saints. Tampa Bay is set up nicely for another Super Bowl run.
Hey, Joe isn’t as supersmart as a spreadsheeter. You know the type, the ones who don’t believe what they see; they believe what they are told to believe.
Joe sees a Bills team — that was one win from the Super Bowl! — as a damn fine team that if the Bucs even remotely take lightly Tampa Bay could get clobbered.
Or maybe this Clay has been on the wrong end of a card table at a Buffalo tailgate when a Bills fan goes full-blown Macho Man Savage and does an elbow smash from the top rope on the table?
In Joe’s eyes, the two strongest teams the Bucs will play this year are the Rams and the Bills.
May 14th, 2021 at 9:09 am
Agree
Think rams toughest challenge in nfc
May 14th, 2021 at 9:17 am
Been on the other side of this stick….this one is better…the NFL is teeing up the Bucs for eyeballs and perhaps history making
May 14th, 2021 at 9:20 am
Yes, every game is tough and can’t be taken lightly. You look at some other rosters and see a lot of great talent. But, have you looked at the Buc’s roster lately? Collectively, this team is loaded. I don’t think there’s a more complete and talented group of players in the NFL. We should roll most teams we play barring any substantial injuries to key players.
May 14th, 2021 at 9:24 am
Pretty obvious that he was talking about the 2 divisions as a whole.
Yeah the Bills are one of the best teams in football, and the Dolphins are poised to improve again unless Tua stinks (like I expect him to), but other than that you have 6 teams that are incredibly beatable.
Wouldn’t you agree that the NFC and AFC east are significantly less intimidating than if we were slated to play against the NFC West and AFC North?
May 14th, 2021 at 9:32 am
Do not believe the hype.
On. Any. Given. Sunday.
The Bucs avoided the major injury bug last season. That is what I want to see go “two in a row.”
May 14th, 2021 at 9:38 am
Rams, Bills, Redskins, Pats (They get back players on defense), Colts, Dolphins ATL loaded on offense, and the Saints…that is 10 tough games with probable playoff teams, not sure on this easy schedule BS
May 14th, 2021 at 9:38 am
Every game will be a challenge. Tough to predict each team strengths.
May 14th, 2021 at 9:55 am
We don’t play the NFC west, except for the Rams. We don’t play the AFC north. We don’t play the AFC west… We play the NFC east and AFC east! One is probably the worst division in football, the other was owned by Brady his entire career. We are the Champions! There is not one game were we are not favorites. Hardest game is at home. Yeah it’s only on paper but that’s all we get to talk about for now
May 14th, 2021 at 10:03 am
The schedule is tougher than it is being talked about. Especially early, and with the cross country travel. I hope the bucs can stay healthy, and win.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:05 am
For once I agree with dingleberry.
If I had to pick a division from each conference to play this year I’d chose nfc least first and afc south and east are a toss-up.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:06 am
Joe is going all holier than thou.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:09 am
Not nearly as tough as last year and we won the SB……
Should be easier to win the division and get a bye…..but no cakewalk…..yes, it is the NFL……games are hard to win.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:10 am
Every single team/fanbase of the team’s we are slated to play against, especially early in the season, is looking at us on their schedule is wishing that they were playing against someone else. This is the NFL, there are no easy outs.
But our schedule could certainly be much more difficult than it is. The NFC east is the worst division in football. The AFC east is 2 challenging games and 1 middling team and 1 powder puff. And our own division, aside from us is practically all in rebuilding mode. This schedule, comparatively speaking is a cake walk.
Go Bucs! 20-0!
May 14th, 2021 at 10:37 am
Just bought my 2 tickets to see the Bucs whip the Saints in the Big Easy. Missed that last year.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:41 am
This team is gonna be SO Focused!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 10:43 am
Whenever the Patriots had an easy schedule, I knew they wouldn’t win. Its hard to know how good you are If you’re just beating crap teams. The team becomes untested, and overconfident. I worry that the bucs will wrap up home field early and get rusty. Give me the tough schedule any year
May 14th, 2021 at 10:51 am
we’re going for 2!!!!…every week will be tough….
GO BUCS!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 11:09 am
Joe is exactly right those are the two games I’m worried about.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:12 am
20-0 Let’s Go!!! GO BUCS!!!! I will keep on saying it. If they lose a game or not win it all, SO WHAT, I am going to enjoy the ride either way. GOOOO BUCS!!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 11:22 am
Joe J., so you’ve got a boner for JBF, do you?
May 14th, 2021 at 11:31 am
Been a Bucs’ fan now for almost 40 years, and most of those years were losing seasons unfortunately. And during most of those years, Bucs’ fans weren’t exactly jumping over-the-moon in exhilaration at their team losing.
This year we’ve got an insanely talented team AND coaching staff, and the thought of losing ANY games seems to be missing from most conversations. And yet like Cobraboy says … ‘On. Any. Given. Sunday.’
Not superstitious (OK, maybe a tiny little bit), but words like kismet and karma come to mind sometimes (so does braggadocio). All too often fans forget what it takes to win in the NFL. And yes, avoiding the injury bug is a huge factor IMO. But so is ‘making plays’. Big plays. Oftentimes a game’s outcome can turn on just 1 or 2 critical plays (think our 1st Green Bay game last year?).
One game at a time. But always respect that every game’s a dogfight.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:32 am
Every team on the Bucs schedule got better over the off-season, except maybe the Aint’s & Indy’s.
This will not be a mythical 20-0 season & sure thing SB “w”…FAR from it.
Will be a dog fight to the end. Though TB should hold the NFC South.
Best case (IMO)…15-2…More likely 13-4.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:44 am
I think the Bucs can go 14-3 or 13-4 during the regular season.
It’s feels weird for me to type those records out.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:47 am
20-0 is 1 game at a time, no conservative talk from me, shoot for the moon. Brady had a chance at 19-0 but was beat down by a good G men pass rush. Brady is going for it, every play of every practice, is to win every game. So 20-0 lets go!!!!! 44 years of mostly “slow burn dumpster fire of a NFL team” I am relishing the best offseason in the history of the team. GO BUCS!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 11:51 am
Looks like another money grab situation involving AB.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:59 am
Any given Sunday. When you start taking games for granted, you start piling up the L’s.
The boys need to stay sharp and focused, look at every game as if it’s the SB, and look to beat every opponent into the dirt from the opening whistle to the end of the game.
May 14th, 2021 at 12:04 pm
Fans hoping for 20-0 won’t have a single solitary impact on this team.
We are talking about a Tom Brady led team here. Complacency will never be an issue. Our Bucs are going to be giving their all the entire season and will look past no one.
Go Bucs! 20-0! It’s not impossible, you just gotta believe!
May 14th, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Well this guy here can say whatever he wants, but the truth is that is not an easy schedule!!!!
LA,Bills, Saints twice, Miami is not easy, Atlanta is gonna be much mor tougher everybody thinks so as the giants and Wash…..
Pleas let´s stay humble as last year, games are won inside th field not with big moths outside!!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 12:31 pm
There are no gimme games in the NFL, so the Bucs have to work to be at their best, and you can bet every team will be gunning to get a win against the Super Bowl champs. Even so, the schedule is favorable, I will give you that.
May 14th, 2021 at 1:16 pm
“You know the type, the ones who don’t believe what they see; they believe what they are told to believe.”
Oh yes, I know the type… and there are far too many of them to my liking.
May 14th, 2021 at 2:04 pm
EASY, no team is easy, The Bucs will have to be at the top of their game each time they play. Complacency will beat you every time. Takeing the other team for granted will beat you every time. Staying focused, talking to each other, staying in condition, PROTECTING BRADY IS A MUST. GIVING HIM THE TIME HE NEEDS IS A MUST.
It’s going to be a good year. Go Bucs
May 14th, 2021 at 10:48 pm
On paper it could be more difficult but last year‘s schedule and teams are irrelevant. Every year half the teams going to the playoffs change, so who knows
May 15th, 2021 at 4:31 pm
ENOUGH of this chatter ! Like the saying goes , “On any given Sunday” . BA and TB12 will have the team laser focused on one game at a time . THAT’S what makes Champions !