Spreadsheets Say… Bucs Will Be Best In NFC In 2021
May 18th, 2021
NFL Network’s Excel queen.
Forget matchups, players, coaches.
You don’t need all of that when you have the correct computer software and a laser printer.
Cynthia Frelund, a numbers-only chick, has run her software programs on the 2021 season and has walked out on a limb to say no team in the NFC will have more victories this season then your defending Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In her latest article for NFL.com, Frelund has all the win projections. The Bucs, her numbers tell her, will have a bye week and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and 12.2 victories en route to the NFC South title.
The scheduling gods smiled on the Buccaneers. With only one trip west (at Rams in Week 3) and a centrally situated Week 9 bye, the reigning Super Bowl champs have the highest projected win total for any team, not just in the NFC but in the whole NFL. Side note: Tampa’s defense — which, like the offense, returned every key member from a top-10 unit and also added rookie edge rusher Joe Tryon — has a lot to do with this; I don’t want that to be overshadowed.
Now Joe has to be upfront. Joe just cannot simply forget how about this time last year Frelund projected the Bucs to have the worst cornerbacks in the NFL. No. 32, at the bottom.
How did that work out for Drew Brees, drama queen Aaron Rodgers and Pat Mahomes last winter?
Trust Joe, The GraveDiggers haven’t forgotten.
“32nd ranked secondary”
We don’t forget. #GraveDiggers🪦 pic.twitter.com/ikQSx4KMT7
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 8, 2021
May 18th, 2021 at 9:08 am
It seemed the defense finally “got it” late in the season.
If they go into 2021 with a “start tough out of the box” mentality, this team could be truly and historically special.
The D was the weak link for most of the season, especially the DBackfield.
A key is Vea staying healthy. Suh-Vea-Gholston front three is damn effective.
May 18th, 2021 at 9:11 am
Oh I get the caption along with the photo
May 18th, 2021 at 9:13 am
Now she’s on the bandwagon or I guess her “projections,” are. She’s terrible.
May 18th, 2021 at 9:14 am
CB is right, I believe. I can’t recall a greater two game team change than the last two games with NO. The D, which was worrisome did indeed finally “got it”. Sure hope they “keep it.”
May 18th, 2021 at 9:23 am
NFL Network needs to be all women
May 18th, 2021 at 9:38 am
OMG!!! What a football genius! The Bucs are the best team in the NFL and that’s not a fans POV. We straight up stomped KC. Defense wins championships and we have a faar better defense, I don’t give a f#ck if their oline was banged up. Like we didn’t have Cappa. All coming back and then some with the fourth least sacks allowed oline in front of Brady that is not the 2020 sick year.
May 18th, 2021 at 9:54 am
It all starts with pressure up front. Bucs won both Super Bowls with a dominant dline. Pressure the QB with four and you can win a championship. Bucs front dominated down the stretch, but which factor played the greatest role against GB & KC?
1. Vita Vea’s return?
2. Injury riddled Olines in GB & KC?
This year hinges on the dline’s ability to get peessure without the blitz. I just can’t stop thinking about how pedestrian they looked against the pass for most of the season. Drafting Tryon suggests the Bucs understand the need for improvement despite the strong finish.
May 18th, 2021 at 10:00 am
The Bucs pissed away at least 10 points in the Super Bowl, got to the goal line and got nothing, and when Ryan Jensen had a bad snap to stop drive. So the Bucs should have had at least 41. The talking heads that drool over KC, seem to have forgotten that if KC wants to beat Tampa, then they better put up 45-48. But with this Bucs Defense, that is NOT going to happen. The Bucs can match any team in scoring, INCLIUDING the KC Mahomeboys. And the Defense is only getting better. GO WORLD CHAMPION BUCS!!! 20-0!!!!
May 18th, 2021 at 10:01 am
Congratulations Cynthia. Basically your model took last year’s data, probably weighted the second half of the season and the playoffs with more weight, and predicted that the Bucs were the best team. Problem with modeling based on history, you just predicted the Bucs to win the super bowl they already won.
May 18th, 2021 at 10:24 am
genius! …Bucs steamrolled the undisputed #1 team….see yas at the 28-0 party!!!
May 18th, 2021 at 10:40 am
Right on Bruce B. 28-0!!!! I Like it, Lombardi hoisting time at the 2022 World Champion Bucs Boat Parade BABY!!!! Get your riverside seats now!!! GO BUCS!!!!
May 18th, 2021 at 10:58 am
I was pretty good at programming Excell on the day, but I just don’t see how a spreadsheet can accurately predict football games.
On the other hand I had a great football pool spreadsheet when I ran the football pool at work. Lots of macros and programs to make it almost completely automated.
I had to enter the scores manually, but from there it ranked each players win total; and if there was no outright winner, who was still in it for Monday night.
May 18th, 2021 at 4:21 pm
The scheduling Gods owed the Bucs after the 7 week stretch without a home game last year.