NFL Columnist: Are The Bucs Overrated?
October 4th, 2022
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
It’s hard for Joe, after four games, to suggest the Bucs are overrated when their defense has largely been one of the best in the NFL and they just lost to a team with a real shot at playing in the Super Bowl.
The Bucs’ defense had its first bad game Sunday when the Chiefs curb-stomped them and took their lunch money. In the same game, a game in which the Bucs basically gave the Chiefs two touchdowns, the Bucs offense looked the way Joe expected for the first time all season.
Long-time NFL columnist and reporter Clark Judge, however, is starting to think the Bucs might just be overrated.
Maybe we overrated Tampa Bay. … They got torched, 41-31, in a game where the Chiefs didn’t punt until the last minute, converted 12 of 17 third downs and produced more points than in any game where Todd Bowles was a defensive coordinator or head coach. Where the Bucs allowed just 27 points the first three games, they were ripped for 28 in the first half alone. In short, they looked … well, like a vulnerable team that makes a raft of mistakes on both sides of the ball. I know, it’s early, but beware. The signs are disturbing for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Joe is no way going to throw in the towel on one game.
Yes, the defense was awful Sunday. It wasn’t like they got run by the Bears. The Bucs also got their clocks cleaned at home by the slimy Saints in 2020. What happened a few months later?
Joe cannot sit here on Oct. 3 and suggest the Bucs are overrated. They need to be more physical in the trenches, sure. Do they need to play better overall? Of course.
But overrated with one bad game (losing on one play to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers is no demerit)? Let’s slow down.
October 4th, 2022 at 12:26 am
It’s just that when we look bad we look really bad.
Embarrassingly bad.
October 4th, 2022 at 12:26 am
Let’s see.
Can’t run block.
Can’t scheme for non-superstars.
Can’t stop the run.
Can’t tackle. Still.
2-2
You are what your record says you are.
If you are saying the Bucs are anything more than mediocre, you are overrating them..
October 4th, 2022 at 12:41 am
What Goatfarmer said.
October 4th, 2022 at 1:13 am
Overrated for the first 4 games? Yes.
Overrated for the season? I think the Bucs will bounce back.
October 4th, 2022 at 1:17 am
I’m usually Optimistic but I feel like something is off with this team, every one not named Brady & Evans lost there hunger. That take your head off attitude isn’t there, they miss Jensen.
October 4th, 2022 at 1:25 am
Seems to me that I recall The Patriots having slow starts to some of their seasons, only to have the train ready to go in the second half of the season.
October 4th, 2022 at 1:44 am
Look around the league. The Bucs are hardly alone at 2-2. We got beat by a really good team, and we are done with the toughest part of the schedule. One game at a time. Get healthy and work to get better. Way too early to panic.
October 4th, 2022 at 1:48 am
Goatfarmer is such a bum, lol. You know how many teams in the league are 2-2? Chill dude, the NFL does this at the start of the season, always put good against good and bad against bad to create excitement in the product.
The schedule now becomes insanely more favorable for the Bucs.
October 4th, 2022 at 2:26 am
Anon: Do you remember 2 years ago when the Bucs had a couple bad losses, and some “fans” said they wouldn’t win another game? Remember when they won the rest? That was cool!
October 4th, 2022 at 2:40 am
Why should anyone pay attention to “rankings” and around-the-clock hysterical see saw hot air from NFL mediots?
It’s only week 4, and the Bucs are a team full of question marks, facing a schedule all knew would be difficult, full of last season’s top playoff teams that, unless they have regressed, would pose problems.
I expected a 1-3, and it’s 2-2. Close. The games, the film and the results don’t lie. They are what they are. Mid-grade overall, poor vs. the better teams, better against weaker teams.
They have to make changes, coaching must drastically improve, and they need to get healthy, get guys like Jensen back, and see where they are in December.
October 4th, 2022 at 2:59 am
Suh
October 4th, 2022 at 3:14 am
I remember we were projected 1-3 before the start of the season. But suddenly we overrated with 2-2, come on.
October 4th, 2022 at 3:42 am
49ers flatten Rams. 49ers defense (pass rush), vicious tackling, and smart play calling on offense makes Jimmy G look like a god. Rams looked dead from the get-go.
See why it’s premature to “rank” any team this early?
October 4th, 2022 at 6:56 am
Didn’t the Raiders beat the Bucs 45-0 the year the Bucs went to the NFC Championship game against the Rams?
I bet similar things were said back then……
October 4th, 2022 at 7:00 am
I will keep hammering this home. They are undisciplined. It’s apparent in the missed tackles, fumbles, penalties and getting gashed in the run game. Bowels couldn’t carry Arians jock strap!
October 4th, 2022 at 7:17 am
What Goat farmer said.
October 4th, 2022 at 7:21 am
We see this year after year, the Bucs think they are “all that!” and they have their clocks cleaned by some team. Weak coaching and mentally weak team!
October 4th, 2022 at 7:25 am
Bucs are not overrated…….but, I do miss BA….
We could have easily been 3-1….look at that schedule……Saints, Rams overrated.
October 4th, 2022 at 7:42 am
No wonder TB12 wanted to go to South Beach.
I thought this team was sloppy and undisciplined under BA.. it’s worse now.
October 4th, 2022 at 8:09 am
As I have said before, we’re not winning it all this year if we didn’t win it all last year. Should have used this year to develop for the future. But our fan base is too stupid and biased.
October 4th, 2022 at 8:20 am
We’re not gonna win because our fans are too stupid? And you’re the genius?
October 4th, 2022 at 8:55 am
If we aren’t serious contenders by Week 8, Brady will have a mysterious injury and never take the field again. The Bucs have a month to fix Sunday Night’s mess or we’ll be watching Blaine Gabbert.
October 4th, 2022 at 9:07 am
No, Razor, read again. We’re not going to win because we have less this year than last year when we still couldn’t win. But too many of our fans – like you – are too stupid to look ahead.
October 4th, 2022 at 9:16 am
Yeah and they roasted us a few years ago. We went on to win the super bowl. That was smoke and mirrors on both sides. Chiefs aren’t that good and Bucs aren’t that bad
October 4th, 2022 at 10:16 am
They met KC on the wrong week. KC was up for this game, came ready to prove something, and proved it. Not to worry. KC won’t play error-free, injury-free all season. Good to get measured by a top team and learn a lesson.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:32 am
Todd Bowles is 28-43 as a HC.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:36 am
Like Beckles said. I don’t like the way it looks. At all. The defense is getting pushed around and the offense has no identity.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:41 am
Todd Bowles and Byron sure are without Bucco Bruce Arians.
October 4th, 2022 at 1:14 pm
Remember before the season started we thought we’d be in good shape if we won 2 of the first 4 games because of how tough they were?
October 4th, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Ok glad you cleared it up, we lost because I’M stupid. Thanks magnet head.
October 4th, 2022 at 8:06 pm
The coaches are overrated for sure. Beano, great idea get rid of the best QB that ever played and maybe Evan’s, LVD, Shaq and build for the future and wait another decade or two before Bucs sniff the playoffs again. Bucs lost to the predicted #2 NFC team and #2 AFC team. Grant it I don’t believe GB is that good but the coaches blew that game.
October 4th, 2022 at 10:26 pm
It’s still only early October, the better time to obsess on the “overrated” status is sometime after Thanksgiving. Teams break down or gain important momentum over the course of the season.
That being said, there are attributes worth kvetching over:
1. The O-Line is in the low third quartile of the league, D+/C- overall. I’m being generous.
2. No starting TE.
3. The WRs are brittle and underwhelming in the red zone
4. JTS is still playing like a raw rookie; one move, little strength, poor instincts
5. Akiem Hicks is brittle enough to play WR
6. Run defense: questionable for now
7. Special Teams stink, but what else is new?