Playoffs Are Not Crazy Talk
March 22nd, 2023
Bucs GM Jason Licht.
Yeah, playoffs chatter in late March is way premature. But one national NFL stenographer doesn’t believe Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is crazy.
Right now, on paper, the NFC South looks wide open. Sure, the slimy Saints may have a leg up on the rest of the division because of Derek Carr, but Conor Orr of SI.com thinks the playoffs are in reach for the Bucs.
Baker Mayfield is in; Tom Brady is out. The NFL universe can be a strange place, sometimes. There is little room for GM Jason Licht to wiggle right now after losing the greatest player in NFL history. The big question is how long he’ll try to hold on to the ancillary pieces of his Super Bowl roster. The re-signing of Lavonte David shows a desire from Todd Bowles to try to scrap his way to an NFC South title, which I don’t think is out of the question, despite the ranking here.
Joe doesn’t believe Licht has little room. Joe believes Licht is playing with house money. No one is expecting the Bucs to dominate and many are highly skeptical of Baker Mayfield as an answer.
But if Mayfield can just be an average quarterback, who knows how the Bucs will do? The Bucs are pretty much bringing back the same top-10 defense and the offense can’t get much worse.
If the Bucs are awful this fall, then they draft a quarterback. If the Bucs win the division, perhaps they’ve found their quarterback
Joe doesn’t see how this somehow puts Licht in jeopardy as Orr seems to suggest.
March 22nd, 2023 at 12:25 am
If the Bowelszter “leads” the Bucs to his 5th consecutive losing season as a head coach, he will be fired faster than you can say Lovie Smith. The roster is as competitive as it could be given the cap, and only morons advocate tanking. Only losers tank and they perpetually tank without even trying.
New head coach in 2024, brighter lights on the horizon instead of the giant seaweed blob that currently strangles play on the practice field and on game day.
And if Bowelzo shocks the world and makes the playoffs, well goody, I’m ok being stuck with him for 2024.
March 22nd, 2023 at 12:25 am
I feel the defense will look a bit different in a few spots
March 22nd, 2023 at 12:29 am
I heard some analysts agree Baker still has starter qualities…
We shall see!
March 22nd, 2023 at 12:37 am
But, seriously to have a chance, someone needs to expose the Trask Suppression Conspiracy, get it out in the open, and force the Glazers and Jason Licht to either start him or trade him for first round picks. That was another genius idea, Trask should demand to be traded. He’d certainly command a lot of attention in the open market. But that would be running and he’s a fighter not a runner. He will stay and battle the Trask Suppression Conspiracy until he hoists the MVP trophy.
Leave #2 Alone! Trask to the future!!! Yayyyyy!
March 22nd, 2023 at 12:54 am
Joe isn’t sure if this is satire, someone is serious or this is the result of someone commenting after a few shots of Mezcal. 🤔
March 22nd, 2023 at 1:02 am
Lots of Big Storm, Joe – and too much consumption of the “let’s see what we’ve got” mantra, which pretends that Bucs coaches and management haven’t been with him every day for two years, that you haven’t seen him for yourself, and there is this Trask Suppression Conspiracy.
March 22nd, 2023 at 1:19 am
🙂
March 22nd, 2023 at 1:52 am
In this division lol yea it’s not crazy talk at all. You could even say it was disappointing if they didn’t. We lost Brady but not much else. If the quarterback can be average we can do something
March 22nd, 2023 at 2:16 am
Playoffs Not Crazy Talk – But I would stress it is irresponsible talk until we see how the trenches on both sides of the ball are going to come together. Too many empty slots and not enough qualified performers.
March 22nd, 2023 at 2:38 am
Last year at this time, Super Bowl was not crazy talk. Look what happened.
Bowles—Bowles— is the head coach. Rah Rah Canales, regardless of how exciting his talk is, is a newbie who has never called plays or engineered game plans, is the OC. Baker Mayfield is a reclamation project. That’s three issues right off the bat, on top of many more.
Let’s see where this all is…in October.
In the meantime, deep skepticism is deserved.
March 22nd, 2023 at 4:02 am
Wow Goatfarmer, I have mad respect for someone who has this much dedication to making sure that nobody has a positive outlook on the Bucs, you are dedicated my guy!
March 22nd, 2023 at 4:31 am
Yeah, that’s a hard no. Bowles topped out wins in his first year with the Jets and will follow suit here more than likely
After a 10 win season Todd put his stamp on the team and they then went 6, 5, 5 wins over the next 3 seasons
Huh, Sounds familiar???
Changed OC EVERY season until he got the boot….Mr Defensive Guru
Should have cleaned house form the BA era with a clean slate
March 22nd, 2023 at 5:14 am
Starting the hype in March, wow. This s not a talented football team. There are some talented players in spots. And touting this as a returning top 10 defense is an absolute joke. We have no defensive line other than Vita. Hall is a question mark and Gholston had an awful year last year and may be done. We have no pass rush. Shaq maybe comes around mid season, TJS is just not good and all we have are rotational players behind them. LVD is a Buc for life but he’s 33+. D White is a talented yo yo; up and down each game and still can’t stop the pass. Love our CB’s and Winfield but we need safety help and a slot CB. And the boo bird on this board will blame Bowles. Give me a break.
March 22nd, 2023 at 5:51 am
We have a chance to win the division. After that I don’t know.
March 22nd, 2023 at 5:55 am
Mike C–you think THIS is negativity… You should read one of the live game threads
March 22nd, 2023 at 6:19 am
I just think Goatfarmer is a Brady fan girl who has her panties all wadded up.
March 22nd, 2023 at 6:55 am
If Bowles continues playing to not lose, kiss the playoffs goodbye.
March 22nd, 2023 at 7:20 am
More ticket sales hype.
March 22nd, 2023 at 8:37 am
I am old enough to remember when Joe Montana moved on from the 49ers and they were left with a backup who couldn’t even keep his job on the roster at the sorry Tampa Bay Bucs, and the handwringers and doom predictors were out in force. But they were disappointed when yet another Hall of Fame quarterback replaced the guy who then was the GOAT.
Strange world, indeed. If everything is so damned predictable in the NFL, why do they even bother playing the games? …. just let the media talking heads tell us during offseason what the results are going to be, and then we can just move on to other things in life.
March 22nd, 2023 at 8:40 am
The Bucs have the roster capable of easily winning the NFC South, including the quarterbacks. Coaching seems positive too, depending upon how well Canales’s offense and playcalling works. Whether they do win the division or not, that’s why they play the games.
March 22nd, 2023 at 8:57 am
I think we’re all forgetting Todd Bowles is still the coach of this team which is a major obstacle in making the playoffs.
March 22nd, 2023 at 9:33 am
If Jason can build depth in the trenches (OLine and Dline) and Canales can get a decent running game going , the Bucs have a chance to win the division. Assuming Mayfield can be a middle of the pack QB and Bowles doesn’t screw up too much this season. I truly hope that the Bucs offense is not hamstrung by Bowles conservative approach.
March 22nd, 2023 at 9:50 am
The other NFC South Teams have got better, so winning the division is not a given
March 22nd, 2023 at 10:19 am
Well said Duane.
March 22nd, 2023 at 11:04 am
I feel the Bucs biggest chalenge will come from the Saints because of Carr. Although Mayfield is not far behind. Backup winston is better than Trask at this point. Plus the Bucs have Ryan on PS.
March 22nd, 2023 at 11:06 am
They literally are crazy talk. There isn’t a chance that this team wins more than 5 games next year. Book it.
March 22nd, 2023 at 11:47 am
Mike C, I’m converted to the Start Trask Movement and am certain of The Trask Suppression Conspiracy. He deserves to start because he’s been here two years, and we haven’t seen him. That’s automatic starting material right there no matter what the experts say.
My negativity is mostly due to our headless coich, who would have taken the 1972 Dolphins to a 4-10 record.
Go Kyle!
March 22nd, 2023 at 3:01 pm
Watch him trade up for fla qb…..
March 22nd, 2023 at 5:02 pm
LMAO! Duh, ok! This team is just good enough to draft #4 overall and miss the top QB prospects.
March 24th, 2023 at 7:59 am
JASON LIGHT IS A VERY GOOD GENERAL MANAGER, ( ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE) HE, BA,BOWLES, THE GLAZERS, ALL ARE ON THE SAME PAGE ( THANKS IN PART TO THE TOM BRADY INFLUENCE) WE WERE PRIVLEDGED ENOUGH TO HAVE FOR THREE YEARS..THIS TEAM & THEIR TRUE FANS BELIEVE IN OUR TEAM..WE WERE LEFT WITH THE WORST CAP SITUATION IN THE LEAGUE ( BUT, THE SUCCESS WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY)DO YOUR RESEARCH..IN THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE, HOW MANY TEAMS HAVE STILL BEEN UNABLE TO WIN A SUPER BOWL ? BUFFALO & MINNESOTA HAVE LOST 4 EACH,CHARGERS, FALCONS, LIONS,JETS 1( IN 1969 ),BROWNS, I DON’T HAVE A LIST OF ALL 32 TEAMS IN FRONT OF ME,BUT YOU GET MY DRIFT I’M SURE..WE HAVE A GOOD DRAFT FOR NEEDS WE WILL CERTAINLY HAVE A TEAM ASSEMBLED TO WIN OUR DIVISION & POSSIBLY RETURN TO THE SUPER BOWL..