CBS: Back To Buccaneers Cove
May 19th, 2023
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
In the mind of an NFL columnist for an NFL broadcast partner, this fall will mark a return of the Bucs to a sad familiar place that the Bucs too often found themselves in during the Lost Decade.
And that is Buccaneers Cove, last place in the NFL South.
Will Brinson simply does not like the direction of the Bucs and he believes when a team has to pay the bills for trying to make three Super Bowl runs in a row, a dip in the won-loss record is expected.
Thus, Brinson says the Bucs will be docking at Buccaneers Cove come January.
NFC South
Atlanta Falcons (10-7) — Division winner
Carolina Panthers (8-9)
New Orleans Saints (7-10)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-12)Tampa Bay can prove me wrong but it’s still dealing with the fallout from winning a Super Bowl with Tom Brady and going all-in on trying to chase a second one in 2021/2022. Bruce Arians’ departure is still being felt.
Joe cannot argue that the loss of Bucco Bruce Arians is painful. It was pretty damn obvious last year, wasn’t it?
Maybe Joe is naïve, but Joe has an open mind about Baker Mayfield. And once again, if Mayfield has a solid season, he’s your Bucs quarterback for the near future.
If Mayfield struggles, get ready for a rookie quarterback in 2024.
May 19th, 2023 at 12:33 am
Writers are boring. They all think the same and say the same things. Picking the Bucs to lose is lazy mindedness. You’re not paying attention.
The Bucs won the NFCS last year. They’re better this year. The other teams didn’t do enough (as much) to improve.
Bucs are about to make fools of a lot experts.
May 19th, 2023 at 12:34 am
Falcons don’ have a qb and the Panthers are about a year away still whole filled…
champs will be between Saints and Bucs!
May 19th, 2023 at 12:54 am
I am not optimistic with Todd Bowles as head coach, he has much to prove and make up for. although individually the draft picks from last year and this year will be interesting to watch. If we are in Bucs cove then lets go after the #1 pick.
May 19th, 2023 at 3:23 am
Last year would still have been a disaster with Bruce Arians. Just look at Bruce’s last 6 seasons as Head Coach, it’s obvious Tom Brady dragged Arians to the playoffs.
May 19th, 2023 at 3:42 am
Not only is it too early for such talk, the pads haven’t even been dusted off. Do any of these so called NFL experts actually watch any Buccaneer games, other than highlights & cut ups? We not only don’t know who our QB is, we still don’t know who our LT is. Who is our slot corner? Too many unanswered questions on too many teams for such talk IMHO.
May 19th, 2023 at 4:16 am
‘Will Brinson is the 1st analyst I’ve seen who’s said that the Bucs now have to ‘pay the bills for trying to make 3 Super Bowl runs in a row’. And he’s right.
The ‘Tom Brady effect’ that got us Gronk, AB, Lenny & others marched out the door when Brady retired. The makeup of our current team has largely been driven by the p-poor salary CAP situation resulting from our 2020 & 2021 all-in adventures. Was it worth it? He11 yes. Is it time to pay the piper? For sure.
What we’re left with is a bunch of question marks. QBs? RBs? TEs? OLine? DLine? LBs? Secondary? Even kicker. Just a bunch of question marks … at this point. We’re a team caught in a major ‘retooling’ (ya right) and for anyone to even pretend that they know how this’ll play out is ridiculous.
It’ll take time to see which ‘field generals’ rise up, because without strong field leadership, we’re not going anywhere. It’ll take time for the different position groups to ‘gel’. And it’ll take time for all those position groups to come together as a TEAM. How MUCH time is anyone’s guess unfortunately, assuming that we even have the RIGHT pieces in-place (very likely we don’t at this point).
As this plays out though, I’m rooting for Todd Bowles & this coaching staff to TEACH all these ‘new pieces’ how to play sound, competitive football. And I’m rooting for each of these players to have a career year filled with BIG PLAYS. As a 40-year Bucs fan, I refuse to let negative faux fans take that away. And we sure do seem to have a lot of those nowadays.
May 19th, 2023 at 5:17 am
Here, Here, Agree with DR
I am hoping that Bowles proves that he is still a coach that can shut down opposing
offenses. I do hope he lets the offense play to win the game. IMO, the offense
was nearly as frustrating through much of the games as watching Jameis get us way behind in first quarter with turnovers.
So I for one, am so ready to see a new offense installed. Moving Godwin out of the slot more should open up more chunk plays as will moving the pocket more to get big plays to develop.
May 19th, 2023 at 7:04 am
6’1″ (wink wink) Mini Mayfield ain’t gonna do it. I just checked and his playoff record is 1-1, same as Tim Tebow’s. Yup. And, Tim achieved that record in 5 fewer seasons (3) than Mini has played (8). Mini is a bum.
May 19th, 2023 at 7:24 am
There are 12 NFL teams that have never won a SB…..and we have won 2……that last one came out of nowhere (thanks to Brady & BA]
”
Sp. whatever we have to endure to pay for that….so be it.
The important thing is to recognize it……Like Clint Eastwood said “A team has to know it’s limitations”
May 19th, 2023 at 7:39 am
If the Bucs go 5-12 there won’t just be a new QB in town, expect the Bucs to blow up their coaching staff starting with the Head Coach. I would expect the Bucs to clean house from the Head Coach on down. Why? First, the Bowles experiment would be proven to be a disaster. Second, if the Bucs go all in on a top notch rookie QB expect the Bucs brain trust to bring in a Head Coach who has proven he knows how to develop young quarterbacks.
May 19th, 2023 at 7:42 am
How is it that all these experts,(we get a new one daily) most of whom I’ve never heard of, suddenly become experts on all things Bucs.
It is obvious to me that most of the time they haven’t even bothered to look at the Bucs roster or the over-hyped official web site. Much less explored anything from the people here in Tampa who do, believe it or not, know what is going on.
Tom McEwen is rolling in his grave.
May 19th, 2023 at 8:04 am
Joe, you have suggested that if Mayfield plays well this year he will be our starting QB for the next few years. There’s no reason to believe that if he plays really well he could be our starter for the next decade. He’s only 28 and most good QBs play until their late 30’s early 40’s. So, there is a chance a good Baker Mayfield may solve our QB issue for quite some time. (I consider 10 years in the NFL an eternity.)
May 19th, 2023 at 8:05 am
I have not done a position-by-position comparison between last year and expected starters this year, but clearly this team will be younger and faster. The impact of losing Brady but also lousy Leftwich playcalling and scheme versus Trask or Mayfield with a competent OC is going to be fascinating.
O Line, better. RBs, better. DL? Faster. LBs? DBs? Head coaching? Same or worse.
May 19th, 2023 at 8:42 am
Just like most of these guys, Will Brinson, did a mock draft.
To me it seems overall that Brinson evaluation of team records is more associated with his deemed value of a teams draft then other things the team did this offseason. The only exceptions seem to be the Jets and Packers.
Certainly, other teams (besides Greenbay and NY Jets) got stronger or weaker based upon free agency but that dialogue is lacking.
May 19th, 2023 at 8:55 am
If you believe Bowles is a good head coach you probably believe the Criminal in Mara Lago’s daily lies.
May 19th, 2023 at 10:59 am
The Bucs should be improved defensively and on special teams… it would be hard not to improve on offense… we were among the worst in the league. The NFC South is still weak, I see us winning more games than we did last season.
May 19th, 2023 at 11:42 am
Looks like good draft pick next year. Rather win the division
May 19th, 2023 at 6:55 pm
I am beyond sick of the narrative that this team is garbage just because Brady is gone. That’s disrespectful to the other players on this team. It’s a tired, lazy, regurgitated talking point from a bunch of nerds who only wish they could play.
May 19th, 2023 at 8:19 pm
When someone says, hard not to be improved, or how could it get any worse, they either haven’t been around long, or have much life experience. When one says that, they are often unpleasantly surprised.