Bucs Need To Improve Home Record
July 12th, 2024
Average at home.
Joe is getting the shivers and nasty flashbacks typing the following. It’s not good, but it is far from what Bucs fans lived through just a short time ago.
The Bucs have a path to 10 wins. Joe is confident. But Joe is banking on several home wins for that goal to be reached. In recent seasons, home wins haven’t been easy to come by.
It’s not as bad as The Lost Decade. Hell, in lousy Lovie Smith’s first season with the Bucs (2014), he went winless at home. Only the bungling Browns had a worse home record than the Bucs from 2009-2019. Just brutal.
Since Todd Bowles took became head coach, the team has been meh at home. Not bad. Not good.
The Bucs have a 9-8 regular season home record. If you add two home playoff games the Bucs hosted during this two-year span, the Bucs the past two years are 10-9.
(And technically, one of those “home” wins wasn’t a home win. It wasn’t just played on the road, it was overseas when the Bucs pounded the Seahawks in 2022 in Munich.)
If the Bucs are going to win 10 this year, Joe believes the Bucs must play better at home or at least find a way to get more home wins.
record in home games since 2022
16-1: DAL
14-3: BUF
13-4: SF, PHI, MIA
12-4: CIN
12-5: KC, CLE
11-6: BAL, ATL, DET
10-7: GB, SEA, LV, MIN
9-7-1: NYG
9-8: TB, NO, LAR, PIT, JAX, DEN
8-9: TEN
7-10: CHI, NYJ, LAC, CAR
6-10-1: HOU
6-11: IND
5-12: WAS, NE
3-14: ARI— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 27, 2024
July 12th, 2024 at 7:56 am
Washington; Denver; Philadelphia
Baltimore; Atlanta; San Francisco
Las Vegas; Carolina; New Orleans
Are the home games this year.
Maybe 6/3?
Saints at home, last game of the season is for the division.
July 12th, 2024 at 7:57 am
We averaged 17.6 ppg at home in the regular season and were 4-4 at RayJay. We don’t need to be undefeated at home or anything, but it would be nice to improve on that to 6-2/7-1 at home and still be the road warriors.
July 12th, 2024 at 9:27 am
TotalProSports said this about the loudest stadiums in the NFL,
” Tampa Bay was ranked 28th in the league in home attendance. Sure, they had a winning record in 2023, but the post-Brady effect is in full swing. It’s clear that Bucs fans either have fatigue that kept them from showing up or are hoarse from cheering for Brady.”
I read something that said the home field advantage is from refs generally preferring the home team and that was a bigger advantage than crowd noise. I’d like to see Bowles ‘work’ the officials more, Baker too.
July 12th, 2024 at 9:52 am
Bowles is an average to below average Head Coach so the overall record at home is not shocking.
Let’s be real Bowles is not improving, the pass defense has been dreadful nearly his entire time here, his time management sucks, the lack of using timeouts and the conservative nature in a passing league inspires no confidence in him or his team.
as much as I enjoyed last season the success of last year just stuck us with Bowles for longer than he should be here
July 12th, 2024 at 10:04 am
I’ve been harping on this very stat for years Joe, yes we are pathetic at home. You can include the heat , yes, the heat. This should be a big advantage for us but it isn’t. Teams that play in traditionally colder weather come in to Raymond James and consistently beat us. Obviously if the team is better than your team your team should lose, I get it. You should be aiming for, at least two games above 500. Opposing uniform colors should also factor into our advantage. Darker uniforms work against opponents also, what a marvel idea. And finally, something that has been bothering me for years. Sometimes the opposing team travels better than our own Buccaneer fans. Granted, Tampa fans sell their tickets, probably more often than other team. Why you might ask, I have no idea, it is horrible to hear opposing fans louder than ours. Winners start at home. We had a great run for a few years and now it is like pulling teeth, just win baby, just win. At home of course, yes at RayJay.
July 12th, 2024 at 10:17 am
“as much as I enjoyed last season the success of last year just stuck us with Bowles for longer than he should be here”
Who would you replace him with and why would they be better in comparison?
July 12th, 2024 at 11:48 am
YES!!!! This has frustrated me for a very long time.
July 12th, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Scoring more than 17 ppg at home would help.
#AsToddEvolves
July 12th, 2024 at 12:01 pm
Dude … ‘Who would you replace him with and why would they be better in comparison?’
Thanks Dude. That’s exactly the right question to ask of all those JBFers who are convinced that the next HC will be the greatest ever to grace Raymond James Stadium. What a crock.
Tony Dungy inherited a below average team in 1996 that’d gone 7-9 and who’d lost 7 games in their last 9 that previous season. That 1996 season was rocky (ended with a 6-10 record), but they finished strong, winning 5 of their last 7 games. After that though they had a 48-32 record over the next 5 years, primarily because Tony & Monte built an amazing defense.
Unfortunately the Bucs’ offense wasn’t anything special to write home about during those years. We lost 4 of 6 playoff games, Tony got fired, and the Glazers paid a king’s ransom to get Chucky as our new HC. Started out awesome to be sure (12-4 in the 2002 season, culminating with a Super Bowl victory), but went downhill from there. Chucky was 45-51 over the next 6 years, despite having a Top-10 defense in 5-out-of-6 of those years, thanks to Monte. Chucky was 0-for-2 in the playoffs over those last 6 seasons here, and he too got fired. Then the slide REALLY began.
JBFers need to be careful what they wish for. Replacing the HC AND DC AND this coaching staff isn’t the path to success. What we NEED is to improve our offense, without compromising our Top-10 defense. And to achieve that offensively, we need both Coen AND Mayfield to perform at a Top-10 level. If we can get BOTH our offense & our defense into the Top-10, the young, scrappy Bucs will be a team to be reckoned with. Not necessarily ‘elite’ yet still very competitive. Once you’re invited to the Big Dance, anything’s possible.
July 12th, 2024 at 12:12 pm
Oh and Joe, BA’s record at RayJay in 2019 was 2-6 with Jameis at the helm. Yet he went 5-3 at home in 2020 and 7-1 at home in 2021.
There were no coaching staff changes in those 3 years. The most significant change in 2020 & 2021? Bringing in Tom Brady to QB this team. Of course the talent surrounding Brady did improve considerably in those 2 years, and yes, the performance of the Bucs’ defense also improved considerably. So it wasn’t ALL Brady by any means.
July 12th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
Bucs need to average at least 21 pts per game at home. More would be better. Start by scoring TDs on the opening drive and running the ball better.
July 12th, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Baker should be ranked 8-15 as a QB. His issue has been consistency — not skill/ability. I understand cobsistency is difficult when you have a new HC/OC every year. He needs to string together 3 very good seasons.
July 12th, 2024 at 12:39 pm
An approximate 50/50 split at home is the type of record you would like on the road! I hope the team trys something different this season. Maybe put the team into a hotel on Saturday? Something!
July 12th, 2024 at 12:43 pm
Jason’s first unencumbered head coach hire was BA. Given Jason’s growth and maturity as the NFL’s premier GM, it stands to reason that “if necessary,”.Jason would hire an outstanding head coach to replace Todd.
The “if necessary” would be as in, Todd fails to implement the necessary changes to get to 24 or 25 ppg offensively, shore up the sieve that has been the league’s 29th pass defense, and goes 8-9, 7-10, or worse.
The roster is there for 11 wins minimum with adequate coaching and we expect to see the results! Go Todd! Go Bucs!
#AsToddEvolves
July 12th, 2024 at 1:17 pm
“JBFers need to be careful what they wish for. Replacing the HC AND DC AND this coaching staff isn’t the path to success.”
It’s not like there isn’t an example of this right now. Some fans who clearly didn’t like Canales style/demeanor are making claims Coen is better because he kind of sort of was the “OC” in LA when in reality he was more like Coaches Rogers & Foote are to Bowles.
Coen was more like McVays’ consigliere than he was any type of savant play caller. What isn’t being mentioned is Coen having 8 less years working in the NFL than Canales. I’ve read on this site Coen’s already better just for not being Dave Canales which to me, feels like fans are setting themselves up to burn Liam at the stake should his offense faulter, me? I need to see something before he gets that confidence out of me as a fan.
July 12th, 2024 at 1:21 pm
Surprising KC wasn’t on top and instead the Cowboys. Go figure. I can understand the Bills having home field advantage too. Been at the stadium many times years ago. Washington not looking good and either are the Falcons for home games. I agree with a lot of the comments. Unsure how to fix our advantage at home. It is frustrating.
July 12th, 2024 at 2:40 pm
Dave … I’d say that JL’s first ‘unencumbered HC hire’ was Dirk Koetter. Yes he was already on staff as the OC, but JL as the GM was ultimately responsible for that hire. Same with hiring BA as you said. And yes, same with hiring Todd Bowles. Recognizing of course that ownership has the real final say in every hire, since it’s their $$$ on the line.
I’m expecting this Bucs’ offense to produce 24-25 PPG this season, but that could be derailed for any number of reasons (injuries to key players, Baker craps the bed, etc) beyond the control of any HC. I’m a strong believer that our defense will keep us in almost all our games (see 9-0 victory against Panthers last season). but our offense has to improve significantly if this Bucs’ team is to win the NFC South and make an impact in the playoffs. All we can do right now is HOPE that Coen & Mayfield are up to the challenge.
July 12th, 2024 at 3:03 pm
Ya well Jason and the Glazers agreed to fire Cacatonic Lovie and promote from within for the development of JaMiss.
BA was the first true JL hire.
Todd was named HC as a condition of BA’s stepping down. Yes JL agreed but really he had little wiggle room given the timing of BA’s surprise move.
So the next HC JL hires will only be his second true candidate search and finds.
But otherwise, Ya to the ppg, Coen, Baker, and the defense reducing their passing yards allowed .
July 13th, 2024 at 1:09 am
JimBobBuc Says:
July 12th, 2024 at 9:27 am
TotalProSports said this about the loudest stadiums in the NFL,
” Tampa Bay was ranked 28th in the league in home attendance. Sure, they had a winning record in 2023, but the post-Brady effect is in full swing. It’s clear that Bucs fans either have fatigue that kept them from showing up or are hoarse from cheering for Brady.”
I read something that said the home field advantage is from refs generally preferring the home team and that was a bigger advantage than crowd noise. I’d like to see Bowles ‘work’ the officials more, Baker too.
_____________________________________
Obviously officiating will have a bigger impact, but we always get shafted by refs so…
But the first part isn’t surprising, nor is it new. I’ve been saying this for years.
The Bucs have one of the softest, quietest home crowds I’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder we’ve never had a true home field advantage in the history of this franchise. I haven’t been to Ray Jay in a few years now, but I went to home games for years when I still lived in FL, and the vast majority of people in the crowd were always just sitting the whole time, quiet and reserved.
July 14th, 2024 at 5:58 am
I really am mystified when I think about the Bucs and “home field advantage”
However when I see visiting teams fans fill many of the seats at RayJay it tells me something is very wrong. I now live 15,000 miles away from RayJay and will most likely never again be able to catch a home game. The visting team fans thing saddens me because I did not miss many home games when I still lived in Tampa. Would never have sold my tickets back when I needed season tickets. Had free passes for years. Please if you can’t or won’t go then please give those tickets to a Bucs fan or just trash them.
Go Bucs!
July 14th, 2024 at 2:51 pm
Todd will improve the team’s performance by improving his own. 11-6 in 2024.
If he fails to do so, Jason will find the Bucs an outstanding replacement, as he did after Dirk, with BA.