“This Feels Like A No-Brainer”
September 1st, 2024
A three-time Super Bowl winner who knows the Tampa Bay roster well and has sat in TV production meetings with Todd Bowles and various Buccaneers thinks the Falcons are a slam-dunk winner of the NFC South.
Time to stuff another receipt into that overflowing box on the desk of Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.
Speaking during an FS1 panel show last week, FOX game analyst Mark Schlereth, the former star offensive lineman, agreed with a “best” wager of the season by one of his colleagues. The pick was the Falcons to run away with the NFC South.
Schlereth couldn’t wait to chime in on the Falcons pick. In fact, he cut off his colleague Danny Parkins, who said Atlanta would cruise to a division title.
Then Schlereth piled on.
“This feels like a no-brainer to me,” Schlereth said of the Falcons winning the NFC South.
“They’ve got great periphery players, ball handlers, right? They’ve got an unbelievable [offensive line] and I think they’ve got a very underrated defense.”
So there you have it. Schlereth thinks the Bucs have no shot. He didn’t even respond when another panelist told Schlereth he was disrespecting Baker Mayfield and a Bucs team that returned its top players.
The Falcons haven’t had a winning record since 2017 and they’ve got all kinds of questions marks, including at head coach, offensive coordinator, general manager and quarterback. But yeah, they’re a “no-brainer” pick to win the division over the Bucs.
Joe is sick of the disrespect. Joe knows there are answers (other than winning) to the constant dissing of the Bucs. But will the Bucs figure them out? Do they care?
In a recent interview, Joe heard Licht mention that he’s come to accept that disrespect of the Bucs is sort of just how it is nearly every year.
Well, Joe would ask Licht if he takes a “that’s-just-how-it-is” attitude toward anything else negative about his organization? Of course he doesn’t.
The same question would be appropriate for Team Glazer.
Licht has far bigger concerns than media perception, but many others at One Buc Palace do not.
Being urinated upon by national media has negative ramifications when it comes to fan excitement and engagement, the Bucs’ schedule, ticket sales and more. And team officials love saying that more adoring and fired up fans make a difference on game day.
Joe sure hopes there’s a distinct and direct plan at One Buc Palace to artfully counterattack the national Bucs bashing.
If it continues, the level of disrespect could help undermine team unity when adversity strikes. And that would represent an avoidable crime against all things Bucs.
Ira Kaufman’s Annual & Ultimate Bucs Season Predictions Episode, Plus Several NFL Calls
September 1st, 2024 at 8:14 pm
Just win and it’ll take care of itself.
They’ve won a Super Bowl followed by three division titles. And they won a playoff game last season and looked good in the divisional round. Logic says it’s about more than winning. –Joe
September 1st, 2024 at 8:32 pm
I have lived the Bucs since 1976.
You haven’t been a Bucs fan as long as us old timers Joe.
It’s ALWAYS been this way.
We still have the worst winning percentage in the NFL and we usually eff up when it should be easy.
When the media thinks they can trust us, the accolades flow briefly and then we sh!t the bed.
Sadly, 2 Super Bowl blowout victories aren’t enough to erase the horrid past of this franchise.
Until we can consistently attain greatness it will continue to be this way.
I like being the underdog and could give 2 sh!ts about ticket sales and national perceptions.
Go Bucs!
Prove them wrong again!!
September 1st, 2024 at 8:33 pm
I see three reasons for the ATL love: the lack of belief in Baker Mayfield due to consistency issues, the lack of belief in Todd Bowles because of his Jet days and middling record as a head coach, And everyone last year thought the Falcons were great but their QB Desmond Ridder doomed them with horrid QB play.
Kirk is eons better than Ridder, and with the supporting cast in ATL that allegedly is SO good the pundits believe this is their year.
September 1st, 2024 at 8:33 pm
What Jeff’s grandpa says!
I’m actually glad for the disrespect thanks to the motivation it’s providing the team from the very top down to the last player on the roster.
The Falcons were dissed almost as badly as the Bucs last year.
Last season ESPN had the Bucs ranked 30th in their preseason poll with the Falcons barely ahead at 28th. They freaking had the Carolina Panthers at 22nd!!! WTF?
CBS was not much better except for Prisco who the Saints edging out the Bucs for the Division two other nerds had the Bucs LAST behind both Carolina and Atlanta.
The Sporting News had the Bucs dead last at 5-12 again behind BOTH the Panthers and the Falcons.
But of course it’s S.I. for the win predicting the Bucs would go TWO and 15!!!
Which begs the question, why does anybody pay attention to this crap. You could throw darts at a board and do as well. A few obvious teams like the Niners and Chiefs but the rest were a crap shoot.
It’s just like politics. EVERY outlet says IGNORE the polls and then proceed to do a complete rundown of the polls.
Really who cares about polls or Football prognositications. It’s fun here to speculate but I think JBF homers have been more accurate than the “professionals”. I’d rather be forecast to win 2 and then make the playoffs than called a playoff team and only win a few games.
September 1st, 2024 at 8:36 pm
Been following the Bucs since 1978.
September 1st, 2024 at 8:40 pm
“because of his Jet days”
Ironically Todd Bowles is the ONLY NFL HC to have had success with the Jets in the past freaking TWELVE YEARS!!! Todd’s ten win season is the benchmark for that crappy franchise.
Since his ten win season the Jets have suffered through SIX straight LOSING seasons. Perhaps when looking at Todd’s “Jet’s experience” one should marvel that he EVER managed to have a winning season for such a CRAPPY franchise!!
It’s the same thing when looking at Baker’s Cleveland Experience. He accomplished things there that hadn’t been done in decades.
I do not see a profound weakness on the Bucs THIS season. I worry a bit about depth and experience at ILB but barring injuries THIS is the season to get an accurate assessment of BOTH Bowles and Mayfield.
Again barring injuries, I’m very comfortable with Bowles.
September 1st, 2024 at 8:43 pm
Yeah – it was a no brainer alright.
I wish I had a job where I could make no brainer statements.
September 1st, 2024 at 8:47 pm
“Just Win Baby”
— Al Davis
To repeat the broken record, the nation watched as Todd coaches a Brady led Bucs team to a losing record and a demolition by the otherwise listless Cowboys in the playoffs. Then last year, Tod was 4-7 after a good start and had to barely beat the worst team in football to win the division.
Under Todd, this team is 18-19 including playoffs.
That’s why the world is picking against the Bucs.
So…”Just win, baby.”
September 1st, 2024 at 8:48 pm
National Media disrespect of Bucs will continue no matter what the Bucs do this season, next year etc. They’ve walked off the plank before.
Go Bucs!
Thank you JBL!
September 1st, 2024 at 9:03 pm
When Bucs home games continuously sell out with at least a 65/35 or 70/30 ratio of home fans we will start to get respect. Winning alone hasn’t helped with media respect. So, what if the Glazers offered deep ticket discounts to Florida residents and concession discounts to those dressed as pirates or wearing Bucs gear ?
Part (maybe most) of the problem is the far too many transplants that will not forgo their previously loyalties.
Too many football fans would rather see the Bucs lose to their northern teams.
If you choose to move here then support your local teams.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:09 pm
Joe Says:
September 1st, 2024 at 8:36 pm
You haven’t been a Bucs fan as long as us old timers Joe.
Been following the Bucs since 1978.
______
Ahh!
So you jumped on the bandwagon after we beat the Aints for our first win?
😀
Well hell, you are an old timer Bucs fan.
#respect
September 1st, 2024 at 9:13 pm
Rethink. Deep discounts to Florida residents wouldn’t work. All the transplants now have FL driver licenses.
We need more boat parades.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:18 pm
LOL I been telling you guys since I first stumbled upon this corner of the interwebs that the Bucs get zero respect nationwide. And the league / refs have always hated us. Even with Brady that barely changed for than a season or two.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:19 pm
I became a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan when they became an expansion team in 1976. I was living in West Bath, Maine and had just bought my first color television. The Portland Press Herald sports pages and Sports Illustrated were my main sources of information.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:20 pm
Just words
September 1st, 2024 at 9:20 pm
At MINIMUM this is a two team race. A no brainer? GTFO.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:23 pm
I think that Licht and company should get all of their faces on toilet paper. After that send each a complimentary 4 pack with their faces looking back::: ON TOILET PAPER !!! Haha.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:26 pm
We’ve won the two super bowls We’ve played in. The Falcons have lost the 2 times they’ve made it, including the most epic collapse in Super Bowl history. The Falcons are the oldest major professional sports team in the United States without a championship. I’ll take being a Bucs fan over a Falcons fan any day.
September 1st, 2024 at 9:38 pm
Thank you Doosh.
What we are trying to do is build a sustained high quality franchise. This might well be that era, finally. We shall see!
Go Bucs!
September 1st, 2024 at 9:43 pm
Take a deep breath and just let it go Joe. Serenity now!
September 1st, 2024 at 9:47 pm
You have some good points, Dave Pear. Just win and everything else will be just fine.
September 1st, 2024 at 10:03 pm
What has Cousins won? He had Stefon Diggs and Dalvin Cook in their primes and still couldn’t win when it counted. These are the same pundits who believed Derek Carr was gonna make the Saints a playoff contender,and we saw how that turned out. Smh.
September 1st, 2024 at 10:08 pm
Oh well . The guys might as well just not show up for any games since we’re not going to do anything. What’s the point . The “Gurus” have spoken.
Maybe next year . Guess I’ll start looking for top 10 D-Line prospects in the draft .
11-6 / 12-5 . 🏴☠️🏴☠️
September 1st, 2024 at 10:47 pm
Resigning your own guys is never as sexy or buzzworthy as signing other teams’ guys. But come February we’ll have dozens of think pieces about how “Winning free agency doesn’t win Super Bowls.”
September 1st, 2024 at 10:54 pm
The Falcon have a much easier schedule than the Bucs. With that said, based upon the schedule, if they win/lose one game to the Bucs, they can very easily have a better record than the Bucs, thus win the division.
September 1st, 2024 at 11:13 pm
The Falcons have a tougher opener than the Bucs. And – Arthur Smith is now back in his lane as an OC, working for one of the most successful HCs of all time in Mike Tomlin. You don’t think Artie wants to shove pick-up-sticks into Arthur Blank’s eyeballs?!
I expect the Steelers to bludgeon the Fowlclowns.
WTF – just win baby.
September 1st, 2024 at 11:24 pm
As my father uses to say: the universe is always right. We shall see…
September 1st, 2024 at 11:24 pm
“used to”
September 1st, 2024 at 11:30 pm
Joe, it’s the Brady hangover. He’s fuc**ing magic in the media’s eyes though he couldn’t win with that latter-day Belichick roster. But he was the only reason we won, Todd Bowles is a failure already (Jets), & Baker a journeyman (nevermind he won every time he was healthy other than the dumpster fire that was Carolina). The funniest thing to me is Kirk Cousins & Rah are less successful versions of Baker & Todd.
But it’s also just ignorance. Even your boy Tanier two months ago cited the Bucs are old on defense, seeming to forget Suh & JPP retired long ago. I thought that big “homegrown roster” narrative last week would change some minds, but that shit still needs to be proven on the field. It’s confusing people forgot the Bucs went to GB & destroyed them, they destroyed Philly & were one Jamel Dean INT away from going to the NFC Championship. But Baker is settled in & we upgraded at coordinator.
September 2nd, 2024 at 1:01 am
I don’t know if I can pound the desk any harder on this.
The Falcons are going to be legit this season. Bucs are taking them way too lightly. Everyone is picking them.
You can feel disrespected all you want.
Have you looked at the Falcons schedule?
After KC it looks pretty winnable for them. They probably won’t lose a game after their bye.
There is absolutely NO WAY Bucs sneak in with a 9 win season. It’s just not happening.
The bright side is Tampa has 7 cupcake games on the schedule.
You take care of business and split with NO an ATL you got 9 wins.
Then you got:
KC
DAL
SF
BALT
PHI
DET
You got to beat one of these teams to get to 10 and it wouldn’t shock me to see ATL get 11 wins.
Bottom line.
Bucs are AT ATLANTA in week 5, AT NEW ORLEANS in week 6 and if they emerge 2-4 and Atlanta is 4-2 with that schedule ahead of them… Basically it will be revealed that Todd Bowles set $100M of the Glazer’s money on fire wanting his guy at QB. He won’t be back.
If you stumble against WFT, LV, DEN, or LA then your climb becomes real uphill at that point. Bucs need to win on the road in this division and they need to beat a proven playoff team perhaps twice to win the NFC South. That’s how this is going to shake out.
September 2nd, 2024 at 1:17 am
I’m not one bit worried about the Dirty Birds…Cousins will be injured by the 5th game.
September 2nd, 2024 at 1:56 am
with Prime time game against Atlanta not only do they need to win they need to pile on the points and embarrass them and the media. Somehow I think the Bucs want that.
September 2nd, 2024 at 2:17 am
Et tu Schlereth ?
Wow that dude usually is not one of the BS crowd. Surprises me a bunch.
His exact words… praising the Falcons could have been used to describe the Bucs BTW. Only our team has actually won championships.
Go Bucs!
September 2nd, 2024 at 6:12 am
Bucs over, Falcons under. Easy money. Cousins is not now or has never been elite, he’s ok at his best. He hasn’t beaten the Bucs since Lovie was the coach. The narrative has always been Cousins can’t win the big games and now he’s the second coming of Brady??
It’s just stupid.
September 2nd, 2024 at 6:47 am
BA’s. Baker Mayfield has been a elite quarterback either so I think we will split with them just like last year and they had Desmond Ritter as their quarterback.
September 2nd, 2024 at 6:48 am
Baker has never been elite either and he’s ok at best..
September 2nd, 2024 at 7:00 am
Bucs PR has always been terrible. The stadium is always full of opposite color jerseys. We have no 12th man gimmick, or arrowhead chant, no real rivalry thanks to being the new kid in the storied central. The Tampa bay call and response doesn’t even come through the TV broadcasts and isn’t acknowledged outside the area. Even the dumb jags with their duuuuval chant have something unique.
We have no identity. The monsters of the midway, the steel curtain, the greatest show. Our 2002 defense was one of the best ever and Tampa 2 became a staple, but we still don’t have an identity.
Bucs need real PR and stop catering to the transplants. The lightning figured it out.
September 2nd, 2024 at 7:01 am
I forget, we had an identity! The Yucs!
September 2nd, 2024 at 7:02 am
50/50 it is the Bowles way.
September 2nd, 2024 at 7:03 am
Dave Pear. Is back blaming Bowles lol 🤣 all that talk you did during the spring and summer and now you are nervous about Baker Mayfield so you back blaming Bowles lol 🤣🤣 !! We gone to start making excuses for Baker Mayfield he ain’t got no more excuses he has to play better than last year for this team to win. And again if Bowles gets fired Baker will be gone as well so they have to win more than 9 games this year. It’s NFC Championship or bust no excuses for Baker Mayfield or the team!!
September 2nd, 2024 at 7:27 am
Then why do you not “logically tell us” what it is? You are a college-educated journalist with a good vocabulary, a thesaurus, and a JBF blog. So just tell us your version of “what” the “Logic” is. After all, it is “a No-Brainer” right?
Thanks.
“Logic says it’s about more than winning. Joe”
September 2nd, 2024 at 8:07 am
Dirty Birds were a good football team last year with a young QB that just did stupid things. And they physically gave us all we could handle last season at Ray Jay. Best thing we have going for us is Kirk’s agent negotiates big contracts better than Kirk plays in Big games.
September 2nd, 2024 at 8:18 am
Get Hasson Riddick
September 2nd, 2024 at 8:59 am
Raheem the Dream will not walk in and take over the NFCS. Just like he will not go to the Super Bowl in his first year. These people have to keep viewers and listener talking. Raheem is the newest thing here to do it with.
September 2nd, 2024 at 9:17 am
Not one thing I n the nfl is a slam dunk you have to stay healthy qb play all are factors for a winning season
September 2nd, 2024 at 9:17 am
Bucs not only won 2 SBs, they are the FIRST team to win a SB in their Home Crib. I’ve been a loyal fan since I found out about them in 1979. Talk about pathetic, the 1980s and early 1990s were rough. Bucs set losing records that still stand, but so what? They’re not losers anymore. And….how sweet THAT is!!
September 2nd, 2024 at 9:23 am
@Stpetebucsfan – one 10 win season his first year after Rex left followed by three 11+ loss seasons. Moreover, when I’m referring to his Jet days it’s more about the fact that Todd lost the Jets locker room and his defensive guys quit on him.
September 2nd, 2024 at 9:39 am
It is amazing how much props Cousins gets for having done literally NOTHING in the NFL. He has never faced opposition like Baker Mayfield. When Baker was in Cleveland he had to overcome knives stuck in his back by owners, management, coaches, and players who bet bigger on a predator than on a guy who proved himself to be a great leader and above it all. A man who embedded himself in the Cleveland culture and who happily took a job NOBODY else wanted. A guy who has proved time and again he is one of the toughest players on any field., and who plays hurt without complaint. When Cousins has done any of those things let us know. Until then Go Baker and Go Bucs! You don’t ‘t need Mark Schlereth or anyone else’s opinion to know you can be winners with Baker as your leader.
September 2nd, 2024 at 10:30 am
Jeffs grandpa Says:
Just win and it’ll take care of itself.
They’ve won a Super Bowl followed by three division titles. And they won a playoff game last season and looked good in the divisional round. Logic says it’s about more than winning. –Joe
^^^^^^^
“YOU EARN RESPECT.”
I just laugh at anyone whoever spews that nonsense. The Bucs have won repeatedly. ATL has lost repeatedly. ATL is getting all the respect. TB total disrespect.
September 2nd, 2024 at 10:48 am
My dad had season tickets from 1976-2022. I grew up a diehard Bucs fan and still am, but live in Atlanta. I still remember the incredible atmosphere when the Bucs beat the Rams to go 4-0 in 1979. The Old Sombrero was electric that day.
Atlanta fans are excited about the season, but they are not an optimistic bunch. The last Super Bowl loss still weighs heavy on every Falcons’ fan. The state of the Bucs franchise is years ahead of Atlanta (GM, recent success, roster). Nonetheless, the Bucs and the Falcons are mirror images in a history of futility. That includes hatred of the Saints. The only difference is the Bucs are 2-0 in the big game and the Falcons are 0-2.
Final thought, the food at the Benz is better, but dome football in the South stinks. Nothing like watching football in the sun with the ladies dressed for it. Go Bucs!
September 2nd, 2024 at 11:13 am
Joe… I moved to Dunedin in 1978, so I have been cursed with the Buc-life as long as you have. Rough ride at times. I moved to Oregon after 25 years. But, my head is still stuck in Buc-land. This year will be interesting.
September 2nd, 2024 at 1:33 pm
It’s weird, I feel like the Bucs don’t play as well when the crowd is really jacked before a game, like it is too much pressure or something, hopefully this year we can harness the excitement from the crowd instead of being overwhelmed by it, maybe bake is the lighting rod to keep them grounded but electric.
September 2nd, 2024 at 10:34 pm
Oneilbuc
It’s NFC Championship or bust no excuses for Baker Mayfield or the team!!
**********************************************************
I remember you saying something very similar when complaining about Brady signing with us. Except then, you said “Super Bowl”.
Please amend your statement to say “Super Bowl”.
Thanks
September 2nd, 2024 at 10:38 pm
unbelievable Says:
September 1st, 2024 at 9:18 pm
LOL I been telling you guys since I first stumbled upon this corner of the interwebs that the Bucs get zero respect nationwide. And the league / refs have always hated us. Even with Brady that barely changed for than a season or two.
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Since 76
Even in our championship years we were underdogs
No respect since day one.
And don’t get me started on the refs!!!