Improved
May 25th, 2017
Four-letter discusses.
Man, when a team goes out and gets DeSean Jackson in free agency, and follows that up by drafting O.J. Howard and Chris Godwin, you damned right you should be improved.
And NFL sophists at the four-letter agree. In an article discussing most improved teams, both Mike Sando and Matt Bowen say the Bucs have the most improved offense. However, Sando wonders aloud if the Bucs are actually an improved team.
The moves Tampa Bay made on offense, in particular, make the Buccaneers a compelling choice as the most improved team this offseason. I’m not sure how much they’ll improve upon their 9-7 record from last season — nine wins was on the high side of most projections — but the offense is in position to take a significant step forward.
Joe understands where Sando is coming from — with a tougher Bucs schedule and a weak rushing game all but unaddressed (yes, running back Jeremy McNichols is a fifth-round pick. Pardon Joe for wanting to see him in pads before making any syrupy pronouncements in May).
Bowen is of the mind the passing game should be so elite, the Bucs cannot help but be improved.
After throwing for over 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, Winston is now in a position to lead an offense that can create matchup issues at all three levels of the field.
Yes, this passing attack with all its new toys, potentially, is like Air Coryell and the 1980s San Diego Chargers.
San Diego was a damned fun team to watch, led by Dan Fouts and a troika of elite receivers. And they were successful to a point. But Coryell’s teams, no matter in St. Louis or San Diego, always choked in the playoffs. Could the Bucs be so explosive on offense that the defense is just going to be fried come season’s end, because the offense gets off the field so quickly, too quickly?
May 25th, 2017 at 10:17 am
Is our schedule really that more difficult? I mean we have the division games like always and the Giants, Patriots, and Packers. All difficult teams but last year we had broncos, seahawks, and cowboys who were all expected to be pretty good or were good.
Parity exists. There’s not telling who will be good or not. I think the Giants may regress in their coaches second year, pats travel to us on a short week and are routinely bad in florida, and the packers defense is crap. Isn’t their o line bad too?
Strength of Schedule is the projection in sports IMO.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:18 am
dumbest projection**
May 25th, 2017 at 10:19 am
Oh ya forgot about kc too.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:22 am
Eric, the whole division is full of gunslingers. We will be in a dogfight every week barring injuries. I loved watching San Diego back in the day too but that defense wasn’t good enough and until I see a few games, I’m not going to trust our defense either.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:33 am
Ya I mean that’s all true. But let’s be real here, saints defense will not be good, cam is regressing and dude is certainly not a gunslinger, and the falcons lost 4 coaches.
I like our chances.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:38 am
The Bucs offense did not play anywhere near its potential last year – even with the RB and WR injuries we should have been more effective on a more consistent basis on offense. This year, unless the Oline just sucks which I doubt will be the case – the Bucs offense should easily be top 5 with JW in his 3rd year and all the added weapons.
Defense looked pretty darn good the 2nd half of the 2016 season and we added talent so if we can maintain any type of continued upward trajectory on D – this 2017 Buccaneers team should win a lot of games despite the difficulty of schedule, division, etc.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:48 am
I concur with Eric. Every year teams projected to be good end up mediocre and some teams projected to be mediocre over achieve. In the case of teams like the Bears and Jets, it is fairly safe to say they will not be very good. Then of course you have teams that are pretty sure to be good like the Patriots, Steelers and Raiders. I don’t see any games that we do not have much of a chance to win even the Patriot game. Yes it is a short week but it is for them also and they have to play us in Tampa which helps make up a little for the Bucs playing the Giants late afternoon. The only game that I would be very surprised if we won would be at Green Bay in December. So, projecting schedule strength is a little inaccurate compared to the strength of schedule at the end of the season.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:52 am
So if they don’t win more and get in the playoffs what excuse is next? The Schedule was to hard??? Get off it. Good teams beat other good teams and play tough Schedules. That should never be an excuse!
May 25th, 2017 at 10:58 am
@Joe … “Could the Bucs be so explosive on offense that the defense is just going to be fried come season’s end, because the offense gets off the field so quickly, too quickly?” Interestingly I think that’s what happened 2 years ago with Carolina when they went 15-1 on the season. Their offense struck fast consistently (their #1 offense put up 500 total points … wow) even though they actually rushed more than they passed (526 vs 501 attempts). Their only loss was to the Falcons who overwhelmed them in TOP (almost 36 mins to 24 mins). Their 6th-ranked defense held up pretty well however, despite giving up over 5,000 yds in the regular season.
Gut feel is that this won’t be a major problem with Bucs this year. Panthers gained almost 2,300 yds rushing that year … with a lot of big plays thrown in there. Still can’t see the Bucs rushing-by-committee approach doing the same thing. Gut feel (again) is that Koetter will strive to control the clock (TOP), and we’ve got the capability to do just that. It’ll be interesting to watch in any event.
May 25th, 2017 at 11:09 am
1 – How can you say a team that improved its offense more than any other in the league; and retained the same defense which was also upgraded; is unlikely to improve lol? Logic?
2 – This years schedule is easier than last year imo
May 25th, 2017 at 11:14 am
The offense and defense will make each other better.
Expect different!
We are about to be shocked Bucs fans!!!!
No longer a need to feel doubt for your Buccaneers when looking at the schedule. They have a decent chance of winning against anyone including Mr. Deflated, BillyCheat and company!
Don’t forget our field goal kicking issue will be resolved come September.
This is the season of the Stick Carriers.
Go Bucs!!!
May 25th, 2017 at 11:16 am
What Lord just said and cam is hardly a gunslinger.😄that’s funny.
May 25th, 2017 at 11:17 am
These offseason storylines are so used up…
May 25th, 2017 at 11:17 am
rayjay1122 Says:
May 25th, 2017 at 10:48 am
I concur with Eric. Every year teams projected to be good end up mediocre and some teams projected to be mediocre over achieve. In the case of teams like the Bears and Jets, it is fairly safe to say they will not be very good.
***********
Did you forget who’s leading the Bears this year?!?! MG’s Bears go 15-1, losing the NFC championship to the Bucs in OT on a 58 yard NICK FOLK fg!
May 25th, 2017 at 11:18 am
All Gas no brakes Ray..
May 25th, 2017 at 11:30 am
I hope the defense is not “Fried up”. =)
May 25th, 2017 at 11:45 am
True forgot that the Bears have Mike “The Goat” Glennon
We’re screwed dude.
May 25th, 2017 at 12:27 pm
the thing that has made us an improved team is our depth….as a deeper team, we can now survive if one of our key players goes down for a game or 2….we are better indeed….GO BUCS!!!!
May 25th, 2017 at 12:36 pm
I think there’s a chance our OL improves dramatically and by the end of the year if things went just right the OL might even become as good a unit as our WRs.
Our core is entering their third year and OL is a position that takes awhile to master…it’s not like RB. So 60% of our line is due to blossom this year as Pamphile…SMith…and Marpet enter their third year as teammates. That part of the line figures to be better based on experience.
Marpet will be able to contribute even more from the Center position and e a major upgrae over Hawley. If Sweezy returns to is Seawhawk form and Benenoch blossoms at RT we could really be happy with our OL.
They have the “potential” to really improve!!
May 25th, 2017 at 12:43 pm
It’s nice that people think they’ve improved a lot. I like the moves, but not ready to do back flips. I have to see it on the field. There’s reason for optimism, but that’s as far as it goes.
May 25th, 2017 at 1:31 pm
Even Stevie Wonder riding in a hot air balloon knows the Bucs are on the up and up. Playoffs or bust, playoffs it is. We’re coming to take it away ha ha.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:07 pm
I remember those Air Coryell teams with Fouts, Jefferson, Joiner and Winslow, but I don’t remember a single defensive players, the Bucs got a few of those that other offenses better know where they are
May 25th, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Not if our defense continues to produce takeaways. We were best in third down situations as well last season without our offense’s help. Our defense is very underrated by the national scribes….and its going to get better with this being the second year and playing with leads late in the game.
May 25th, 2017 at 3:45 pm
ps – Justin Evans will be a stud…..Spence is a stud, as is McCoy, and our LB’s. Imagine if we get Beckwith back for the latter part of the season….and Baker is freeing up McCoy and the other lineman. Not to mention Smith comes back fully healthy from injury and VH3’s confidence level continues to rise.
May 25th, 2017 at 7:08 pm
Sando is overlooking 2 games last year (Rams and Raiders) that Bucs could have won without turnovers and better defense.
First game vs Dolphins is huge for both teams- both have playoff expectations and it should be a great game..