No Less Than Nine Wins?
June 7th, 2017
Lauded.
Joe can understand why winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter is getting irritated.
Whenever Koetter goes online or flips on a radio, all he hears is folks saying the Bucs are playoff bound. Shoot, the Bucs are still in underwear football. Koetter doesn’t want this chatter to get to his players’ heads, Joe gets that.
Now, however, Koetter might have to turn to his fellow NFL colleagues. It seems various suits in the NFL are talking up the Bucs like local fans are.
Mike Sando of BSPN spoke with a variety of NFL executives to discuss every team. And it seems most suits are in love with the job Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht has done this offseason, granting an “A-” for the Bucs’ offseason work.
“That offense is going to be really hard to play against,” an exec said. “DeSean has at least a year left, and then you add Howard.”
Jackson’s reputation as an occasionally disruptive teammate appears increasingly outdated. How will he respond if quarterback Jameis Winston continues to force the ball to Mike Evans? There are worse problems to have.
“I kind of like their offseason, too,” a different exec said. “They got the quarterback some legit weapons.”
When the Buccaneers won nine games last season, they seemed to reach their ceiling. The offensive talent upgrades made one evaluator suggest that nine victories might be a more realistic floor for Tampa Bay in 2017.
Joe and fabled JoeBucsFan.com columnist eye-RAH! Kaufman, Tampa Bay’s lone Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, the Custodian of Canton, the King of New Port Richey, go round and round about this.
eye-RAH! is of the mind that the Bucs defense didn’t get the job done in December. Joe believes it was the offense. In two road games against the Cowboys and the Saints, both one-score games, the offense scored a grand total of three points in the fourth quarter. Basically, outside of Mike Evans, Jameis was throwing to street rabble.
And what side of the line of scrimmage did Licht beef up big time through free agency and the draft? Not defenders. It was receivers/tight ends.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:03 am
Week 11 bye week and 3 of the last 4 at home. If we hit our stride at the right time anything can happen. 10-6 and a wild card is what I’m going with.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:11 am
In general I would blame the offense because of how well the D played over the last 8 weeks even including those games; vs the offense which was not putting up many points.
The D was not great against the Saints or Dallas; but those teams were both top 5 scoring offenses… It would have been unrealistic to expect our defense to hold them to 17 or less; when they averaged 29 and 26 PPG over the year. In both games our offense needed to score 28+ to be in it / win it but couldn’t get it done
June 7th, 2017 at 11:18 am
@Joe
Tell Ira to look at what rank of what the offense played against vs what rank of what the defense played against and it will become clear which side needed to step up more!!!!!!!
Maybe Ira needed to read the “Realist Repost’!!!!!!!!!!
The Buc Realist Says:
May 24th, 2016 at 8:32 am
I hope that next years draft is deep with WR and TE, because that will be the Bucs biggest needs that will be appearent into the offseason!!!! All the TE’s seem to be good at one specific thing, I would like (and the front office and team) is a little more diverse in the position especially!!! And more speed at WR!!!!!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 11:20 am
These are not the old Bucs anymore.
I expect improvement on all 3 teams (o,d,s).
Our game plan will change dramatically on both sides of the ball.
More wrinkles = more WINS
13-3
1st round bye
Loose to Mr. Deflated on week 5 but beat them at Minnesota when it really counts!!!!
Koetter will be holding the Lombardi next to the Glazers in the Super Bowl!!!
Go Bucs!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 11:21 am
We will own the NFC South!!!!! By the time we play them we will be unstoppable!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 11:23 am
We will loose to the Giants, Patriots and Cardinals then never loose again!!!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 11:30 am
I see us beating the Giants. It’s the Packers we need to deal with. And we will split with the dirty birds, but I expect to roll on the Aints and Panthers.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:32 am
With all the exclamation points, I’m starting to think that Realist and RayJameis are the same person.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:38 am
No less than PLAYOFFS.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:41 am
RayJameisStadium… you mean play loose and win or lose outright?
June 7th, 2017 at 11:46 am
@Joe … “Koetter doesn’t want this chatter to get to his players’ heads, Joe gets that.” Maybe there’s a reason why Dirk Koetter is still coaching but none of those talking heads are. Many fans will remember the Sept 1, 2007 first game of the season between Michigan & Appalachian State in Ann Arbor (Michigan was ranked #5 & favored to win the Big Ten). Everyone expected a blowout, but … someone forgot to tell Appalachian State. They won 34-32 on a last play blocked FG. Great game, and still considered one of the greatest upsets in college football. Many of these talking heads are putting us on a ‘Michigan’ pedestal but I’m pretty sure Dirk would rather have the Bucs thinking more like ‘Appalachian State’. He doesn’t want them to take anything for granted IMO.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:47 am
12-4……GO BUCS!!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 11:49 am
I don’t believe in “Paper” Champions. But I will make a realistic prediction, no California Dreaming or wishful thinking here. But I honesty believe that we will finish the season at 7-9. I think we will we will go 2-4 in the NFC South and 5-5 against the outside teams. I don’t base my prediction on our roster or our improvements or upgrades alone. I base my predictions on the opposition roster, strengths, upgrades also. I know that we have upgraded our offense, but all 3 of our rivals in the NFC South has an explosive offense, capable of scoring 500 points. I don’t believe our defense can stop these teams, I don’t believe we’re that good on defense. I don’t believe our offensive line will give our QB time to go through his reads and utilize our weapons. And I still believe that Jameis is the 4th best QB in the NFC South. And I believe that we are the 4th best team in the NFC South. This is not hating, nor is this negative thinking, this is my opinion as I see it. And only time will tell, if i’m wrong, then i’m wrong. But I will analyze it as I see it, and this is the way I see it.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:50 am
Come on guys, everyone needs to loosen up😂
June 7th, 2017 at 11:52 am
@lakelandbuc
that is a “bold” prediction!!!! let me play devils advocate!!! What do you like about this team??????
Go Bucs!!!!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 11:59 am
10-6 or 11-5.
June 7th, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Word on the street is we will not lose a game after the Cardinals game!!!!!!!
We have acquire the right TEs and WR’s to go all the way to the Super Bowl!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!
June 7th, 2017 at 12:54 pm
Joe
Agree with you totally. While I do have some questions about our D it was our O that let us down during the playoff drive. That’s why all these additions are so exciting.
And I take your point Joe about the lack of point production in the 4th…but I think it’s even worse…we had far too many 3 and outs and also let our D get gassed in the 4th in addition to giving opposing offenses just too much opportunity.
June 7th, 2017 at 1:33 pm
@Lakeland
Objectively; most think we improved the most out of any NFC South team:
The Falcons are more likely to regress than improve by any margin – they lost their offensive coordinator and are coming off one of the biggest choke jobs in SB history; and didn’t really upgrade much outside of maybe signing Poe; who has been much less effective of a player than Baker the last 2 seasons. Teams will have spent all offseason figuring out what they can do better to stop the style of offense they ran last year. I think their defense will be better compared to early last year but their offense is likely to regress. They improved by 10 PPG between 2015-2016 which is insane. Matt Ryan’s offenses there averaged 22-23 PPG the 3 years prior to last year’s average of 33 PPG. We’re 3-1 the last 2 years against them.
The Saints lost Brandin Cooks & Max Unger and most their upgrades came via the draft. I’m sure Lattimore will probably be solid but rookie CBs typically don’t come in and ball out immediately – even high 1st rounder’s. They added RBs but RB wasn’t a problem with Ingram and Peterson may be done. If he’s not then cool they have a great run game but they didn’t have a bad run game last year. In general I don’t see anything they did to really immediately fix their problems on defense and I think losing Cooks is more impactful than adding Peterson. They don’t a legit deep threat over the top now. We’re 2-2 the last 2 years against them.
The Panthers added instant playmakers via the draft and are the only team I think will actually realistically improve in the division. But they didn’t make nearly as many impactful moves as the Bucs. Swapping a young Koney Ealy for a 37 year old Julius Peppers is basically all the FA noise they made. 2-2 the last 2 years against them.
So objectively according to most everyone we improved the most in the division and it isn’t even close. That doesn’t even factor in that we can expect the most improvement at QB comparatively as Winston enters year 3 and everyone else in the division is established and if anything I could see either or both Matt Ryan / Drew Brees regressing. Brees is 38 and could fall off a cliff any day now. Cam Newton has had one great season and the rest of his career is more comparable to last year than his best year.
This is a division we are 7-5 in the last 2 years; yet it would be a realistic prediction to say we’re going 2-4 this year? That doesn’t add up with anything. Could it happen? Sure. But objectively I don’t understand it.
June 7th, 2017 at 3:53 pm
9 wins would be an abject failure and complete disappointment … 10 or more wins or bust for me!
June 7th, 2017 at 4:07 pm
“Street Rabble”?
But weren’t you arguing that we did not need to draft a tight end because we have the NFL leader in touchdowns for tight ends?
Doesn’t sound like street rabble to me.
June 7th, 2017 at 5:15 pm
If Desean Jackson does not break an 80 yarder(at least 60) to the house on Thursday Night in Ray Jay he’s dead to me.
June 7th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
Cautiously optimistic for me guys.
I know what we have, and our potential is the best that it’s been in a LONG time, but WAY too early to be making any predictions………even though I know how fun it is for some to say I told you so.
Please my beloved Bucs……..stay healthy, smart, hungry and humble.
No arrests for guns, smacking your girl, taking the wrong supplements…….and please be nice when Joe asks you a question.
Go Bucs!
June 7th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
I demand an 80 yarder on Thurs Night. And if Winston misses it put in the Irishman.
June 7th, 2017 at 5:19 pm
We need to erect a statue in Simms Park for our King. I need some design ideas.
June 7th, 2017 at 5:20 pm
Did I spell Sims right? Nobody in Old Port Richey knows how its actually spelt.
June 7th, 2017 at 7:58 pm
I believe we beat the Patriots. Short week for both teams and the Pats are on the road. We will be rolling by then.
June 7th, 2017 at 11:01 pm
“what side of the line of scrimmage did Licht beef up big time through free agency and the draft? Not defenders. It was receivers/tight ends.”
Wait -what?? Did Joe forget how to count?
Not counting internal free agents re-signed which was a wash anyway regarding O vs D –
We signed/drafted 4 offensive players (Djax, Howard, Godwin, McNichols)
We signed/drafted 5 defensive players (Baker, Wilcox, J. Evans, Beckwith, Stevie T.)
June 7th, 2017 at 11:28 pm
Splurged on DeSean Jackson in free agency (offense), first round pick O.J. Howard (offense), third round pick Chris Godwin (offense).
Three of the top four acquisitions were targets for Jameis in the passing game.
#WeaponsForWinston