Why Bucs Fans Are Bummed
January 3rd, 2018
It is not just the record that has Bucs fans depressed.
Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells will live in football lore for one sentence that rings true for the ages and cuts right to the bone:
You are what your record says you are.
And with the Bucs finishing 5-11, the Bucs are a bad, bad football team. Not quite Cleveland bad, but the playoffs now seem distant. The giddiness and high hopes of winning the offseason and watching “Hard Knocks” quickly faded. Sort of like seeing the goal line with the hot chick teasing you at the bar with her intoxicating perfume, only for the cold slap of reality to whack you across the grill figuring out she just wanted to bum a free drink.
As you can see by the weekly Dirk Koetter confidence poll, the head coach of the Bucs has taken a beating, though it’s significantly less today. Yeah, Joe thinks it is misguided and maybe a bit harsh, but Joe understands the reason for the ire of Bucs fans.
Occasionally, Joe finds good, smart, salient points from readers’ comments and Twitter postings and when Joe does see them, Joe likes to give credit where credit is due.
A commenter who goes by the handle of “81bucboi” had a well-thought out comment as to why Bucs fans are angry. He cites several teams who had records similar to the Bucs that had either a legitimate reason for collapsing.
Among the points “81bucboi” made:
* The Texans lost their scintillating star quarterback Deshaun Watson, lost superstar defensive lineman J.J. Watt, and still won four games. Only briefly did the Bucs lose America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston (Bucs were 2-1 without him), and Gerald McCoy.
* The Dolphins lost their starting quarterback in training camp. Still finished with four wins, one shy of the Bucs.
* The Jets sure looked like they were tanking for a No. 1 draft pick before the season with a firesale and signed one of the greatest all-time losers of a quarterback in NFL history, Stuart McClown. They also effectively tossed malcontent/cancer Muhammad Wilkerson to the streets late in the season. Devoid of great offensive talent and dealing with headcases in the locker room, the Jets won as many games as the offensively talent-laden Bucs.
* The 49ers had virtually zero talent — Bucs castoff Louis Murphy found a home there — and no quarterback to speak of until the final month of the season and still found a way to win six games.
These are all valid points and speaks to why some Bucs fans lost faith in Koetter. Joe understands why Koetter said he didn’t foresee any changes to the coaching staff — the NFL coaching carousel is a fluid thing — but that didn’t boost the morale of these depressed Bucs fans.
Like any fanbase, Bucs followers, after a terrible season, all but demand some change as they rightfully do not believe folks are being held accountable for such a miserable 16-game performance — if the status quo remains. Can anyone with a straight face and a sober mind suggest the Bucs defense as a whole was coached up? That the defensive ends had their talents maxed out? That cornerbacks not named Brent Grimes were developed?
More importantly, if the same staff stays together that was responsible for a 5-11 season; Bucs fans won’t trust or believe that the team will improve — until it actually does.
And who do these same fans blame? The same guy who stands in front of a microphone almost daily during the season and the guy who prowls the sideline on gamedays. Right or wrong, fans will take it out on the head coach, as we see by Koetter’s confidence poll numbers.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:13 pm
Wow!! THANK YOU Joe for pointing out the way us fans who LOVE this team and spend our hard earned dollars on it actually feel!! Man it feels reall good to know that SOMEONE out there cares. HEAR that GLAZERS????? But we know Moe Larry and Curly don’t really give a flying f…ck
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:13 pm
Funny that the 49ers, a team much less talented on both sides of the ball than the Bucs, finished the season 5-0 after starting new QB Garafollo when the Bucs, with America’s QB starting were 3-10. What does that tell you?
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:18 pm
I mean its his fault Joe. He’s the one calling these long developing plays, he’s the one calling this predictable offense but most importantly he is the one that continues to employ these bum coaches such as , hoke, Kaczor, Bajakian and hayes. those 4 should’ve been given pink slips on the way home to 1 buc place
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:21 pm
Joe I don’t just blame Dirk, I blame the entire coaching staff, the GM and the Glazers. In my opinion they are ALL inept. I have as much confidence in Dirk as I have in the Glazer morons, as I have in Jason Licht………NONE!
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:22 pm
Monken should not only be allowed to call plays he should be allowed to call HIS plays. I am USM alumni I have seen his offense 1st hand and it blows Koetters predictability offense away!! I just pray The Glazers force him to make changes or this team is doomed until 2019 and I will wait till then to start paying to go see games or even to buy anymore merchandise. until these owners prove that they care about winning just as much as we do I’m done spending anther dollar on this franchise or even watch them o n TV.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:23 pm
The problem is in our conception of “talent”. Everybody comes into the NFL with talent and the margin is not really that great. Now use draft in an attempt to balance things out and it’s why they say on “Any Given Sunday”.
All of these comparisons are false because they are based on a horribly small sample size…this season. However the ones that sting are the long term comparisons to teams like the Browns. At least we do have a Super Bowl!
Seven losses by a score of less…four by just a FG!!! We were only embarrassed a few times as in getting blown out by the teams in our Division.
No instead we lost to the defending Champion Patriots because we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We are good at that.
We’re not that far away….we NEED help NOW in both lines…OL and DL.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:23 pm
I have been a life time bucs fan been watching since 1976. My biggest disipointment is they are not talking about any defensive changes. I am willing to give Koetter another year simply because of all the suppose top knoch assistant out there non had or have a proven winning record as a HC for 1. 2. Love Gruden but or you will to give him so much power over your organization Just see what happened with Parcells. J Johnson and M Holgran we know what Koetter can do so far so I think this was a safe move for at least 1 more year but not make any kind of changing on the defense is mine boggling to me
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:28 pm
Fire Mike Smith
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:37 pm
People need to chill about about “no defensive changes”. Just because Koetter said that at the last press conference doesn’t mean its true. Chill out.
Staff changes are coming. To believe otherwise is idiotic.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:38 pm
Some good points St. Pete, kind of like what Gruden said a few weeks back. There’s probably 9 or 10 plays over the course of the season that had they gone differently, we might have 9 or even 10 wins. Certainly there’s at least 4 games that we beat ourselves. But that’s the game of football, and good teams find ways to make those plays happen.
BTW I wanna give a big shout out to StAugBuc, who rallied ahead in the last 2 weeks of the pickem league and ended up winning for the 2nd year in a row.
Congrats St. Aug!
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:39 pm
THANKS FOR THE LOVE JOE!!!!!!!!…..GO BUCS!!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:42 pm
Well one point to counter all those made by 81bucboi is that the Bucs unlike the Texans, Jets and Dolphins played in a division with 3 playoff teams and did not have the fortune of playing the Cardinals without Palmer, and the Colts twice, and the each other twice (Jets/Dolphins) in fact when the Bucs did get to play the Dolphins and Jets they won even without Jameis. In addition Jameis was hurt most of the season as just cause he played it does not mean he was close to being himself. Also we lost our only pass rusher in game 1 so that should count for something as yes Watt is on a whole different planet than Spence BUT they did still have a # 1 overall pick playing DE the entire season. So while I am not into making excuses comparing the two and getting angry does not make sense cause in many cases it is apples to oranges. Put the Jets, Houston or Dolphins in our division and they probably are not even close to 4 wins.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:47 pm
49ers have great online 3 first round pick d lines man great rb where the Bucs have none of that playing with mostly backups
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:48 pm
I still think all the preseason hype, including the supposed “non-distraction” Hard Knocks, went to their heads. They believed their own hype and maybe didn’t push hard enough in TC. Koetter should have made more of an effort to humble these guys. I think the intensity just wasn’t there early in the year.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:51 pm
Joe, you’re incredible! You ask ‘Why are Bucs’ fans bummed out” and we get stuff like ‘Look at how badly those other teams did’. Or even funnier “Can anyone, with a straight face and a sober mind, suggest that the defense as a whole was coached up? That the defensive ends had their talents maxed out? That cornerbacks not named Brent Grimes were developed?”
NEVER ONCE DID YOU MENTION THE NAME ‘JASON LICHT’ … THE ARCHITECT OF THIS TRAIN WRECK. Wow, not even once. Instead, the defensive coaches get the same treatment as Martin (say it with me … yet again … ‘It’s NOT the OLine, it’s Martin’).
Bucs used TEN different DEs this year … FIVE of them got sacks (a grand TOTAL of 8.5 sacks). Wow. McCoy (6) & McDonald (5) had 11 sacks between them … AS MANY AS THE REST OF THE TEAM and more than all TEN DEs combined. Now is that coaching Joe, or is that lack of talent? How do you ‘coach up’ Fatty Baker? (Hint, you don’t, you send him packing). Or how do you make Will Gholston faster? Or make Robert Ayers younger? Or keep a small DE like Spence healthier? Or turn unknowns like O’Connor, Tapp, Ward, Lambert, Clarke & Trattou into players like Calais Campbell or JJ Watt?
Bottom line is that it MIGHT be the coaches, BUT … with this dearth of talent provided by (insert name __________) how would you know? Provide some REAL talent to the DLine and to the Secondary THEN if they still don’t perform, blame the coaches. Until then, thank them for keeping us in most games with a bunch of mediocre talent and defensive unknowns.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:52 pm
Fans are bummed and team sucks because are not committed to excellence nor do they care about product on field… thier actions prove thier words are meaningless. No hope for future with piss poor ownership. Accept reality folks
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:16 pm
This team will never function adequately until the Glazer Brozos remove themselves from the decision making process. This offense scored less with more weapons. That’s completely inexcusable, and completely within the purview of the HC and playcaller. Hire Brooks, give him whatever he needs to do the job and get out of the way.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:17 pm
I agree with this. I can understand giving Koetter a 3rd year as head coach but I do not agree with giving Jason Licht a *FIFTH* year. It should not take 5 years to build a playoff team.
The Buccaneers during the Jason Licht era have a *WORSE* winning percentage than they did under the Mark Dominick era.
Say what you will about Mark Dominick’s drafting, the one thing Mark Dominick did right is setup this team to be in a very good cap situation for years to come. The way he structured contracts helped set the table for Jason Licht to be successful with free agency.
I am not convinced the team is headed in the right direction especially when not one person in a leadership position is being held accountable for this failure of a season.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:17 pm
Joe,
You do not think the negative feedback on Koetter is harsh. You sold Koetter and beat Lovie down in the process. Jenna Laine, Tony Romo, Steve Smith, Deshawn Jackson, and Skip Bayless have exposed Koetter’s offense. We have all witnessed him do the same things over and over again with the same results.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:19 pm
Question for bucs fans. Would you had been happy with the bucs giving Gruden 10 mil. a year and complete control of all football operations
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:24 pm
I will only be happy with winning. Not my money. Not my concern.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Nice shout out!
IMO it’s hard to have much faith until we see results at this point. I’m sure I’ll be optimistic next year because I’m insane but I’m not going to be all-in on this staff the way I was going into this last season.
Koetter did a fine job with the offense imo in 2015/2016 relative to the talent he had; but was terrible in 2017.
Mike Smith hasn’t been any worse than any other D-coordinator we’ve had in this era of sh1t defenses that McCoy has lead; and still had the longest stretch of success of any of d coordinator in 2016. Somehow he had the team playing decent down the stretch in 2017 even; relative to the talent; but the defensive game plans early in the year were just complete sh1t regardless of injuries. I still would give him more of an excuse/pass than Koetter.
Biggest blunder’s coaching wise was the offensive game plans and play calling – especially in the red zone – by far. That’s all on Koetter. If you can move the ball but can’t score points it means you suck at calling plays in the red zone. We all saw this throughout the year.
Jameis throwing hot on a drive? Well obviously we will run it 3 times in the red zone for 7 yards and a field goal. Run game is going strong on a drive? Well obviously we will run low % pass plays to Djax in the red zone; and end up in like 3rd and goal from the 15 after a penalty where Winston / most any QB is pretty f*cked in terms of a high % scoring play.
Not to mention sticking with Doug f*cking Martin. I don’t give a f&ck if Doug Martin is the best pass pro RB in the entire freaking league; he sucks a4ss and did nothing to help this team. I didn’t see any noticeable dropoff in pass pro with Barber in – but we all saw a guy who picked up an extra 2-3 yards than Martin would on almost every single run – especially in the red zone.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:26 pm
I blame the owners then the media then the dumb ass owners again for listening to the media.
If the owners want to change their fortunes they should hire 5-6 jbf posters. Lol. We’ll turn this dumpster fire around in no time.
Luv- GM
Realist – HC
Tmax – DC/Dline Coach
DB55 – OC
87 – QB coach
The smart joe as Spc Teams coach
Unbelievable-cheerleaders coach (lmao)
I’m missing at least 2-3 good posters here.
Spbf- media relations/coordinator
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:27 pm
LC needs a job too. You wanna coach the oline? I got you.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:27 pm
10 years of no playoffs?
Just a WAG.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:29 pm
Wow! 813 getting props! Good job 813!
I mostly agree with 813. On offense this team had better than ‘5 win’ talent. IMO better play-calling alone would’ve won us 3 more games. Good coaches find ways to get the ball to their most talented players in scenarios that play to the player’s strengths. Good coaches also make adjustments when games aren’t going as they should.
The defense never came around. And while they certainly lacked talent, there was no development of fringe players.
The fact is that in this case tmax is right. Ownership is the common denominator here. Where are our owners in this mess?………crickets!
How many years and counting tmax?
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:29 pm
I want to see Chubb and Michel in the Bucs backfield together!!!
Ok, back to reality, they need a DE, CB and a RB in the first couple rounds.
I’ve already seen a few mock drafts having them take DE from NC St Bradley Chubb rd 1 and then RB From GA Sony Michel in rd 2.
I’d be pretty damn happy with that.
Chubb is a beast at DE against the run and pass.
I’d love for them to get Nick Chubb at RB as well, but either GA RB would be great
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:31 pm
DB55- No coaching job for the Fanman?! I’m hurt! LOL!
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Joe you have to remember… The same coaching staff they is responsible for the 5-11 record is the same staff responsible for the 9-7 record.only difference in year one to year 2 is we have more weapons on offense.i don’t know what happened to the defense but maybe year 3 they will have an idea of what they did wrong this year and how to use the weapons jameis has on offense now.not to mention if we draft a certain RB from Penn State.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:36 pm
Koetter did a sub-par job coaching the team this season. He’s trying to wear too many hats. Predictable offense is such an understatement. So many of us have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years with their continued failed experiments and I’m sick of throwing good money after bad. I’m not doing it anymore. If Chucky was hired I would have stayed, but Koetter doesn’t learn from his mistakes. Even Sunday throwing Martin and Sims in the game when Barber and Quizz get it done. He’s a fool and Jameis saved his butt on Sunday. Maybe I’m just over the NFL, Goodell and the kneeling. They also make us pay full price for preseason games. Well, no more. I hope it gets better but I’m not spending another dime on expectations and hope. The Lightning are a much better investment than the Bucs. Too many free agent blunders and coaching debacles and I really don’t see it getting better soon. When Chucky was there, we always had a chance to win. With Koetter, we always have a chance to lose, because of his incompetence as a head coach. They should have paid Gruden big money to come back. I know a lot of season ticket holders who feel the same way. How many chances do we have to give them? I’ll watch on TV but that’s it and it’s a maybe at best. Bucem
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:36 pm
Lmao. Like I said missing at least 2-3 good posters.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:37 pm
@DB55 I CAN BE VP in the front office.lol.and TBBF halftime event organizer
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:37 pm
lol let’s do it
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:38 pm
NDOG SAYS:Put the Jets, Houston or Dolphins in our division and they probably are not even close to 4 wins.
LOL…..we don’t even have 4 wins in our division…..the jets have 2 teams from their division in the playoffs as well as the Texans….their division aint horrible….
people were screaming distraction this and injuries that…..so I took a few teams that also went thru distractions and injuries that were less talented then the bucs to show/prove that’s all BS…..
bottom line, my point was that there no way in h3ll we should have similar records to the jets phins and Texans colts and every team at some point in the season faced distractions…injuries…adversity….
***************************************************************
now, im surprised no one is talking about the play that won the game…..not the pass or the catch but the call…..and more importantly who made the call….IT WASNT DIRK!!!!!!….Winston went against dirk and played to win the game instead of playing for the tie…..
if Winston isn’t confident in a play call, that speaks volumes to his confidence in the man calling the plays!!!!!…..that last play displayed dirks lack of aggressiveness and displays Winston’s passion for winning….Winston not trusting dirk in that situation is a huge red flag!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:40 pm
LOL DB.
As long as I get to to take a “hands-on” approach to my “coaching”, I am 100% totally fine with that position!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:43 pm
@unbelievable- You’re going to need an assistant! I am submitting my application for “Application Assistant (of oil!)”!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:44 pm
Unb
If you need help I’m there for you.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:47 pm
@DB55
I don’t get no love?…lol….let me handle the DB’s…..GO BUCS!!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:49 pm
813
You write your own ticket now that you jbf famous. You jbf rich homie, how much was your check for? DBs it is.
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:54 pm
BUCFANMAN
THANKS!!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:58 pm
Joe,
you should have a weekly article from a local scribe, football scout, or former NFL personnel man who can reflect on what they believe what went wrong with the 2017 season.
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:04 pm
DB55
LOL…..GO BUCS!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:07 pm
I can tell you what went wrong with 2017’ season in one word.
Everything.
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:10 pm
Alright, I’ll being you guys on as my support staff.
I suppose my hands will be pretty full…
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:11 pm
*bring,
damn iphone!
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:28 pm
Let’s see who Joe will write about in his piece next year about what went wrong in 2018
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:31 pm
Noting that nearly all comments focus only on this year, but the problems are actually long term. This year is not the exception but the norm: Ten years without making the play-offs. Everyone knows this, but who will speak to it?
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:36 pm
After years of truly being serious about my Bucs, I have for the last 4 or 5 yrs not taken them so seriously. This gives your Sunday viewing less stress because you KNOW..they will find a way to lose. By the end of the 1st qtr, I’m usually Numb from…..(fill in the spaces) I see no change for next year either. Maybe 6-8 or possibly 8-8. This team MIGHT…get there in 3 or 4 years.
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:51 pm
The confidence poll in Dirk doesn’t mean much now that he’s back – I mean you can be all emo like Dirk and walk around with your head down depressing everyone like he did to Jameis after the Panthers game – or you just accept it and try to find some hope.
The hope is the Bucs have a true franchise QB, and with that anything is possible. If Winston just ignores what Dirk says, like on the last play of the Saints game when he ignored Dirk’s call to play for the FG and instead put the game away with a TD, and Winston just plays to win instead of playing to kick FGs like Dirk demands, then the Bucs could have a huge turnaround very quickly.
Also the defense literally couldn’t be any worse. They were 32nd in the league in more than just yards, they were also 32nd in points per drive again – meaning everytime the other team had the ball they scored at the highest rate in the league. The Bucs have NEVER had the 32nd worst defense in their history, ever. They can’t get worse and have to improve… right?!?
Finally there is a tiny amount of hope in Dirk in that in the final few games of the season for the first time as head coach, which includes last year, he finally started calling games in a much less predictable manner. The game against the Falcons was the first time I had seen that since he has taken over as HC. As the OC he did a good job of mixing things up, but as HC he’s been ultra conservative nearly all the time and ultra predictable. Yes, you can rack up yards AND be ultra conservative since the Bucs would often be down huge before old “up the gut for no gain on 1st down” Dirk would do anything different. I really believe that in the MNF game Dirk knew he was going to get embarrassed in front of not only a national TV audience, but more importantly in front of Gruden who everyone had taking his job, so finally Dirk seemed to gameplan for once and actually put thought into what he was doing. If Dirk can find the inner OC in him and coach like that all year, and Winston ignores Dirk playing for FGs and goes for TDs, the offense can not only put up huge yards, but they might score points as well.
January 3rd, 2018 at 5:03 pm
Bucs fans won’t trust or believe that the team will improve — until it actually does.
That is my problem, I do trust and believe, I buy in to the hype each year. I see the draft picks and FA signings as hopefully the missing pieces that propel this team to the playoffs. As that hope builds into a crescendo it is usually on the down hill run by late October – early November as the team is out of the playoffs and those signings have proven disastrous. BUt I will always love and support this team no matter what. I am a Bucs fan for life, this is a Bucs life. Go BUCS!! FIRE THOSE CANNONS!!!!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 5:06 pm
Was last year the abnormality or was this year?
January 3rd, 2018 at 5:17 pm
LOL @ joe’s ….I thought nate dub was witty but we need that humor especially in this case
makes your site what it is even through this crap show
January 3rd, 2018 at 5:20 pm
I am dying for Koetter to not be calling the plays next year. With his thinking that we have a great offensive line to where he calls the most blatant run plays that are constantly stuffed with our 3.7 yard run average, 90.6 yard per game, and season long 36 yards. I can see these runs coming every time and I’m not in the NFL or a NFL DC. MAKES MY EYES START TO BOIL OUT MAGMA EVERY TIME HE RUNS THESE PLAYS!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 6:03 pm
@Bonzai … “Was last year the abnormality or was this year?” Great question Bonzai. Got me thinking, why were we so giddy after a 9-7 season? I mean, barely 1 notch above break-even. Then I looked back at our seasons. Bucs have been 9-7 FIVE times over the years. We’ve been 10-6 FOUR times. We’ve been 11-5 TWICE. We’ve been 12-4 ONCE … in 2002, our SB year.
In 42 years, we’ve been better than average (8-8) a total of 12 times … 2 of those under John McKay, 4 times under Tony Dungy, 4 times under Jon Gruden, once under Raheem Morris and once under Dirk Koetter. No wonder we were excited about a 9-7 record last year. Kinda makes the Dungy – Gruden years look pretty good, doesn’t it.
January 3rd, 2018 at 6:54 pm
Next year we will be fine.
I doubt that schedule would be as tough as this year. How many good defense we went against?
January 3rd, 2018 at 7:05 pm
In my opinion we are going into Post season 1-0. Several teams end the season on a loss but hey not us! My big thing is like the earlier post. They read into the hype and didnt expect to have to try to hard. I think with a couple holes plugged and having another year it will workl out well. Next year should be better. With all the other coaching changes I think keeping Koetter and making those changes is a better route. We werent far from 9-11 wins with playing some great teams.
January 3rd, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Rumor in Oakland that Basaccia will reunite with Gruden. Good thing we didn’t get that loser for our Special Team coach.
But we would consider Talib? Wow… through the looking glass.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:39 pm
The screw ups were egregious. Heads needs to roll. No way am I renewing my club tix. Why? I’d rather get lower level full season Bolts tix instead of a half season. Sorry but the Glazers are garbage owners. They are getting killed in England and here too.
No more money for them.
January 4th, 2018 at 7:39 am
Excellent take.
January 4th, 2018 at 8:52 pm
The defense just was not as good as last year. It goes to show you how just a couple of bad player personnel decisions, combined with a few key injuries can cause a monumental collapse. Akeem Spence for Chris Baker and not re-signing Alterraun Verner were both costly moves. Noah Spence’s shoulder injury and Jaquies Smith season ending injuries devastated the pass rush. This year the Bucs defense was 25th in giving up points per game (23.9). Last year 13th for points per game (23.1). Although not much difference on points given up (+0.8) from last year to this year. On offense, there just is not much change with the players and besides the early season kicking problems, there just is not much to explain. This year the Bucs where 14th in points per game (20.9). Last year 14th (22.1). Difference (-02.2). Football Outsiders ranked the Buccaneers offense 11th overall this year compared to 19th last year. Pass ranking 9th, rush ranking 25th. DVOA performance for 2017 is 7th overall. 2016 pass ranking 12th, rush ranking 30th. DVOA performance for 2016 is 8th overall. This year the offense ranked 9th in yards per game (363.5). Last year the offense ranked 18th in yards per game (346.4). Last year, Winston passed 474 times for 3,288 yards, 19 TD’s, 7 fumbles lost, 11 INT. In 2016, Winston passed 603 times for 3,824 yards, 28 TD’s, 5 fumbles lost, 16 INT. Winston was ranked 15th overall in 2016 with a QBR of 64.7 (13th). In 2017 he was ranked 11th overall with a QBR 49.2 (20th). I believe the Buccaneers have the right “core” of great players and just need an influx of new players through FA and the draft to change those close losses into wins. Combined with an easier schedule next year should result in a winning season and a play-off berth.