ESPN: Bucs Finish 9-7, Third Place
August 28th, 2013
NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas has spent all kinds of time analyzing all things Bucs, and he’s decided the 2013 Bucs are a good but not great team and will miss the playoffs in the beastly NFC.
Yasinskas just can’t find enough Ws.
Every time I look at the schedule, I keep coming up with one record for the Bucs. I say they’ll go 9-7. I think quarterback Josh Freeman will play just well enough in a contract year that the Bucs will want to keep him around for the long term.
A 9-7 record would put the Bucs in a tie with the New Orleans Saints, according to my predictions. But I think only one of those two teams will get a wild-card berth. I’m saying the Saints will win the tiebreaker and go to the playoffs.
Hey, it’s better than Pat Kirwan calling for a toilet-flush, 6-10 mark. (For those who missed Joe’s prediction, click here.)
August 28th, 2013 at 3:09 pm
Pretty hard to predict at this point considering the lack of participation in preseason as a whole unit. Since we have to base our prediction on what we already know I think 8 – 8 is a safe bet. On paper in a perfect world we should be able to highly compete with the teams in our division. But with the state of flux and slow start so far this preseason you can see why the networks are giddy about Tampa’s chances. Yasinkas is being a little generous in my opinion.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Freeman should not be locked up without a playoff berth. The schedule is easy enough and the team around him would be arguably Super Bowl favourites with Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady as QB. Anything less than playoffs is unacceptable.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:10 pm
*are not giddy
August 28th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
HARD to predict based off what we have seen (of haven’t seen) thus far. 3-1 going into the bye is within reach. Out of the by another 2-1 is very doable as well…so 5-2 at the almost half way mark should not be out of the question.
We’ll see.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:16 pm
Could be worse but hopefully isn’t.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:22 pm
“Every time I look at the schedule, I keep coming up with one record for the Bucs.”
theres one problem when you do that, and that is to assume that the teams that we vs who had a good records last season are going to have good ones this season. those so called strong teams that we vs on our schedule could end being bad teams. thats why predicting our record is pointless. there’s to much parody in the NFL to ever know for sure. its fun to predict records, but hardly reliable. at best, its just a guess.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:33 pm
Im saying 9-10 if good Josh shows up more than bad Josh…maybe 7 again if we start Glennon half way through the season….hard to tell with him though, we’ll have to see how he progresses.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:34 pm
Only 2 less wins than my prediction of 11-5.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
11-5
August 28th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
only 4 more wins than my prediction of 5-11,
lol, just kidding 1987, I have the Bucs at a solid 6 wins
August 28th, 2013 at 3:45 pm
As far as predictions go…he is about right. We could go anywhere from 10-6 to 7-9….
The one thing he hasn’t considered is that we no longer carry the burden of Myron….
August 28th, 2013 at 3:48 pm
I like the 11-5 predictions. If injuries stay reasonable, not a bad take.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
I dont do predictions but I find it highly unlikely that Carolina is a better overall team than us. I think we’ve had a better off season than them plus we swept them last year. I can’t see us finishing any worse than 3rd.
August 28th, 2013 at 3:52 pm
The Bucs have improved through free agency and the draft. No big free agents left for other teams. I’m saying a 3 win improvement from last year. 10-6!
August 28th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Only 3 more wins than my prediction of 6-10.I would rather go 4-12 and get a higher draft pick than go 9-7 and miss the playoffs.
August 28th, 2013 at 4:07 pm
GRIF4FREESUX Says:
August 28th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Only 3 more wins than my prediction of 6-10.I would rather go 4-12 and get a higher draft pick than go 9-7 and miss the playoffs.
—————————
Spoken like a true Madden GM. smh
I can’t, for the life of me, figure out in what fan-dom world that more wins is a bad thing. smh.
August 28th, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Quite possibly the highest win total any media member will predict for the Bucs.
August 28th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
The Panthers will be better, they finished strong last year. The Saints lost what, 4 players this preseason and are running a new defense. The Falcons are beatable so we should at least be able to split with them.
The point is that we have as good a chance as any for the division or the wild card right now.
We’ll play the games and see.
August 28th, 2013 at 4:42 pm
That’s pretty positive coming from Precious Pat….
August 28th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Free gives us the best chance to win this year. Live with it! The problem is I don’t have enough faith in our talent evaluators to find a starting qb unless we have the first or second pick in the draft. That being said, If we cant get into the post season, then the next best situation is to have the worst record in the NFL for that #1 pick.
August 28th, 2013 at 4:45 pm
Bucightoff. What uf the saints go 9 – 7 but miss the olaiffs agian this year. Do they oart ways with Breeze? Better question, if Freeman has the same game as breeze had last year , but the defense faiks like the saints did last year, donyou still let free walk? If you were the gm, would it be okay off or bust fir freeman regardless of the rest if the team?
August 28th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Damn iphone. Not gonna repost, so hopefully you guys can decifer. Point is there is an entire team.
August 28th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Right on Buck Rogers! I totally agree.
August 28th, 2013 at 5:14 pm
Hey may be right
August 28th, 2013 at 5:34 pm
@celly,how much more can I simplify this 4 u.A team with 9 wins and no playoffs with the #18 pick or a team with 4 wins and no playoffs with maybe the #4 overall pick(clowney,bridgewater,manziel)????Now with the common denominator being no playoffs what kind of moron would really care about 5 more dead wins that are going to hurt the team more than help it in the future?
August 28th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Thats my point McBuc. The team around Freeman is a playoff calibre team, no doubt about it. You won’t find many teams in the league that have stars/Pro Bowlers at every level (except QB): OL (Nicks, Joseph, Penn) Backs (VJax, MWill, Dougernaut) DL (McCoy) LB (David) Secondary (Revis, Goldson). If Freeman plays to the level he did in 2010 this is a playoff team. If he plays like the last few years, I’m sorry but he’s been given 4 full years, we know what we have by that point.
August 28th, 2013 at 7:16 pm
9-7 is good for this team with a inconsistent quarterback. I see this prediction as a positive because nationally pundits know this roster is on point but the big “? – man (freeman)” is holding the national but-in with the Bucs.
August 28th, 2013 at 7:18 pm
GRIF4FREESUX….ummm no comment. smh
August 28th, 2013 at 9:58 pm
@BUC1987,Yeah ok buc n junkie.
August 28th, 2013 at 10:50 pm
Everyone the best thing you can do for yourselves is not let this GRIF4FREESUX moron get you riled up. Let him run his mouth with his foolish banter and ignore him. What’s the saying don’t feed the trolls? Everyone of his statements is idiocy in it’s purest form. His only goal is to rile up the threads. People will learn this as he continues to post. Learn it on your own, I just giving you some advice. Look out for this name and ignore it. GRIF4FREESUX
August 28th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
everyone don’t take advice from a cry-baby^^^^^^^^^buc1987,guess he doesn’t like my posts AAawwweee…no sleep 2nite.Guess he thinks he’s the man around here,sorry jerkoff his name is Joe!
August 28th, 2013 at 11:14 pm
@buc1987,ur 1 of these pu$$ies that likes 2 dish it out and start s#it but can’t handle taking it back,now u want to act like it’s ur site and get everyone on ur side hahahaha…what a SISSY!!!!
August 28th, 2013 at 11:28 pm
Congratulations you just lost a follower! If Pat Suckmyass has more faith in this team at 9-7 than you do at 8-8 something is seriously wrong. Way to go out on a limb with one more game won than last year thought u new better. No doubt Tampa Fans deserve blackouts forever by reading their comments. Worst canvass in theNFL!
August 29th, 2013 at 2:04 am
A winning record? I’ll take it! That means we are talking playoffs thru December. Sure- and I hope they have a great record at home! The beer is better when they win!
August 29th, 2013 at 7:44 am
RCH Says:
August 28th, 2013 at 11:28 pm
“Tampa Fans deserve blackouts forever by reading their comments. Worst canvass in theNFL!”
Yeah I said something along those lines about 4-5 days ago. How judging by JBF’s comment section, now I know why the stadium is empty all the time.
We make fun of the Jaguars all the time for having a tiny, nonexistent fanbase, but the fact is that the Jags sell 10,000 more tickets per game than the Bucs do.
August 29th, 2013 at 7:53 am
GRIF4FREESUX Says:
August 28th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
everyone don’t take advice from a cry-baby^^^^^^^^^buc1987,guess he doesn’t like my posts AAawwweee…no sleep 2nite.Guess he thinks he’s the man around here,sorry jerkoff his name is Joe!
GRIF4FREESUX Says:
August 28th, 2013 at 11:14 pm
@buc1987,ur 1 of these pu$$ies that likes 2 dish it out and start s#it but can’t handle taking it back,now u want to act like it’s ur site and get everyone on ur side hahahaha…what a SISSY!!!!
^^^ see what I mean by idiocy in it’s purest form.
I’m sure there are a few people on this site that have already ran into this bafoon. So they know what I’m talking about. Others if they reply back to him will soon learn what I’m talking about.
GRIF4FREESUX…I don’t need anyone on my side. I’m letting people know in advance what a jacknut you are for their own good.
August 29th, 2013 at 7:56 am
GRIF4FREESUX …I don’t need anyone on my side I’m letting people know in advance what a fool you are for their own good.
August 29th, 2013 at 8:01 am
OK, the folks at NFL.com held an online vote allowing fans to chose who they thought would make the 2013 playoffs. Teams from both the AFC and the NFC were involved.
People from all over the world had a chance to vote and the Tampa Bay Bucs were picked as a Wild Card team. The Atlanta Falcons are picked to win the NFC South division title.
The Packers, 49ers, and Redskins are the division winners in the rest of the NFC. The other Wild Card team joining the Bucs was the Seattle Seahawks.
August 29th, 2013 at 9:32 am
RBellBuc Says
“Pretty hard to predict at this point considering the lack of participation in preseason as a whole unit.”
The first comment says it all.
I want everyone to consider something for a moment. Every couple of years a team springs up unexpectedly and goes all the way or close to all the way.
These teams have one thing in common. They catch other teams off guard. By surprise. The Bucs are in a perfect position this year to accomplish this. Why?
A. National media for the most part is predicting a losing season.
B. We have a slew of probowlers starting.
C. A good portion of our starters have been unseen in the preseason, so other teams really don’t know what to expect. Several have never even been seen in the new system.
D. Defensive line is going to be stronger than expected because of Spence. Did you noticd when the Bucs were reviewed in the off season the names mentioned were McCoy, Bowers and Clayborn? The topic of the other DT was avoided.
E. Josh Freeman. The most common theme in camp was his increased accuracy or “lasers” as Joe says. But in preseason WRs have been plagued with drops. This has led to an underestimation of our offense. We all know Jackson and Williams are good. They will start catching the ball.
F. Offensive line. As bad as it has been, no one has seen it with all the starters in and for Joseph he has only had limited play. While I foresee a slight adjustment period, the oline will eventually gel. Its the backups that have made it look bad and teams will be surprised by the real thing.
Consider those points and hwve hope.
August 29th, 2013 at 9:34 am
And of course lets not forget Revis.