Ah, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When your offfense is a ship wreck (yes, pirate pun intended) and your quarterback position is to passing the football what Amy Schumer is to telling G Rated jokes, you’re not going to win very much. Hence the broad sweeping reforms. I could have told you years ago that Josh Freeman was hot garbage- why didn’t you listen to me? The new Josh is an upgrade, but he’s certainly not the answer.
Overpaid as he is, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Greg Schiano is a bit of a nutbar, so it works that now you have a completely different type of personal in the wheelhouse of this vessel. Now we move from drama to dullsville. The most boring soundbite in human history brings his Tampa cover-2 actually to Tampa. The dryness might be a good thing for the Bucs. He has talent to work with; but 4-12 is still 4-12.
Some video analysis of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
Offense:
New rookie GM Jason Licht got McCown a couple big targets in Mike Evans and Austin Sefarian-Jenkins for McCown to throw to. So there’s that. Vincent Jackson is a stud. Doug Martin is studlier. So there’s talent at the skill positions.The line is very meh though. Also Tampa were dead last in passing last year. And in today’s NFL, passing offense might just be the most important part of your team- for everybody.
Defense:
I love the Michael Johnson addition, he’s a difference maker. Under Lovie, you’ll know they’ll at least be decent. The Bucs were 3rd in the NFL in takeaways last year, and that’s a Smith hallmark, so expect that to continue. The only problem is that truth overshadowed the talent deficiencies in the unit. And then you have Revis island relocating from the Gulf of Mexico to nearby Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. It’s going to be hard to overcome.
I think Dashawn Goldson said it best:
And here’s a video featuring Jay Glazer, Brian Urlacher Donovan McNabb and more breaking down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers approaching season:
Bottom Line:
Like the most shopworn of all platitudes says, “it all starts with the quarterback.” If McCownis serviceable, they should be more competitive. The D will still be bad. They made some improvements that fit Lovie’s system. However, no Revis is till no Revis. And although it’s an overhaul, just how much of a true talent upgrade is there really? We’ll go with 5-11 or 6-10.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)