Gruden......"Thank you to the Outback Bowl for letting me back into the stadium"

[Feel Real Good]

Potential is fine, just don't try to sell it to me as if it's already achieved accomplishment. I'll ignore your petty dig with the five year hyperbole.

There's nothing petty about 11 regular starters from the 2008 team being out of the NFL by 2010. That's a fact.

[DanTurksGhost]

The Buccaneers have 13 players on IR and one suspended (Jackson) and nine (9) of those players were starters. The players the team has drafted under MD/RM have delivered, some even more than expected. I challenge others to find teams in recent memory that have lost nine starters and still posted a winning record and been mathematically alive for a playoff spot headed into the final game of the season. I doubt you'll find many.

To deny that this team has progressed and has performed admirably is simply a mistake, or someone has an axe to grind or an agenda. The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators. You have to credit that to the management and staff of this organization.

[Chief Joseph]

The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators.

Agreed. But that bar wasn't set real high, was it? This is an average team, slightly above .500 thanks to an easy schedule. That does, as stated, "exceed expectations." What it doesn't do is turn us into a long-term contender. Can we maybe finish in the top half of our division once before we start handing out the achievement awards?

[CBWx2]

The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators.

Agreed. But that bar wasn't set real high, was it? This is an average team, slightly above .500 thanks to an easy schedule. That does, as stated, "exceed expectations." What it doesn't do is turn us into a long-term contender. Can we maybe finish in the top half of our division once before we start handing out the achievement awards?

Top half of the division is a loaded statement, because you know, as well as everybody else that knows anything about football, that we just so happen to be in a division that contains the two best teams in the NFC. The fact that we are in the division that we are and are still in the playoff hunt at all is a testament to this teams growth and say it with me,  PO-TEN-TIAL.

[Biggs3535]

The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators.

Agreed. But that bar wasn't set real high, was it? This is an average team, slightly above .500 thanks to an easy schedule. That does, as stated, "exceed expectations." What it doesn't do is turn us into a long-term contender. Can we maybe finish in the top half of our division once before we start handing out the achievement awards?

Even the last few times the Bucs have finished in the top half of the division, they weren't "long-term" contenders.

The achievement awards, as you put it, have been earned this season.  Apparently, much to the dismay of those who thought the organization would go down the drain after the last regime was replaced.

[bashear]

The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators.

Agreed. But that bar wasn't set real high, was it? This is an average team, slightly above .500 thanks to an easy schedule. That does, as stated, "exceed expectations." What it doesn't do is turn us into a long-term contender. Can we maybe finish in the top half of our division once before we start handing out the achievement awards?

Sure, can we move to the NFC West? Our division, of course, includes last year's SB winner, and the NFC's best-record team this year. Harping on the division is just part of your agenda, right?

Truth is, the youngest team in the league has posted 9 wins, while losing players left and right. Rookies have been plugged in liberally--7th-rounders and others plucked from practice squads around the league. Yet, here we are, the last weekend of the season, with the Bucs still playing a meaningful game.

We aren't an elite team this year. However, we can certainly hand out achievement awards. A child doesn't start learning addition one day and calculus the next. But adults can and do recognize and reward the learning that takes place in between. There are no guarantees about the future competitiveness of the Bucs, but they have taken two steps forward under difficult circumstances, and the majority of Bucs' fans are happy about this development.

[Feel Real Good]

The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators.

Agreed. But that bar wasn't set real high, was it? This is an average team, slightly above .500 thanks to an easy schedule. That does, as stated, "exceed expectations." What it doesn't do is turn us into a long-term contender. Can we maybe finish in the top half of our division once before we start handing out the achievement awards?

Even the last few times the Bucs have finished in the top half of the division, they weren't "long-term" contenders.

The achievement awards, as you put it, have been earned this season.  Apparently, much to the dismay of those who thought the organization would go down the drain after the last regime was replaced.

You mean everything wasn't great when the Bucs finished "in the top half of our division" and then lost playoff games at home?

[jerseybucsfan]

You must really enjoy the fact we lost those games because you keep bringing it up. We were division winners. That's a whole season's worth of accomplishment. Two bad games don't undo that. And in the case of the Washington game, failure to acknowledge that the Redskins had help in stripes is just plain spiteful.
Let this garbage go already. We've had a fun, exciting season. You gonna beat this dead horse until there are no Bucs fans left to listen to you? 20,000 worth of empty seats saying 'Enough already.'
PLEASE, for the love of God, focus on THIS team now. McKay I and McKay 2 and Wyche and Dungy and Gruden are all HISTORY.
If you wanna beat dead horses of history I'll start bringing up what Marshal Ney should have done at Waterloo or why Lee messed up at Gettysburg or Germany's mistakes in WWI and WW2.
Repeat after me: ''Raheem is the coach now.... Raheem is the coach now.''  There's a great future ahead of this team. Dwell on that, please!

[Feel Real Good]

My point was simply that where you finish in the division means nothing in the big picture. Where you finish when compared to the rest of the NFC and the entire NFL is much more meaningful. Depending on the season, the Bucs have won 9 games and been 1st in the division and they've won 9 games and been 3rd in the division. I love where the Bucs are right now. Others choose to disparage the team based on what the Falcons and Saints are doing.

[jerseybucsfan]

Thanks you, FRG. Well said. Anyone here who disparages the current Bucs just doesn't get it.
Raheem= top five in COTY vote
MW19= best rookie WR
Blount=best rookie RB
5= one of the 10 best QBs in football
McCoy, Grimm, Talib, Benn= showing us a lot before they got hurt.
You can't reasonably ask for more than that in ONE season.

[GoBucsYo]

Thanks you, FRG. Well said. Anyone here who disparages the current Bucs just doesn't get it.
Raheem= top five in COTY vote
MW19= best rookie WR
Blount=best rookie RB
5= one of the 10 best QBs in football
McCoy, Grimm, Talib, Benn= showing us a lot before they got hurt.
You can't reasonably ask for more than that in ONE season.

I beg to differ.

[jerseybucsfan]

FanMan, I supported Gruden down to the last second he was head coach here. But he's gone. Move on. We have a bright future and the Anti-Gruden vs. Pro-Gruden garbage has to end. It does nothing to strengthen this fanbase, help make rooting for the Bucs a better thing.
I want fannies in the seats, Bucs wins and the end of this nonsense. It's been going on for seven years and based on recent threads is liable to go on for another seven.
Let it rest. I'll always love the Lombardi that Gruden brought us and appreciate all three of the division titles. But both sides must COME TOGETHER now and support our CURRENT regime.
Can't you guys see how much this organization needs ALL of us right now?

Let this thread be your Appomattox Court House and lay down your swords now, brethren. Together we shall rule the NFL again soon, one nation, under pewter, with championships and regalia for all!!!

[GameTime]

the people that arent happy with the direction of this team wont ever be happy.  its as simple as that.

[JasonOfthetower]

I'll always love and admire Jon for bringing us Lombardi and a bunch for fantastic memories. He's a good coach and a great TV analyst. With that said, I'm really happy and excited about the future of the Buccaneers - I couldn't say that in Jon's last couple years here.

[CyberDilemma]

The fact is, this team has performed beyond the expectations of the vast majority of fans, analysts, and prognosticators.

Agreed. But that bar wasn't set real high, was it? This is an average team, slightly above .500 thanks to an easy schedule. That does, as stated, "exceed expectations." What it doesn't do is turn us into a long-term contender. Can we maybe finish in the top half of our division once before we start handing out the achievement awards?

The Bucs are the first team since the AFL-NFL merger to start 10 rookies in a season and still have a winning record. If that is not the seedlings for building a long-term contender, then I do not know what is.