The PR Bucs Monday Mailbag is where PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook answers your questions from our Twitter account. You can submit your question each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.

Below are the questions we chose for this week’s edition of the PR Bucs Monday Mailbag.

Question: Assuming there is a season, project some over/unders.
Brady: 37.5 TD passes
Gronk: 11.5 TD catches
Evans: 14.5 TD catches
Godwin: 11.5 TD catches
ROJO: 7.5 rushing TD
Shaq: 12.5 sacks
JPP: 9.5 Sacks
Murphy-Bunting: 3.5 INTs

Answer: This is one of the best and most fun questions I have had doing the Bucs Monday Mailbag over the the years. So let’s get to it.

Brady 37.5 TD passes
I will go with the under here. In his 20 years in the NFL, Tom Brady has only passed for more than 37 touchdown passes twice. And Jameis Winston in his one season in Bruce Arians’ offense, despite throwing for over 5,000 yards, had just 33 touchdown passes. I see Brady in the 28-34 TD pass range in 2020.

Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski and QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

Gronk: 11.5 TD catches
Again, I will go with the under on this one as well. In his career, Rob Gronkowski has only had two seasons with more than 11 touchdown passes. In an offense with this many weapons, and with him probably sharing duties with O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate, plus the red zone threat of Mike Evans, exceeding 11 TD receptions seems like a stretch.

Evans: 14.5 TD catches
For the reasons I mentioned above with Gronkowski I would bet the under on this one as well. Mike Evans will be a big presence is the passing game, and will get his share of touchdown catches, but 14.5 seems really high for a player on a team loaded with scorers. Evans set the team record with 12 TD catches as a rookie and matched it in 2016.

Godwin: 11.5 TD catches
I would bet the over on this one as I think Chris Godwin is poised to challenge for the being the best receiver in the entire league this season. He has been on an upward trend in his first three seasons with scoring (1,7,9 TDs) and I think this is the season where we see Godwin get into the end zone at least 12 times.

ROJO: 7.5 rushing TD
Again, like Godwin, Ronald Jones II has been improving every year and finished last year with six scores on the ground, and that was splitting time with Peyton Barber. Jones most likely is the featured back and should get even more carries inside the red zone so I see him with at least 10 scores on the ground in 2020.

Bucs OLB Shaquil Barrett – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

Shaq: 12.5 sacks
Give me the over on this one. Not by much – maybe right at 12.5 or 13 sacks, but Shaquil Barrett wants that long-term deal and to prove he wasn’t a one-hit wonder in 2019 where he led the NFL in sacks with 19.5. Todd Bowles and his defensive staff have been in the lab all offseason scheming up ways to be even better at getting to the quarterback and Barrett is the main cog in those plans.

JPP: 9.5 Sacks
If healthy for 16 games, Jason Pierre-Paul should be a double-digit sacker for the Buccaneers, so this is an easy “over” bet for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he matched Barrett’s total or even had one or two more.

Murphy-Bunting: 3.5 INTs
The secondary should be even better than 2019, along with the entire defense which means more opportunities to get interceptions and turnovers in general. Someone in the secondary will have more than 3.5 interceptions. In fact more than one, but I don’t know that I would go with Sean Murphy-Bunting as the player to do that, although he had a team-high three as a rookie last year.

Question: If the 2020 season gets cancelled due to the “illness,” will Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski retire?

Answer: I think there is zero chance that either Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski would retire. In fact, I think they would be even more motivated to play and perform in 2021 if they couldn’t play this year. And while no one wants to see football not being played in 2020, a year off from the wear-and-tear of the rigors of a season would probably do both players a world of good.

Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski and QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

And in Gronkowski’s case it would actually be two years off. For a player who’s body has been battered, another year off would only help.

For now, let’s just hope we can see football played in 2020 and not have to even think about your scenario. I’m not overly confident it happens, but selfishly, it is what I am hoping is able to happen.

Question: With screen passes being a higher focal point this year than last year, could we see guys like Scotty Miller, Mike Evans, and even O.J. Howard used as such? Miller with his speed along with Evans and Howard with big bodies and deceptive speed?

Answer: I think that is certainly a possibility and something that Bruce Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich have looked at this offseason. Getting the ball of Tom Brady’s hand as soon as possible is the best way to protect a soon-to-be 43-year old whether it be screens, shallow crossing routes and other designed plays.

With the Bucs most likely to start rookie first-rounder Tristan Wirfs at right tackle there could be some early growing pains on the offensive line. Despite being a freak of an athlete for his age at 42, Brady would be hard pressed to survive the hits that Jameis Winston took over the last few years.

Question: The Bucs have made huge strides in almost every area, but our kicking game still has me worried. Tampa Bay probably would have been a playoff team last year without Matt Gay’s mistakes. Is he our kicker for the future or do the Bucs have a Plan B?

Bucs K Matt Gay – Photo by: Getty Images

Answer: I think the only “Plan B” is keeping fingers crossed that May Gay gets it figured out in 2020. At one point last season Gay was on his way to finishing as one of the most accurate kickers in team history and a Top 10 kicker in the league. Of course we all remember the season finale where he missed three kicks against Atlanta that cost the team a win, and the painful, last-second miss against the Giants is also hard to forget.

I don’t blame Gay for the Buccaneers missing the playoffs in 2019. But an argument could be made that is he makes the kick against the Giants and one against Falcons that a 9-7 finish in 2019 would mean a team with Jameis Winston under center in 2020 and Tom Brady playing elsewhere.