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A 2-1 record.

First place in the NFC South.

The Falcons are imploding. The Saints can’t get out of their own way. The Panthers are trying to figure out their identity as the rebuild under new head coach Matt Rhule.

And here are your Buccaneers, sitting atop the division and not even playing close to their potential offensively. As some players have said, there is still plenty of improvement left for the defense as well.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

I know 2020 has been a strange year, but what kind of alternate universe are we living in that the Buccaneers are viewed as one the best teams in the NFL and nearly a daily conversation from the national pundits on television and radio?

Don’t look now, but the Buccaneers have two upcoming games they will be favored in before a huge game – and their biggest test to date  – when Tampa Bay hosts the Green Bay Packers on October 18 at Raymond James Stadium.

The Buccaneers 2-1 are in first place and still far away from firing on all cylinders.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

That has to be an exciting thought for Bucs fan and the organization.

Each week the offense has improved in some capacity and there is no reason to think that can’t continue on Sunday.

The Chargers, Tampa Bay’s next opponent, are a team that is hurting – literally.

No Derwin James in the secondary. No Melvin Ingram to help the pass rush. No veteran quarterback in Tyrod Taylor. And now no Chris Harris to cover Mike Evans. Add the fact that right tackle Bryan Bulaga and edge rusher Joey Bosa missed practice on Wednesday and the Chargers appear to be just as banged up as the Broncos were last Sunday.

And we know how that turned out.

You know Tom Brady is smiling on the back porch of his $29 million dollar Davis Islands rental home as he sips his nutritional shake watching the sunset with Gisele and the kids thinking about Sunday’s game against a beat up Chargers defense.

With no Taylor, rookie Justin Herbert will get his shot against the Bucs this Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. Don’t tell me defensive coordinator Todd Bowles isn’t salivating while working like a mad scientist in the laboratory at the AdventHealth Training Center.

Chargers QB Justin Herbert – Photo by: Getty Images

Sure, Herbert has thrown for over 300 yards in his first two games in the NFL, but the Chargers are 0-2 in those contests. Bowles will do all he can to confuse the rookie with disguised coverages and blitzes coming from all over the field.

Don’t be surprised to see him send the beer vendor in the 10th row on a corner blitz on Sunday. Bowles will send pressure at Herbert from everywhere.

Tampa Bay will be without wide receiver Chris Godwin on Sunday, as he nurses a hamstring injury suffered in Denver on Sunday, so Mike Evans, as he did in the Panthers game (which Godwin missed with a concussion), will need to step up.

Does anyone think he won’t?

Despite catching only two passes on Sunday at Denver, both of his receptions were for touchdowns. After three games Evans is on pace for less than 600 yards receiving in 2020, but with four scores in three games he’s on pace for over 20 TDs.

Even if he falls short of an NFL record seventh straight 1,000-yard season, Evans is okay with that as long as the wins stack up. Evans also sees this offense with an opportunity to get better.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and WR Mike Evans – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

“Mark, you’ve been covering us for a while, you know I don’t really care about the stats,” Evans said on Wednesday. “The main thing I care about is wins and that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve strung two in a row. We’re looking for a third this week. Obviously, there are plays that we can definitely make and there’s some things that we have to clean up, but I feel like each week we’re improving.

“This is still our third week fully together as a real team in real live game action. Each week we’re improving, and this week hopefully we can put it all together and play a complete game on offense.”

It’s not just the offense that can improve on its 25th in total yards ranking through three games.

Outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul knows that the defense, which is currently ranked fourth in the NFL, has room for improvement as well.

“We’re going to get better all around the board,” Pierre-Paul said. “Just in practice you can see it. Like I said, it starts with us players first. It starts with myself. How much better can I get as a player? I think each and every player, if ask that question on the team, they’ll say they can get better. They can get better every day, especially in learning your teammates and building an individual relationship with them. I think that’s the big key because not everybody on the team knows each other. I think if we go out and do that, learning each other is making us more stronger.”

Bucs OLB Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

An offense with Brady, Evans, Godwin, O.J. Howard, Rob Gronkowski with an emerging Scotty Miller that is far from complete? An offense that still doesn’t run the football particularly well?

A defense who is fourth in the NFL, averaging four QB takedowns per game and is on pace for 64 sacks and ranked third against the run so far?

And both knowing there is room for improvement?

I know it is early – 2-1 doesn’t mean anything just yet.

Or does it?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a good football team after three games, and they have the potential to be great. Really great.

If they can stay relatively healthy and keep improving, then when January rolls around this Bucs team will be somewhere they haven’t been since 2007 – the playoffs.

It’s just the tip of the iceberg, Bucs fans.

Cannon Blast

• Oh what a difference a year makes.

Last season the Bucs dropped their opening game to the 49ers in disappointing fashion, then came back to win against the Carolina Panthers. Kind of a similar start, huh? Well that is where the comparisons end.

Week 3 last year saw the Bucs blow an 18-point lead to the Giants to a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start. This year in Week 3, playing a team that started a new quarterback, the Bucs blasted the Broncos and their quarterback Jeff Driskel, who is probably still having nightmares of the Bucs pass rush.

Bucs K Matt Gay – Photo by: Getty Images

Tampa Bay went on to win just one more game over the next five, and ended the first half off the season at 2-6. This Bucs team may be 6-2 at the halfway mark.

While the win column only shows one more win through three games in 2020 than 2019, the vibe and feel of this team is completely different. Like not even in the same stratosphere different.

It’s exciting for fans, the team, the community and even to this reporter, who has seen his share of awful starts and little hope for improvement.

• We welcomed back an old friend to the podcast this week, former Pewter Report beat writer Trevor Sikkema. And like an old glove, it slipped on and felt natural to have the “Man-Bun” himself back talking Buccaneers football. Make sure to check out the episode as we delve into the Bucs start to the season, the upcoming game against the Chargers and a Chinese buffet experience story. It’s good stuff. Don’t miss it.

• I tried to tell y’all the Bucs would be foolish to pass on defensive tackle Vita Vea and select FSU’s Derwin James in the 2018 NFL Draft. I was banging the table for weeks for Vea over James leading up to the draft.

Bucs DT Vita Vea – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Okay, okay, I am just kidding. It was actually the opposite. And while I still think James would have been a dynamic player in Tampa Bay, you can’t be dynamic if you aren’t on the field.

James has had a rough go with injuries over the last two seasons, and Vea has been pretty dependable in that regard. Last week against the Broncos, Vea may have had his best game in his young Bucs career. But we need to see more of that Vea, as opposed to the one in the season opener in New Orleans when he looked invisible outside of a costly neutral zone infraction on fourth-and-short.

We can make a better comparison in a couple years, but it looks like the Bucs got the better end of the deal than the Chargers. So far anyway.

Last Laugh

So the Chargers doctor punctured the lung of starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor in Week 2, giving him a painkiller shot in the ribs just minutes before the Chiefs game. Are you kidding me? That’s worse than a Bucs trainer who once cut off the tip of receiver Alvin Harper’s finger back in the 1990s. True story.

Leaked footage of the Chargers team doctor taking care of Tyrod Taylor pic.twitter.com/PRHj8RRmQV

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) September 23, 2020