The Bucs 2022 schedule came out on Thursday and is chock full of difficult stretches. While we knew Tampa Bay had a tough batch of opponents coming up, the placement of the games did them no favors. Kicking off the season with two straight road games against big challenges in Dallas and New Orleans before coming home to face Green Bay and Kansas City.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles acknowledged the matchups, knowing who they were going to play but saying it comes with the territory of a first place finish.

“Well, we knew who we were playing from the start,” Bowles said. “There’s no easy way around it –  when you come in first place, you get a first-place schedule. So, we’ll get ready for it.”

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: USA Today

As for those first four games Bowles isn’t getting ahead of himself. He knows the challenges each team will present but will take it one game at a time.

“The only good thing is you only have to play one at a time,” Bowles said. “So, we’ll deal with them when they come.”

As highlighted in this weeks SR’s Fab 5, the Bucs will face some of the league’s elite quarterbacks and offenses. As Bowles points out you’ve got to be able to beat those teams if you’re going to be a true Super Bowl contender and the team will be ready for the challenge.

“That’s the only way you can get to the Super Bowl and win it,” Bowles said. “If you don’t beat the best of the best, you’re not going anywhere. Some years it’s running quarterbacks – some years, it’s throwing quarterbacks. Some years, it’s running game – some years, it’s passing game. But this year, we’ve got all the great ones. We’ll get ready for it and we’ll be ready to play.”

The Bucs will need to play their best football out of the gate this season as their schedule offers little reprieve during the first month. Bowles and his staff are hard at work preparing to have the Bucs up to the task.