A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough question. This week’s prompt: How Many Games Will The Bucs Win In 2024?

Scott Reynolds: Tampa Bay Takes Another Step With 10 Wins

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: USA Today

I revealed my Bucs’ season prediction in last week’s SR’s Fab 5 column, where I suggested the team’s floor is 10 wins and its ceiling is 12 wins. This, of course, is taking health into consideration. If the injury bug bites the Bucs hard, then all bets are off. That’s true of virtually any NFL team these days. So with Tampa Bay having the second-youngest team in the league, I’m taking the floor and going with 10 wins. Inexperience will cost the Bucs a game or two they should win, but this is yet another step towards another Super Bowl for Todd Bowles and Co.

The Bucs went from winning just eight games – yet still claiming the NFC South title – in 2022 with one of the oldest rosters in the league to winning nine games and another division championship with one of the youngest teams in the NFL. In 2023, Bowles and general manager Jason Licht overhauled the roster and shed most of the players who were 30 and older. In fact, the Bucs only have three players age 30 or older on this year’s team. That means the team’s Super Bowl window is open now – and should remain open for years to come with so many of the team’s up-and-coming stars on affordable rookie deals.

Is there a chance the Bucs can win more than 10 games? Of course. Health and good fortune will play a role in any more wins than 10, and I could see Tampa Bay finishing 11-6 or 12-5 under the right circumstances. More importantly, this team should win at least 11 games with another home victory coming in the Wild Card round of the playoffs as NFC South champions. As long as the Bucs continue to make progress in the win column I can foresee the team making a serious push for a Super Bowl berth in 2025.

Matt Matera: Bucs Get 10 Wins And An Important Tie Breaker

Bucs OC Liam Coen and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Incrementally, the Bucs have gotten better with Todd Bowles as head coach. They went from eight wins in 2022 to nine wins in 2023, and if all goes right this year, they’ll register double-digit wins in 2024. I have the Bucs winning 10 this year and realistically, they could even win 11 or 12. The roster is as good as it’s been since Bowles became head coach, especially on the defensive side, which is his bread and butter. With Liam Coen as offensive coordinator, expect more points from Tampa Bay as Baker Mayfield continues to find chemistry in the offense.

The first four games see two very winnable games for the Bucs and two difficult ones. After splitting games over the first month of the season, the most important matchups for the Bucs come in October, where Tampa Bay plays against the Falcons twice. The Bucs will take advantage of the Falcons still finding their footing early in the season, sweeping the series and holding an important tie breaker in the NFC South.

It’s a gauntlet of a schedule right before the bye as the Bucs also play the Ravens, Falcons, Chiefs and 49ers. Those are some dangerous opponents, but if the Bucs can split those games, they can stay the course. Although the Chiefs are the defending back-to-back champs, they are beatable in the regular season. The Bucs get a shocking win in Kansas City in prime time, setting themselves up for the rest of the season.

The latter half of the schedule is favorable for the Bucs as they start out after the bye with the Giants and Panthers, who they play again in December. Their toughest games are on the road against the Chargers and Cowboys. While I have them dropping those games, as well as one to the Saints at the end of the schedule, the Bucs build enough cushion to win the division at 10-7, thanks to the tiebreaker over the Falcons to put them over the top.

Bailey Adams: Bucs Get Back To Double-Digits For First Time Since 2021

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Yes, I’m going to be boring and keep the ball rolling with another 10-7 prediction. As I keep going through the Bucs’ 2024 schedule, I keep getting to 10 or 11 wins in different ways, so I’ll be conservative and stick with 10 wins. That would mean another one-game improvement for Todd Bowles and his team, and it should be enough to win the NFC South for a fourth straight season. At the very least, 10-7 should have Tampa Bay in position for a Wild Card berth depending on whether the Falcons come out and rattle off 11 or 12 wins (though I don’t believe they will).

The early part of the schedule could prove tricky for the Bucs, but I think they open 3-1 before splitting the next two games at the Falcons and Saints. Then comes the toughest stretch of the year for Bowles and Co., as they host the Ravens and Falcons, travel to face the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chiefs and host the reigning NFC champion 49ers before the bye week.

This is where, if things are clicking, this Buccaneer team can outperform my expectations and end up with 11 or even 12 wins. But it’ll be difficult to do more than split these four games, and I actually have them going 1-3 in this stretch to leave them at 5-5 heading into the bye week. Luckily for the Bucs, the schedule lightens up after the bye.

They get hot the way they did late last year, winning at least three of the next four against the Giants, Panthers, Raiders and Chargers. Again, this is another spot where outperforming my expectations and winning all four could see them get beyond 10 wins. But in my view of things, they’ll be 8-6 heading into the final three games of the season. I like their chances to win two of those three, putting them at 10-7 and setting themselves up for a fifth consecutive trip to the playoffs. This team is in a good spot with what should be an improved offense and a strong defense, which could give them a chance to make an even deeper run in this year’s postseason.

Josh Queipo: I Am Apparently A Part Of The 10-Win Hive

Funny enough my profile on Pewter Report says I am the optimist of the group. And I’d like to think that is true when it comes to my interactions with people. But when it comes to the Bucs, I have often found myself at odds with my co-workers as far as our dispositions on the team’s prospects go. And yet here we are with me jumping on the apparent bandwagon of predicting 10 wins. While it is not my aim to be contrarian, I have come to quite enjoy it. So, this feels…weird.

I have Tampa Bay going 5-1 in division play sweeping the Saints and the Panthers while splitting home games with the Falcons. Pair that with wins at home against the Commanders in Week 1 and against the Broncos in Week 3 and losses in Detroit in Week 2 and at home against the Eagles in Week 4 and I see the team at .500 through week six. Losses to Baltimore, Kansas City and San Fransisco in Weeks 7, 9 and 10, respectively have the team with a 4-6 record headed into their bye and in a similar position to where they were last year midseason.

But the Bucs schedule down the stretch is an advantageous one. In addition to three division wins in the final seven games I have Tampa Bay beating the Giants, Chargers and Raiders to finish out the season with a 10-7 record and the No. 4 seed in the NFC. Bonus answer. I also have the Bucs moving one round beyond their 2023 final result and losing to the 49ers once more in the NFC Championship game after beating the Packers at home in the Wild Card Round and taking down the Lions in Detroit in a revenge game in Divisional Round.

Adam Slivon: Bucs Reach Another Level, Win NFC South With 10-Win Season

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Surprise! The Bucs and 10 wins are the common thread here. Although I could see the Bucs winning more than 10 games, it is a safe, nice round number. Tampa Bay heads into 2024 with an improved coaching staff and roster led by offensive coordinator Liam Coen, a strong rookie class filled with projected starters (Graham Barton, Chris Braswell, Tykee Smith, and Jalen McMillan), and key pieces added to plug other needs (Ben Bredeson and Jordan Whitehead).

Following an 8-9 season in 2022, the team gutted its veterans and it was a year in transition in 2023. They got even better with a 9-8 record, and with many parts falling in place, their arrow continues to trend upward.

Looking at how I see things shaking out, I see the Bucs starting the season out at 6-2, with their only losses coming on the road to the Lions in Week 2 and to the Falcons on Thursday night in Week 5. Otherwise, they beat Atlanta in a Week 8 rematch but suffer back-to-back losses against the Chiefs and 49ers to drop them to 6-4. Coming back from the bye, I have Tampa Bay handily defeating the Giants, Panthers, and Raiders to move them to 9-4.

Although this may seem like they are destined for more than 10 wins, I have them losing a cross-country trip to the Chargers and then to the Cowboys. To close out the year, they again get the better of the Dave Canales-led Panthers before falling to the Saints in the season finale. With that, a 10-7 record is one that I have envisioned the team having for a while now, but the ceiling could be 11-12 wins if everything goes right. Regardless, it will be a tight battle for the Bucs to win the NFC South for a fourth straight season, but I see them claiming the division and again proving the doubters wrong.