With the collapse at the end last year, the start of the 2026 season should be critical. Lose early and lose the team. Win early, maybe turn things around.
3 of 4 games at home to start might help the cause.
on the other end though, two of the last three division matches are on the road. Last year wasn't it 3 of 4 at home?
Agreed. I think the Bucs could start out very hot with that schedule - something we are all used to in recent years
week 1 - @ Bengals - With exception to 2025, the Bengals were an 0-2 start team the prior 3 years. The Bucs will be underdogs in this game but i think we pull the upset. 1-0 start
Week 2 - vs Browns. Home opener let down? No, i think we continue with a win. 2-0
Week 3 - vs Vikings. A sub par QB against Todd Bowles led defense. Scary. But Bucs hold on. 3-0
Week 4 - vsPackers. We lose for the simple fact that we aren't able to start 4-0. We probably will enter the week as a top 5 team in media power rankings but trip over our dicks in this one. 3-1.
Week 5 - @Dallas. Another prime time game, another prime time embarrassment. 3-2.
Week 6 - vs Pittsburgh. I'll give us the W. 4-2
Week 7 - @Carolina - We got this. 5-2
Week 8 - vs Atlanta - We are back baby. 6-2
Week 9 - @Chicago. Another prime time game, another prime time embarrassment. 6-3
Week 10 bye week
Just about time for that mid season skid, eh?
Week 11 - @Detroit. Feel like they will be much improved. Loss. 6-4
Week 12 - vs Carolina. Another prime time game, another prime time embarrassment. 6-5.
Week 13 vs Chargers. I'll give us the bounce back W. 7-5.
Week 14 - @Baltimore. No shot we can stop a healthy Lamar. And if he's hurt, a back up against our D. This is an L. 7-6
3 winnable games coming up to finish the season strong with our ceiling 10-7?
Week 15 vs Saints - Bounce back W. 8-6
Week 16 @Atlanta - Tough division game, split. 8-7
Week 17 vs Rams. Ass whooping L. They just seem to have our number. 8-8
Week 18 @ New Orleans. Ya know what....i am feeling positive today. We sweep their asses and win the division at 9-8.
Get bounced in first round but construction plans are getting started for the Todd Bowles statue outside of Raymond James.
No back to back away games.
Favorable bye week placement.
It's the NFL. Every team has hellacious schedules. I never bought for one second that the Pats had some easy schedule last season as you can't take last year's success/failure and apply it to the current year. Or you can but you'd be a very, casual, new to the game, nancy boy.
Tampa does benefit by not having to travel out of the country. That's a burden.
Look at the QBs/coaches you face and evaluate accordingly. I just bought my tickets for the Bears game. A game that according to every pundit, we should lose.
Stay healthy, and we win games. Period.
It's the NFL. Every team has hellacious schedules. I never bought for one second that the Pats had some easy schedule last season as you can't take last year's success/failure and apply it to the current year. Or you can but you'd be a very, casual, new to the game, nancy boy.
Tampa does benefit by not having to travel out of the country. That's a burden.
Look at the QBs/coaches you face and evaluate accordingly. I just bought my tickets for the Bears game. A game that according to every pundit, we should lose.
Stay healthy, and we win games. Period.
nice article you should read
EDIT: Doesn't mean the Patriots didnt have a great year, but they had a ridiculously easy schedule
they certainly earned their way to Superbowl. Nobody gets there by accident but played choke artist Herbert, Stroud, and a dude that hasn't started a game in several years on their way to a 10-7 conference final victory. It would not surprise me at all if New England regressed from their 14-3 record to potentially a playoff miss this year.
It's the NFL. Every team has hellacious schedules. I never bought for one second that the Pats had some easy schedule last season as you can't take last year's success/failure and apply it to the current year. Or you can but you'd be a very, casual, new to the game, nancy boy.
Tampa does benefit by not having to travel out of the country. That's a burden.
Look at the QBs/coaches you face and evaluate accordingly. I just bought my tickets for the Bears game. A game that according to every pundit, we should lose.
Stay healthy, and we win games. Period.
nice article you should read
EDIT: Doesn't mean the Patriots didnt have a great year, but they had a ridiculously easy schedule
they certainly earned their way to Superbowl. Nobody gets there by accident but played choke artist Herbert, Stroud, and a dude that hasn't started a game in several years on their way to a 10-7 conference final victory. It would not surprise me at all if New England regressed from their 14-3 record to potentially a playoff miss this year.
The Pats are coached way too well to suffer a collapse. Phony off-season distractions aside, Vrabel is one of the best to do it and will have no issue staying focused and getting the most out of his team.
Will read the article but, I can assure you based on title alone, it's not close to true and very hyperbolic. QB play in 2025 was too strong for them to have one of the easiest schedules in NFL history.
It's the NFL. Every team has hellacious schedules. I never bought for one second that the Pats had some easy schedule last season as you can't take last year's success/failure and apply it to the current year. Or you can but you'd be a very, casual, new to the game, nancy boy.
Tampa does benefit by not having to travel out of the country. That's a burden.
Look at the QBs/coaches you face and evaluate accordingly. I just bought my tickets for the Bears game. A game that according to every pundit, we should lose.
Stay healthy, and we win games. Period.
nice article you should read
EDIT: Doesn't mean the Patriots didnt have a great year, but they had a ridiculously easy schedule
they certainly earned their way to Superbowl. Nobody gets there by accident but played choke artist Herbert, Stroud, and a dude that hasn't started a game in several years on their way to a 10-7 conference final victory. It would not surprise me at all if New England regressed from their 14-3 record to potentially a playoff miss this year.
The Pats are coached way too well to suffer a collapse. Phony off-season distractions aside, Vrabel is one of the best to do it and will have no issue staying focused and getting the most out of his team.
Will read the article but, I can assure you based on title alone, it's not close to true and very hyperbolic. QB play in 2025 was too strong for them to have one of the easiest schedules in NFL history.
i have no issue that they deserve their flowers but they had one of the easiest schedules in the last 50 seasons. Broncos did too. Just going off winning percentage. Clearly they were one of the better teams last year evident by their Super Bowl appearance....but i see a bit of a pullback this year with them, Vrabel indiscretions aside.
- Played 8 games against bottom 10 teams - Las Vegas, NYJ (x2), Tennessee, NYG, Saints, Cleveland, Cincinnati
- Played 5 more games against teams in the bottom 15 - Miami (x2), Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Baltimore
and despite their playoff road, they still played solid teams but that Broncos conference championship matchup without a QB was as disgraceful as the Eagles-49ers a couple years ago where 49ers didnt have enough QBs to finish the game.
Q1 2-2
Q2 2-3
Q3 1-3
Q4 2-2
F 7-10
Q1 2-2
Q2 2-3
Q3 1-3
Q4 2-2
F 7-10
Fair assessment.
I'm going the optimistic route.
Q1: 3-1
Q2: 2-3
Q3: 2-2
Q4: 3-1
F: 10-7
CBS
"One bad thing for the Buccaneers: The Bucs better get off to a hot start, because things get a lot tougher in Week 4. The Bucs face the Packers at home that week, but then they have to follow that up with a Thursday road game in Dallas. As if that’s not bad enough, they have the Steelers, Panthers, Falcons and Bears after that. They’re just 2-5 in their past seven against the Falcons and the other three teams on the list all made the playoffs last year. If the Bucs can get to their Week 10 bye with a winning record, that would certainly be a moral victory."
CBS
"One bad thing for the Buccaneers: The Bucs better get off to a hot start, because things get a lot tougher in Week 4. The Bucs face the Packers at home that week, but then they have to follow that up with a Thursday road game in Dallas. As if that’s not bad enough, they have the Steelers, Panthers, Falcons and Bears after that. They’re just 2-5 in their past seven against the Falcons and the other three teams on the list all made the playoffs last year. If the Bucs can get to their Week 10 bye with a winning record, that would certainly be a moral victory."
It will become more clear as we get closer to kickoff but, Bain changes everything.
CBS
"One bad thing for the Buccaneers: The Bucs better get off to a hot start, because things get a lot tougher in Week 4. The Bucs face the Packers at home that week, but then they have to follow that up with a Thursday road game in Dallas. As if that’s not bad enough, they have the Steelers, Panthers, Falcons and Bears after that. They’re just 2-5 in their past seven against the Falcons and the other three teams on the list all made the playoffs last year. If the Bucs can get to their Week 10 bye with a winning record, that would certainly be a moral victory."
yeah agreed. Will not be pretty if we dont have a winning record by the bye week with likely being heavy underdogs in (@DET, @BAL, vs LAR) and a prime time game against Carolina. So essentially four losses built in right there not even mentioning the Chargers or 3 other division games so let's build in 5 losses.
in my predictions above, had them at 6-3 at the bye week with a 3-5 finish to win division at 9-8. The good news is that the rest of division also has perceived tough schedule so 9 wins will likely do it again unless some how a Tyler Shough, Bryce Young, or Michael Penix/Tua led team come out of no where. Would think Bucs have the best chance to win double digit games but given their history under Bowles (8,9,10,8)hard to suggest that is likely.
CBS
"One bad thing for the Buccaneers: The Bucs better get off to a hot start, because things get a lot tougher in Week 4. The Bucs face the Packers at home that week, but then they have to follow that up with a Thursday road game in Dallas. As if that’s not bad enough, they have the Steelers, Panthers, Falcons and Bears after that. They’re just 2-5 in their past seven against the Falcons and the other three teams on the list all made the playoffs last year. If the Bucs can get to their Week 10 bye with a winning record, that would certainly be a moral victory."
It will become more clear as we get closer to kickoff but, Bain changes everything.
While Bain has potential, what exactly are you expecting out the kid with the "changes everything" comment?
two points:
1 - What is your response to Max Crosby on the Raiders or Myles Garret on the Browns? Browns allowed 22.3 PPG last year while Raiders were at 25.4 PPG. The lowly Bucs? 24.2 PPG. Browns were 14th best, Bucs 20th, and Raiders 25th. It wouldn't appear that these proven guys turned their teams into perennial Superbowl contenders
2 - You think back to Bucs when they drafted Sapp and Brooks, joining a defense with Nickerson and Lynch. The defense finished 27th overall that year in YPG and 12th in PPG. This compared to 21st and 20th overall a year prior....so this was with 2 premier "change everything" type guys. I expect the defense to be improved but i don't see it magically becoming top 10 given the current roster
I expect the defense to be improved but i don't see it magically becoming top 10 given the current roster
I don't think it has to be, but the difference is also very small anyway sot it might be.
Special Teams should be better - better talent and coaching. That's almost 3 PPG (or you could describe it as a game or two not directly lost). The difference between the 2024 defense and top 10 was basically that FG per game.
The combination factor - most top teams are somewhere around 6 to 9 NET positive PPG. The Rams were 8.7, New England 8, Buffalo 6. The Seahawks were elite at 13. The Bucs were -2 but their offense was 7ish down from 2024. So, 3-4 points better on offense, 3 to 4 better on defense and they are right in the mix with playoff teams and probably leading the division. The Panthers were -4, for example.
Playoffs are based on record so game results and NOT net PPG, but just offering net PPG as one way to look at it
I expect the defense to be improved but i don't see it magically becoming top 10 given the current roster
I don't think it has to be, but the difference is also very small anyway sot it might be.
Special Teams should be better - better talent and coaching. That's almost 3 PPG (or you could describe it as a game or two not directly lost). The difference between the 2024 defense and top 10 was basically that FG per game.
The combination factor - most top teams are somewhere around 6 to 9 NET positive PPG. The Rams were 8.7, New England 8, Buffalo 6. The Seahawks were elite at 13. The Bucs were -2 but their offense was 7ish down from 2024. So, 3-4 points better on offense, 3 to 4 better on defense and they are right in the mix with playoff teams and probably leading the division. The Panthers were -4, for example.
Playoffs are based on record so game results and NOT net PPG, but just offering net PPG as one way to look at it
understood. i was referring to 'the knees' comment that Bains changes everything in response to win totals it would appear