I'll hold back on any evaluation of the Bucs O'line until they play some games going against 1st stringers.
That’s who we have to measure against. We play them all. Should be interesting.
WC = World Championships?
Trench play is why were gonna win, Barton is a probowl/all-pro in the making. His smarts, understanding of leverage/angles/movement has all been very very noticeable on film, To see this teams mentality shift, you gotta take a deep dive and watch every guy individually. It's going to bleed into the offense. We got some nasty big men and this looks like a different team from last year
We're gonna get what we get from a Bowles defense but this offense is revamped. I know its enthusiasm now but I wanna say its gonna be fact in a few weeks. My eyes are telling me this is highend football.
While true I still give the Lions and 49ers the edge with their respective trenches.
i mean if we are looking at this realistically, we just don't seem to be in the same category as the class of the NFC
Teams i'd say we are not in their league:
49ers - class of the NFC. we got smoked by 13 points last year and the 49ers made Superbowl last year. They are just a more talented team.
Lions- lost by 14 points on our own turf when we met in the regular season and we were sitting at 3-1 at the time. Met again in the playoffs and kept it close until the 4th quarter. Feel like Detroit kept us in the game with drops, etc. and they moved the ball freely against us. Week 2 will be a good first test for us but hard to say we are in the same league as we enter the season
Teams i'd say are above us entering the season:
Eagles - Yeah we kicked their ass in the playoffs but that team quit with 2 months left in the season. They handled us pretty easily on our home turf when we were 2-0. The Eagles added to their roster and looks to retool. I do think we can beat them obviously but just saying, they will likely be favored in our home match-up this season.
Dallas - I mean, the team can't win a playoff game to save their life and handled us pretty easily in Brady's final game. Dallas didnt have a great off-season but would you bet on us when we go to Dallas later in the year and try to win that game? Dallas likely will have a better record than us in the regular season but much like the Eagles, will be ranked higher than us but likely playing golf around the same time, give a game or so, as our team will be
Teams we are in the same field as:
Packers
Rams
Falcons
Saints
Bucs
so 9 teams and last year we were in the top 9 in the NFC with 4 teams having an 9-8 record. seems about right.
Sounds about right.
I would throw in the Seahawks, and Vikings part of the third group of talented squads in the mix.
I think I said this during draft time a new center can give us 2 more wins. Im putting a lot of the wins onto Barton and what he is gonna do for this offense. There was so many moments last year where I know Mayfield could just feel uncomfortable with pressure coming from the interior, which imo is the hardest one to handle. Interior pressure shuts off the midde of the field and then you have to roll out onto oncoming ends, then if you escape the pocket, now only have a 1/4th of the field towork with. Throws are much harder standing in the pocket, your throwing weight is on your heels and balls will be batted.
One specific play I remember DET(creamisicle) 1stQ 10:10 Mike running free down the seam ball batted for a pick pressure up the middle, perfect play calling ruined by execution because we hit them with the same run with the left guard pulling which caught the LB/S eyes when we play actioned it. Thats 10-14 points differential and possibly a win. I dont know why but that play haunts my dreams.
From what I've seen from Barton his projectile looks on par of what I saw from Wirfs in 2019, future probowler (all-pro is what surprised me). Smart athletic cerebral players become all-pros/probowlers. With the interior solidified Baker will innately perform better, the internal clock feels better, he will be more relaxed, and his middle of the field vision opens up. I think this offense can put up 27PPG and our defense can hold which is why I see us as the "surprise NFL team". This all depends on Barton and that i believed we just added a Probowl center
27ppg would put as 6th best in NFL, 28ppg would be 2nd best, We were 18th last year with 21.2PPG
Our 2020 team 30.8 2nd best
SB 2019 team 28.6 4th best
If I had to pick a darkhorse MVP itd be Baker he just naturally gets a lot of media love. Walk-on Heisman guy who's brash fires up the team and always had to bet on himself.
Careful, mentioning that in a post is enough to define you as a Baker boi…
Although, I don’t think you’re wrong.
3,2,1…
We need to get better, and not rest on our laurels; back into the Lions den. Pretty win though
The Bucs showed today that they are an upper NFC caliber team. We will see if they ascend the elite category of the NFC by the mid way mark.
Have to stay mentally focused, its a long season. New orleans is forreal gonna be us or them. We're a contending team
Can't say enough about Barton but we have some real depth too
Barring injuries. We will win the south. Just a different look about this team when im watching in the preseason. The little things, the movement the extra pushes the never die mentality til the whistle is blown. A well mannered group of killers is what i see. We have an edge to us and I like it.
The trenches is what has been greatly upgraded Barton has been a stud in the middle and thats gonna let Baker Bake for 30+ Tds this year his problem was a clean pocket last year(its why I liked trask last year he's a taller qb that can throw over the middle) but thats been addressed. Kancey,Diaby are gonna break out, secondary will have woes but less with whitehead winfield. Coen's run game will help us close out wins when we ahve our lead.
If we stay focus/humble/healthy I see an NFC championship game in our future this year.
Of course I can be really wrong, but we should dominate washington week 1 and find out what we are against the Lions week 2
Well I would say the Vikings are the surprise NFL team, but lets talk about us.
Barton solidified the middle less hands in the face of baker less batted down passes. The team is mentally tougher and grittier on the offensive side, those lineman and TE's are consistently pushing the pile and fighting for extra yards. Diaby had an incredible amount of pressures 65(9th), Kancey put up good sack numbers for an IDL(7.5), the pass rush is still left wanting more. Secondary had less coverage bust with whitehead. We suffered some major injuries that I think without we could squeeze a few more wins out but an impressive job to win the south and to realize hype is just hype like the falcons were this offseason.
Wins are gonna come through intent focus and not hype something we fall ill to here and there. Baker had a darkhorse MVP season. Winfield played a lot slower and less physical this season maybe he doesn't smell blood in the water like he did when he wanted to be the #1 paid DB or he has a lingering injury but I think he refocuses after this season. Still looking for that passrusher. Lets welcome the playoffs.
The NFC championship game can only come if we can bring a different type of focus from everyone than what we've seen these past weeks, something I dont think we have shown yet outside of week 2
We kind of had a feeling that this was a solid ball club for a .500 talent laden team in the off season. But I think they improved a lot more than we anticipated despite the injuries and a tough, schedule.
