The expectations were higher now
SR in the Fab 5
"This is not a Bucs team that is a player or two away from contending for a Super Bowl, and that’s probably why Jason Licht didn’t make a trade at the trade deadline. He knows that."
i don't see why not. Take the 5-1 Buccaneers. A team that beat the Seahawks on the road and the 49ers (without Brock); the league is wide open this year
the Conesus top 4 QBs are Mahomes, Allen, Jackson, and Burrow and looks like 3 out of 4 have a good chance not to be in it this year
The Eagles kicked our ass but aside from a few mistakes from the offense (Bucky fumble, Baker poorly timed INT), Bucs have a good shot to win that game.
Detroit is a problem but they may not make playoffs
Rams are a problem and have always had our number
The Bears? Packers? Ehh..they are beatable.
Now dont get me wrong, this 0-2 Bucs squad with the lockerroom potentially lost, yes, we ain't beating the PewterReport Message Board Bros (try outs are tomorrow for our pick-up game with the Bucs defense)
but the Bucs of September/October could certainly have made a run. The fact that many of you fans are already giving up on this team for this year is frightening yet still defending Bowles. This team has the talent and no reason we should not finish with a winning record and thus make playoffs.
i am not arguing for Licht to have made a trade but i think that's more because nobody believes in this team with the current coaching staff. It's the absolute truth. a big reason as to why this team isn't a 11-12 game winner is because of our OC and DC (Grizz and Bowles). This team should at worst have been 9-5 heading into this weekend
Bucs were a SuperBowl contender by many pundits - including Nick Wright and Pete Prisco earlier in the year.
If the offense picks up momentum and the defense keeps generating turnovers they can still do damage this year. Last three games are important for momentum but also confidence for a lot of rookies and 2nd year players down the stretch.
Bowles has to just find a way once again for them to finish strong. That isn't a huge ask.
The talent this year has been below average. Our strengths last year have been destroyed by injury and Licht didn’t upgrade the weaknesses.
injuries are no excuse for the last 2 losses
I’d argue our Defense roster is more talented this year but a worse product. Do you agree? Tell me why not.
Licht could not have developed a more talented offensive roster. Injuries did hurt our output but honestly I still had this team at 10-4 (2 gimme wins that we somehow lost to Atlanta and New Orleans at home, plus add another win, maybe New England that results in a win with healthy team)
at 7-5, there was an excuse for injuries albeit my view is that our record wasn’t much different
At 7-7, what the heck happened?
at 7-8, locker room must be lost
at 8-7, depends how we look, but we love to fight another day
Yeah injuries this late in the season is just an out for Bowles which doesn't seem right to me.
Bucs since the bye have become healthier and healthier and were more competitive earlier in the year with MORE injured players and more rookies seeing playing time like Egbuka, Johnson, Parrish, Roberts.
Also, the Bucs injuries along the OL earlier in the year were forced to start 4th/5th string players. NO GM in the NFL can plan and draft enough depth to have for 4th/5th string. Again this isn''t Madden.
If the Bucs drafted 2 OL in the 2025 draft it would mean the Bucs would be short a DB and WR or even Roberts isn't on the roster. That would be just as bad. The NFL draft only allows a finite amount of draft picks which is why teams that build through the draft like the Bucs take multiple drafts to address needs, development and also depth.
Opinions like this show there are different standards for Bowles than there are for Licht. The disrespect Bowles gets from fans and media is sad honestly. And the slurping Licht gets is pathetic.
Lovie under Licht, fired.
Dirk under Licht, fired.
Arians under Licht without Brady, 7-9.Bowles under Licht, everyone wants him fired.
At what point is it Licht?
the point you are missing is that the offense and Mayfield has been a bright spot in the grand scheme of things post Brady; the defense has not
If not for the flier on Baker, Bowles would have been fired likely after 2023 season.
Licht was on the hot seat prior to Brady no doubt.
The expectations were higher now and the defense regressed with more talent; that's on Bowles man.
Bucs make playoffs, Bowles has a shot to retain job; i'd argue a better than 50% chance to keep it
Bucs win a playoff game and he's got nothing to worry about.
The expectations are clear and there's no reason he can't do it. However, we miss playoffs with a healthy team with 3 games to go; or go 8-9 and get in that way and get trounced by Rams; yeah man, time to move in a different direction. This team should at the very least have finished with a winning record after a 5-1 start
Displaying the anti-Bowles, pro-Licht bias again. You say Bowles would have been fired if not for Baker, but didn’t Licht draft a QB in the 2nd round in 2021? After essentially trading Josh Allen to the Bills? After drafting a QB #1 overall in 2015?
Brady erased the mistakes of the 2018 draft. Licht was going to take Baker at 7 in 2018. They were going to move off of Winston. So QB was an option. Baker is gone but Josh Allen is there, trades pick to Buffalo. Lamar Jackson is there and he takes Vea.
Licht isn’t perfect by any means but brought us a superbowl which I know Brady had his gang join but the building blocks were there.
The bucs have a talented roster, easily the most talented in the nfc south. The fact that they have to scratch and crawl their way to a division title each year and might miss it this year, is a result of poor coaching/poor execution.
dont get me wrong, Lichts seat will be warm with the next coaching hire but to be fair he wasn’t able to pick his own coach since Ariana
This team should at worst have been 9-5 heading into this weekend
You say "at worst," but it could've easily been much worse than 9-5, right? I think you are getting to 9-5 "at worst" by giving Bucs full credit for early wins that were 3 points (on the road) and 1 point (on the road), 2 points and 3 points (on the road), all of which featured some kind of Mayfield heroics, but then I guess suggesting we should've swept to division opponents (not common) or maybe won one of the three tough road games?
Isn't it possible that the 5-1 start was the outlier? Last season and the 2023 season 2 or 3 point wins would be a sign that we were a weaker team (Panthers OT win in Carolina) than our record. Even blow outs (Giants) were discounted. Last season we won at least a handful of games on the back of a league leading offense. With all the injuries ON OFFENSE, not even close to that kind of offense all of this season.
We are probably fairly what our record says we are.
The bucs have a talented roster, easily the most talented in the nfc south. The fact that they have to scratch and crawl their way to a division title each year and might miss it this year, is a result of poor coaching/poor execution.
Yup. The Bowles leghumpers will have trouble with this one.
The bucs have a talented roster, easily the most talented in the nfc south. The fact that they have to scratch and crawl their way to a division title each year and might miss it this year, is a result of poor coaching/poor execution.
Yup. The Bowles leghumpers will have trouble with this one.
Did you find that $80 million yet? Maybe you had in entered as a PPP loan? LMAO
