The PewterReport.com Roundtable features the opinions of the PR staff as it tackles a Tampa Bay Buccaneers-related topic each week.

This week’s topic: What will be the Bucs’ projected record in 2018?

Scott Reynolds: 8-8
For months I have been asked what I think the Buccaneers’ 2018 record will be and every time I answer “between 7-9 and 9-7.” Now it’s time to put up or shut up. I’ll have my Bucs game predictions for every week of the regular season in this week’s SR’s Fab 5 column on Friday, but for the team’s overall record – I’ll reveal that right now. I believe Tampa Bay finishes the 2018 season with an 8-8 record. I think the team’s floor is 7-9 and its ceiling is likely 9-7. Do the Bucs have the talent to finish higher than 8-8 or 9-7? Yes, they do. In fact, if I had to bet on whether Tampa Bay would have a double-digit losing season or a double-digit winning season, I would probably err on the side of the winning season. It wouldn’t necessarily shock me if the Bucs finished 10-6, but it’s hard for me to predict that because the team has a hard schedule that is complicated by the fact it plays in the rough-and-tumble NFC South, which is the toughest division in football.

Bucs QB Ryan Fitzpatrick – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs are clearly more talented than they were a year ago when they finished 5-11. General manager Jason Licht has done a good job adding talent in free agency, the draft, trades and the waiver wire. But Atlanta, Carolina, and New Orleans – which won the division last year and is Tampa Bay’s first opponent this year – have plenty of talent, too. Over the past decade the thing that has kept the Bucs as cellar dwellers in the NFC South has been the quarterback position. While Tampa Bay has started the likes of Byron Leftwich, Josh Freeman, Josh Johnson, Mike Glennon, Josh McCown, Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Atlanta has had Matt Ryan, Carolina has had Cam Newton and New Orleans has had Drew Brees. Starting the season in the Big Easy without Winston isn’t ideal, nor is playing Philadelphia and Pittsburgh without him in the first two home games. Is this the year the Bucs have enough talent to overcome Winston’s three-game absence and win a game or two to stay in the playoff race until he returns?

Preseason games don’t count, but they do mean something. I didn’t see enough sacks from the defensive line or enough interceptions from the secondary to believe that this defense is ready to be among the top 16 units in the league – yet. I didn’t seen enough consistency along the offensive line to believe that the Bucs will have a top 16 running game – yet. If those things happen, a winning record can occur because football is a game won in the trenches and with a positive turnover margin. If the Bucs defense can become a takeaway machine and Winston can make his penchant for untimely turnovers a thing of the past, this Bucs team can be a 9-7 squad – maybe even a little better. But I’ve seen too much hype – and been a part of creating it – surrounding the Bucs over the years. I’m not giving this team the benefit of the doubt anymore. I’m going to adopt the Missouri state slogan and say, “Show Me” to the Buccaneers. Show me you’re better than 8-8. Until I see it, I won’t believe it.

Mark Cook: 7-9

Well, my 12-4 record backfired last year – just a tad. This year I do believe the Bucs have the talent on the roster to compete for a playoff spot, this team is like the boy who cried wolf, am I am not going to over predict based on potential on paper until they prove they deserve it. No question this team was dealt a blow with the Jameis Winston suspension, but I feel much better about Ryan Fitzpatrick heading into 2018 than I did in 2017. Fitzpatrick possesses a veteran presence and the offensive players appear to believe he can hold down the fort until Winston returns.

In fact, after watching this preseason, I think the Bucs have just as good a chance at going 3-0 and they do in going 0-3. Now I don’t think either happens, and I foresee a 1-2 start in those first three games. But my point is, the offense was humming like we haven’t seen in years and if they stay healthy, they can be a Top 5 offense in the league, with Fitzpatrick or Winston. I still have questions about the defense, especially the team’s pass rush and the inexperience in the secondary.

Bucs QBs Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

As always, staying healthy will be as big of a factor as anything. The healthiest teams at the end of the year tend to be the ones playing in January. The organization has given this coaching staff the ingredients for success. Now it will be up to them to cook up meal and present all three courses.

Trevor Sikkema: 7-9
Make no doubt about it: this is the most talented team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had since they won their Super Bowl back in the early 2000’s. The offensive weapons these coaches have at their disposal almost seems like an embarrassment of riches — so much so that DeSean Jackson seems like a package player. They have mismatch options at wide receiver and at tight end, and their running game should, in theory, be steady enough for Dirk Koetter’s vertical passing offense to operate as he desires.

On the defensive side, Tampa Bay hasn’t seen a defensive line like the one the Bucs have now since the ages of glory, either. No matter what you think of where they are in their football careers, Gerald McCoy, Jason Pierre-Paul, Vinny Curry, Beau Allen, Noah Spence and Vita Vea is a group as talented as Tampa Bay has see in 10 years. That alone should elevate a defense that was one of the worst in the league last year.

So all the talent in the world, it seems, and yet 7-9? What gives?

Bucs OC Todd Monken, HC Dirk Koetter, OL Coach George Warhop – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Much like Scott Reynolds said in his explanation of 8-8, the Buccaneers have forced both fans and media members to simply utter the words “show me” when talking about expectations. I can believe the Buccaneers have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL, and I do, but I’ve only watched losing from this team for the better part of a decade. If that losing is done, I’ll have to see it to believe it.

The Buccaneers schedule does them no favors this year. A tough start without Winston goes right into an NFC conference that is absolutely loaded with talent. In order for the Bucs to get a winning record out of it, the coaches will have to have career years. Koetter, Mike Smith and the rest of the staff will have to be one step ahead of their opponents in game planning and execution. If they’re not, this season could get ugly.

Seven wins even seems like a lot when I think about how disappointing this franchise has been over the last few years, but seven wins also shows what I think of the talent on this roster. I believe they have the talent to line up against any team, but history tells me that before I predict a winning season, faith in it happening is about as concrete as throwing a dart at a dartboard blindfolded.

Andrew Scavelli: 8-8
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Buccaneers roster with this amount of talent and the lack of glaring holes. On the offensive side of the ball the Bucs have enough explosive weapons to make any quarterback under center comfortable, and in a pass-first offense they will be looking to utilize those receiving threats to the fullest. While the running game is still not at the elite level that most teams need to make a playoff push, Tampa Bay has finally put the keys of their backfield into the hands of the team’s most consistent back over the last couple of seasons in Peyton Barber.

Consistent quarterback play will ultimately be the deciding factor in how this offense moves the ball and both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston have put together some of their best performances this preseason. If the offensive line with a newly revamped interior can stay healthy and keep their QBs the same way, there’s no reason to believe that the team’s quarterback play won’t continue to trend upward.

Bucs DT Beau Allen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs defense will look even more different on paper going into the season with a completely overhauled defensive line that has been much needed for years. I give the team a lot of credit for turning their biggest weakness into what should be their biggest strength and aggressively attacking this area in the offseason. There is no question that everything starts up front on defense and the team is hoping that by improving its pass rush and holding their own in the trenches that the rest of the back seven’s play will also be improved. Although the secondary is inexperienced, I have never seen rookie defensive backs develop as quickly as I have this summer in M.J. Stewart, Carlton Davis and Jordan Whitehead, and the team will need all of them to continue to improve every week if they hope to contain the high-flying aerial assaults that will be coming their way this season in the NFC South.

While talent is always a big factor and the team has more of that than they’ve had going into a season in a long time, another very underrated element of winning football clubs is the attitude and chemistry of the players in the locker room. When former Bucs head coach Tony Dungy spoke to the team at training camp he told them just that, as he said his Super Bowl winning team may have only been the fourth-most talented roster he coached with the Colts. From all the indications I’ve seen this summer, this Bucs locker room is a very tight-knit group and one that is very focused to prove that last year was not a reflection of their capabilities. At the end of last season Tampa Bay showed that they can play up to the level of their divisional opponents, and this season I expect them to split their divisional matches and the rest of their daunting schedule, finishing with an 8-8 record.