FAB 4. BUCS SCHEDULE COULD FEATURE MORE PRIMETIME GAMES
The 2017 Buccaneers schedule is out and I think there is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for Tampa Bay to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. It seems like the Bucs have been disrespected and put down by the league and the national media for some time, but times they are a changing’.

The Bucs get selected to be this year’s featured team on HBO’s Hard Knocks on Wednesday and then receive a very favorable schedule that continues to keep Tampa Bay in the national spotlight. Here are a couple of aspects that really stood out to me.

NFC South Schedule Quirks
Tampa Bay doesn’t play an NFC South team until Week 8 when the Bucs open the division at home against Carolina, followed by a road division game at New Orleans the following week. After the bye week, which comes really late this year in Week 11 – which may be the latest bye week in Bucs’ history – Tampa Bay finishes its NFC South schedule with four of the last six games against division opponents.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Getty Images

The Bucs travel to Atlanta immediately after the bye week to play the Falcons after Thanksgiving on November 26, before playing them again three weeks later at home on Monday Night Football on December 18. Tampa Bay ends the 2017 schedule with three straight division games – two of which are at home. After the Bucs vs. Falcons Monday Night Football game, which will feature former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden in the booth for ESPN, Tampa Bay travels to Carolina on Christmas Eve before returning home for the 2017 finale against New Orleans on New Year’s Eve.

In fact, the Bucs end the 2017 season with three out of four games at home, including a December 10 game against Detroit before the Monday Night Football game against Atlanta. There’s a good chance to build some end-of-season momentum for a playoff push with that many home games at Raymond James Stadium.

Ray-Jay Gets Legitimately Full This Year
The Glazers have to be happy with the way the Bucs schedule turned out this season as four major market teams with huge fan bases play in Tampa Bay this year. For years the Glazers have picked up the tab by buying unused tickets in order to lift the TV blackout in the Tampa Bay area, as most Bucs home games aren’t sold out to capacity. That could change this year.

If there aren’t enough Bucs fans to fill the stands this year there will be plenty of enemy fans that will. The Bucs’ home opener takes place in Week 2 against Chicago, which brought a lot of fans to Tampa Bay last year in a 36-10 Bucs victory. The next home game on October 1 is against the New York Giants followed by the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football on October 5. The New York Jets also come to Tampa Bay to play on November 12.

Between the visiting fans and the transplants from Chicago, New York and Boston that live in the Tampa Bay area, it’s a lock that those four games are legitimately sold out. Yet the Bucs are trying to do everything they can to ensure as many Bucs fans fill the stands at Ray-Jay as they have canceled some season tickets from ticket brokers who sell the seats and even some out-of-state fans, who do the same.

Tampa Bay head coach Dirk Koetter has said he wants the lower bowl at Ray-Jay filled with the Bucs fans. The team is inching towards making that happen, but there will be a huge demand for tickets from Bears, Giants, Patriots and Jets fans this year, too. Throw in a Monday Night Football home game against Atlanta in December and the guess here is that five Bucs games will be sold out even before the 2017 season begins.

Defend The Bay In Primetime
The Bucs don’t have the best record in nationally televised games recently. The lost last year’s Thursday Night Football game at home against Atlanta in a big way, 43-28, and lost on Sunday Night Football in Dallas, 26-20, but did prevail in Carolina on Monday Night Football, 17-14. In 2015, the Bucs lost on Thursday Night Football at St. Louis, 31-23.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

But expect that to change now that Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston is entering his third season and Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans is entering his fourth season. Tampa Bay got two primetime games at home against last year’s Super Bowl participants. Winston will be dueling with Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots on the NFL Network/CBS telecast of Thursday Night Football on October 5 at Raymond James Stadium, followed by hosting the Falcons on Monday Night Football at home on December 18.

“I can’t wait to play both of those Super Bowl teams,” Bucs middle linebacker Kwon Alexander said. “I want us to do our thing against those teams and show the world what we can do. With the new pieces we’ve added, it’s going to be crazy, man. It’s going to be a crazy season. I can’t wait.”

Veteran Bucs right tackle Demar Dotson warned that every game on the schedule is important and not just the primetime games against last year’s Super Bowl teams.

“Anytime you are going to battle on Sunday you just want to compete,” Dotson said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Patriots or the Cleveland Browns. Your job is to prepare every week the same way. That’s Dirk’s mindset. That’s what brings to this team. It doesn’t matter who it is. You can’t get too high for New England and then if you have a Cleveland come in and you play down and you get beat. You have to stay on an even keel and come to work the same each week and prepare each week. That’s what is going to get us over the hump. We were one game short from being in the playoffs last year. We have to build on that and get better. What we did last year wasn’t good enough. We don’t have any room to go backwards. We have to go forward.”

The Bucs also have a chance for more games in prime time due to a new scheduling twist by the NFL this year. The league is allowing two Sunday games between Weeks 5-9 to be flexed to Sunday Night Football to create the best possible match-ups for a nationwide audience.

Bucs RB Jacquizz Rodgers – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

While the Week 4 home game against the New York Giants can’t be flexed to Sunday Night Football because it falls outside of the parameters, that game will kickoff at 4:05 and will be seen by a good deal of the country. Yet if Tampa Bay gets off to a hot start and so does Carolina or New Orleans, the Bucs vs. Panthers home game on October 29 could be flexed, or the following week’s road game against the Saints on November 5 could be flexed, as could road games at Atlanta on November 26 and at Green Bay on December 3.

While the Bucs’ Sunday game at Carolina can’t be flexed to Sunday Night Football because it’s on Christmas Eve and Week 16 games are off limits when it comes to flexing, the Bucs vs. Saints game in Week 17 could be a flex candidate if both teams are in thick of the playoff hunt. If Tampa Bay starts off hot and keeps itself in the national spotlight I could see a third nationally televised game pop up somewhere this season as a Sunday afternoon gets flexed to Sunday Night Football.

Here are some other Bucs’ scheduling notes:
• The Bucs get a cold weather game against the Packers at Lambeau Field on December 3. The last time Tampa Bay played at Green Bay was in a Cadillac Williams-fueled road win in 2005. The Bucs missed out on another potential cold weather game, as its game at Buffalo is on October 22 instead of later in the season.

• I would expect to see a great deal of Bucs fans in Miami for the 2017 season opener against the Dolphins on September 10. The Dolphins have attendance problems and there should be plenty of tickets for excited Bucs fans who want to make the four hour drive south to see their team kick off the 2017 season. One Tampa Bay fan that will be there is Miko Grimes, the wife of cornerback Brent Grimes, who hated the Dolphins organization while her husband was playing there, especially quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who she believes is overrated – among other things. Miko Grimes was actually arrested prior to a Dolphins home game in 2015 for disturbing the peace, but charges were later dropped.

Former Bucs QB Mike Glennon – Photo by: Getty Images

• Tampa Bay will face a familiar face in former backup quarterback Mike Glennon in Week 2, as he is now the QB of the Chicago Bears. Between opening up on the road against Miami, opening up at home a week later against Chicago and a Week 3 game at Minnesota, it’s not impossible to think that the Bucs could start the 2017 campaign 3-0 if they stay healthy.

• The Bucs were 5-3 on the road last year and will have to have some of that road mojo carry over into this season as Tampa Bay begins the 2017 season with two out of three games on the road. After that, there is a four-game stretch where the Bucs have three road games during that span. Tampa Bay travels to Arizona on October 15 and then treks to Buffalo a week later on October 22. After a home against Carolina on October 29, the Bucs hit the road again for a trip to New Orleans on November 5. Tampa Bay needs to go no worse than 2-2 in this stretch and steal at least two road wins.

• For the second straight year, the Bucs will play both Super Bowl participants at home. Last year Tampa Bay hosted Denver and Carolina, who played in Super Bowl 50. The Bucs lost to the Broncos, but beat the Panthers in the 2016 season finale to sweep Carolina. This year, the Bucs host the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots as well as division rival Atlanta.

• And finally, I’m not going to make any predictions for the Buccaneers based on the schedule coming out. We haven’t even had the NFL Draft yet nor have we had training camp. Who knows what players will get drafted, injured or rise up the depth chart? I think predictions in April are pointless. It’s one thing to do mock drafts all throughout the offseason. It’s another thing to stake your professional reputation on forecasting a team record without knowing who will even be on the roster in September. PewterReport.com will make its season predictions after the preseason as always.