FAB 5. SR’s BUC SHOTS
• Tampa Bay has the chance to end the 2016 regular season not only with a 9-7 record – the team’s first winning season since 2010 – with a victory over Carolina on Sunday, but also to finish with a 4-4 home record. After losing the first four home games in 2016, the Bucs have won three straight with triumphs over Chicago, Seattle and New Orleans.

“We had an eye-opener after the Falcons game and we just came together,” Bucs rookie cornerback Ryan Smith said. “Everybody believed in one another and believed in ourselves. Everybody just started making plays. We just got tired of all the losing, especially at home. We came out against the Bears and just dominated that game. Ever since then, we’ve been on a roll and played well.”

Bucs offensive coordinator Todd Monken said there is an awful lot riding on Sunday’s season finale, including ending a two-game losing streak.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston, head coach Dirk Koetter and OC Todd Monken – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

“Ending it on a win, stopping the bleeding,” Monken said. “We’ve given ourselves a chance, we went to Dallas and lost by six and had a chance and we had a chance at New Orleans. So, we’re developing into a really good football team.

“If things don’t go our way this week, then we’ll look at it and say, ‘Hey, here’s what we need to improve.’ Obviously have got to play better at home early in the year and we weren’t playing our best football then, like a lot of teams were. But the difference between 9-7 and 8-8 in my mind is huge.”

• One of the reasons for the big turnaround on defense after Tampa Bay’s humbling, 43-28 home loss to Atlanta is improved communication on the field among the players. Defensive coordinator Mike Smith and his assistants cut down on the amount of talking they would do when watching film with the players in meetings and forced the players to call out formations and play tendencies in the room themselves.

By having the players actually call out what they see in the film and verbalize it helped improve the game day communication when it translated from the meeting rooms to the field.

“(This defense) is kind like a lot of the same thing I’ve been running since I was at college,” Bucs safety Keith Tandy said. “I played corner in college but because of the scheme, I played Cover 3. We run a little bit of everything now, so I do think it takes a cerebral guy to do that. You have to be able to communicate, and I was never a big talker.

“That was always my big thing. When I came in with [Greg] Schiano, he made me talk so much I was like, “Ahhhh, I don’t like it.” But over time you get that confidence in yourself. You start seeing stuff over and over, and then you realize when you talk it makes you more confident and it makes everyone else more confident because you know exactly what everyone else is thinking.”

Tandy and others, including middle linebacker Kwon Alexander, began talking more on the field after the Falcons game, and fewer missed assignments and busted coverages led to more plays, and ultimately more wins for the Bucs down the stretch.

• Tampa Bay head coach Dirk Koetter has accomplished something this season that only one other person has been able to do in his first season as the Bucs’ head coach – not have a losing season. From John McKay to Leeman Bennett to Ray Perkins to Richard Williamson to Sam Wyche and Tony Dungy. All of those head coaches had a losing season in their first year in Tampa Bay.

Bucs HC Dirk Koetter – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It wasn’t until Jon Gruden’s arrival in 2002 when he took the Bucs to a franchise-record 12-4 mark and a Super Bowl victory that Tampa Bay had a head coach with a winning record in his first season. After Gruden’s departure in 2008, the next three head coaches – Raheem Morris, Greg Schiano and Lovie Smith – all turned in losing seasons in their first year in Tampa Bay. Schiano came the closest to a non-losing season with a 7-9 record in 2012.

With eight wins, Koetter and the Bucs are assured of at least a .500 record this year, which is the best mark since going 10-6 in 2010. A win on Sunday against Carolina allows Koetter the distinction of joining Gruden as the only other head coach to post a winning record in Tampa Bay in his initial season.

• One thing the Bucs coaching staff and front office will be looking for in Sunday’s season-ending game against the Panthers will be effort. There are over a dozen unrestricted free agents on Tampa Bay’s roster and mailing in a late season performance will surely not benefit the player in the eyes of the Buccaneers when it comes time to hit free agency.

The Bucs’ brass will also closely watch the players currently under contract to see if anyone plays with a complacent attitude.

“To me, when you play in these games at the end of the year, to me it comes downs to, alright, which group from being a pro are they thinking about the team they’re playing?” Bucs offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. “Are our players thinking about the Carolina Panthers and what they do, just like we were every other week? Are we thinking about, next week if we don’t make the playoffs, where I’m going, my offseason? Because if they’re doing that, they’re wrong. So what it is, it’s about being a pro, it’s about this week.

“I’m glad we get to play again. I don’t care what our record is. So, that’s got to continue with our players because we still have a lot of development to take place with all of our players. Every practice rep matters, everything we’ll do today in practice will matter for this week and our future.”

• One real positive for the Buccaneers as they head into the 2017 offseason is the sheer youth of this team. Some of Tampa Bay’s biggest star players are surprisingly young.

Bucs MLB Kwon Alexander – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans enters his fourth season in the league at age 23 and doesn’t turn 24 until August. Quarterback Jameis Winston only turns 23 in January as he heads into his third NFL season. Middle linebacker Kwon Alexander is also entering his third year in the league and doesn’t turn 23 until August.

“That boy is a baller,” Bucs safety Ryan Smith said of Alexander. “You know what’s crazy? I thought he was older than me. He’s actually a year younger than me. I was shocked when he told me. It’s crazy how many people here are younger than me and they’re stars – they’re ballers. I look up to them. We’re going to be good for a long time.”

• Thank you for warmly welcoming PewterReport.com’s new addition, Bucs beat writer and NFL Draft expert Trevor Sikkema, to our team this week. Sikkema will be having a regular column on Tuesdays starting next week, so be sure to give that a read each week on PewterReport.com. And feel free to interact with him in the comments section of his stories and columns and on the Red Board on PewterReport.com

In fact, that’s one big resolution that the entire PewterReport.com team has for 2017 – more reader interaction. You take the time to leave comments, and we need to do a better job of responding to them on a daily basis. Look for my replies on your comments from this SR’s Fab 5 on Sunday and Monday.

• Kudos to Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans, a Texas A&M alum, for being a good sport after losing our bet over the Texas Bowl where his Aggies lost to my Kansas State Wildcats, 33-28, on Wednesday night. Evans had to don some purple and silver in the Bucs locker room on Thursday, and I gave him my K-State Aggieville shirt to wear.

PewterReport.com’s Scott Reynolds and Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Mark Cook/PR

Kansas State’s first mascot was actually the Aggies when the school was first founded as an agriculture college in 1863. Aggieville is the popular bar and nightlife district by the university in Manhattan, Kan., but since the Wildcats beat the Aggies, I thought it was appropriate for Evans to wear.

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I hope you have a very safe and Happy New Year and be sure to start 2017 the right way by visiting PewterReport.com for post-game coverage of the Bucs vs. Panthers game. And stay tuned all week for PewterReport.com’s 2016 Bucs Awards, a new column from Sikkema on Tuesday, PewterReport.com’s initial 2017 Bucs’ 7-Round Mock Draft on Thursday, and a new SR’s Fab 5 on Friday.