When telling the story of the 2023 Bucs, a lot of things can be said. It’s an account of overcoming outside noise and going through the ups and downs, battling the rocky waters of an NFL season. After starting off the year 3-1, the team went through a prolonged losing stretch with defeats in six of their next seven games.

Sitting at 4-7, a lifebuoy was cast into the Gulf, looking to save what was looking to be a lost season. The team has responded by winning their last three games, and as a result, it has started to shift the narrative of this team. Much of the story has been written, but the climax of this tale has yet to be told.

In football, the stories of trials and tribulations are the most gripping, and what the Bucs have gone through to get here is something that is already on their minds.

Bucs OC Dave Canales: “Another Great Story Is Happening Right Here”

Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales is someone who lives for such stories. On Thursday for instance, he took the time to talk about the parallels of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield as veteran quarterbacks bouncing back, Drew Lock competing with Smith after coming over in the Russell Wilson trade, to David Moore and the jolt that he is providing the Bucs’ offense.

Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Perhaps the best story of all is the one happening for the Bucs as a whole. After early wins lifted the team, a tough losing skid brought questions about the future of the roster and the coaching staff. Those questions have not been fully answered, but that can be a good thing. With plenty of meaningful football left to be played, that can change the outlook of the organization’s future.

“I fall in love with these stories of guys who have to go through hard things but continue to believe,” Canales said. “That’s one of the biggest reasons I’m in it for. Here we are, we got our own story going on with this group, with this team. While we don’t – we try not to pay attention to the headlines and the narratives that are being created for our team.

“As coach [Todd] Bowles always says, we want to try to create our own narrative. At the same time, you can’t avoid hearing those things and [this] group just continues to work through adversity, work through challenges. Another great story is happening right here and I know we got a lot of ball left and we got to focus on this week but I’m really grateful to be a part of it.”

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs: “We Could Have Packed It In”

When the chips were down, the Bucs could have folded.

They could have let the outside noise tell them they were not good enough to compete, even in the NFC South.

While it took time for the results to show back up in the win column, Tampa Bay has shown plenty of fight. Plenty of words could describe the team’s story, from resilience, toughness, determination, etc. In the face of adversity, they have responded with crucial wins, with two of the biggest coming on the road against the Falcons and Packers in consecutive weeks.

“I think our story [is] we had a pretty hot start, it was fun,” Wirfs said. “There were a lot of questions in the air about us. Not a lot of people picked us to win ballgames, but that’s alright. We went through a rough patch and stuff is starting to click for us now. Just the resiliency of this group. We could have packed it in.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“In all honesty, we could have been like ‘OK’… All the narrative outside of this building at that time was – everything I seemed to see on Twitter was like, ‘Oh, the Bucs are going to get a quarterback in the draft or something.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m playing with ‘Bake’ [Baker Mayfield] and he’s a dawg – just give us some time to get stuff rolling, to feel confident. I love everybody in this locker room. I feel confident in everyone in this locker room. I know we’re a very tight-knit group – us as an O-line, us as a team. Just go fight for your brother on Sunday.”

Instead of picking in the top ten, the Bucs look likely to be around where they were last year. That means they are on track to be a playoff team, especially with the Saints losing to the Rams on Thursday night. For Tampa Bay, they will be facing a Jaguars team that looks like they will be without quarterback Trevor Lawrence on Sunday afternoon. While these things work in the team’s favor, everything remains in their hands. They just have to go out and win. That will make the story all the more enjoyable to tell.

“For a while, we always said everything is in front of us,” Wirfs added. “We just have to come out here every week and perform to the best of our abilities. With everything being in front of us right now, it’s kind of business as usual. [We will] go out there and control what we can control and do our best to help the team get a ‘W.'”