It would be hard to “decline” from 3-13!

The issue is, will they be any better. You seem to think that is a foregone conclusion. I say the proof will be on the field.

P Brent Bowden 1
QB Jevan Snead 4
QB Matt Grothe 6
WR Arrelious Benn 17
WR Mike Williams 19
CB Myron Lewis 23
S Cody Grimm 35
LB Rico McCoy 44
LB Dekoda Watson 56
DE James Ruffin 60
OG Sergio Render 66
TE Jeron Mastrud
WR Preston Parker 87
DT Brian Price 92
DT Gerald McCoy 93
DE Erik Lorig 97

Do you see the double standard? Blind hating acceptable, blind praise, not?

yeah, yeah, I know – I know.

Obvious improvement has already occurred prior to a game being played, it makes perfect sense, I can’t understand why everyone can’t accept it.

Its a big mystery!

One can reasonably conclude that the Bucs have improved the team. In fact, many in the natioanl media have reached that conclusion, some in the local media too. Some Bucs fans are a lttle slow to give in . . . uh . . I mean to acknowledge the obvious . . . uh . . how about, to be converted? (Yeah, that’s better)

Except for the dropping Clayton part, results are unknown.

Joe, once when I disagreed with you, you said that you could not be blamed for my reading comprehension problems, right? Might want to review my comments. I said that Bryent wins the “proven man to man” argument and he probably even wins the “2010″ argument. My only point was that you and others would not hyperventilate about as much as you do if you looked at (a) the total picture and (b) the long-term.

Long term, this is what the Bucs have done:

Dropped Bryant
Soon to drop Clayton

In exchange they get Benn and Williams, with nowhere near the same investment risk as they had in Bryant and Clayton, and they probably get a 3rd round pick to boot.

That’s good news, right?

For example the Raiders probably “thought” they upgraded their QB position with Russel, or the bucs “thought” they upgraded with Mr. Adams.

Thus all that can be said is that the bucs “think” or “hope” or “expect” that they have upgraded. The reality of those predictions/expectations has yet to be established, and neither has the success of the “rebuilding plan”.

Not a shock that fans have high expectations, but it does suprise me that Mr. Dom seems to be adding fuel to that by proclaiming he expects both to be starters. Not what you usually hear from a GM.

I’m sure Freeman will be much improved. I honestly thought he played much better than his stat sheet showed last year. I’m confident in two-three years we might legitimately have one of the top passing attacks in the league. But this year? Nah. Optimistically, this year we’ll see Stroughter emerge as a strong slot receiver and Brown show some of his early career promise; we’ll see Freeman completing a much higher % of his passes and cutting down redzone turnovers. Maybe we’ll see flashes of future brilliance from Benn/Williams. That’s what I hope to see. I would put money on neither Benn/Williams making the pro bowl. Would it be great to see? I’d love it. I’d buy a jersey. But it’s only a little more likely than me winning the powerball.

An upgrade to the recieving corp as a whole? Possibly.

Now there will, in theory, be more targets to throw to. A few of the INT’s that Freeman threw last season were due to him forcing the ball to Bryant.

You go from having one really good reciever to having (hopefully) three capable recievers.
You can still have upgraded the recievers as a whole even if Bryant is better than each of them individualy.

Now Benn, Williams and Straughter have to hold up their end of the deal.