Bucs Power Rank? No. 32
May 6th, 2015
Have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers improved?
Elliot Harrison of NFL.com doesn’t think so.
Harrison put his brain on all things related to the completed draft and ranked every NFL team.
The Bucs checked in where they ended last December.
RANK – 32 – BUCCANEERS
Why last? Tampa had a decent draft, but the Bucs were the worst team in the NFL in 2014. Moreover, much is dependent on whether Jameis Winston can be the leader of this team on and off the field. Meanwhile, Tennessee’s concern with its rookie quarterback is onefold: The potential issue with Mariota lies solely between the lines. The Browns had nearly twice as many picks as the Bucs, so give Cleveland a slight nod when it comes to talent infusion. Lastly, of all the current — current — bottom feeders, the Raiders are the most comfortable with their quarterback.
Bucs fans should get used to this kind of stuff from national types. Nobody’s going to be buying what the Bucs are selling, especially after Tampa Bay was a common, sexy pick to make the playoffs last year (Joe predicted 7-9 in 2014.)
Does Joe think the Bucs are the worst team in the NFL? Hardly. This should be a much improved team, but Joe’s going to have to see an awful lot between now and Labor Day to think the Bucs can have a winning record.
May 6th, 2015 at 9:57 am
Hate to say it but we are in the bottom tier
May 6th, 2015 at 10:03 am
Not surprising. Everyone is going to have some level of trepidation about saying that they can count on Winston to be what he’s advertised as until they see him go do it. That’s fine. From a national level perspective, where they have nothing invested in the team they are evaluating, that should be their approach. Not going to call it lazy journalism but I don’t think he’s got his thumb on the pulse of the team so I’m not too interested in his take on how the Bucs stack up.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:03 am
I am realistic. Last year we had a lot of close games. With that in mind, and with the new infusion of players, we should win at least 7 games this year.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:03 am
ESPN has Bucs at #31 Post Draft
However, their very soft schedule could make them look better than they really are
May 6th, 2015 at 10:05 am
None of these BS rankings and predictions mean anything. I saw we got a C+ for our draft….If Jameis succeeds and the two 2nd rounders pan out as starters next season…thats an A, no matter what the other 4 do. Liking this young group we’re building…especially on offense. Can you imagine? The Buc’s with dangerous offense? Man I cant wait for the season to get under way…
May 6th, 2015 at 10:07 am
Destinjohnny you taking bets on that sentiment.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:07 am
Hey guys, now is the time for Positivity and unrequited optimism! Not gloomy speculation!
May 6th, 2015 at 10:09 am
Love my Bucs, but I wont be knighting them early either. Time to put up orrrr shut up. Lot of shotty years in a row will do that to a fan. Go Bucs!~~I hope?
May 6th, 2015 at 10:10 am
The Titans are awful…much worse team.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:12 am
The Bucs will get the last laugh when they pick #3 next year.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:13 am
Until we prove them wrong we belong in the basement… We are starting a rookie QB and two rookie lineman… We have the same defense as last year… Why would we be ranked any higher?
May 6th, 2015 at 10:15 am
I still do not get why Derek Carr is supposed to already be a good pick. He played even more conservative than Glennon in 2013 and avoided INTs, but his YPA is subpar. Any YPA that does not even touch 6 yards mark would not have me optimistic, even in the case of a rookie without many weapons.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:19 am
7 to 8 wins AND Winston has a BIG rookie season. Big enough to start filling up Ray Jay in 2016.
How’s that for optimism GlennonGrad?
May 6th, 2015 at 10:20 am
Maybe someone should send this list to the Bucs over at ONe Buc.
Make sure Jameis see this.
Bulletin Board material.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:26 am
There is no way they’re going to be worse than the Browns.
I am waiting to see where their team win total comes in from Vegas. I would be 99% that it’s 6.5 O/U which makes it a tough bet. I do think they’ll go 7-9.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:28 am
I think its lazy journalism. Did they take into account that we have an actual offensive coordinator this year? I believe we’ve had 2 good back to back drafts for our offense. Nowhere but up from here.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:31 am
No but Vegas has 5 n a half for the over under. We had the worst line then added 2 rooks and we are learning a new system. It just gets down to talent and we don’t have much 6-10
May 6th, 2015 at 10:34 am
@delson – I was leaning toward calling it lazy. However, if you’re covering 32 teams and your management is insisting that the lion’s share of your attention go to the bigger market teams that have been more successful lately, I can’t fault him for just reading a few headlines and forming an opinion. If that were the opinion of a local writer, or even Yasinskas, I’d blow the whistle on them just throwing something out there.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:52 am
Hold on Joe….
Before the Draft it was Winston so we can win now!
Now its well we will have to see and build and maybe win a few more..
No No Winstonites..You stick by the we need to win Now and we can only do it with Winston.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:54 am
Just as we are now perceived as bottom feeders that could turn in one month…say a 3-1 September. The Bucs and in particular, “Fameis” would become the league darlings.
All of this stuff will be ancient history by mid October. Then let’s see what we and the rest of the division really have.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:55 am
@Atrain – We’ll win MORE now with Winston than we would have with Mariota. No doubt about that. Expecting him to walk out his first season in the NFL and be a surgeon in the most difficult position in sports as a 21 year old kid is not only ignorant about how football works, it’s just spiteful because you’re clearly still pouting about your guy not getting his name called.
May 6th, 2015 at 11:01 am
I agree we are 32 right now. Just like the SB Champs are #1 until some one knocks them off, we are the worst team until we prove otherwise. They need to go out there this fall and get better all by themselves
May 6th, 2015 at 11:07 am
What do we have that other bottom feeders dont? We have play makers. Actual, dangerous playmakers that opposing coaches have to gameplan for and defenses must account four. Evans and Vjax are among the best receiving duos in the league. ASJ has to be accounted for, especially in the red zone. Our stable of running backs can wear defenses down. Every player has a role. Now we have a quarterback and an offensive co. to put it all together? We are far from being a legitamate threat again, but we are far superior to the scrubs of this league. I see us being far more balanced than the aints and Falcons. There is no excuse not to crush the Titans week one in Tampa. None.
May 6th, 2015 at 11:14 am
I love the Bucs, but honestly, I don’t see anything more than a 4 win team. Maybe 6 if fortune is on our side. The truth is, we have a new OC, a rookie QB, 2 rookie OL (one might be protecting the blindside of said QB), we have barely added anyone to our DL, we have safeties that would be 3rd stringers on most teams and a MLB who has never played MLB in the NFL. This team is a disaster waiting to happen!
With that said, are we still the worst team? I doubt it. The Raiders look equally as terrible as us. Practically the entire 49ers defense left. The Redskins were so bad, WE were able to crush them (and they weren’t trying to tank like we were). The Titans have similar problems to us, but I do feel that they have slightly more talent. That’s it though. We are a bottom 5 team still and easily the worst in our division. I’m not including the Jags because I really like Bortles and I can see them surprising people.
May 6th, 2015 at 11:16 am
I do not care!
Until the season starts and the Bucs actually WIN GAMES that count….they deserve to stay at RANK #32.
Even if Jameis scores a TD on every drive he is a part of in the Pre Season….the Bucs deserve to still be ranked #32.
The Bucs OWN IT, and the only way to get out of it is to WIN when it counts.
May 6th, 2015 at 11:16 am
Elliot Harrison is a joke…. He’s not even on regular tv, just NFL Now and website videos… He might as well work with Yahoo and Chris Simms… I don’t think we’ll be dead least, but would like to think we’ve improved over what we were…
May 6th, 2015 at 11:20 am
I think we improved in a few areas:
Slot – bell > murphy
Safety – Everett > Conte
OL – smith > cousins/collins – at least he better be!!!
QB – need I say more?
KR – clay appears to be a good returner. he was 4th in return yards last yr behind Lockett and a sophomore from Nebraska Pierce-El, the kid is a monster at 5’8″.
OC – Koetter>Tedford although I wish we would have hired norv turner when we had the chance.
The key to our success lies in mccoy Verner and the oline making enough plays. If everyone else plays like last year we should be 6-10 minimum or dare I say 9-7. Here’s to dreaming big.
May 6th, 2015 at 11:24 am
The only thing that I saw that we could have easily improved upon this off season, but didn’t, was getting a new punter. There were numerous times last year where Koehnen gave the other team the ball with incredible field position and that often translated to easy points. Granted, the defense could’ve just stopped them regardless of where they had the ball, and they sometimes did, but that’s tough duty for any defense regardless of how good that defense is. They could have gotten a punter with a greater than 30 yard punting average on the cheap, even in undrafted free agency the last few days, and that would have been an instant upgrade and a savings on the books
May 6th, 2015 at 11:31 am
don’t be foolish…..we had a college quarterbacks coach running the offense and still weren’t dead last in any major categories including sacks given up by the offensive line. anyone who doesn’t take that into consideration or the fact that we have a proven offensive coordinator who’s offense is consistently in the top 10 every year then they aren’t worth listening too and probably know nothing about any small market teams
May 6th, 2015 at 11:38 am
I’m ok with the low expectations. I think the Bucs will do much better than people are predicting, although they still have several questions marks. Can the defensive line produce a consistent pass rush? Can the offensive line come together, especially with two rookies projected to start? Can the running backs shoulder the load (important with a rookie QB)? Overall, I think the Bucs will do better than most of the pundits are predicting. They might not be ready for a playoff push, but they won’t be the worst team in the league.
May 6th, 2015 at 12:53 pm
No point in being offended by this ranking. We did just finish picking first in the draft. That is what we deserve until we prove otherwise.
May 6th, 2015 at 12:53 pm
No Patrick if you will look back at posts. I said I was behind the Bucs as a Bucs fan.
But the Winston Fans said we need Winston now to win… Not a few games.
Winston was in a Pro style, Winston can win now.
May said Mariota will take to much time to develop and we need a winner now.
Bucs picked Winston.. Go Bucs ///
But don’t think the Winston is the Savior Fans can back away from all that GREATNESS talk … Don’t may excuses now stand by your words..
I think Mariota will be better in the long run… I stand by that.. But he is a Titian and I am a BUCS FAN>> I stand by that…
May 6th, 2015 at 1:00 pm
Careful Atrian, if you keep pouting and throwing temper tantrums your mom is going to put you in a corner and not let you play with the other kids.
How about join us in rooting for the team now?
May 6th, 2015 at 1:01 pm
^^^^ joining
May 6th, 2015 at 2:17 pm
Have we improved? Perhaps, but you can improve AND still be one of, if not, the worst team in football. I’m sure Titans, Browns, etc. all think they improved as well. Until we prove otherwise we deserve to be at the bottom.
May 6th, 2015 at 2:18 pm
And to those saying we lost close games it means squat. I bet almost all teams with top draft picks can claim the same thing. Don’t forget teams get conservative once a lead starts to get big.
May 6th, 2015 at 3:06 pm
No way the Bucs suck as bad as last season. Forget it doom and gloomers with no faith and low expectations, it aint going to happen. I’d bet my life on it.
May 6th, 2015 at 4:11 pm
@ATRAIN i know this is hard to hear, but take it for what it is. Winston was always the pick, would have been the pick for any other team drafting at one outside of the Eagles, and is the better player/talent over MM. If it were even close the Bucs wouldve rolled with MM. Win now or later, Winston gives us the best chance. He is only going to get better yr after yr with no baseball. This kid is going to be a stud #bookit
May 6th, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Some other site I saw listed us around 20. Who cares?
May 6th, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Preseason rankings are sooooo darn important in the NFL. I can’t think of any one factor that is more important than a preseason ranking. Not improving a piss poor offensive line, not improving an average defense (Carter > Foster, anybody > Michael Johnson, anybody > our starting safeties from last season), not selecting a player #1 overall in the draft to be hopefully our first ever franchise QB, and definitely not hiring a proven, successful at the NFL level, and healthy offensive coordinator. None of those things are important…just preseason rankings. I don’t know who’s #1 in the ranking, but whichever team it is, they just need to send them the next Lombardi trophy, playing the season is just a formality.
May 6th, 2015 at 7:29 pm
The Bucs had three major problems last year.
The defense had trouble adjust to the Cover but did so midway through the season. Problem solved.
Incompetent OC. Problem solved.
Incompetent QB play. We shall see.
I do believe Winston is better now than McCown has ever been. Under a competent OC like Koetter should be a steadying influence.