Home Schedule Rugged
June 5th, 2016
“That schedule looks tough, Coach.”
When it is June, it is always fun to look at the strength of schedule.
So Jared Dubin of CBS Sports took the time to examine that for every NFL team. Simply put, the Bucs, if you believe in the strength of schedule, have their work cut out for them this fall.
In fact, the Bucs have one of the toughest home schedules, Dublin believes, with the Raiders leading the way for the roughest.
The rest of the top five in home strength of schedule: Broncos (0.578), Jets (0.578), Saints (0.563), and Bucs (0.562). The bottom five: Chiefs (0.422), Colts (0.430), Texans (0.438), Bears (0.438), and Chargers (0.445).
The Bucs’ home opponents, in order, are the Rams, Broncos, Raiders, Dixie Chicks, Bears, Seahawks, Saints and the Stinking Panthers.
Strength of schedule is sort of fun in the middle of underwear football season, but it seems that it rarely plays out the same way it appears in the spring. Just about everyone thought the Bucs had a rough schedule last year. But a combination of injuries and garbage play by opponents made the strength of schedule much weaker than expected.
The fact the Bucs couldn’t take advantage of the unexpected easy schedule and earn a Wild Card berth, losing five of the final six games against lousy teams, is a big reason why Coach My Scheme is working in east-central Illinois right now.
June 5th, 2016 at 8:10 am
Any given Sunday.
This is the season the the Bucs surge into relevance.
Next season they got to the Super Bowl.
Wait for it!
June 5th, 2016 at 8:11 am
And I just woke up. lol
June 5th, 2016 at 9:43 am
I believe tougher competition brings out the best in winners. A champion in the making doesnt want to face someone easy. They want to beat the best. I think. I think that schedule will benefit the mindst of this team
June 5th, 2016 at 10:06 am
That’s why winning half of them seems sort of like a daunting task looking ahead, but with all the changes in coaching and the two year added talent haul winning feels closer than in the past.
June 5th, 2016 at 10:53 am
Every schedule is rugged.
Every year, good teams from the year before falter, and bad teams from the year before rise.
Every.
Year.
So it’s premature to say what is a tough schedule when every game is tough.
June 5th, 2016 at 11:06 am
We must play better at home to have any chance of a winning record…..duhhh!
June 5th, 2016 at 11:07 am
Good year to get them season tickets then.
June 5th, 2016 at 11:33 am
Rugged alright.. Rugged for every team that has to step inside Raymond Jamies Stadium.
June 5th, 2016 at 11:49 am
Cobraboy Says:
June 5th, 2016 at 10:53 am
Every schedule is rugged.
Every year, good teams from the year before falter, and bad teams from the year before rise.
Every.
Year.
So it’s premature to say what is a tough schedule when every game is tough.
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This is exactly correct!
That is why it is only possible to judge the difficulty of your schedule AFTER the season is completed. But after the season is completed, you can see that the Bucs competed against a very easy schedule in 2015.
In 2015, the aggregate record of the Bucs’ opponents was 124-132. If you take out two games vs. the 15-1 Panthers, the remaining opponents were only 94-130! They played 9 games against teams with records under 0.500, and they went 6-10 against one of the softest schedules in the league.
BTW, the only opponent that had as many as 10 wins last year was the Carolina Panthers. The next closest were the Washington Redskins at 9-7. Atlanta and Indy wound up at 8-8, and all of the rest were under 0.500!
tickrdr
June 5th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Speaking of the Raiders, the Buccs play them at home…they’ll be tough this year as well.
I actually believe the last five may be tougher than the first five games on the sixteeen game slate. With the first five, we’ve got a couple of inexperienced qb’s…a hype game with the panthers where you’d like to think the Buccaneers will be jacked-up for and still fairly fresh being week 5…and a season opener, despite it being on the road in a tough environment, where anything can happen based on it being the first full game of the year.
Last five..three division games (division games are usually the toughest to win because division teams knows your tendencies/playcalls best), a West Coast game (Buccs traditionally struggle on the west coast) and a trip to Dallas (where the Buccs haven’t traditionally played well) against a solid…and dallas team most likely looking to secure a playoff spot. That’s not even mentioning the KC/Seahawks games before the last five (both 2015 playoff teams). Its imperative to get off to 2-3 or better start if we want to have any thoughts of the playoffs. Fool around and go 3-2 or even 4-1….and lookout!
June 5th, 2016 at 2:42 pm
At this time of the year, every team should have the confidence to believe they are going to win the super bowl. As has been already said, its way to early to talk about which teams will be good or bad. Injuries, which are extremely unpredictable, plays a huge part.
June 5th, 2016 at 5:26 pm
Joe you post to much. Stop posting
June 5th, 2016 at 6:04 pm
To be the man you have to beat the man….fire the cannons! ! ! ! !
June 6th, 2016 at 4:24 pm
31 other teams have tough schedules also. Sooo what? No excuses Bucs. Just Win by any means necessary. We don’t want to hear how tough the ocean waves are. Bring the GD ship in baby!
June 6th, 2016 at 6:57 pm
They’re not a good team, they’re not a bad team……They’re THE TEAM!