National Narrative About The Bucs Changing After Win Over Vikings?
September 12th, 2023
Changing perception?
Joe mentioned the following many, many times over the offseason. Without Tom Brady and with Baker Mayfield, just about the entire universe outside of Tampa Bay believed the Bucs were low-key tanking and among the favorites in the Caleb Williams sweepstakes (#CollapseForCaleb).
Did the gritty win over the Vikings on the road change the narrative if not the perspective of the Bucs nationally? Well, too small of a sample size, but Joe thought the following was interesting.
John Breech of CBS typed that after watching the Bucs beat the Vikings on Sunday, he doesn’t see why the Bucs can’t be a contender in the woeful NFC South.
As a result, Breech gave the Bucs a B+ for the Week 1 win.
The Buccaneers might want to think about re-opening those Mike Evans contract talks. The veteran receiver was a big reason why Tampa Bay was able to pull the upset in this game. … … Evans caught six passes for 66 yards, including a 28-yard TD pass in the second quarter that tied the game. Overall, the Buccaneers offense wasn’t pretty, but it seemed to come through with a big play whenever Tampa needed it, including a fourth down conversion by Baker Mayfield in the fourth quarter that set up a 57-yard field goal that ended up being the deciding points. Defensively, the Bucs got burnt by Justin Jefferson in the first half, but then clamped down on him in the second half. Between that and forcing three turnovers, it was an impressive day from Tampa’s D. It’s only one win, but there’s no reason to think the Bucs can’t contend in the NFC South.
Is the Mayfield perception changing? Maybe. But the Bucs have to follow up with a win over the dreadful Bears in the home opener Sunday for this to continue.
Joe pointed out even noted Mayfield-hater Peter King sort of begrudgingly gave Mayfield a doff of the cap — a grand total of two sentences on Mayfield/the Bucs’ win in his famed “Football Morning in America” column, which this week totaled over 10,000 (!) words.
Other things that received equal or additional coverage in King’s *football* column yesterday:
Flies: eight sentences (not counting excerpts)
Baseball: five sentences
Tennis: two sentences.
Just keep winning, Baker.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:02 am
The season is going to be better than expected. Buckle up. Parity is here just look at the opening game scores and unexpected results.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:12 am
Notch a convincing win at home vs. the Bears and some people may jump on the bandwagon. I’m a lifer since 76. All I want to see is grit, effort and heart like they showed in Minnesota. Last year they looked disinterested and going through the motions. This teams needs some alpha dogs. Wirfs needs to take charge on offense and Devin White on defense, especially if he wants the $$$.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:14 am
Fields looked the same as last year… didn’t go through his reads, passing wasn’t good and quick to take off and run… Bucs should have a really good chance to win their home opener!
September 12th, 2023 at 12:19 am
People who didn’t watch a lot of Bucs games last year are gonna start to understand what went wrong. I saw a post on another topic saying maybe Byron was a big culprit in the offense being shitty last year. Uhh you think!?
People don’t understand, the Bucs have a solid D that lacks in the pass rush department a bit but they tried to address that this off-season, Brady, as great as he is, couldn’t buy extra time and couldn’t take many hits, and Leftwich stuck his head in the sand avoiding analytics and all the things us casual viewers could see every week. Guy was a terrible OC. Hands tied a bit with the personnel.. absolutely but no excuse to trot out those players around Brady and be a 18 ppg team. Byron was stubborn as hell and had no creativity. Only question that lingers for me is how did Brady and other players on offense not get in his ear constantly to make changes. Makes Brady seem complicit which is the only thing I have a hard time getting my head around.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:27 am
I like how one win can blow up an entire narrative we heard all offseason. This is why I don’t trust anyone national to cover our team.
I said all offseason that with a mobile QB and a new offensive coordinator we should be as good if not better than last year. And I’m just a dumb fan who’s usually drinking a beer when watching the games. What’s Peter King’s excuse?
September 12th, 2023 at 12:29 am
This was truly a team win with complimentary football. They can talk all they want but we needed to see it. We did. This team seems like it’s going to THRIVE, continue to learn each other’s “pages” and knock our socks off!
September 12th, 2023 at 12:51 am
We only play against two great quarterbacks this season, jalen hurts and Josh allen, so it’s possible for us to have a winning record and make the playoffs
September 12th, 2023 at 1:06 am
Josh just threw 3 picks….
September 12th, 2023 at 1:13 am
Wait until the hype when they go 3-0 to open the year.
September 12th, 2023 at 1:15 am
Mike C Says:
September 12th, 2023 at 1:06 am
Josh just threw 3 picks….
———-
What a bust. Thankfully the Bucs traded out of that pick and instead got Vita. Bucs get an A+++++++++++ for that deal.
September 12th, 2023 at 1:21 am
Really burns me to see Jordan Whitehead w 3 pics- Why? Because I thought he was a keeper and a failure of Licht not to make it happen. I was right. Should have got rid of Davis
September 12th, 2023 at 1:38 am
The “my team doesn’t get the respect it deserves” doesn’t really matter unless the team wins, and even then it doesn’t matter.
September 12th, 2023 at 1:51 am
CleanHouse – I would need keep Whitehead straight up for Davis, however, you likely could have had Whitehead AND Cappa – the salaries were pretty close if I recall. Still, Davis is a very good corner, and would be extremely expensive to replace. But, for the Brady run, I’d have rather kept those two and took my chances with SMB and drafting another corner. Still, it’s not clear cut in either direction, but I’d side towards keeping the offensive line continuity as much as possible until Brady left – and the Bucs did get good play out of Shaq on the line.
September 12th, 2023 at 1:52 am
*would not have kept Whitehead straight up for Davis…
No idea how I screwed that up, must be beer, except I’m cold sober.
September 12th, 2023 at 2:08 am
His mixie has won the team.They will protect him even more.
September 12th, 2023 at 2:39 am
Rod Munch!!! Thank you! I felt exactly the same way about Cappa and Whitehead and taking a roll of the dice finding a new corner.
Anyone who likes can look up my comments from that time.
September 12th, 2023 at 4:01 am
No sign of the Tank Stank Crowd here today.
Go Bucs!
September 12th, 2023 at 4:18 am
I expect a certified letter in the mail with a detailed apology from Peter King, Chris Simms, Steven A, and several other @$$ hats andy day now.
Go Bucs!
September 12th, 2023 at 5:28 am
While Baker didn’t have the best passing game, the drops by receivers also affected that. But all you need is a little mobility and a QB who has the confidence
to make” must have” plays. Baker dis that, and I hope he can keep it up.
September 12th, 2023 at 6:52 am
I’ve said from the beginning, it doesn’t matter what the outsiders think. This team has legit top talent on both sides of the ball. They are still on pace for 10+ wins.
September 12th, 2023 at 8:18 am
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here , Minnesota looked like a 4-13 team not a 13-4 one
Let’s see what they do Thursday against the Eagles
We were 2-0 last year before nosediving to 6-10 after….
September 12th, 2023 at 8:22 am
It would have been real easy for the team and Mayfield in particular to have just curled up and died after that start, especially on the road. That they stayed in it and pulled out the win says a lot.
September 12th, 2023 at 8:31 am
Sign Mike and make him a Buc for life.
September 12th, 2023 at 8:54 am
ME13 isn’t going anywhere. He’s stuck it out through some stinker seasons when he could have bailed, plus he and Godzilla Godwin are buds off-field. I laugh at the comment threads on here. There’s the usual assortment of fake fans, dumbos, and genuine Buc fans who know their Xs and Os. I was at the inaugural home season game at RJS. Who was the opponent? Da Bears. Bucs won it. No reason why it can’t happen Sunday. Go Bucs!!
September 12th, 2023 at 8:57 am
Good Start… lets get that Bears game W and start 2-0 vs the NFC which is an important tie breaker for down the road. nobody in our division scares me
September 12th, 2023 at 11:33 am
HE’S RIGHT …
Evans earned some money on Sunday. But not a lot. He also dropped a TD pass.
THE GUY …
The guy that earned money on Sunday was Devin White. That would have been one of his best games had they allowed him to rush the passer (and gotten a sack).
September 12th, 2023 at 12:00 pm
I was at the game on Sunday in Minnesota. IMO There is nothing sweeter than being in enemy territory for the win. It is better than any RayJay victory I’ve been to at home.
That being said, I have never heard a stadium this loud, it’s got to be top 5 noise stadium, and they went 8-1 last season at home, that stadium noise was a huge factor to their success I’m sure.
Full disclosure, nothing against Baker, side-by-side after preseason I was Trask supporter, as I see a higher ceiling for Trask. I feel their ability to throw and run the ball are very similar, but I like Trask size. That being said, I just don’t see Trask handling his first pro game against a tough defense with the noise that stadium produced consistently. I think Baker’s veteran experience paid huge dividends. There was 3 penalties the whole game for the Bucs, and I’m not 100% but I don’t think there was false start on the line…I don’t know how that is even possible. As long as Baker doesn’t have to play hero ball, we’ll be winning quite a few games. Go Bucs!
September 12th, 2023 at 12:35 pm
For those in the trash Mayfield camp who like to point out that Mayfield has thrown more INTs than any other QB during that timeframe, Josh Allen is now only one INT away from tying Mayfield and I guarantee you that Allen played on a much better team than Mayfield has, prior to this season. Yet, someone here described Josh Allen as one of the two “great” QBs the Bucs will play this season.
September 13th, 2023 at 7:41 pm
After seeing the first half of season before week #5 bye I was hoping for 2-2? With Bears 🐻 looking horrible, Jets losing Rodgers I can see 3-1 or 4-0 only losing to Eagles in week #4.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:53 pm
Funny how all the haters are silent on here 🤣. But I’m sure they will be back the first time someone makes a mistake. Go Bucs and the real Bucs fans