Preseason Hype Foundation Is Set
May 6th, 2025
Can Todd Bowles lead a team roundly favored to win the NFC South to a division crown and a dynamic playoff run?
Bucs fans are about to find out.
Last year, the Falcons and Prince Kirk were preseason media darlings across the nation and many considered the Bucs to be a seven- or eight-win kind of team. In 2023, the Bucs widely were viewed nationally as hot garbage in the aftermath of the Tom Brady collapse of 2022.
This year? That won’t happen.
Tampa Bay is the favorite.
Various post-draft power rankings are out and Joe hasn’t any without the Bucs as the favorite in the NFC South. Betting lines back that up, too.
ESPN commissioned a “power panel of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities” to rank NFL teams yesterday. The Bucs landed at seventh-best in the NFC and No. 12 overall. The Falcons were sitting at No. 18 with Carolina and New Orleans in the NFL dumpster.
Bowles’ Bucs teams have struggled in prime time games (there will be plenty this year) and they’ve played better as underdogs the past two seasons.
After a 4-7 start in 2023 and a 4-6 record in 2024, the Bucs rallied to save their season and win the division.
The dynamic should be different this year. Bowles needs to find a way to get his team playing consistently and with the pressure of high outside expectations.
May 6th, 2025 at 9:58 am
hype said Falcons had weapons is Dorlus, Trice, etc., but if you look at their depth chart their deep down backups. don’t believe the hype. most of these guys drafted won’t amount to all that much
May 6th, 2025 at 10:06 am
The keys to this season are the coaches and team leaders not letting the younger guys just buy into all of the hype, and keeping Baker healthy
May 6th, 2025 at 10:06 am
I had a dream last night that during the Panthers game (Canales was coaching them) that Jon Gruden, who was a guest of the Bucs at the game, was caught on live TV telling Al Davis he’d supply him with the Bucs offensive playbook! Oh man, if true, Gruden is going to get kicked out of the Ring of Honor again.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:15 am
7th in the NFC?
I’m not buying the Packers as better than the Bucs. Minnesota essentially has a rookie QB.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:27 am
Can we all admit the nfc south has been awful the last few years?
So we caught a break there. If we want to push through….
We need a legit pass rusher maybe we have one ? Maybe we don’t?
May 6th, 2025 at 10:28 am
I think it is better for the Bucs to be ranked 7th in the NFC instead of being in the top 3 or 4. It gives the team bulletin board material. Last year the ATL were everyone’s fave to win the South and the only 2 game and allows them to play with a chip on their shoulders where they looked the part was when Todd Bowles’ D let Cousins look like Kurt Warner on the ’99 Rams. This year the Bucs have the target on their back in division so hopefully the team takes care of business in division and then let the chips fall as they may if they do win the division and host a playoff game and simply make some noise in January.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:29 am
Just got to prove them wrong again…. you do that by winning, if healthy this team can win big.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:36 am
Agreed…Stickin.
Pack has a sketchy O Line, Watson out till last third of this coming season, issues with CB Alexander there anyway, it’s a bias to the lineage. And McCarthy is yes essentially a rookie QB, not the strongest arm ina tough division–will force mistakes. Cincy should be ahead of us, but those two shouldn’t. Hacks on this “panel” anyway.
We should be #9 overall, and 5th in NFC.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:38 am
7th out of 16 teams isn’t exactly a high rating. Fortunately, I don’t take those people very seriously.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:49 am
whoever ranked the bucs at 7 in the nfc is either biased or stupid. only philly and detroit can claim top 2 dogs. bucs beat both last year. wash, bucs, rams, are the next tier. gb, seattle, atl. next. san fran is a ? mark. not sure what’s up with them.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:52 am
One can’t really take any of this too seriously. All these teams have new draftees, have had players leave and have signed new FAs. Every team is 20 to 40% different than the year before plus all the coaching changes. The previous season gives you a general idea but a lot of this will change.
Tired of the talk about the Bucs winning a terrible NFC South yet we beat Washington, Detroit and Philadelphia when we were actually healthy. We wouldn’t have been swept by Atlanta if we would have had a healthy Winfield, Godwin and even Dennis… just to name a few of our injuries.
The Bucs are stacked but it all comes down to health. If we have injuries like we did last year, hopefully our new positional depth comes through as long as they’re not at positions like quarterback, OT or ILB.
May 6th, 2025 at 10:55 am
I won money in the Bucs last year.
I knew we would win 8 games and I knew we would win the NFC South.
I also won 5,000$ when Brady won the Super Bowl.
He should have won the MVP too! I would have won even more!
May 6th, 2025 at 10:56 am
Offense 30+ per game
Defense FINALLY has a 4 man pass rush
DBs look to have real depth
WR room – best in the NFL
RB room – one of the deepest in the NFL
O Line and DTs – Big & physical
We all need to pray LVD is healthy all year
13-4
May 6th, 2025 at 10:59 am
still need one more move…. maybe trade for ramsey or a vet linebacker.
May 6th, 2025 at 11:31 am
Agreed Fred. That’s not exactly a “shiny” endorsement. MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! At Best is how they see us.
I have a Strong Feeling that we missed the bus on drafting a respectable inside line backer. I believe it Was the plan but we “religiously” stuck to our board and Nothing added up for the position as round after round passed by. Mistake? Foolish? Maybe.. but then again maybe not. I’m leaning towards foolish.
The reason I’m doing that is because WE MORE THAN NEED assurances in the middle of our defense! It Does Not feel even close to “shored up” to me and apparently to most on the outside watching.
Though I feel a bit differently than many outside looking in that I don’t and didn’t feel it “had to be” addressed in the first round. THOUGH CERTAINLY IT NEEDED TO BE ADDRESSED and at this point it Sure Looks Like HALF MEASURES At Best.
And it seems all of us feel like we’re Kidding ourselves and Licht seems to be asking us to drink the Kool Aid, pretend that we don’t have a MAJOR ISSUE in the middle of our defense, and all the while feeling like Licht is making a SLEEPY ATTEMPT at shoring up our GREATEST WEAKNESS.
I CERTAINLY HOPE that Licht has plans to do something about the black hole that Must Be Addressed.
Then again, I thought For Sure that Lichr would bring in a O lineman or TWO in 2022 during Bradys run but HE DID NOT! AFFECTIVLY ENDING TOM BRADY’S CAREER RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE! Jason Licht didn’t bring in even ONE legitimate O lineman to replace the gaping holes left by those guys leaving and retiring.
I really like Licht BUT……. He has made POOR DECISIONS before and I’m in Fear that he may do it again….. Watching Very Closely this time!
May 6th, 2025 at 12:01 pm
The personnel is better and deeper on both sides of the ball.
Agreed that Bowles has to get more consistency out of the team. He mentioned that killer instinct. I’m hopeful he and his staff can work with the leaders on the roster to permeate that downstream. If they can do that and be more aggressive on both sides of the ball in certain in-game situations it could be a great season
The window is open
May 6th, 2025 at 12:12 pm
no more ramsey talk. he’s done. 20 mill. plus 1 or 2 draft picks. injury prone, and a big mouth. not up to bucs standards. would be the dumbest f.a. signing in recent nfl history. not against packaging dean and late rd. pick for quality ilb. maybe bucs get lucky and someone good gets cut. fingers crossed.
May 6th, 2025 at 1:42 pm
‘Can Todd Bowles lead a team roundly favored to win the NFC South to a division crown and a dynamic playoff run?’
His resume and Reputation both scream, NO!
But hey, maybe this year he will be the leopard that change his spots!… SMH!!!
May 6th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
ObvioiusOne
“And it seems all of us feel like we’re Kidding ourselves and Licht seems to be asking us to drink the Kool Aid, pretend that we don’t have a MAJOR ISSUE in the middle of our defense,”
Not sure where that is coming from Obvious. I don’t feel we’re drinking the kool aid. You can certainly disagree but I believe a SUBSTANTIAL number here do not feel like it’s kool aid.
Jason is asking us to accept his FA acquistion LVD endorsed, and SVD will help plug that hole.
I’m suggesting that IF the very best safety in the league who didn’t show up last year because of injuries is healthy, THAT will go a long way to plugging the middle as well. I’m also of the belief the Hassan and perhaps one of those draft picks, the continued development of Braswell and YaYa will also help.
Remember it doesn’t matter how big the hole in the middle of the field is if the QB is on his keyster.
I guess one man’s kool aid is another’s Vodka Tonic. (insert drink of your choice)
May 6th, 2025 at 2:01 pm
Rod Munch, that dream deserves some serious psychoanalysis.