“Stronger Than Most Realize”
July 7th, 2025
“Bryan, why is our team misunderstood?”
Joe sees quality bias in the latest NFL newsletter from the pay-per-read site TheAthletic.com, a New York Times property with big-name reporters.
The Bucs have been in the playoffs the past five seasons and have won four consecutive division titles after beating the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. So it’s obvious the Bucs have been a known commodity playing high-profile games. And they’ve got a healthy share of star players.
Despite that, writers Jacob Robinson and Dianna Russini apparently surveyed hundreds of thousands of football fans to determine the Bucs roster is underrated.
Joe’s being a wiseass. Of course Robinson and Russini didn’t run around their office and nearby pizza joints asking fans about the Bucs, and they didn’t poll the masses. But they did feel compelled to share in their NFC South preview that this 2025 Bucs club “looks stronger than most realize.”
Gee, thanks.
Better than 2024? Yes. Their offense remains almost fully intact, though former OC Liam Coen’s loss may be felt in the early weeks. But with their defensive upgrades, this team looks stronger than most realize, especially when you notice six of last season’s eight losses (including playoffs) came in one-score games. Having one of the 10 easiest schedules should help them get back to the postseason, where the range of outcomes feels wide for a team that beat the Commanders, Lions and Eagles last year — but also lost to the Dak Prescott-less Cowboys.
Joe wants to know who is “most” for these national reporters? It sounds to Joe like “most” means their media friends on group texts, or Boston, San Francisco and Chicago elitists who misguidedly think their local teams are on the cusp of historic greatness.
Joe thinks it’s obvious that the Bucs roster is very strong. That’s common knowledge to anyone paying attention.
Can coaching get the roster over the hump and back to the postseason win column? That’s the big question.
July 7th, 2025 at 2:16 pm
When you have a Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator who is confused by pass defense in a passing league the skepticism is warranted. Bucs have talent, what the biggest difference between the good and bad teams is coaching and until proven otherwise the Bucs do not have a good Head Coach.
July 7th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
“Joe wants to know who is “most” for these national reporters?”
Their peers. Saw a vid on the alphabet network with Field Yates singing the Bucs praises and even watching it in real-time, it felt weird like Yates had to convince himself that he knew enough about the Bucs to feel the way he did. I will point out, that take from Yates came after he interviewed AC/DC loving, Super Bowl winning, and the best damn GM this side of the Kuiper belt Jason Licht(insert fanfare) so maybe payola or even better, intimidation via zoom?
July 7th, 2025 at 2:24 pm
I quite like the role of underdog – it’s a lot better than convincing yourself you’re going to win the Super Bowl then wanting to hang yourself after losing to the Saints in week 1.
July 7th, 2025 at 2:42 pm
They won’t be taken seriously with the orange uniforms… it brings back the past as a national laughing stock.
July 7th, 2025 at 3:11 pm
I have one thing to say
“A Wolf don’t value the opinion of a Sheep”.
July 7th, 2025 at 3:29 pm
We have the players assuming they can stay healthy. The biggest problem is poor coaching. Bowles is not getting it done on defense and has made monumental mistakes. At best, he is a mediocre HC that has a play not to lose mentality. This team needs to learn to play to win if they want to advance in the playoffs.
July 7th, 2025 at 3:30 pm
Strong rosters are often held back by poor coaching….
Jury is still out on Grizzard but we know Bowels coaching is fecal mater!…
July 7th, 2025 at 3:35 pm
Joe noted the other day how badly the Bucs suck in Primetime games.
Those are the only games ‘most’ people see of the Bucs.
So, ‘most’ people think we suck.
Case solved.
July 7th, 2025 at 3:55 pm
You can’t be an elitist if you don’t disagree with “most.” It’s right there in the definition. Ironically, elitists imply that they disagree with most of their audience, most of whom, in turn, believe that they disagree with most other people. All are convinced they are the happy few while the rest of the world welters in ignorance.
July 7th, 2025 at 4:36 pm
It’s interesting that so many Bucs fans inisst that our biggest issue last season was ‘Bowles not getting it done’.
On our 2024 offense the Bucs had SEVEN players who logged 75% availability or more: Mayfield, Otton, Wirfs, Bredeson, Barton, Mauch & Goedeke. Back in our 2020 Super Bowl year we had EIGHT players on offense who logged that much availability: Brady, Gronk, Evans, D Smith, Marpet, Jensen, Cappa & Wirfs.
On our 2024 defense the Bucs had TWO players who logged 75% availability or more: LVD & McCollum. Back in our 2020 Super Bowl year we had NINE players on defense who logged that much availability: LVD, D White, JPP, Shaq, Davis, Dean, SMB, Winfield, Whitehead. And Ndamukong Suh came pretty close at 74%. Monstrous difference in availability. And talent?
Can’t remember hearing any of the Bucs ‘fans’ bitching about Todd Bowles’ coaching back then. Gee, I wonder if the level of talent AND availability makes a difference to how well a defense performs given the same coaching staff.
July 7th, 2025 at 4:47 pm
Erick, good point.
July 7th, 2025 at 5:18 pm
I’m all in with Coach Bowles
He’s winning divisions and developing young talent at the same time
Only a fool would go against that
July 7th, 2025 at 6:57 pm
Roster very strong. Everyone knows who/what holds the team back.
July 7th, 2025 at 7:32 pm
I’ll jump on the “fire Bowles bandwagon” if the team stays relatively healthy and we don’t win at least 11 games. We’re stacked on offense and we’ve improved on defense. I’ve given him a pass until this season because:
2022 = Brady divorce/Online issues/lost much talent to age/cap
2023 = 3 inside O-linemen gone/Brady & others out –> cap hell
2024 = Extreme # injuries on D w/ 2 probowlers — less cap hell
Over the last 3 years we needed to find a good running back, find a good punter and rebuild the interior line. Done, done and done. We also finally have a little money left over to get us an edge rusher with a proven track record. Hopefully he gets back to where he was and we’ve drafted really well the past 3 years. The Bucs are one of the youngest teams in the league with a few older stars scattered about for stability. I feel some fans are overly harsh on Bowles but I will agree with all of them if we suck this year without a very, very good reason (Baker and Wirfs on extended IR, White and Bucky accidentally bump heads in practice and both have concussions with extended IR, something similar happens with Evans and Embuka, etc). It really has to be extreme… NOT the team plays flat, loses all the prime time games, has time management errors or anything related to coaching. It’s time to show he’s learned something over the last 3 years.
July 7th, 2025 at 7:48 pm
@KAbucs seems to be the only guy speaking some sense this year no excuses everything should go great this year better oline picked up an edge or 2 and some db a lil spending money for other lil things we will be great this year