Bucs May Challenge For NFC’s Top Seed
May 19th, 2025
Rising?
Could the Bucs hang with the Eagles and Lions as beasts of the NFC?
One former minor league pitcher thinks they can.
But wait a minute, you say: The Bucs beat the Eagles and Lions last year. Jiminy Christmas, Joe, how can you ask this?
Joe didn’t. Former minor league pitcher Steve Palazzolo said it. The former PFF tribe chieftain now recently said on a podcast with the former high priest of the PFF tribe, Sam Monson.
Speaking on podcast hosted by The 33rd Team, they claimed the way the Bucs kept the offense together and added Emeka Egbuka and defensive pieces, don’t be surprised if the Bucs hang with the Lions and Eagles.
Bucs fans hammered Palazzolo, apparently, as he begged Bucs fans to hear him out because he read the nasty feedback.
Palazzolo noted that while he’s aware the Bucs beat the Eagles and Lions, they were nowhere near those two conference heavyweights.
“Hear me out, Bucs fans … I feel like [the Bucs are] in better position now to beat the lions and the Eagles, teams like that in the NFC,” Palazzolo said. “And then the response is, ‘They beat the Eagles and the Lions, Steve. They beat them last year.’ I get they beat them last year in head-to-head matchups.
“But the Bucs weren’t as good as them. Last year they were 10-7. The Eagles and the Lions were competing for the No. 1 seed. The Eagles won the Super Bowl. [The Bucs] were not at the same level as those two teams. I know they beat him head-to-head.
“But I think the Bucs are more in position to beat them or to compete with them for the NFC [top seed]. I think they’re in better position if they can get similar play from Baker Mayfield with the pass catchers that they have, the continuity on the offensive line, some of the defensive line additions, like Hassan Reddick, and the continuity that they have on defense, right, this homegrown team.”
In fact, Palazzolo really likes how Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht has constructed the roster
“They’ve done a really nice job of drafting and developing and and then sprinkling in free agents and re-signings like Chris Godwin, where needed, and then a contingency for Godwin’s injury, bringing in a rookie this year who I think it’s going to be a fantastic NFL player [in Emeka Egbuka].”
Palazzolo also thinks the Bucs can take care of the rest of the riff-raff on the schedule, which the team couldn’t overcome last year in order to chase the No. 1 seed.
That’s a good point. The Bucs need to do a better job of beating the teams they are supposed to beat. You know, like coughATLANTAcough, and the Bucs will be fine come January.
"The Buccaneers have done a really nice job of drafting and developing, sprinkling in free agents, and re-signing players like Chris Godwin when needed." @StevePalazzolo_ and @SamMonsonNFL explain how the Buccaneers are approaching the top of the NFC 😤 pic.twitter.com/uyB1FMChlp
— Check the Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson (@CTM_Show) May 14, 2025
May 19th, 2025 at 10:59 am
First things first. Before everyone starts predicting that the Bucs are going to be in the conversation for the top seed, the Bucs do need to take care of business with the ATL week 1 and go onto Houston from there (basically avenging losses to both clubs the last time they faced Tampa) Hopefully the Bucs do not have another Bronco debacle in 2025 like they did last year against someone like the Jets. Hopefully Bowles will manage the clock and his timeouts better. Hopefully the edge rush will get the D on track, no more being picked apart via soft zone coverage. A lot of hope and ifs but Palazzolo is not wrong, barring injuries and poor coaching, the Bucs could be a player to do some damage in 2025.
May 19th, 2025 at 11:15 am
The only way our Bucs challenge for NFC or Superbowl is IF…they have fixed their sorry non-existent pass rush problem. And we had better pray to the football Gods Reddick’s poor performance last season was a mirage.
May 19th, 2025 at 11:15 am
The 4 game stretch of Phil, Sea, SF, and Det will tell us everything we know about next years team.
May 19th, 2025 at 11:49 am
he should have argued the Eagles and Lions weren’t rolling yet, and we were whole
May 19th, 2025 at 11:55 am
I’m tired of the Bucs playing down to division opponents – and yet showing they can play well against the big boys (not necessarily winning). To me it’s focus and confidence. Focus on beating up the teams they should beat – like division opponents and Denver last year. Confidence to beat the top teams like the Chiefs and 49ers last year. Focus and confidence comes from leadership on the field, and the coaching staff. The Bucs can make a deep run this year with some health…
May 19th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
Commanders … since they just beat the Bucs?
Eagles
Lions
Green Bay
Dallas (with Dak returning)
LA
… the NFC will be 10+ teams separated by a game or two. Media hype will be over the top for some of them, and others – the Bucs – will be ignored.
Healthiest team, especially on O and D lines, will pull away.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
Last year doesn’t have much to do with this year. That said, the BUCS have a very good chance of taking the conference if the defense as a whole plays better. When SVD went down they had absolutely no one to line up next to DVD. The safety play was sub par. When Dean wasn’t healthy we didn’t really have any viable replacements. It wasn’t just the pass rush. It seems to me that we got some viable depth all through that unit this offseason. Fingers crossed.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
this team is Trey Hendrickson from dominating
May 19th, 2025 at 1:11 pm
DIFFERENT TOPIC – SHILO SANDERS
Have you seen his 2023 stats? 70 Tackles, 1 INT, 4 FF.
2023 was the last year of the P12 with Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Washington. Those are legit stats against legit programs. He’s 6′, 195 lbs, and runs a 4.5.
Why’d he go undrafted?
May 19th, 2025 at 1:13 pm
We lost games last year to teams we shouldn’t have normally because we were very injured. Seems like half the fans here constantly forget about how many injuries we had last year and just rag on the team sucking were the coach being terrible. Most teams suck a bit when a lot of key people are hurt. despite the injuries, we 10 games. if Winfield and Godwin never gets hurt, we went in 12 IMO. If the Bucs have some key players hurt, like Mayfield, Wirfs, Winfield again, Mike or Chris for any amount of time, we will barely squeak by and maybe not win the division. Hoping our luck changes this year and we have a lot fewer injuries. I think the big intangibles are how healthy we are and how Griz does play calling. The roster is solid and the schedule is not that hard.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:40 pm
Bowles is good for 3-4 loses per year on poor clock management alone. 11-12 regular season wins in a year is probably his ceiling.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:47 pm
gotbbucs Says:
May 19th, 2025 at 2:40 pm
Bowles is good for 3-4 loses per year on poor clock management alone. 11-12 regular season wins in a year is probably his ceiling.
^^^^^^^^
Maybe Bowles listens to the clock management coach this year…I doubt it, but we’ll see.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:57 pm
Clock management, as in needing it, should only come into play a few games a year not constantly if we’re putting teams away the way Bowles says he wants to. Score TD’s instead of FG’s, run the clock out with a lead and you won’t need to worry about it as much. Not saying you don’t have to be smart with the time you have and use it correctly but try as best you can not to have it come down to that.