NFL Suits: You Don’t Want To Face The Bucs In The Playoffs
November 14th, 2026
Playoff chatter.
Some NFL suits believe the Bucs are a “sleeper” to fear.
That’s the word from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. He typed a story for the four-letter with an outlook for the second half of the season.
No one is expecting the Bucs to suddenly become a juggernaut. However, the suits Fowler spoke to told him they want no part of the Bucs if the pewter pirates made the playoffs.
The Bucs are 3-6 but, thanks to the NFC South landfill, could win the division with as few as seven wins. After Sunday’s games, the Bucs will be out of first place by one game and the Bucs are already 2-0 in division play with four more to go.
The 3-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers could make some noise if they emerge from the NFC South race. A stout defense and potent running game should translate well to January football.
Well, what is the old cliché about playoff football? You need to be able to run and play good defense. Why? Because both travel.
The Bucs woud not be play any home playoff games outside of their first game, assuming they finish first and not ahead of the weak NFC East winner. So Joe could see why the suits Fowler spoke with are keeping an eye out for the Bucs.
November 14th, 2026 at 8:15 am
Stop it !
November 14th, 2026 at 8:18 am
Bowls won’t let it happen.
November 14th, 2026 at 8:20 am
I’m with SB-LV: Stop it !
November 14th, 2026 at 8:26 am
Another old cliche: You have to win games to compete in the playoffs.
Was this article written for your 8-year-old nephew Joe?
Newsflash: THIS TEAM SUCKS!!!!!!!
November 14th, 2026 at 8:28 am
TBBF is confused….don’t you have to make the playoffs before you can be a sleeper in the playoffs?
November 14th, 2026 at 8:30 am
That’s if we make it that far and our receivers can get as open as Tez was on that 60 yard bomb. Scheme them open. And RJ. The ball even more than we did against the Bears. Run Tucker occasionally too late to keep the backs fresh.
November 14th, 2026 at 8:32 am
Playoffs?
November 14th, 2026 at 8:40 am
As we all know the passing game must improve. Unfortunately it is not just one thing to work on. We need pass blocking improvement. We need Baker to play better. We need our WRs to get open consistently. Most importantly we need better play calling. Baker is under center when we run the ball, then he goes to shotgun when we pass the ball. It’s so obvious. We need more play action off the run game. And why are we throwing the ball to our TE so much? You would think he is the focal point of our offense and he is not.
November 14th, 2026 at 8:45 am
More wishful thinking.
November 14th, 2026 at 8:46 am
Let’s all put our heads together and figure this one out. So in the history of the National Football League, take every QB who has started at least 5 games. That sure narrows down the field.
It turns out that the Bucs have the QB with the best playoff passer rating of all time. 13 touchdowns against 4 interceptions. Not too shabby. It’s called clutch as a m’er f’er.
So anyone with a lick of sense can’t be considered going out on a limb predicting we’ll be scary come playoff time. We’re fielding a team that’s going to be scary alot quicker than playoff time. And I ain’t whistling Dixie.
November 14th, 2026 at 8:46 am
Boy, yes we can hope this team suddenly becomes the Cinderella team and comes storming back after the bye. Baker, returns to old form, the receivers make us go ME who, the O line actually pass blocks, Baker loses his poor eyesight and his happy feet slow down. Arians comes out of retirement and takes over for Robinson. Then next year Bowles decides to let Arians become HC and he returns to DC so he can finally have an OC. YES, hope we still have that and I will cling to it!!!. Well until we lose the next critical game in the last seconds to Car at home. Oh please don’t say that it will ruin my hope.
November 14th, 2026 at 9:04 am
Prophylactic Brain!! Another ingenious positive posting
What i saw was a team that played their azzes off.
The Bears didnt beat them
The Buc beat themselves
Get the passing in order
Clean up the mental mistakes
And yes this is a really good football team
Ra Ra ! Lynch mob
November 14th, 2026 at 9:15 am
Que the Jim Mora impressions…
The Bucs can win the NFC South at 7-10.
If they win just 4 more NFCS games they are in the playoffs.
Plus – the games against the Chargers and Ravens all of the sudden appear like possible wins as well?
Could we be looking at a mid season run and a 9 win team?
Stranger things have happened.
November 14th, 2026 at 9:17 am
6-11 you wont have to.
November 14th, 2026 at 9:22 am
The Bucs aren’t a good team, but on any given Sunday, they could be dangerous.
They took the Bears to overtime and made Williams look bad.
Any team that faces the Bucs better have a good run defense. 😉
If Jalen McMillan ever makes it back, it should help out the offense.
November 14th, 2026 at 9:23 am
@Marine,
Exactly. And I can’t help but hope we make the playoffs and win a game or two. Because I love the Bucs?….. Sure
But there’s a part of me that would find it funny how mad it would make everyone else in NFL Fandom. My thoughts being if we have to watch this slogfest of a team all year you do too!
November 14th, 2026 at 9:24 am
1. Teacherman was calling for Bruce Arians to save us and return as our OC afyer Week 2!
And many you laughed at me. And mocked me.
I’d like to say I told you so!
2. Emeka looks very slow. I think Mike Evans left because we drafted him instead of a MLB to help our defense last year.
3. Our defense looks amazing.
4. The Falcons traded away Bates: their best player. Great news for the Bucs!
5. Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans have 3 difficult games the next 3 weeks.
6. Our bye week has come at the perfect time.
7. if we win our next 3 games, we will be in 1st place.
Dont lose hope guys!
But if we want to truly win the Super Bowl, we need to call Bucco Bruce Arians!
Hes coached with Bear Bryant for Christs sake!
Hes the GOAT!
Bucco Bruce is the only man who can save our offense!
November 14th, 2026 at 9:28 am
This is the national media trying to keep all fans engaged. Blah blah blah. I’m happy to have the week off from having to watch Todd’s clusterfuk . Although our defense was impressive this past weekend .
November 14th, 2026 at 9:30 am
hopeium not opium will turn this around maybe some painkillers though
November 14th, 2026 at 9:35 am
I’m feeling a lot of wind up my skirt right now. This is laughable and pathetic.
November 14th, 2026 at 9:42 am
And maybe after 7 more games to be played, Zac Robinson can figure out how to stop the stupid penalties, get WRs open and get Baker on track. There is still *hopium* to be smoked until the bowl is empty.
So many foolish ppl in here who proclaimed early on the Bucs would not miss ME
November 14th, 2026 at 9:44 am
You can’t change offensive systems during the season, so we’re stuck with what we have, absent maybe adding a few plays. But BA could SURE as hell point out to Zak when he’s running the SAME exact play from the SAME exact formation 2 series in a row! (THAT would be the pick 6)
November 14th, 2026 at 9:46 am
I predict that the Bucs will win 7 of their last 8 games getting them to 10 and six like I originally predicted. Go Bucs.
November 14th, 2026 at 9:50 am
Bucs choke in the playoffs….
Every team should be praying to play the Bucs in playoffs….
November 14th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Every see the movie Knight and Day?
With Bruce Arians your chances are UP HERE.
Without Bruce Arian and instead have Zac whats his name still playing rookie league, You Are DOWN HERE…
With Brue… (HIGH CHANCE of success) w/o Bruce (or someone else but especially without) “NO CHANCE”
It’s no more complicated than that and it’s “likely” that Zac whoever isn’t going anywhere. Therefore, I can’t actually “believe” the Cinderella Story or the Snow White fairy tale for that matter.. can it possibly come true. Zac is just FAR TOO rookie league without pazzaz or color necessarily to bring that sweet kiss or the crystal shoe for the chip.
Not happening “as is”
And THAT’S too bad. It would be well worth it. We lack the vision by the people that pull the strings and write the ending..
November 14th, 2026 at 9:57 am
If Bruce does go to another team to become the head coach
You know that OBP is a COMPLETE dysfunctional sheet show!
November 14th, 2026 at 9:57 am
Stop with the playoff talk. Got half a season left and next up is the lions. One game at a time. That being said we hung with the bears who are playing the best football right now and it’s cause of our defense yes we lost but it was a great defensive game and we did run the ball which the bears are good at defending. Haters will cry and whine about how bad we are and I’ll counter with just the offense is bad the defense and ST is playing the best in the league. Don’t need to blow anything up next season just need to fix the offense.
November 14th, 2026 at 10:00 am
Nope! The only people who can save the offense, is the players themselves.
They make the plays,coaches draw them up
November 14th, 2026 at 10:15 am
So many idiotic takes from the resident clueless “fans…errrr trolls”
Professor Clump says the team “sucks”.
They’ve been in EVERY game, even the ones with a UDFA QB.
The defense has been top 5. The ST has been very good. The running game has been stellar.
Nothing about those units has “sucked”.
If this team can just develop an efficient passing game and our high paid QB can play mistake free football, this team will be hard to deal with.
But keep logging on and banging on your keyboard that everything “sucks”.
You sound like a real bright guy.
November 14th, 2026 at 10:18 am
Here is food for thought Joe,, if and its an if, if the Bucs do win the NFC South and make the playoffs , believe it or not we may be able to have the 3 seed not the 4, The NFC East is as much trash as the NFC South
November 14th, 2026 at 10:18 am
If,if,if
November 14th, 2026 at 10:22 am
Apparently few people on this board has been an Entrepdeneur or taken a Psychology course. Science,says an optimistic attitude,leads,to good results,and the opposite is,also true. The,defense is in top form because it is more of a group effort and they have jelled. Offense is too QB dependent by design and the top guy was injured. Gm was too cheap to spend money on Garrapolo so you had, a guy who accomplished nothing in college and nobody would draft. This,set back the tine line. But in a,weak division with some weak opportunities coming up we can right the offensive ship. Aargh a Pirates life. Also clearly there are outside agitators,and non football issue activists on this board..
November 14th, 2026 at 10:23 am
Who wouldn’t want to meet the low scoring Bucs in the playoffs
November 14th, 2026 at 10:28 am
Them:
Oh no, we’ve got to play the Bucs we’ll be lucky to score 25 points
Also, them:
Don’t worry, they can barely score 20 and might help us score a few points too.
November 14th, 2026 at 10:35 am
As painful as it is to even think about, if the Bucs make the playoffs they would be a 3 or 4 seed depending on the East. Getting a 5 or 6 seed at Home, would be a winnable game since Zach would have had 4 frickin months to finally figure something out besides a screen pass.
Ok, back to reality…
November 14th, 2026 at 10:42 am
Ah the dream of making the playoffs, at this point with all the things that have gone wrong over the last 4 seasons and Bowles having a lot to do with, I’m finished with with him. Each season has been mediocre accept for the first one and he let over 2 minutes run off the clock to lose to the Lions. 2 minutes that’s 5 plays, 5 chances to win, tossed over a shoulder, oh well better luck next year right? We have the flimsies owners than I’ve witnessed in the league. This is the bottom of the bottom for the man. I would have let him walk after Atlanta to save that little piece of dignity left in his soul.
November 14th, 2026 at 10:45 am
What a bunch of baloney! Away fans would be thrilled to travel to Tampa to watch their team steamroll the Bucs!!!
November 14th, 2026 at 10:45 am
Bucs will get the 3 seed with a better record than whoever wins NFC East. After Detroit we could run the table easiest schedule in the NFL after the buy! We will be hitting on all cylinders! Who knows right now just get healthy get ready for Detroit who will be coming home from overseas! A bye team vs a team who played in another country try the week before should in all seriousness be a huge advantage for the team coming g off the bye! Upset Detroit and things get exciting!
November 14th, 2026 at 10:52 am
Same story for the past five years. I’m numb to it. As long as Baker is our QB we aren’t doing squat.
November 14th, 2026 at 10:52 am
Everyone is so nice to us. See that’s why having a coach like Bowles is so amazing. Like when Rams didn’t my run the score up on us when we lost to them last year. We are really good losers. We lose with respect. See we really can be winners in our own minds. Ahhhh that’s better. It’s a 3-28 cursed Bucs life
November 14th, 2026 at 11:12 am
“PLAYOFFS?!??” – Dick Vermeil
November 14th, 2026 at 11:50 am
I see that Kenton Smith has been eating retard sandwiches again.
Yep, Baker is the best Playoff QB of all time. Bar none.
Which explains the 8 Lombardi trophies he’s hoisted.
Compared to Mayfield, the one they call Tom Brady is just a scrub. 🤣🤣🤣
November 14th, 2026 at 11:50 am
They will only go as far as the defense and running game can mask a really bad passing attack. There is reason teams wouldn’t like this matchup. Top 5 defense, 1st in takeaways, number 1 running game, and top 5 O-Line. All their losses have been one possession games. This team would be SB contenders if they even had an average-above average passing game. Something you’d expect from a 55M QB
November 14th, 2026 at 12:16 pm
Teams in the NFC we could beat in playoffs by running the ball,, good special teams , no turnovers or penalties,,, answer:::: All of them
November 14th, 2026 at 12:27 pm
If Baker continues to suck for the next 1-2 games, we should go back to Jalon Daniels.
At least he hit on a few clutch throws and our passing game looked slightly better with him at QB. Plus, he can scramble for multiple 1st downs per game.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
Nutty professor, Kenton is sometimes a bit more optimistic than I can stomach, but he’s not wrong there. The stats are the stats whether you like them or not.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:36 pm
Hopefully Pats/Lions is an overseas knock each other silly game , maybe even OT ,, could make a long flight home more miserable
November 14th, 2026 at 12:39 pm
Also watch Steelers/Cinci game this week,, Cinci coming back from Spain and Steelers had a bye ,, see if that advantage shows cause we are in the same spot next week
November 14th, 2026 at 12:45 pm
Fanofdabucs, got a lot of participation trophies, did you?
Marky mark, how does fan optimism help the team perform? I took psychology in college, too, but I must have missed that part.
November 14th, 2026 at 12:49 pm
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
GMAFB.
November 14th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
Statistically, we tend to have a mid season slump after the bye. Hope the ST and D players can maintain some internal fire. The O is like charcoal without starter fluid – no fire.
November 14th, 2026 at 1:40 pm
Sure they don’t. Wink, wink.
November 14th, 2026 at 2:52 pm
this is almost like last year around joebucfan with the empty playoff hype, except the record at the bye (6-2 remember??), well also except the egbuka OROY foolishness after a few games (remember that?). well except the baker MVP talk (memba that?)
the bucs will be lucky to make the playoffs same as every year with bowles as coach.
November 14th, 2026 at 3:02 pm
If there was ever a time to get hot and gel the time is now. Work on timing. And snap counts. And counter plays- use LOTS of those!
November 14th, 2026 at 4:05 pm
Gotta get in the club first
November 14th, 2026 at 4:30 pm
10-7! Why not?
November 14th, 2026 at 4:38 pm
Erik … said “If Baker continues to suck for the next 1-2 games, we should go back to Jalon Daniels.
At least he hit on a few clutch throws and our passing game looked slightly better with him at QB. Plus, he can scramble for multiple 1st downs per game.”
Did you actually watch the games? As bad as the team under Baker has been, it was even worse with Daniels.
Jadon’s average completion was for 5.1 yards and he threw for a whopping 100 yards per game. He threw three TDs to 5 INTs. The ONLY thing he was better at than Baker was avoiding sacks.
Baker average slightly more per completion (6.5 yards) and 50% more yards per game (154). He has the same number of TDs as Daniels but one less interception thrown. Keep in mind, though, that he has hardly thrown the ball at all since coming back and the offensive line was REALLY bad the first few games of the season.
Neither QB has been stellar. Thinking Daniels is the better of the two is simply not based in facts.
Hopefully, our O-line stops all of the ridiculous drive killing penalties. Maybe Zac can figure out how to scheme a receiver or two open sometime before the season ends, too.