TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Fall From Grace: Who won the Super Bowl in 2002? Well, that team just happens to be the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was Jon Gruden’s first season as the head coach, and the now “aged” Tampa Bay defense was a young and spry group put together by Tony Dungy during his tenure with the club. How times have changed. Since that 12-4 regular season, the Bucs have found their way back to the playoffs only once in the last 4 years. Last seasons horrendous 4-12 finish was the 3rd time the team has finished with 7 wins or less. It was their worst season in the last 10 years. Can Gruden change things around in 2007? It will be his last chance.
Over or Under: The Bucs are 26-39 O/U over the last 4 seasons. They are a team with a stigma of tough defense and a grind it out offense, and their over/under totals have followed suit. The Buccos haven’t covered the total in over half their games since 2000. That’s 6 straight years of sub-.500 totals. Over the last 5 years, they are 33-50 O/U. That’s what I like to call consistency.
Against the Spread: Tampa bay is 24-36-5 ATS over the last 4 seasons, having their 2nd worst ATS performance, in that time span, last season where they were 6-9-1 ATS. Only in 2004 were they worse, compiling a horrendous ATS mark of 3-10-3. The Bucs are 12-17-3 ATS at home during the last 4 seasons, going 3-4-1 ATS at home last season. November has not been good to Tampa Bay. Just when it starts to get cold the Bucs fold. Over the last 4 seasons, they are 4-10-3 ATS and 6-11 SU during the month of November – both are the worst monthly percentages for the Bucs.
Straight Up: Since their Super Bowl win over the Raiders in 2002, the Bucs have made it back to the playoffs once and gone 27-38 SU over the last 4 seasons. While they’re 11 games under .500 over the last 4 seasons, they are 16-17 SU at home. Last year, the Buccaneers were 4-12, going 3-5 at home, and winning just 1 road game, against Cleveland in Week 16. That loss gave them the 4th pick in the draft instead of a chance for 2nd or 3rd. Nice.
Who’s Starting?: Last year was a tough year to be a die-hard Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan. Promising young starter Chris Simms went down early, and was out for the year, and Cadillac Williams couldn’t’ escape all the attention that defenses gave him in his sophomore season. Simeon Rice, a defensive mainstay over the last few seasons, was out for most of the year and rarely successful when he did play. Booger McFarland, their young promising DT, was traded to the Colts. Rookie 6th round pick Bruce Gradkowski was the starter for much of the season, and Michael Clayton continued to disappoint. When you couple that with the 12 losses after a playoff appearance in 2005, yeah, you could say 2006 was a tough year for your average Buc fan. This season, the Bucs picked up a few well-known quarterbacks and the best defensive lineman in the draft.
