Understanding your 2011 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I’ve scanned through the hundreds of comments on facebook and twitter over the last couple of days, and have come to the conclusion that we have the least educated fan base we have ever had at any point of our existence as Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This makes no sense because we live in an age of Twitter and Facebook and tons of internet sites, fan should be MORE educated, not LESS so.

So in an effort to bring our fans up to speed, here is the 2011 Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan guide to what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are.

For starters, most of these comments are coming from some very young people. That means you werent around for the SuperBowl, nor were you even around for Cadillac Williams era. You certainly were NOT around for how our Superbowl era team was built, which is the most important lesson to be learned.

These Bucs fans want the Bucs to blow all of their money on three or 4 of the top named Free agents, somehow thinking that is going to translate into a Bucs Superbowl. Ask yourself these two questions-
1) Do the Washington Redskins spend a lot of money on Free Agency? Does it get them anywhere?
2) Do the Pittsburgh Steelers spend a lot of money on Free Agency? No. All they do is win superbowls.

Please read more…

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were purchased by the Glazers in 1995 and built a new stadium and new uniforms for the team to wear in 98 and 97 respectively. The team was build based on drafting good young players. John Lynch, Mike Alstott, Warren Sapp, Dave Moore, Derrick Brooks were all drafted BEFORE the team donned its pewter uniforms, and all but Alstott were drafted BEFORE Tony Dungy arrived.

The team started to have some success, but they didnt abandon their plan- They drafted DB Ronde Barber, Brian Kelly, Steve White, Warrick Dunn, Anthony McFarland, Martin Gramatica, and more. Then, after 4 years of toying with the playoffs and getting to the NFC Championship game, the Bucs started to pick up high stakes free agents. Once they figured out where their needs were that were NOT addressed via the draft. WR Keyshawn Johnson. QB Brad Johnson was added in 2001 along with Simeon Rice.

The Bucs laid a foundation on draft picks, and then added Big Name free agents when they realized where they needed them. The Blueprint for building a Tampa Bay Bucs superbowl team is still on the Glazers desk folks. They are doing it right now.

This is only year 3 of the Bucs rebuilding program. year one was a miserable 3-13, but year two was a nice refreshing 10-6. Not confuse a winning record with a SuperBowl team. the Bucs are NOT SuperBowl ready, or 16-0 ready. Your emotions will not turn into Bucs wins, only frustrations when they do not.
Last season, rookies like LeGarrette Blount, Mike Williams, Cody Grimm, Arrelious Benn, and Gerald McCoy all began developing into future stars for the Bucs. But for some reason, now fans want to change the recipie for success. They want big name free agents to come in. Where will you put these FA? On the defensive line? Do you realize if you bring in a FA DE, then either Da’quan Bowers or Adrian Clayborn will not develop? You develop by playing not riding the pine.

If we had signed a big time WR last year like everyone wanted, Mike Williams would be going into this year as a big Question mark “we dont know what this kid can do, he’s unproven”. Instead Williams developed into a serious WR threat in only one year. Every time you bring in a FA now, you will be pushing back the development of a future Bucs star player.

Had the Bucs brought in a FA Defensive Tackle in 1996, to “provide leadership”, Warren Sapp would not have started, would not have developed, and turned INTO the leader he was.
You dont hire leaders, you CREATE them. McCoy is becoming a leader. It just happens, you cant plan it.

So please Bucs fans, dont try to win a Superbowl in 2011, it wont happen. Instead, be happy the Bucs are developing INTO a SuperBowl caliber team, one like the Indi Colts or Steelers, that every year is talked about as a Super Bowl capable team. That will only happen if you let the Bucs develop the team according to the recipie.