What’s the future hold for the Bucs?

Listening to Pewter Report Radio last night, Scott Reynolds mentioned something that I could not have agreed with any more. Reynolds quoted unnamed insiders in the Bucs organization who had mentioned on several occasions that the Bucs will probably be big players in Free Agency next year, and that it was something planned all along. 

The Bucs fully intended to ‘Stock Up’ on young draft talent for three complete seasons before assessing the team’s needs, and then addressing them in Free Agency. This year was the 3rd draft under the Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik leadership, and the team finished addressing the defense which is started last year after stocking up on offensive talent. Actually, if you look at the drafts over the last two years, its been a mixture of offense and defense, and the Bucs have played it smart drafting based on strength of the position in the college draft, not based on need. Sometimes, it was a case of both fitting the structure of what they were trying to accomplish.

Defensive Ends were plentiful this year in the draft, and the Bucs took two of the best in the first two rounds. Last year Defensive Tackles were the rage. The Bucs drafted their linebacker for the future, wide receivers, and stocked up on Tight Ends for the next generation.

These players are still green though, and they lack the polish it takes to win and/or play consistantly in the NFL. This is why the Bucs are struggling right now- plain fact, they are not that good. They LOOKED good last year, but when you adjust for the talent they played up against, and take into account the plays that happened when they needed them to happen, the Bucs finished 10-6 and just missed out on a play off birth.

But in hindsight, the Bucs built up our expectations with that winning record, but we never looked deep enough to see how easilly it could have gone the other way. Consider these factors when you look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2010-2011

• 2010 They played the worst division in football in the NFC West, and they went 4-0 in those games.
• 9 games the Bucs played sub-par quarterbacks or those past their prime. They went 7-2 in those games.

In 5 games last year, the Bucs won when a critical play happened at the perfect time, or the other team’s blunder helped the cause;

• Week 1 Cleveland was driving with a 14-3 lead which could have been 21-3. They likely would have lost that game, instead Ronde Barber saves day.
• Week 4 at Cincinnati Carson Palmer continued to throw when running would have been the smarter thing to do.  Bucs intercepted and scored.
• Week 6 Bucs hosted St.Louis Rams who completely outplayed Bucs. A last second TD pass to Cadillac saved the Day.
• Week 7 at Arizona the Bucs required a late Interception by Aqib Talib to win the game.
• Week 13 at Washington, the Redskins totally outplayed the Bucs, and tied the game on 4th down w/second left, but PAT went over kickers head.

If these games go the other way, the Bucs are no longer 10-6 but 5-11, or perhaps 6-10 or 7-9 if some come through. That would STILL have been an improvement over the 2009 season, and fans would have (should have) been happy to see the team progressing by playing close games. It would have been said, “This Bucs team simply needs to learn how to work.

Going into 2011, the expectations would not have been as high, and a 4-5 record would be just about where the Bucs should be considering what they are: A group of very young players getting on the job experience while the club’s management is assessing which players are the ones who can be the core on this team for years to come.

In 2011, the Bucs have NOT faced over the hill or poor backup QBs, instead they have faced Mathew Stafford, Matt Ryan, an improved Alex Smith, Drew Brees, Jay Cutler, Drew Brees and Matt Schaub, with Aaron Rogers on the horizon as well as Cam Newton and Tony Romo. Instead of making the key plays at the right time, the Bucs are NOT making those in 2011. I submit that not only the Bucs fans, but the Bucs players themselves are realizing they were over-rated a bit.

But all is not lost- hardly! In fact, the Bucs are in prime position to make a serious post season run in 2012. They have a core group of young players making up their nucleus. They have a lot of money available to spend in cap room in free agency, and if Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds is correct, expect the Bucs to make some dents in the Free Agent market at Linebacker, Wide Receiver, and perhaps at Running back.