After the win on Monday Night Football over the ‘not so patsy’ Colts last night, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have set themselves up nicely in the scheme of things in the NFL.
Standings wise, the Bucs are actually in first place in the NFC South because they have a 1-0 division record with the Home win over Atlanta. New Orleans and Carolina hasnt faced a division opponent yet, until this Sunday.
For the record, if you didn’t get the message last week, listen very carefully…
THE BUCS ARE FOR REAL. THEY ARE BACK. THEY ARE WINNERS.
Now, What does that mean? It means the days of the Bucs going 4-12 or 6-10 are over. Only once in the Dungy/Gruden SuperBowl era did the Bucs not have a winning record after they came of age, and that was their second year, when they went 8-8 in 1998. But they started the season out 0-2, and of course 3-4 like they always did. The Bucs went 7-9, 4-12 and 3-13 recently in Raheem Morris’ first season as Head Coach. But the Bucs have been rebuilt.
The Bucs have now won 15 games in the last 23 games, which is a .652 winning percentage. Not bad! This team is young, and will be around for a long time. The Offense put up 488 yards yesterday; against the Colts. New players will be added each year to improve the team. So dont expect this Bucs team to turn into losers. That time is over with. They may lose games, but they are winners once again.
The Bucs are 3-1, which puts them tied for the 3rd best record in the NFC AND in the NFL. There are no more undefeated teams in the AFC. Remember in the 80s when the NFC dominated the league? Seems like the 2010s could be headed that way again.
DEFENSE
So far, the Bucs are the best scoring defense in the NFC South (77 points) having given up 21 points less than the Saints, Falcons and Panthers. In the NFC, Only the Lions (76), and Redskins (63) have scored less points than the Bucs, and the Bucs next opponent, the San Francisco 49ers who have given up 75 points all year so far.
In the AFC, three of the 4 teams in the AFC North; Ravens, Bengals and Steelers have given up less than the Bucs with 57, 74, and 72 points respectively. The Texans have 70, and The Tennessee Titans have 56 points against. But we dont care about the AFC, the NFC is where the Bucs dwell. So far the Bucs have had only one road game, looking horrible in the first half at Minnesota, but dominating the second half, when they turned the season around.
Tampa Bay is 20th in the league in overall defense/yards per game. The number is high, 368.0 per game, but remember the top 4 passing weeks in NFL HISTORY is these past 4 weeks. Offense is way ahead of defense right now. But Tampa Bay has the 9th Best Scoring defense as we pointed out before.
- Bucs are 7th place in 3rd down % allowed
- 12th place with 28.46 time with Defense on the field; the last two games even better.
- 4th place in fumbles with 9, 4 recovered.
- 13th Tied with 6 teams allowing 6 touchdown passes this year.
- 12th in NFL with 10 Sacks on the year. Thats on pace to have 40 sacks this season.
Even better news on the run defense side. The Bucs have really addressed this side of the ball.
- Bucs have moved up to 11th against the Run with 101.0 yards per game given up.
- 13th place in the NFL with a 4.0 yards per run average.
- Tied for 8th with 6 teams giving up 2 rushing touchdowns so far this season.
OFFENSE
- Josh Freeman is ranked 17th in QB Ratings
- Freeman is tied at 5th with Tom Brady with a 66.9% completion percentage.
- LeGarrette Blount is 12th with 294 yards, on pace for a 1200 yard season.
- Bucs are 14th with Time of Possession 31:14
- Bucs are 9th in 3rd down conversions- 44% tied with Atlanta.
- Bucs are 13th in turnover battle at +1
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