Media, writers and pundits have not been kind to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the offseason, and it seems that the trend is continuing as football is just about to kick back up again.
Touchdown Wire released their Week 1 power rankings ahead of every team’s first game of the 2023 NFL season, and the Bucs were not highly regarded. The list put them at No. 30, ahead of the Las Vegas Raiders and right behind the Los Angeles Rams.
Here is what Touchdown Wire had to say about the Bucs:
“I don’t know, maybe this is finally Baker Mayfield’s breako-” no. Stop it. We know what Baker Mayfield is. We know what Todd Bowles is. Neither of them are having miracle turnarounds. The Bucs picked a perfect year to bring back the creamsicles because those will be the only exciting aspect of their team this season.
While there are certainly some valid concerns about Mayfield and Bowles, it might be disingenuous to write off both so easily. The Bucs have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball and it’s very unlikely that Mayfield will play as poorly as he did in Carolina with the Panthers — he’s under a new offensive scheme with offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who was able to help QB Geno Smith play some good football last year. On top of that, Bowles has some questions to answer in regard to his clock management and aggressiveness but has his own staff to pick for the first time since he became coach last year.
Talk will turn to proof on Sunday when the Bucs face off against the Minnesota Vikings at 1 p.m. EST.
