Ah yes, it is that time of year again. Heading into the New Year many people can be found enjoying their downtime with their relatives, and feasting into some holiday delicacies (sweet potato pie is a personal favorite of mine). In the NFL, teams’ fates have largely been decided. Some teams are already locked into the playoff picture, some are only one win away from it, and others need to pull off a miracle to book their spot.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves in a spot many teams would kill for. They have already clinched their spot, and are slated to be real contenders, even though they have lost some big names such as Shaq Barrett, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Leonard Fournette. Although they have lost a significant amount of their stars to injuries, they still have the depth that can come up big for them in the playoffs. This is actually going to be our first resolution of the new year for the Buccaneers.
Utilize Depth
I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy replacing the names we have lost, but we have some bright young stars in Cyril Grayson and Ke’Shawn Vaughn who quickly made names for themselves in last weeks tilt against the Carolina Panthers.
What we are also seeing more of due to these injuries is a shift in offensive sets, with more two-and-three tight-end sets being run. This gives significant opportunities to Cameron Brate and O.J Howard to really start delivering more than they are used to.
New signing Leveon Bell should also be getting more looks now, especially seeing as Leonard Fournette is out for quite a while. Ronald Jones II had a great game last week, but it wouldn’t hurt to spread the love around and have Bell hop into the play as well. Some other great news is that Breshad Perriman has come back from the reserve list and might be ready to play this upcoming Sunday against the Jets.
Defense Builds on Momentum
Although they struggled throughout the season, the defense really showed some glimmers of dominance last weekend. For the past two games, the defense hasn’t allowed a single touchdown, which is pretty impressive considering this defense had some major holes at the beginning of the season.
This seemingly rejuvenated defense owes a lot of its success to Jordan Whitehead and Mike Edwards, the key secondary players who are making it happen on a nightly basis. With last week’s game, the Bucs also moved to first in the NFL’s sacks leaderboard, which is always something to celebrate. Heading into the playoffs, the defense will be more important than ever, so let’s hope they can keep this up.
Go and Win Another SuperBowl
I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. As of this week, the Bucs have the third-best odds at capturing the Super Bowl (+650). Just ahead of them are the Packers and Chiefs. Now, I’m not a betting man, but even with the injuries sustained to the Buccaneers, I know that somehow, someway, Tom Brady will figure this out. He always has, and if history has taught me anything, it is never to bet against the G.O.A.T.
What are some of your Super Bowl predictions? Let me know in the comments below!