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TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Head Coach: Raheem Morris
Chairman: Glazer Brothers
GM: Mark Dominik
Home Field: Raymond James Stadium
2010 Record: 10-6
2011-12 NFL Season
There has been a ton of news concerning the Buccaneers this off season. Too bad, little of it has to do with playing football. CB Aquib Talib was indicted on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Texas, and Center Jeff Faine is fighting off questions about his dedication to the team after some questionable comments regarding player-only workouts. In backtracking, Faine said "I can assure you that my dedication to my team, the Buccaneers organization and the Tampa community has never wavered. I take pride in sharing not only football experience, but life skills and business knowledge that my teammates can use after their football careers end. This quality is why I have been voted a captain the past three years. It would be tough to find a player in this league that wears that captain's patch with more pride."
In the draft, the Buccaneers selected Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn with their 1st round, 20th overall selection. Clayborn wasted little time espousing how he will handle offensive lines in the future. "I just believe that's the way all great defensive linemen want to play. I mean look at (Ndamukong) Suh. He plays so violent. He gets after people. It's just an aggressive position. That's how I like to play and that's how I'm going to play."
Other draft selections included Clemson DE DaQuan Bowers (2nd round, 51st overall), Washington OLB Mason Foster (3rd round, 84tg selection), Tennessee TE Luke Stocker (4th round, 116th overall selection) and Florida SS Ahmad Black (5th round, 151st overall selection).
Outlook: The Buccaneers should improve even more this season with a great young QB (Josh Freeman) and a full time running back (LeGarrette Blount). Look for Head Coach Raheem Morris to bring more explosiveness to the defense and for their passing game to improve dramatically.
Tampa Bay Archives
The Tampa Bay
Buccaneers for a majority of their existence have been
one of the worst teams to ever step onto the field.
The franchise set the bar for futility by losing the
first 27 games of their existence from 1976-’77 and set the National Football League
record for the most consecutive losses. From 1976-1996
the team only had two winning seasons. During that span
the team had a record of 104-223 which is a .318 winning
percentage. In 1996 a man by the name of Tony Dungy came
in and breathed life into the franchise. Since the 1996
season the Tampa Buccaneers have had five winning seasons,
five playoff appearances, and two divisional championships.
In 2001 after Dungy had failed to get the Bucs to the
advance through the playoffs to the Super Bowl for the
fourth time, he was fired. The Bucs then brought in the
young offensive minded former Raiders coach Jon “Chucky” Gruden.
In 2002 Tampa Bay finished with a 12-4 regular season
record and won the very first NFC South divisional crown.
The Bucs earned a first round bye and faced off against
the San Francisco 49ers in the second round. The 49ers
had just come off of one of the craziest endings of a
game in recent memory and maybe of all time. Tampa Bay
proceeded to just completely dominate the 49ers in every
aspect of the game and won the game 31-6. In the NFC
championship game the Bucs had to go toe to toe with
the mighty Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles had an identical
record to the Buccaneers and had also come off a very
convincing second round win by grounding the Falcons
20-6. Philly fell 27-10 after not scoring a single point
in the second half. That set-up a Super Bowl match-up
of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders.
Coach Gruden obviously knew every single nuance of the
Raider offense and helped his team out by being the scout
team quarterback for the week leading up to the Super
Bowl. The Bucs just ripped Oakland to shreds beating
the Raiders 48-21 and the Raiders scored 18 of their
21 points in the closing minutes of the third and fourth
quarters well after the game was out of hand.
Last season the Buccaneers found
out that having a target on their backs wasn’t so much fun. They
weren’t quite as scary as they were in the 2002
campaign. The team was mediocre all year and it showed
in their record of 7-9. It was the first time since 1996
that the Bucs had a losing season.
In the off-season Tampa Bay made a plethora of moves
in free agency and they basically changed the team that
failed to make the playoffs in 2003. The team let go
of 13 members of the team including defensive fixtures
like tackle Warren Sapp, strong safety John Lynch and
linebacker Nate Webster. They did pick up 19 free agents
to off set their losses. They brought in big names like
linebacker Ian Gold, running back Charlie Garner, who
thrived under Gruden with the Raiders, quarterback Brian
Griese, and defensive tackle Darrell Russell. They also
traded away troubled wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to
the Cowboys and got speedster Joey Galloway to give the
Bucs a deep threat they didn’t have.
In the draft the Bucs needed
to pick some good young players that could come in
and contribute right away and they seem to have gotten
just that. With the 16th pick and their only pick in
the first two rounds the Buccaneers snatched Louisiana
State wide receiver Michael Clayton. Clayton is a soft-handed
receiver that has shown he has a mean streak by being
the best blocking receiver of the ’04 class.
The Bucs also picked up Washington outside linebacker
Marquis Cooper and Ohio State safety Will Allen. Allen
has a knack for making a big play when his team needs
it.
The Tampa Bay offense has never been known to light up
the scoreboard and the 2003 season wasn’t any different. Despite all the hype about Jon Gruden
being an “offensive guru” he hasn’t done much with the Bucs.
Last year they did finish 11th overall in total offense and 6th in passing
offense, but the team finished 26th in rushing offense.
The Tampa defense was strong
as normal and finished 5th in total defense. The defense
will take a big hit with the losses of Sapp and Lynch.
They shouldn’t
be too bad next year because they are still led by arguably
the best player in the NFL Derrick Brooks. Defensive
tackle Anthony McFarland and cornerback Ronde Barber
will also help keep offenses honest next year.
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