It is hard to place expectations on this season for the Bucs. With all of the changes in the offseason, we all hope for the best, but deep down you still have that sinking feeling its gonna be even worse than before. Jon Gruden is on the hot seat, and how he handles himself could be the deciding factor in the rest of the season. He is pretty much in a position where he needs to make the playoffs to keep his job, which could turn out to be great for the team, but it could also lead him to taking bigger risk's earlier in the season, that could end it before it really began.
Last I checked, isn't having an awful season supposed to set you up with a cupcake schedule the following year? I'm not saying our schedule is too brutal, but 3 of our first 5 games are 2 away games at Seattle and Indianapolis and a home game against New Orleans. So we are already looking at a 2-3 start at best, then look to the fact that the other 2 games are against St. Louis and Carolina, whom are both respectable teams. Who knows maybe we can start 5-0, we can dream right? I just don't see us getting off to a good start, and if we start the season 1-4, you will see Gruden's tension showing, when we start going for it on 4th downs in the 3rd quarter.
One strong attribute this team does have coming into the season is veteran leaders on both sides of the ball. On offense we have Jeff Garcia, who while new to this team bring a great on-field attitude that can only help this team, along with him is Joey Galloway, who is the epitome of a team player. On defense all I have to do is mention Derrick Brooks, along with Ronde and BK. They should be great at helping out the youngsters, such as Gaines Adams(who will have a lot of weight on his shoulders this year.)
All in all there is good and bad going into the season, but looking at our schedule there shouldn't be any games below 32 degrees, so I'll mark that a positive and look forward to opening day.
Tomorrow: Special Teams Breakdown
No comments:
Post a Comment