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"Why didn't the 2021 Buccaneers repeat?" Will we be asking this?


DoleINGout

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As stated in another thread, the Buccaneers are the first Super Bowl winning team returning all 22 starters the following season.

Breathe that in for a moment.

Okay.

IF the Tompa Bay Buccz don't repeat this season WHY won't they? What will be their downfall?

Given that I took Brady at a decent value in an early fantasy football draft recently, I have begun to speculate that the surgery he had could be a bigger deal than imagined. Perhaps all of the yoga and avocados and twitter attention won't be enough in 2021 and time catches up to TB12.

But is injury to the GrEaTeSt Of AlL tHyme the only way Tompa doesn't win it all? Could Kyle Trask be up to the task of backup fill-in better than Blaine Gabbert or Ryan Griffin if Brady went down injured? Trask did go to college at Florida so there is that advantage...

Brees is gone, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson have had their own midlife crisis this off-season, the Panthers traded for Darnold, and the 4-12 Falcons said, "Run it back."

San Francisco & Kyle "Check Out My Oversized Hat Collection" Shannahan mortgaged their future for Mac Jones -- who of course conspired to drop his stock so the Evil Empire could grab him. The Rams led the charge on QB stupidity trading for Stafford who is recovering from a pretty serious thumb surgery while the Cowboys are hoping and praying that Dak is the same. Can the Eagles or Lions head coaches give an interview that doesn't make you laugh yet feel angry at the same time that they are NFL head coaches? The Bears are betting on a rookie QB with self-curing epilepsy, the Vikings are betting on Kirk Cousins, the WFT are betting on Ryan "WTF" Fitzmagic, and the Giants are betting on their head coach not getting into a brawl over Daniel Jones' development.

Like what is going on?

I think the NFC opponents have lost their collective minds because of the Buccaneers, and truthfully I do think TB only got better this off-season through the draft.

The real question is:

Will the AFC put out a team that is capable of besting the Buccs in a Super Bowl matchup? The Chiefs, Ravens, Browns, Patriots, Bills, Titans, Colts, Dolphins, or ARod Broncos all have potential we know, but nothing has been proven yet for us to say they could or should beat Tompa.

So, if not for strength of opponent, what is the likeliest of scenarios that Tampa doesn't repeat in 2021?

Edited by DoleINGout
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The most likeliest of scenarios? Any given Sunday. The NFL playoffs are a 1 game series format, all it takes is one bad day from your team and you get bounced. I think the Bucs make the playoffs, and at that point they've got the GOAT leading them, but winning 3 (or 4) straight is no easy feat. 

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37 minutes ago, SBLIII said:

Ball bounces the wrong way, Brady injury, OL injury, defense regresses, Arians thinks he is bigger than he is.

Ball bouncing. Of course, but aside from that...

Brady injury. Trask/Gabbert/Griffin, are they good enough with an elite supporting cast?

OL injury. Of course, but injuries are again a given for every team. Predicting injuries or predicting a decimation to the OL unit? Bucc's starting OL doesn't have a history of injuries so that is sort of in their favor at least. Tom Brady gets rid of the ball quickly which helps and the scheme isn't super long l-developing. There will probably be a tendency to lean on the run slightly more than is typical with Arians just based on their RB depth chart and the fact that Brady is there and knows to pace the team right for the playoffs. The depth on the OL is just okay/seemingly average at best after the strong starting five. A concern perhaps but if one or even two starters miss extensive plays it isn't a large enough hinderance seemingly given how the rest of the team makes up for it.

Defense regresses? Okay, but where? How? The defense is returning everyone along with a great offense to manage the clock. The prime defenders are all in or reaching their peak still with some veterans like Suh who are very capable. This seems unlikely but add on top of it the Saints regressing without Brees potentially and Carolina with a first year potential-bust QB in Sam Darnold replacing the system-familiar starter that was Bridgewater and it feels like some of the Bucc's main competition is less threatening.

Arians thinks he is bigger than he is. What does this look like? How does it manifest itself? Because if the playoffs were any indication, Byron Leftwich and Brady had as much say in the show as Arians does and it really looked like they were all in sync by the end of their run. Do one of these three captains go rouge in trying to steer the ship themselves? Perhaps. Who is the likeliest of them all? Brady has the biggest ego, Leftwich has the biggest incentive continuing his audition for a HC job somewhere in 2022, and Arians is also egotistical but probably not to a fault anymore in Tompa Bay.

Maybe the biggest thing is they all get complacent and think it will be a cakewalk after a while. But with Brady, not going to happen.

The biggest thing that ruins the Bucc's to me would be perfection. The quest, led by Brady, to decimate everyone, go undefeated, and rule the roost once and for all. Being so caught up in their ambitious pursuits and putting too much weight on their shoulders.

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2 minutes ago, DoleINGout said:

The biggest thing that ruins the Bucc's to me would be perfection. The quest, led by Brady, to decimate everyone, go undefeated, and rule the roost once and for all. Being so caught up in their ambitious pursuits and putting too much weight on their shoulders.

*Premeditated effort and preoccupation with setting records that silently alters the winning approach from 2020*

Does the chemistry build into the playoffs like it did in 2020? Is that the X-Factor? Does the fact that 2020 was so 2020 mean that 2021 is a lot harder because teams are all much stronger than they were in the pandemic ridden season before?

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5 minutes ago, SkippyX said:

2021

Yeah but they are the same as the 2020 Buccs aren't they if all the starters and backup's/key contributors are the same? The rookie class has some intriguing additions though. Sentrel Henderson, Jaelen Darden, Joe Tryon, Kyle Trask...

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Before the playoffs last year, the Bucs were maybe a top 10 team in the NFL. They weren't overly impressive. They had some great games, and some flops, and lots of in between.

Once they hit the playoffs, they found their stride and they, to be quite honest, lucked out in the Superbowl facing arguably the worst combination of OL/gameplan I've ever seen from a team with 2+ weeks to prep for one game.

If they don't repeat it will simply be because teams have another year to look at what they did on both sides of the ball and counter that.

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The Bucs were a top 1 NFL team at the start of the NFL playoffs. They were not a top 10 team in September but who cares?

They had no time to become team until about November.

With OTAs, training camp, preseason, and a more normal year they should be heavily favored to get back to the Super Bowl.

 

KC might be better than last year. Buffalo or Cleveland could take a big step forward. You can't just assume a title, but no one in the East is close to their talent level.

Put Wilson, Watson, or Rodgers on DC and that would be interesting, but that's a huge IF. (and even then that guy has to ramp up like Brady over a year)

 

Edited by SkippyX
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12 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

it will simply be because teams have another year to look at what they did on both sides of the ball and counter that.

The Buccs were also in their first year together with a lot of major parts of the playoff run joining within that same timeframe. There is probably an advantage for the Buccs somewhere having an additional year to gel and grow too.

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Coaching. Its really that simple.

Nobody remembers this but during those (Saints game 2), Rams , and Bears we ran a lot of zone. Which is not playing to our players strength and got exposed. Picked apart

Then playoffs game and we manned everything up and locked teams up.

Bowles tries to switch it up weekly but come playoffs he has to stick to the bread and butter or it wont fair well for our man suited CBs.

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