Eric Arnau
Staff Writer
With summer in the rear-view mirror and fall in full swing, it is the favorite time of the year for millions of sports fans. Football is back. The NFL season started on Thursday, Sept. 5 with the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Ravens lost 27-20 after missing a last-minute touchdown by a few toes being out-of-bounds.
About 45 minutes west of Lakeland and Florida Southern College, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced the Washington Commanders at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Bucs opened their 49th season conquering the Commanders 37-20, with Quarterback Baker Mayfield assisting two of the four touchdowns of the evening.
Prior to the game, FSC alum and Bucs Guest and Member Relations representative Shea Soja said the stadium would be alive all season.
“There is a lot of hype going into week one versus the Washington Commanders coming off a heartbreaking playoff loss against the Detroit Lions,” Soja said. “But,with Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans, resigned fans are very excited for what this Bucs team can do this year.”
Discussing expectations, Tampa Bay has big ones for their 2024-25 season. In a video that the Buccaneers posted on their “X” account, Head Coach Todd Bowles set his expectations for his squad.
“The expectations for us shouldn’t just be the division. It’s got to be the Super Bowl. We won the Division the last two years” Bowles stated.
Tampa Bay has not missed the postseason since the 2019 season and they are expecting that streak to continue. Coming off an NFC South division title and an impressive blowout win against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round in 2023, the expectation is to advance further– as stated by Bowles.
The media’s expectations are a lot lower than Bowles, as a lot of media outlets have predicted their playoff streak to come to an end. NFL.com released an article predicting the season, claiming the Bucs will finish second in the NFC South, but will miss the playoffs. This is not necessarily because these experts think Tampa is not a solid football team. It instead is an indicator of how high the media is on the heavily improved Atlanta Falcons.
In fact, NFL.com also released power rankings where Lead Writer Eric Edholm ranked Todd Bowles’ squad at No. 20 in the NFL. Another example is with well-known Fox Sports Analyst Nick Wright on the show “First Things First,” where Wright predicted the Falcons to take the NFC South title this year and for the Bucs to fall short. In 2023, analysts had similar negative preseason predictions for Tampa, so they are comfortable with them adding fuel to the fire.
The 2024 rookie class for the Buccaneers should have some key contributors, which should definitely help improve the roster. Compared to other draft hauls, Tampa ranked towards the bottom of the pack, with ESPN ranking their class at No. 27 in the NFL. This class has some solid contributors even with that ranking: first round pick Graham Barton, third pick Jalen McMillan and fourth round pick Bucky Irving. They’re set to get significant playing time in their first seasons as professionals.
Barton, currently listed as the Buccaneer’s starting center, should help anchor the inside of their offensive line. McMillan, who on the initial 53-man roster is listed as a starting wide receiver behind veterans Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, has clearly earned a lot of snaps and trust from the coaching staff. Irving is only listed behind breakout star Rachaad White at running back on the depth chart. A truly incredible player at Oregon last year, Irving should be a great backup behind White and will be efficient with his touches.
The Bucs have some tough games on their 2024 schedule, but overall they lucked out. In terms of strength of schedule, the Bucs are tied for the No. 5 easiest schedule in the NFL this season, with their opponent’s 2023 combined winning percentage being .478. That being said, it’s the NFL. No schedule is “easy” per say. The Bucs play some tough games and have a tough stretch on their schedule that will prove difficult.
At the end of the year, experts will look back at weeks four through eight, and talk about how it defined Tampa’s season. This is a five game stretch of the season where they will play three games against divisional opponents, and the other 2 games against 2023 playoff teams.
When you talk about a five game stretch with three games against NFC South opponents, that’s about as important as it gets in the NFL and will surely define if the Bucs are playing in January or watching on their couch.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans should be excited for the 2024-25 season as it could be one that results in a lot of success. It is an exciting part of the year for football fans where most will be glued to their television on Sundays.
