ESPN’s Jeff Darlington believes the Buccaneers have what it takes to become this year’s Cinderella story.
Darlington was asked during the NFL Live show on ESPN, which team does he think has what it takes to follow in the Jaguars footsteps. He believes it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If you remember, the Jaguars, over the past few seasons, we’re always on the cusp of great things and showed periodic flashes of greatness despite having terrible records. Over the years they added talent to the defense and to the offense which resulted in one of the league’s best defenses and earned them a trip to the AFC Championship.
Darlington stated that it’s Tampa’s time and that they have essentially done what the Jags had over the past couple of seasons. Both teams had high expectations only to be let down, but bother are teams that have the player personnel. So, the coaches have to step it up and turn this team around and Darlington fully believes the Bucs can.
Last season the expectations for the Bucs were at an all-time high but were again faced with a disappointing season. Licht and company added depth to the defensive line (Beau Allen, Vinny Curry, Mitch Unrein, and Jason Pierre- Paul, signed a nasty center Ryan Jensen), added a known defensive lines specialist in Brenston Buckner, and drafted key players to boost the team in the areas they’ve lacked in.
After missing the playoffs for their tenth consecutive season, the Buccaneers and their fans hope that this season will finally break the losing streak. Things are definitely looking up, and Tampa could be this year’s Cinderella story and it certainly has been a long time coming. Fingers crossed!
