Tampa Bay’s Schedule is Brutal This Year… or is it?

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According to the NFL experts at CBS Sports, the Buccaneers have the fourth hardest schedule in the league in 2018 (See here). The only teams who have an even more difficult task are the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints. These predictions are based on the 2017 records of the opponents of the upcoming campaign. The teams whom Bucs will face had a combined record of 136 – 120, that equals a percentage of more than 53.

First of all, Tampa Bay’s schedule will be tough in 2018, regardless of whom they are facing outside of the NFC South. Our division rivals are as strong as ever, each of them is capable of making it all the way to the big game. Playing New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina twice a year is simply brutal.

Starting the season in New Orleans, followed by a tough game against the Super Bowl Champions and then the Pittsburgh Steelers sounds like a nightmare. There is a very real chance the Bucs might start the season 0-3. Other than that, the Bucs face the rest of the AFC North and the NFC West, as well as the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers, two teams who will have to be reckoned with this upcoming season, even though they did not perform particularly well in 2017.

On paper, the schedule does not look good for the Bucs. However, it is only May and a lot of things can happen before the Regular Season rolls around. There are teams which are expected to do well and end up playing terrible every year, just like the 2017 Bucs. As of now, no one really knows how the teams will perform in September or October or even later than that. Injuries happen, as well, and will take their toll on several teams again.

Conclusively, the tough schedule might look scary now, but let us wait for the games to begin, as the current state of teams does not mean very much at this moment.

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