Predicting the Buccaneers first five games courtesy of the Professor

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I recently watched the Cannon Fire Podcast’s season prediction show and it made me start contemplating their reasoning. Below, I’ll provide my reasoning for my predictions for the Buccaneers first five games.

I have to agree under the same scheme and coaching as last year most of their predictions would be spot on. This is no way a knock on Rhett or Evan. Those two are really on the ball. If you haven’t checked them out, you can find them on most podcast apps, YouTube and of course right here on Bucsreport.com’s Podcast Network. I’ll use the first five games on the Buccaneers schedule to make my case.

49ers
The first game this season with the San Francisco 49ers they both agree the Buccaneers will win handily. In my opinion, this is a telling game and will be far closer than anyone expects. I do agree the Buccaneers will win, but I believe it will be a close game and could in fact end up an upset at the expense of the Buccaneers.

Panthers
This game is where I start really disagreeing with their predictions. In the past, Carolina has been a thorn in the Buccaneers side. The matchups are similar to last year so I understand their feelings about the results. Where we differ in our opinions is on the defensive side of the ball. Moving into a 3-4 defense puts the Buccaneers at advantage here simply because the 3-4 the Bucs are installing is almost identical to that used in the AFC North. This defense has stymied NFC South teams for years. Carolina has been just as vulnerable as the rest of the division in this aspect. This game will show fans exactly why Devin White and Vita Vea are so crucial. Bucs win in Carolina.

Giants
I’m going to skip the Giants game simply because I fully agree with the guys that the Giants are in rebuilding mode, I’m not sure who they are anymore as a franchise. The Buccaneers are just a better team at the moment. Buccaneers win.

Rams
I am going to “rock the boat” here as I have the Bucs shocking the Rams. I do have a logical reasoning for this pick. My reasoning is based on two separate things: Bruce Arians and the superbowl let down. Most would probably dispute this pick and call me “Nuts” for choosing the Buccaneers over the Rams in this game. Call it a gut instinct, but this game in my opinion, will go to the Buccaneers and put the NFL on notice. Bucs win.

Saints
Going back to what I said about the Panthers, the same principle applies, but the outcome is different here. As I pointed out before, the NFC South has had trouble working against the 3-4 defensive scheme the Buccaneers have installed. The Saints however, have been the exception. They had trouble early on when facing AFC north opponents. So Sean Peyton learned to scheme against that defense fairly successfully. It’s still a thorn in their side, but they are much more prepared for it than any other NFC South teams. Perhaps it could even be why the Buccaneers have had limited success versus the Saints recently.
I would like to say that Arians can prepare for Sean Peyton’s adjustments and still win this one, but here I have to go with the Saints for the win until I am shown something different from the Bucs.

That’s it for now. I just wanted to headline that this team is not in anyway the same team as last year. It’s really an unknown commodity and making predictions based on prior performance is redundant and in fact, inaccurate. We will have to see in games where any new strengths and or weakness lies within this new scheme and base future predictions accordingly.

 

Written by: Johnny Dean

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