There is no question that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were underwhelming last season. After expecting one last Super Bowl push the Bucs finished the year with a 8-9 record and a first round playoff loss. This led to a change at offensive coordinator and a welcome retirement from quarterback Tom Brady.
These weren’t the only departures from Tampa Bay. Key contributors like Donovan Smith, Leonard Fournette and Shaq Mason were dismissed from the team and big name veterans like Julio Jones and Kyle Rudolph left in free agency.
With all these changes I can understand why some are pessimistic about the Buccaneers playoff chances. With the roster still being built there are a lot of unknowns with this team and that can lead people to doubt any franchise. However, the oddsmakers in Las Vegas have taken it a step further.
Various sports betting books have released their projected win totals for every NFL team in 2023. Not surprisingly, the Bucs projected win total went down compared to last year when Brady and company were coming off a playoff clash with the eventual champion Los Angeles Rams. This is very fair based on the team we saw last year and what they have now.
Drastically Disrespectful
With that said, the oddsmakers have dropped the Buccaneers drastically. To the point where it’s even disrespectful to the two time defending NFC south champions. Frankly, I don’t understand the logic of this projected win total.
Currently the Bucs are set at winning 6.5 games. To put that into perspective, there are only two teams with a lower projected win totals. That is the Arizona Cardinals (who will be without starting quarterback Kyler Murray next season) and the Houston Texans.
This goes beyond pessimistic about the Buccaneers playoff chances. This is saying that the Buccaneers will be one of the worst five teams in the league. Projected to finish worse in 2023 than many teams that were far inferior last season.
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For example, the Chicago Bears are set at 7.5 wins. That’s the same Bears team that finished with the worst record in the NFL last season. And while they, like the Bucs, have made additions in the offseason they also still have many holes on the roster and their star players haven’t proven anything that should lead you to believe that they’ll be better than the Buccaneers.
The Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans are both set at 7.5 wins as well. These are two more teams that finished well below the Buccaneers last season, yet are projected to be better than Tampa Bay next season by Las Vegas. However, both of these teams have sold off key pieces and appear to be hitting the reset button in 2023.
These are just some of the most egregious examples of inferior teams being put above the Buccaneers. There are about a dozen more that you could make a case that the Bucs should be higher than or equal to as well. This is just the latest example of disrespect this team has seen from around the league.
Vegas Doesn’t Lose Money
Keep in mind that the oddsmakers are a neutral party. After all, Las Vegas is not in the business of losing money. So what has led them to this board line uninformed number of a 6.5 win total?
A big part of it is likely the loss of Brady. Most bettors didn’t follow the Bucs closely enough to understand the issues with the offense last season, so they believe that the offense would only look worse without the greatest quarterback of all time. However, despite an underwhelming quarterback situation it might be an improvement with a quarterback who is more willing to hang in the pocket and throw the ball downfield.
In the grand scheme of things, things like this don’t really matter to the Buccaneers. In reality, they have a good, although incomplete, roster and should compete to be the NFC south champion. My biggest takeaway from this comes down to just three words.
Bet. The. Over.
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