What happened to the NFC South last year?
The 2022-23 NFC South was a division in need of some serious help. The four teams that combine to create it leave much to be desired as the top team finished with an 8-9 record to advance to the wildcard. Not exactly a stellar showing for a team who won the Superbowl not too long ago in 2020. Yes, I am talking about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A team led by the one and only Tom Brady…. well, last year at least. With Brady now retired following a turbulent year, Tampa looks to Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask for the upcoming 22-23’ Season.
We aren’t here to discuss Brady’s retirement (at least not fully), we are here to talk about the Buccaneers health and their performance over last season and what they need to do to improve. If you have been following along our Banged-Up Score (B.U.S.) breakdown series then you already knew that though.
TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 02: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady (12) yells to the home crowd before the regular season game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on October 02, 2022 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)
How did the Buccaneers do last year?
Last year Tampa was inconsistent to say the least. After starting off 2-0 they dropped five of their next six games and then played the win one or two, lose one or two game for the rest of the season. A great recipe for being average. That’s just what they ended up being, average. Despite still having stars and veterans like Mike Evans, Tom Brady, Lavonte David and Shaq Barrett and some young talent such as Antoine Winfield and Tristan Wirfs they stumbled throughout the season and scraped to get the eight wins they did. Much of that coincides with their injury struggles.
Tampa Bay finished with an average B.U.S. ranking of 71.28 dropping them in the middle of the pack in health this season. Their average weekly ranking of 19.2/32 placed them 20th of the 32 teams over the course of the season. They were never able to crack the top ten week-to-week in the regular season but did find themselves in the bottom five a few times during that same period. Starting the season out with an 84.0 B.U.S. ranking they quickly found themselves at a 68.4 2 weeks after and lived close to that for the remainder of the season until their wild card game against Dallas. As we know however, teams tend to “Get healthy” in the playoffs when in reality players may not be as healthy as the team claims. The results speak for themselves as the Bucs fell to Dallas despite having the higher health ranking in their Wild Card game.
Who was injured for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year?
One of Tampa’s go to strategies this past season was signing veterans with great football knowledge and skill. The benefits of this are obvious, with time comes understanding and the veterans certainly know football. The risk is health. In a collision sport like football, age certainly makes a difference. Unfortunately for Tampa they experienced the downfall this past season. The offensive line was hit hard making it hard even for a veteran QB to escape pressure. Injuries to LG Aaron Stinnie (ACL/MCL), OT Tristan Wirfs (Ankle) and C Ryan Jensen (Knee) left the Bucs short on starters making them rely on depth for many games this season at different areas along the O-line. This led to little push and strength up front and Tampa finished dead last with an average of only 76.9 in rushing yards per game. Despite in juries to their wide receiving corps including a PCL injury to WR Julio Jones, Hamstring injury to WR Russell Gage, a neck injury to TE Cameron Brate and a recovering Chris Godwin who suffered a Hamstring injury following his ACL/MCL injury they still finished second in passing yards per game with 269.8 offsetting their rushing issues.
On defense it was the same story. Injuries plagued their stars. Antoine Winfield dealt with both concussion and ankle issues which sidelined him four games and kept him on the injury report for an additional three. CB Logan Ryan suffered a jones fracture in his foot forcing him to be moved to IR for the middle part of the season and star LB Shaquil Barrett tore his achilles. An Injury that not only put him out for the season but leaves this upcoming season in question as even if he is ready to take the field his performance will undoubtably be hindered. That leaves the question, what about this year?
What does Tampa need to do to be better next year?
If you watched the draft then you know that Tampa made it a priority to beef up their defensive line. They also added some skill and some tackle help with second round pick Cody Mauch. Bringing in some of this young talent will certainly help beef up areas they need in terms of quickness and agility. Losing Tom Brady will certainly take its toll on the offensive production though and we will have to see if Head Coach Todd Bowles will have his hands full trying to fill that void with Mayfield and Trask. Our NFL Draft Expert Ryan “The Ghost” Berger tells us everything we need to know about the draft and how it will affect the Bucs this season in the Tampa Bay “Final Draft”. With that said, if their division plays like it did last year then there is plenty of room for mistakes but something tells me that won’t be the case this year.
