2014 is a year to forget if you are a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Between poor quarterback play with Josh McCown and Mike Glennon, and only being able to manage two victories, the season was just putrid as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers struggled offensively and defensively during the 2014 season as they finished with a 2-14 record and the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
This is not why the Buccaneers brought Lovie Smith in to clean house after the failed experiment with the former Rutgers Scarlet Knight coach Greg Schiano. But Smith may just be taking his time to get some of the right players in place so that the Buccaneers can move forward again in 2015.
Key Additions
The Buccaneers stayed incredibly quiet during free agency, as they retained some of their own talent in players like Jorvorskie Lane, Leonard Johnson, and Da'Quan Bowers. But the main place where the Bucs are getting talent is where you get talent during a rebuild, you save your money and get the youngest players in the draft.
By now everyone already knows that they used the top pick in the 2015 NFL Draft on the former Florida State Seminole named Jameis Winston. This writer has gone on record saying that he believes this is a complete mistake letting Jameis be the face of the franchise, as it comes down to a matter of trust. But as far as a passer is concerned, the Buccaneers are bound to improve greatly over McCown and Glennon. Winston has been a collegiate winner, which doesn't necessarily scream NFL success, but fellow Heisman trophy winner and current Carolina Panther Cam Newton has been doing rather well in the NFL, and Winston does have a bright future ahead of him. Like every other player in the league, he just needs to keep himself out of trouble or his dreams will be derailed.
Some of their other picks in the draft include drafting an offensive tackle from Penn State named Donovan Smith. He is a big guy at 6'6, 338 according to his combine measurements and the Bucs really need some people on the offensive line as they have been hurting at both tackle and guard the past few years, so hopefully for the Bucs he can help turn that unit around. They also used another second round pick on a center, Ali Marpet. Marpet is going to bring some more weight to the position at 6'4, 304 and this writer finds it doubtful that they can have him ready for the start of the NFL season as Marpet arrives to the NFL from Division III football from Hobart.
They only used one pick on defense as that side of the ball was better last year then their offense was, and that pick was fourth rounder Kwon Alexander. He went to LSU and has ideal size for a linebacker and it will be interesting to see if he just sits and learns during the 2015 season or if they will need to get him on the field.
Offensively again, the Bucs went after two more young receivers as they took Kenny Bell from the University of Nebraska and Kaelin Clay from the Utah Utes. Bell has been one of the best receivers that Nebraska has had in their long storied history, and he showed a willingness to go over the middle and be a strong route runner and a good blocker in the run game as well. Even if he isn't ready to be in the slot this year, he will definitely be effective on special teams. Meanwhile, Clay is probably best known for his play last season where he pulled a DeSean Jackson and dropped the ball on the one yard line and the Oregon Ducks picked it up and ran it back for a touchdown. But Clay does have a lot of talent and is elusive as he starred on punt and kick returns for the Utes in his time there as well.
The final player they took in the draft was a fullback to challenge Lane in the future, Joey Iosefa. Fullbacks are not typically a sexy pick, but they are integral to a typical pro-style offense which the Bucs should be trying to thrive in with a rookie quarterback at the helm for the 2015 season.
2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Schedule
September 13 - Tennessee Titans
The season officially gets underway as the first and second picks in the draft go head to head assuming that Marcus Mariota becomes the starting quarterback in Nashville. The best news in this game is that two teams that finished with 2 wins each in 2014 will at least have one of them start 2015 with a win.
September 20 at New Orleans Saints
The first divisional game of the season, they travel to the always challenging Mercedes-Benz Superdome to take on Sean Payton, Drew Brees, and the wild offense that is the Saints. Last year the Saints beat the Bucs 37-31 in overtime and 23-20. These were game the Bucs were still close in, they just didn't have enough to get over the top in 2014. Can they do more to get the win this time around?
September 27 at Houston Texans
Jameis Winston probably is not looking forward to his first career game against the 2014 Defensive Player of the year in J.J. Watt. Depending on what is happening with the rotating quarterback carousel in Houston, this one could be a close game or could probably go Houston's way if their offensive talent shines as brightly as their defense does.
October 4 - Carolina Panthers
Jameis Winston gets to face a former Heisman winner in Cam Newton early in the season. Luke Keuchly is still a defensive power and it would be tough to imagine the Buccaneers getting an early season upset against the 2014 NFC South Champions.
October 11 - Jacksonville Jaguars
This is a game for bragging rights across the Northern part of the state of Florida. Both college quarterbacks played in the state of Florida as well as Blake Bortles is a former UCF Knight. Both teams are looking to move forward in 2015, and this is a game that the Bucs need to win in order to show they are improving in 2015.
October 25 at Washington Redskins
Their lone game against a team they were able to defeat in 2014, they travel to the District of Columbia to take on a Redskins team that is trying to undergo a transformation of their own. Hopefully for the team in pewter and orange, they will be able to find a way to get a victory for a second straight season.
November 1 at Atlanta Falcons
After playing in some of the biggest stadiums in the league already, they will travel up the interstate to face the Falcons in the Georgia Dome. This stadium is not expected to be around for too much longer as the city is looking into a potential stadium rebuild. But it's a well known place to play and is iconic for most people to recognize as football fans around the South.
November 8 - New York Giants
Eli Manning gets to travel south and take on the Bucs. No matter what happens with Jason Pierre-Paul, he should be ready for this game and be ready to take on the Buccaneers by the second half of the season.
November 15 - Dallas Cowboys
There aren't many games that you have usually lost before the game has started. This writer just sees Dallas as one of the top teams in the NFL and they are en route to the playoffs and will be looking for a Super Bowl run. Dez Bryant is back and missing from last year was Sean Lee as the Cowboys should be able to take this game. This is also the start of their three toughest games of the season.
November 22 at Philadelphia Eagles
Chip Kelly has changed a lot of the weapons he has had before to where if anyone says they know what to expect from Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray, they are probably just lying to you.
November 29 at Indianapolis Colts
Andrew Luck and friends are the final part of the toughest stretch of the season for the Buccaneers. There are simply so many ways for the Colts to attack and they should have fun doing so as it seems like the Colts will take this game rather easily.
December 6 - Atlanta Falcons
Not to dismiss the Falcons, they could be in the divisional hunt at this time of the year, as they were in the hunt well into the final weeks of the 2014 season. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones have a new defensive minded coach and it is going to be interesting to see how they do things in 2015
December 13 - New Orleans Saints
We've already talked about how close these games were last year. These two teams always seem to play each other closely and one thing that the Bucs should be excited about is the absence of Jimmy Graham.
December 17 at St. Louis Rams
This is their primetime performance of the season as the remainder of the games have all been set for Sunday's. This game will be interesting as the Rams are trying to get over a hump to get to a winning season and the Bucs are just trying to change perceptions about their team in 2015, it will be interesting to see how this game goes as both teams should have something to prove.
December 27 - Chicago Bears
Lovie Smith doesn't even get to go up against his replacement this time around, as he has to face the newest coach of the Bears in John Fox. The Bears have changed a lot of things, but they still have Jay Cutler getting the snaps. That means they could play well or could easily fall apart behind some bad interceptions. This is also the final home game of the year at Raymond James Stadium.
January 3 at Carolina Panthers
Playing on the road to end the season is never terribly fun, but they will hope to have some sort of an impact to take the divisional title away from the Panthers at this point in the season.
Prediction
There are many good players on the Buccaneers and there is a feel that they have to turn it around and do better than they did in 2014. This writer has them comfortably winning six games in 2015, as they beat the Titans, Jaguars, Redskins, Falcons (once), Saints (once), and the Bears. Given the fact that they'll beat Washington on road, they will beat Atlanta on the road and lose to them at home to go 2-6 on the road and 4-4 at home en route to a 6-10 season which will be seen as a march to improvement and a successful season for Lovie Smith.