Polarizing players do not lack reasons for the general public to despise their successes. However, if you need another knock to take out your envy on Tom Brady, look no further. His new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is nicknamed after 17th century free sailors of the Caribbean. Those first Buccaneers were named from a Spanish-Caribbean word meaning smoker of meat. The meat these early landless hunters smoked were manatees! Yes, those cute herbivorous mammals beloved by aquarium goers globally. Tom Brady is basically a manatee murderer!
Those callous Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished 7-9 on the 2019 campaign, missing the NFL playoffs for the 12th consecutive year. It was disappointing to Bucs fans everywhere with seeming talent at all positions that they could not find a way to secure more wins. Despite the poor overall record, there were some signs of pending improvement on the defensive side of the ball. In 2018, that unit was the worst in the NFL, scoring 14.8 percent in defensive DVOA. Last season, Tampa Bay was the best defense against the run (3.3 yards per carry against) and turned over the opposition 28 times (5th most). All of that effort brought them up to -11.5 percent defensive DVOA, placing the defense fifth overall.
LB Shaquil Barrett led Todd Bowles group with 19.5 sacks and six forced fumbles, while rookie LB Devin White won two Rookie of the Month titles earning him some high offseason accolades across the league. Add to these two, Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh upfront, and you have the makings of a stout defensive front.
On the other side of the practice field is new QB Tom Brady, leading Bruce Arians offense that will attempt to follow up on their NFL-best passing yards (4845 yards) and third-best points for (458 points). Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Ronald Jones all return and welcome Rob Gronkowski, LeSean McCoy, and Ke’Shawn Vaughn into the fold. Andy Behrens of Yahoo joined the podcast earlier this summer to give his take on what to expect from this talented conglomerate. You can listen to that here.
Fanduel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook set the Buccaneers season win total at 9.5 wins with some juice on the over (-130 and -125 respectively). They will play the 16th hardest schedule in the league in 2020 based on last season’s opponent record (128-127-1). Save Week 1 at New Orleans Saints (+3.5 already), Week 6 home vs. Green Bay Packers (predict -2), and Week 12 home against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay should be sizeable betting favorites in every other game on the schedule.
I tend to lean OVER here despite Brady and Tampa becoming a heavy popular favorite, although I hesitate to lock it in. There’s some value on the UNDER with a secondary that allowed the fourth-most points (449 points) and the third-most passing yards (4322 yards) last season. If that defensive group doesn’t improve, I could see some final possession losses with Tom and company watching from the sideline. This line is intriguing because of the schedule, offensive firepower, and defensive front, but scary with that secondary. Tread lightly around these manatee eaters.
