Hours? More like minutes. Board tools made it pretty easy. I think most of the statements came from a Kyle Trask thread. Call it an "I told you so" (actually I didn't) if you must, but I find the nature of sports fans to be fascinating, esp. in how they will project such strong opinions devoid of any facts or evidence.
If it's any consolation, one of the "contributors" is a Nole fan who was spending some time on the board during NFL preseason.
Bottom line is the Bucs will continue to make the playoffs as long as the NFC south continues to stink on wheels. They were the tallest midget in a division of crappy teams and had to come down to the last week to determine that. There's a reason the NFC east, NFC north and NFC west had two teams each in the playoffs.
I see your point, and Mayfield did present the safer option at QB. But realistically we don’t have a comparison point to determine whether going with Mayfield was the best decision or not. We can say that the choice was good given the way the season evolved, but its hard to tell if they would have realized Trask’s much higher ceiling or not in IMO. I have never understood the hatred for Bowles. The guy definitely paid dues and earned the job. He is defensive minded and conservative which is not necessarily a bad thing. Let’s see how far this train rolls.
I agree that the NFC South was mediocre this year and last. And yet the 2 NFC East teams and 1 of the NFC West teams are gone and the Bucs are still standing. It's about who gets hot at the right time, although I still predict the Super Bowl will be the 2 most consistent teams all year - Baltimore & San Francisco. Pulling for Detroit & Buffalo to make it, though.
I had high hopes for Bowles, but as a Bucs fan I am not a Bowles fan. He has certainly been nice. But imo he doesn’t have “it” imo. As you mentioned , I believe he’s too conservative for today’s game. I would love to going back to him as strictly a DC. He is one of the best. But as a HC I believe he is lacking in the killer instinct. It was great seeing TB be aggressive as they killed the clock last night. I was not expecting that…maybe Bowles is adapting?!?! either way, great season to be a Buccaneer!
Funny..! Vikes fan here. Win enough to pick 15-26 in every draft. Never improve. First round loss almost assured. QB will always be ok enough to keep but never win. Wait till next year! Contract year will win one playoff game to make sure we over pay everyone, especially the QB. Yada yada.
Fanhood can be weird. I lived in the Tampa area for 10 years and had season tickets to the Bucs. Started the opening year of RayJay. Enjoyed some great games against the Culpepper/Moss Vikings during those years (also Favre/Packers). Now I've been in MN for 11 years and root for the Vikings. I like this coach. They just got hurt this year with no replacement for Cook and the Cousins/Jefferson injuries. Cousins was really playing well and they just couldn't score once he went down. Dobbs showed a little promise, but that didn't last.
So was I. Me at post #5: "...As for last night, my first thought was that the Bucs looked great, BECAUSE the Eagles played like shit. I think that stands on the offense side (when Bucs had ball)--even w 5 dropped passes, it didn't even matter. Bucs were getting first downs at will. Bucs D however, made the Eagles O look inept. DL shut down run and pressured Hurts all night. DBs looked like they had an easy night. Bakers Mayfield is a gamer. Was hoping to see Trask this season, but must confess, Baker earned his spot in spades. Go Bucs!!" You at #8: Now instead of giving him even the tiniest bit of credit, it's the ol' "The Eagles lost, the Bucs didn't win" excuse. Gotta love sports fans lol I realize there were others your post was also directed at, but I can only speak for myself. The first TD, while enjoyable from our (Bucs') perspective, was mostly a matter of keystone cop Eagle DB's bumbling, lost and confused, out of position, and drunken attempts at tacking. It was laughable. In fact it was hilarious. Throughout the night, they continued to look like shit. Out of position, getting beat, Bucs WR's wide open (Evans dropped like 2 with no one around him). For me to proclaim Bowles a genius, or Baker Mayfield a stud QB, or Bucs' O great--based on the inept defense played by the Eagles--would be disingenous homerism. At least unwarranted. I was just calling it like I saw it. And as I suggested, I think I may have imputed their Defensive ineptness to their O, but then I revisited that, and kinda remember seeing the pocket collapse faster than Washington's (or Alabama's) against Michigan, all night long. No running lanes open all night, and Hurts having no time to throw, always off balance, etc., and all of that, being born out in the stats. So props to the D; they looked good, and made Philly O look shitty. I just don't think that was the case in reverse. That is, Bucs' O didn't make Philly's D look shitty; Philly's D did that all on their own, which resulted in the Bucs O looking much better than it actually was. Of course, like every post, that's Jmho/fwiw. TBL, any similar read seemed well grounded, not some nefarious attempt to take anything away from Bowles/Baker. (Kinda like watching the noles struggle to beat the Gators, and not being impressed by the noles, bc we were simply not that impressive. In thst case, it's not just a rival driven take, it was well grounded--in what transpired on the gridiron, combined with context.)
Vikings were my first sports love (native Minnesotan here). Was a fan before the Bucs existed, and remember when the Bucs came to be. As kids, my bros and i would pretend to be Fran Tarkenton, Ahmad Rashad, and Chuck Foreman (<-me), and rum plays out in yard against imaginary D (or rotate being D), until we could rope other kids in hood to play with us.... It took years for the Bucs to overtake MN in my heart, but both have always been in top 3 along with the fins. Even my kids have adopted this hierarchy, with steelers (wife/mom's team--she from western PA) coming in 4, rather than 2. Warms the cockles of my heart..... Anyway, I totally feel ya. Two words: Herschel Walker. Everybody remembers the Cowboys' dynasty of the early 90s. Vikings fan remember it's architect: Mike Lynn--who mortgaged the vilkes' future to Dallas, for H Walker. Its like the curse of the Bambino, in reverse. And then of course, there were the 4 super bowl losses in the '70's.... One day the Vikes will have their Cubs/Red Sox day, and those decades long demons will finally be exercised....and grown folk will cry like dad's at their daughter's weddings...
I give bowles credit for keeping this team from quitting. This team really surprised me by not just tanking after the mid point. That's coaching. For those that expected or wanted a tank, the players obviously didn't feel that way. Baker has been great. I don't think anyone expected what he's done. The short of it is this team can play very well at times and win games with defense. Sure the South sucks but you play the games on your schedule and unlike college, you can have a crappy record and be in the playoffs. Yeah we got lucky that Philly quit the year (haha!) But they still had to win the game . I think that Detroit is going to have its hands full. In what should have been a down year strapped with cap issues, the BUCS played with heart and won what it needed to make the playoffs. As a fan that makes me damn happy.
If it was the Bambino in reverse, then Walker becomes a god and the Vikings dominate for the next two decades. As it was, Herschel was good. Maybe not good enough to justify that many picks, but biggest problem was what Dallas did with those picks. I want to say they hit on HOFers on at least half of them.
Jimmy Johnson was likely not a favorite of most Gators, but he obviously knew how to evaluate talent.
we call that the "bomerang", sooner or later, it's going to circle back around and hit you in the back of head. Never saw it coming. A co-worker gets hit often; his wife has lots of bomerangs in the air.