Young Tampa Bay Bucs Still Underdogs For 2010 Super Bowl

NFL News - March 8th, 2010 - Written by John

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it through the hard part in 2009. Trudging through the inaugural "rebuilding year" with a rookie head coach and quarterback wasn't easy, but now it's time to set their sights on competing for the NFC South title once again. The bad news is the New Orleans Saints are returning nearly their entire team for a bid to repeat as Super Bowl champs, so tripping them up on a conference scale might be a little too much to chew on.

But Tampa Bay is expected to address it's defense in the NFL Draft, which is a good start, and a bid for a wild card spot is feasible. But with a tough conference, and a young roster, the Bucs are still 100/1 underdogs in the NFL Odds for the 2011 Super Bowl, according to Bodog.

All three NFC South teams have made the playoffs in the last two seasons, except for the Buccaneers. They seemed to be a lock in '08, but floundered to four-straight losses at the end of the year. Blowing up the team called for a new head coach, and Raheem Morris took Josh Freeman with the team's first-rounder.

Freeman's career started off with a jewel, beating the Green Bay Packers in Week Eight. He nearly pulled off another upset of Miami the following week until a late field goal gave the Dolphins a two-point win. The crash that ensued meant five-straight losses for Freeman, including two bad losses to the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets in which Tampa Bay scored nine total points.

The Bucs managed to win two of their last three, though, including an overtime thriller against New Orleans. Cadillac Williams had his only 100-yard game that week, and Freeman threw for 271 yards, second most on the year.

The top receiving target was Kellen Winslow, catching 77 passes for 884 yards in his first season in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs' offense ranked 28th, but it was the defense that continued to cause problems. Tampa Bay allowed the sixth-most points on the year, and allowed more rushing yards per game than anyone. Outside of Barrett Ruud's Pro Bowl year, no player had 100 tackles or seven sacks on the year. Tanard Jackson and Aqib Talib both tied with five interceptions, though, and the pass defense ranked 10th.