It’s somewhat hard to believe, but it will be 15 years this season since head coach Jon Gruden led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title. In 2002, they defeated the Oakland Raiders, 48-21, in San Diego. The team has reached the playoffs just twice since and haven’t made a postseason appearance since ’07. This past season, Dirk Koetter became the latest sideline leader of this club. It proved to be a wise promotion by the organization considering the work he did the previous year when he was the offensive coordinator. Now he, second-year quarterback James Winston, and the rest of this team hope to build on their 9-7 finish from 2016.
That record included a 6-2 mark in the team's final eight games, though the second-year signal-caller should benefit from a pair of talented newcomers.
Welcome to Tampa
So, do you think that the one-time Heisman Trophy winner is excited about the addition of the veteran Jackson and the rookie tight end? “They’re dynamic,” said Winston to NFL Network’s Tiffany Blackmon recently (via NFL.com). "We haven’t had a true deep threat guy in Tampa Bay and now we have DeSean. So we’re excited to throw him a couple bombs. O.J., man, he’s just a specimen. We’re privileged to have O.J. Howard.”
Jackson is making his third stop in the league after previous stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins.
In nine NFL seasons, he’s hauled in 498 passes for 8,819 yards and 46 scores. That 17.7 career yards per reception is impressive indeed. Meanwhile, Howard saw his numbers go up every year he was at the University of Alabama. His four-year resume included 114 catches for 1,726 yards and seven touchdowns. Once again, look at his career yards per grab (15.1), and keep in mind that last season the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ longest pass play was a mere 45 yards.
Heading North in the NFC South?
This was a dangerous team in 2016, but it was also a club that hurt its own chances too often with mistakes. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave away the football a combined 27 times in 16 contests. Their running game was ranked 24th in the NFL and was hurt by injuries and Doug Martin’s off-the-field issues.
With Winston throwing to the likes of Jackson and Howard, as well as incumbents such as wide receivers Mike Evans and Adam Humphries, as well as tight end Cameron Brate, a lot of things will open up for this attack -- a team capable of giving the Atlanta Falcons fits, and a team hungry to get back to the playoffs.
