Tampa Bay 2013-2014 NFL Futures Lines & Predictions
In the NFC South you have stalwart Atlanta, resurgent New Orleans and intriguing Carolina thanks to Cam Newton. The one team that no one seems to be paying much attention to is Tampa Bay, who should be much better than they were a year ago as coach Greg Schiano waded into the NFL pool for the first time.
2013 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preview/Predictions
2012 Record: 7-9
ATS Record: 9-6-1
2013 Team Futures
Super Bowl Odds: +3500
Conference Odds: +2000
Division Odds: +600
Its year two of the Schiano regime in 2013 and so far things are looking up. Tampa made a big splash in the trade market in the offseason but mostly they are hoping for a variety of young players to continue their development on both offense and defense. That trade, it was only to pick up Darelle Revis, who is considered the best cover corner in the league. They needed the upgrade too because the NFC South is pretty pass happy right now and the Bucs were getting torched.
Check out our in-house Handicapper!!! Buy Razor Ray’s Sports Picks Today!
When Schiano came aboard he wanted to make the Bucs tougher. He set about making them a more physical team on both sides of the ball and it worked, mostly. You might not have noticed but their offense was actually 9th in yards last year. The running game led by rookie RB Doug Martin was strong but I think there is still room to grow. Martin seems a natural out there and you can see how he would really improve from year 1 to year 2. Plus some of the upgrades that they made to the offensive line last year didn’t get a chance to come to fruition because of injuries.
Again, though you probably might not have noticed Tampa had the 10th best passing offense, at least in terms of yards. The addition of WR Vincent Jackson gave Josh Freeman a huge target and it helped. The weird thing is that his completion percentage dropped while his production went up. Freeman got on the positive side of TD/INT ratio because of a massive drop in picks. If he can nudge his completion percentage up to where it has been in the past he could become a real top QB. Getting more production from the TE spot would help though I am not sure if Luke Stocker and provide it. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
On defense the acquisition of Revis is meant to try and balance out the Bucs horrible splits – last year they were first against the run and the worst against the pass. They were a little better in terms of points at 21st but this is the area where they need the most improvement which is why in addition to Revis they used 4 of their 6 draft picks to upgrade the defense including their first round pick on Jonathan Banks, a big corner who they hope can do the kind of thing that Seattle has been doing with their CB. I would have liked to see them upgrade at linebacker too but their defensive line is young, deep and talented.
Overall Outlook: I think the Bucs can continue their upward progression but will finish a little bit short in terms of qualifying for the playoffs. They have a tough schedule with their division being challenging, getting the NFC West and New England among the non-divisional slate. They could easily start the season 0-3 and that might be a hard spot to get out of. Last year these guys were on the positive side ATS because they were improved and I see a similar situation this season. They could easily go 8-8 SU this year which would be a slight improvement overall while playing some of the really good teams on their schedule tight to pick up some extra ATS victories.
2013 Buccaneers Predictions:
Place they will finish in the NFC South: 3rd
Place they will finish in the NFC: 9th
