The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in 1974 were presented as the National Football League's 27th franchise. To spearhead this team, John McKay was hired as the first head coach followed by his achievements and great success at the University of Southern California. By the 1976 season the Buccaneers were scheduled to begin their first season in the NFL. They lost a record 26 consecutive games which came to an end when they beat New Orleans on December 11, 1977. The team soon pulled it together and won the NFC division championships of 1979. In 2002 Tampa Bay acquired Jon Gruden as the new head coach. He led the Buccaneers to a 48-21 victory over Oakland winning Super Bowl XXXVII a first in their franchise history in San Diego on January 26, 2003.
Since the memorable '03 season the Buccaneers have not shown much success. For the past six years they have advanced to the playoffs just twice in 2005 and 2007. In both of those playoff appearances they couldn't make it past the first round. Because of the teams sub-par performance year after year head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen were both let go. They were replaced by Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik.
In February of 2009 the Bucs released veterans Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard, Jeff Garcia, and Cato June. They later signed TE Kellen Winslow Jr., RB Derrick Ward, QB Byron Leftwich, and drafted Kansas State QB Josh Freeman 17th overall in the NFL Draft. After all of these moves it is hard to judge what to expect from this completely revamped Buccaneers team.
With a Buffalo Bills win over the New York Jets yesterday, the Patriots now stand alone on top of the AFC East Division with a 4-2 record. Their last victory came on a snowy afternoon in Foxboro against the Tennessee Titans. There were two unexpected occurrences Sunday at Gillette Stadium. For one it looked like [...]
QB Eli Manning and the New York Giants posted 24 points en route to dominating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the defense held their score and wins at zero. The Giants established a solid running game between Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, who combined for 196 yards from 40 carries. Manning ended the game with two [...]
The New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will become the third pair of NFL teams to match up at London’s Wembley Stadium. Last season the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins, and just over a month ago the New Orleans Saints beat the San Diego Chargers. Like the two previous across-the-pond games, the [...]
