What’s new with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? That’s what this page is all about.
The Team Spirit OVERTIME website begins where the Team Spirit books end.
That’s because football never stands still … And I can never squeeze everything I want into 48 pages!
Scroll down for team updates, player profiles, and stats you won’t find in the book. Click on the videos to the left to hear me talk about Team Spirit OVERTIME as well as my favorite players. And take a look below at some of the Buccaneers collectibles I have in my home—pretty cool, right?
Enjoy this site, check back whenever you like, and contact me with any questions or comments.
Updates
2022 Season
2022 Season Roundup: Tom Brady was a one-man show for Tampa Bay in 2022. He set a new record for pass completions in a season, but it was a season of struggle. The team did well enough to make it into the playoffs, but they gave up far more points than they scored. The season ended with a 31–17 loss to the Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card game. Mike Evans had another good season working with Brady and Chris Godwin had his best year ever with 106 catches. However, not a single Buc was picked to play in the Pro Bowl.
January 09, 2023: Tom Brady broke his own record of 485 pass completions in a season when he finished the year with 490.
December 25, 2022: Tom Brady became the first quarterback with 250 wins when he led the Bucs to a 16–16 victory over the Saints.
September 09, 2022: In Tampa Bay’s opening game, Tom Brady became the oldest quarterback to start an NFL game at 45 years and 39 days old. Brady led the Bucs to victory over the Cowboys in the game.
2022 Season Preview: Tom Brady may hog all the headlines, but if the Bucs find a way back to the Super Bowl in 2022, it will probably be because of their excellent defense. Tampa Bay doesn’t have much competition in the NFC South race, so the newcomers on offense—as well as the older veterans—will have time to get into a rhythm before the playoffs. The Bucs’ only weakness is their offensive line, which will have to work a little harder to keep enemy tacklers away from Mr. Brady.
January 09, 2022: Tom Brady finished the 2022 season with a new NFL record of 485 pass completions. He also became the oldest QB to lead the league in passing yards and touchdowns, and to throw for more than 5,000 yards.
2021 Season
2021 Season Roundup: Tom Brady led Tampa Bay to 13 victories in his final NFL season. He threw for 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns to lead the league in both categories. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Leonard Fournette were his favorite targets. Linebackers Shaquil Barrett and Devin White were the playmakers for one of the NFC’s top defenses. After beating the Eagles, the Bucs lost to the Rams, 30–27 on a last-second field goal.
December 12, 2021: Tom Brady was named to the Pro Bowl for the 15th time in his career—more than any player in history.
October 24, 2021: Tom Brady threw 4 touchdown passes in a 38–3 win over the Bears and became the first player in history with 600 TD passes.
October 02, 2021: Tom Brady passed Drew Brees for the most passing yards in NFL history in a win over his old team, the Patriots. He also became the first player to defeat all 32 NFL teams.
2021 Season Preview: Tom Brady leads the Super Bowl champions into battle in 2021 trying to do one of the hardest things in sport: win it all twice in a row. The defense looks up to the task, but there are some important questions to be answered on offense, as Brady can only do so much at age 44. Tampa Bay fans hope that Antonio Brown, who joined the club late last year, will answer one interesting question: Who will be the Bucs’ “go-to” receiver? It’s interesting because, along with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and old pal Rob Gronkowski, Brady has four players who could easily catch more than 50 passes apiece.
2020 Season
2020 Season Roundup: Tampa Bay improved from 7–9 to 11–5 with Tom Brady at quarterback and rolled through the playoffs to earn a meeting with the Kansas City Chiefs. Brady was named MVP of the big game, leading the Bucs to a 31–9 victory. Brady set a new club mark with 40 touchdown passes during the season; Mike Evans caught 13 of them to also set a new team record. Leonard Fournette, a backup running back much of the year, scored in each of Tampa Bay’s four postseason games. Jason Pierre-Paul led a solid defense that did a great job against Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Incredibly, Pierre-Paul was the only Buccaneer named to the Pro Bowl.
October 29, 2020: Tom Brady was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October. The 43-year-old quarterback won 3 of 4 games and threw for 12 touchdowns. It was 11th Player of the Month award for Brady, but his first in a Tampa Bay uniform.
October 4, 2020: Tom Brady threw five scoring passes in a comeback win over the Chargers. At 43, he became the oldest quarterback to throw for five TDs in a game. The old record belonged to 40-year-old Warren Moon.
2020 Season Preview: Tom Brady begins a new phase of his Hall of Fame career in Tampa Bay. The 43-year-old will play behind a very good wall of blockers and has some good players on the receiving end of his passes—including OJ Howard, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and his old New England buddy, Rob Gronkowski. The Bucs should be very good against opposing quarterbacks, with a solid group of defensive backs and three superstars in linebacker Lavonte David and pass rushers Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett.
2019 Season
2019 Season Roundup: Jameis Winston threw for more than 5,000 yards and connected for 33 touchdowns. But he also turned the ball over 39 times on interceptions and fumbles. The defense had trouble stopping the pass, and could not always hold leads late in games. What should have been a 9- or 10-win season and a trip to the postseason ended 7–9 with the Bucs watching playoff games on TV.
October 3, 2019: Shaq Barret was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for September. Barret had 9 sacks in four games and forced 3 fumbles. He would finish the year with an NFL-best 19.5 sacks.
2019 Season Preview: Head coach Bruce Arians and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles aim to remake the Bucs into division contenders. Arians has designed a new offense around the skills of QB Jameis Winston, while Bowles hopes to rebuild the defense around newcomers Ndamukong Suh and Devin White. The passing game may be the key; with the loss of two star receivers, the pressure is on Mike Evans to improve on his sensational 1,500-yard season in 2018.
2018 Season
2018 Season Roundup: Tampa Bay had no problem putting points in the scoreboard. Unfortunately, they were not very good at keeping other teams out of the end zone. They scored three or more touchdowns in 14 of their 16 games but won only five times. Quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick combined for 5,000-plus passing yards and more than 30 touchdowns, with their favorite target, Mike Evans topping 80 catches for the second time in his career. Jason Pierre-Paul had a great first year with the Bucs, leading the club with 12.5 sacks.
2018 Season Preview: NFL passers had a lot of fun playing against the Bucs in 2017. Running backs? Not so much. Linebackers Lavonte David and Kwon Alexander saw to that. This year, with the addition of Jason Pierre-Paul, Tampa Bay will try to put more pressure on the quarterback. Jameis Winston and Mike Evans will lead the offense, which desperately needs a better running attack. Rookie Ronald Jones, who scored 20 TD’s for USC last year, may be the answer.
2017 Season
2017 Season Roundup: The Bucs played far better than their 5–11 record indicates. The problem was they were in the NFC South, where their three rivals were all playoff teams. QB Jameis Winston showed improvement in his third season, while Mike Evans had another sensational year as a receiver. Gerald McCoy led a defense that was especially good against the pass.
2017 Season Preview: Quarterback Jameis Winston is ready to have a career year, and the Bucs have surrounded him with the talent he needs. DeSean Jackson joins wide receiver Mike Evans and tight end Cameron Brate to give Tampa Bay an exciting passing attack. If the defense plays as well as it did in the final two months of 2016, then 2017 should be a playoff year.
2016 Season
2016 Season Roundup: The Bucs had a fine season under new coach Dirk Koetter, winning 10 games. Young Jamieis Winston took a step forward toward becoming a top NFL quarterback, with more than 4,000 passing yards. Mike Evans had a great year as Winston’s go-to receiver. Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy led the 15th-ranked defense. Had injuries not hit the Tampa Bay backfield, the Buccaneers might have won a couple more games and made it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
2016 Season Preview: Quarterback Jameis Winston has superstar written all over him. Running backs Doug Martin and Charles Sims are a good 1¬2 punch. Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans are excellent receivers. If the offensive line can give these stars time to do their thing, the Bucs should be a winning team. That could also depend on the defense, of course. There is a ton of potential on that side of the ball, but so far only Gerald McCoy and Vernon Hargreaves have shown they can be difference-makers.
2015 Season
2015 Season Preview: Rookie Jameis Winston and his young receivers should give Tampa Bay fans lots to cheer about, and Doug Martin is a quality runner. But the Bucs’ defense has a long way to go before the team challenges for a playoff spot.
2014 Season
September 7, 2014: The team debuted its new uniform and logo in a loss to the Carolina Panthers.
September 1, 2014: New coach Lovie Smith hopes to turn Tampa Bay’s defense into one of the top units in the NFC. He’ll need big years from Alterraun Verner, Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David to do so. Quarterback Josh McCown has some big targets to throw to, but he may be doing some running thanks to a leaky offensive line.
2013 Season
November 17, 2013: Rookie Mike Glennon completed 20 of 23 passes (87%) in a victory over the Atlanta Falcons. No first-year player had ever completed more than 85% of his passes in a game.
September 4, 2013: Which Josh Freeman will show up in 2013—the confident rising star from 2011 or the passer who finished 2012 with the two worst games of his career? The Bucs are betting he’ll make better use of weapons such as running back Doug Martin, wide receivers Mike Williams and Vincent Jackson, and the best offensive line in the NFC. The defense is good but not great. However, Tampa Bay has lineman Gerald McCoy, its finest defensive tackle since Hall of Famer Warren Sapp.
2012 Roundup
February 2, 2013: Greg Schiano’s first year as an NFL coach saw the Bucs set a new team record with 389 points. Josh Freeman passed for more than 4,000 yards and rookie Doug Martin ran for nearly 1,500. The defense was great against the run but could not stop enemy passers. The result was a 7–9 record.
November 4, 2012: Greg Schiano’s first year as an NFL coach saw the Bucs set a new team record with 389 points. Josh Freeman passed for more than 4,000 yards and rookie Doug Martin ran for nearly 1,500. The defense was great against the run but could not stop enemy passers. The result was a 7–9 record.
Summer, 2012: The lockout in 2011 hurt the Buccaneers, who were depending on a lot of young players. With a full summer to practice, they should improve greatly in 2012. Quarterback Josh Freeman was the happiest man in Florida when he heard Tampa Bay had signed wide receiver Vincent Jackson.
More Go-To Guys
More Fun Facts
League Leaders
Playing for the Championship
SEASON | GAME | OPPONENT | SCORE |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | NFC Championship | Los Angeles Rams | Lost 9–0 |
1999 | NFC Championship | St. Louis Rams | Lost 11–6 |
2002 | NFC Championship | Philadelphia Eagles | Won 27–0 |
2002 | Super Bowl XXXVII | Oakland Raiders | Won 48–21 |