Saturday, 3 a.m.
Say this about the Tampa Bay Bucs. By and large, they haven't been very sneaky.
Oh, they have been good at times. And they have been awful at others. But pretty much, you saw them coming. In the seasons they have derailed, everyone predicted it. And in the seasons they've been good , well, that wasn't a surprise either.
Take the first season, 1976. I'm not sure anyone would hav predicted a zero for the win total, but they wouldn't have predicted many more, either. Leeman Bennett could have coached a dozen years, and he would have won two games a year. Richard Williamson. Lovie Smith. Raheem Morris. Greg Schiano. You could brace yourself for impact long before the results kept rolling in.
There have been so many bad coaches, so many bad quarterbacks.
Oh, I thought the team would be a bit better last year, what with Tom Brady there and all, but the Bucs were predictably average.
Which brings us to Sunday, when a new season starts And perhaps the biggest set of question marks in franchise history.
Can Baker Mayfield keep from imploding? Can anyone run the ball an inch? Can a reassembled offensive line hold up. Can the pass rush be good? Can the secondary actually make plays?
Hey the division isn't frightening. Maybe the Bucs can win enough to finish .500 or so
But while the Bucs have some pretty good players, they don't have enough of them. Five wins sounds about right, doesn't it?
Prediction: Minnesota 30, Tampa Bay 24.
In other games:
Buffalo 24, New York Jets 23.
Cincinnati 31, Cleveland 21.
San Francisco 29, Pittsburgh 22
Philadelphia 26, New England 17.
Dallas 24, N.Y. Giants 20.