I just was looking at their scores from last year the other day, and it's crazy how many games they had a chance to win. look at these scores
w1: vs Carolina, L 20-14
w2: vs St Louis, L 19-17
w3: @ Atlanta, L 56 - 14 (was a thursday night game iirc, a lot of teams have one game where they get blown out each year really)
w4: @ Pittsburgh, W 27-24
w5: @ New Orleans, L 37-31(OT)
w6: vs Baltimore, L 48-17 (ok so two blowouts)
w7: bye
w8: vs Minnesota, L 19-13(OT)
w9: @ Cleveland, L 22-17
w10: vs Atlanta, L 27-17
w11: @ Washington, W 27-7
w12: @ Chicago, L 21-13
w13, vs Cincinnati, L 14-13
w14: @ Detroit, L 34-17
w15: @ Carolina, L 19-17
w16: vs Green Bay, L 20-3
w17: vs New Orleans, L 23-20
that's a lot of games where they are a big play away from coming out with a win. Lovie Smith is a good coach, their defense will be decent this year, and I think Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson are the most dangerous 1-2 WR combination in the league, especially in the red zone.
Their main problem was the offensive line last year, they were tied for 3rd for most sacks allowed
I think Winston will give them a confidence boost as a team though. Say what you want about his character, he definitely knows how to inspire his teammates and leaves it all on the field. Not to mention, he's not an overly speedy QB but he is somewhat shifty and hard to bring down. That will help the offensive line a little bit. Doug Martin made the pro bowl his rookie year iirc and then had an injury or two but he should be ready to go for this season.
one more guy to look out for this year: Austin Sefarian-Jenkins. 6'5, 262lb TE with decent hands. To go with Jackson (6'5, 230 lbs) and Evans (6'5, 231 lbs)? holy red zone percentage batman. if they dont score a TD at least 70% of the time that's weak.
and they drafted a speed WR in Kenny Bell, someone to keep the defenses honest and have to keep two safeties deep. That leaves a mismatch SOMEWHERE for one of the 3 previous Neanderthals I mentioned
Gerald McCoy is an All-Pro type of player on the defensive line, and Lavonte David was 3rd in the league in tackles last year.
their secondary isnt exactly full of household names but Alterraun Verner is an underrated CB and the entire defense was on the field a lot last year so they were bound to get beaten eventually at times, especially in the New NFL where defenders are basically reduced to trying to get as close to the receiver as possible and go "boo!"
TB Bucs, Im thinking they go 8-8 and win the division. NFC South plays the NFC East and the AFC South this year so I mean just imagine who else they are playing (washington, Tennessee, Jacksonville, NYG, shit the Eagles could suck this year I have no idea) and their two other conference opponents? St Louis and Chicago. not exactly an insurmountable task to beat both of those teams, especially if they are already eliminated from playoff contention and the Bucs are neck and neck with say, Atlanta (the STL and Chi games are weeks 15 and 16 respectively).
Idk, I mainly just want to see Jameis do good because while I think he is immature as fuck, he's also 21 years old. Im 23 and still immature as fuck so w/e. I was never one to care about off the field issues unless it was something excessively violent in nature. I think he has a shot at offensive rookie of the year, but it depends on how some other guys pan out (if I had to pick 3 to watch: Winston, Nelson Agholor on the Eagles, and Todd Gurley on the Rams)
if you had bet the spread on the Bucs every game this year you would have made some money for sure