Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

When Week 1 of the 2013 NFL season comes around, Darrelle Revis will be 50 weeks clear from his ACL injury. The last step in the process of recovering from ACL surgery is a huge mental hurdle allowing the player to essentially throw himself back into the fire. It’s about trusting the reconstructed portion of his body, and believing it will hold up.

Every athlete is different and every recovery is different, but that last step is always the same. Some guys come back and play right away, see Adrian Peterson. Others wait, see Derrick Rose. In both cases, the athlete has the final say because they are the only one who truly knows how it feels.

In the case of Darrelle Revis, I can’t sit here and write that I’m positive he’ll be mentally ready. But I can tell you a few things. First, Darrelle Revis will be nearly a year off his injury, one that has an estimated recovery of eight to 12 months. Next, Darrelle Revis signed a non-guaranteed contract, and will be eager to prove himself. Finally, Darrelle Revis holds ill will against the New York Jets organization after the way they handled his departure.

All are factors that should lead you to believe he’ll be back by the time the games matter. But the final point is the one I see as the most significant. As mentioned, it’s up to the player to get over the hurdle of getting back on the field. Competition runs in the veins of any great athlete, but something that fuels that competitive spirit is motivation.

And what better carrot could the NFL have hung out in front of Revis than the opportunity to show up his old employers in Week 1. He has all the motivation he needs.

I honestly believe the chances that Darrelle Revis would have returned Week 1 if the Bucs were playing anyone else still would have been in the 90th percentile. But with the schedule landing the way it did, I’m setting the bar much higher, maybe just a fraction below triple digits. And a motivated, healthy Darrelle Revis should be quite the attraction for Week 1 of the NFL season.

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time since Josh Freeman became the opening day starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his offense will look the same as the previous season. After years of coordinator changes, skill position additions and subtractions, and a rotating door of healthy offensive linemen, Freeman will finally have a chance to take his game, and the games of his teammates to the next level.

Josh is coming off a rocky year that involved a lot of good followed by a whole mess of bad. But this time there isn’t a new head coach, or a new offensive coordinator, or a new top wide receiver, or a new guy to hand the ball to, or even a new lineman. The core of the Buccaneers attack is almost fully in tact from 2012 and this season Freeman has a real chance to succeed.

Freeman has been the starting quarterback for three and a half years. In that time he has thrown 78 TD’s and 63 INT’s while amassing a sub par 79.8 QB rating. His best season was in 2010 when his TD/INT ratio was a solid 25/6. He’s seen certain stats increase and certain stats decrease since then.

But the important factor is consistency. In 2010, Raheem Morris was coming into his second season with the Buccaneers. It was also his second straight year working with Greg Olson at OC. During that season Freeman was able to limit his mistakes and what amounted to in many games mistake free football. The Bucs went on to a 10-6 season and narrowly missed the playoffs.

The parallels to this season are certainly there. But this time Freeman is older, has more experience, and has a lot more help around him. Pro-Bowlers at WR, RB,  LT, LG, and RG. But the one thing that he’s never really had since arriving in Tampa, a defense.

We’ve discussed how the defense affects the pressure on Josh previously. But the question is, what should we expect out of Freeman this season?

Freeman’s career averages are 23 TD’s, 15 INT’s, 59% completion percentage, and a QB rating of 79.8. Based on all the above info, you would have to figure (or maybe hope is the word I should be using) that Freeman could, and should, pass each one of the numbers.

So it’s not crazy to think that he could throw about 28 TD’s, 10 INT’s and complete about 64% or so of his passes. If these numbers come true, the Bucs are going to be really good, probably to the tune of 10 or 11 wins.

How do you think Josh will do in 2013? Leave your comments below and sound off on the Bucs’ polarizing signal caller.

Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Much of the current offseason we’ve discussed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ upgrades on the defensive side of the football. But perhaps the Bucs greatest upgrade from Week 17 of 2012 to Week 1 of 2013 is the healthy return of a complete offensive line.

Last season Davin Joseph was injured in a preseason game and went on to miss the entire 2012 season. Carl Nicks, a key 2012 offseason acquisition, found himself watching from the sidelines after just seven games in pewter and red after he was placed on the IR due to a recurring toe injury following the Thursday Night Vikings’ beatdown.

Well, Nicks and Joseph are both supposedly healthy, rearing, and ready to go come September. Put them with the already solid line of Donald Penn, Jeremy Zuttah, and Demar Dotson and you have quite the offensive line.

In a recent Rotoworld post Evan Silva rated the Buccaneer O-Line as the fifth best in the NFL. In his post he describes the returns of Nicks and Joseph, as well as pointing out that the Bucs have one other huge luxury waiting in the stable. That would be “super-sub” Ted Larsen.

Larsen filled in well for his fallen teammates last year and grew into not only a dependable backup, but a reliable starter. He will be relegated to a spot on the bench for the first week, but knowing the way offensive linemen hold up in this league, it wouldn’t surprise me if Larsen got 10-15 starts (but hopefully he doesn’t have to).

Obviously I’m projecting health here, but if the Buccaneers do indeed get to the Week 1 tilt in New York with the full complement of linemen we are expecting, life will be much easier on Josh Freeman and Doug Martin. And knowing Josh’s struggles dealing with pressure, this could greatly improve the entire offensive attack from the first snap.

Offensive lines are the unsung heroes on any team. But there’s no denying that they are crucial to any teams success. Just in the top eight of Silva’s projections we see the 49ers, Patriots, Ravens, and Broncos. Good teams have good offensive lines, and with the way things are shaping up, the Bucs will have one of the best units out there.