Dirk Koetter didn’t wait long to announce the Buccaneers preseason was over, and now it’s time to focus on the wins and losses.
Throughout the preseason, teams like the Buccaneers are all about player evaluations, roster shaping, and keeping the known starters as healthy as possible.
Brent Grimes missed time with a gashed leg and Kwon Alexander sat with a tweaked hamstring, but beyond these, the team looks pretty healthy entering Week 1.
The Hard Knocks cameras are going to stop rolling and we’ll have seen the last of the intimate coverage we’re going to get for 2017.
Now, the games count. Wins and losses count, and each mistake is a real one.
To open the season, the Bucs are on the road in Miami to face-off against Ryan Tannehill Jay Cutler and the Dolphins.
They head up north to Minnesota to match-up against Sam Bradford’s Vikings and have a couple of homestands against the Bears and Giants alternating with the road trips.
For any NFL team with postseason aspirations, getting off to a good start is always important.
This first quarter of the regular season is a winnable one, and the Buccaneers will look to come out of it showing the football watching world, the hype is real.