The Pewter Plank
FanSided

Buccaneers: Game one at Ray Jay appears to be good

By James Yarcho

TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 10: Military equipment sits in the parking lot at Raymond James stadium ahead of Hurricane Irma on September 10, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, lashing the state with 130 mph winds as it moves up the coast. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 10: Military equipment sits in the parking lot at Raymond James stadium ahead of Hurricane Irma on September 10, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, lashing the state with 130 mph winds as it moves up the coast. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Despite Hurricane Irma plowing through Tampa, the Buccaneers appear to be in position to make season debut at home.

With Hurricane Irma mowing through Florida and still making its way up the eastern part of the country, the Buccaneers had to make alternate “just in case” plans for their season debut against the Chicago Bears. Currently working out in Charlotte, the Bucs are trying to go about business as usual – but they still had a lot of questions to answer just six days away from the game.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated’s MMQB spoke with Dirk Koetter Sunday as he remained in One Buc Place prepping for the week two match-up set to take place in Raymond James Stadium;

"“I’m looking out the window right now,” Koetter said when I spoke to him at midday, “and my defensive line coach, Jay Hayes, is out on the practice field, walking his German shepherd. One thing I’ve learned in this: People will not leave their pets.”"

Depending on the severity of the damage, the Buccaneers may be relocating their contest to a safer location, considering rescheduling is out of the question. King cites New Orleans and White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia as potential game and practice locations.

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times posted an update on the potential practice locations King spoke of, either correcting the information or providing more recent information as he heard it;

Stroud also said that flights are a key cog in all this. The Tampa Airport is closed Monday as damage is surveyed and cleaned and the airport is expected to re-open either Tuesday or Wednesday.

All signs currently point to the Bucs being able to continue with business as planned for the week of practice and their game against the Bears being in front of a football hungry and rabid Buccaneers fan base.

Now that the worst of the storm is over, the Bucs can be the distraction for fans that have endured a hellacious week of hurricane preparation and fear of one of the worst storms in recent memory hitting them dead on. They saw every other NFL team take the field, every other fan rejoice that their teams were back, all the while sitting there waiting for the inevitable while their team was thousands of miles away instead of on their television screen.

Next: What Did The Bears Show In Week One?

Say what you will about Mike Glennon and the Bears’ surprising performance against the Falcons. This weekend they will face a team chomping at the bit to play and a fan base that is on the verge of eruption waiting to see their beloved Buccaneers take the field and kick off the 2017 season.

Home/Bucs News