Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3 things Bruce Arians must tackle in 2019
By Rob Leeds
3. Get out of the NFC South basement
This seems like a pretty low bar to set. No team should ever play not to lose but expectations have to be tempered with rationalism. The Buccaneers were not a good team in 2019 and still have some obvious deficiencies across their team. While it does get easy to get bogged down after year in and year out under .500, it helps to remember that sometimes all it takes is a big name draft pick or a new head coach to turn a team around (see the Cleveland Browns and St. Louis/L.A. Rams).
The NFC South is one of the best divisions in football each year yet the Buccaneers have been able to compete. The Bucs split games with the Saints and the Panthers last season and while it seems like all three of the other teams have improved so too have the Bucs. The Bucs front office has added some very talented coaches and draft picks to put the team in a position to compete.
Next. 4 steps to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the NFC South. dark
This Buccaneers team is very young with rookies and second year players across the roster. This means that Arians has a core to play with now but also to develop over several seasons to win down the road. If the Buccaneers can finish outside of last place in the division they can go into 2020 with some momentum and some experience and aim to challenge the Saints or whoever else is in control of the NFC South.