Tampa Bay Buccaneers free falling in Week 2 NFL Power Rankings

Tampa Bay Buccaneers free falling in Week 2 NFL Power Rankings

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have been national darlings coming into the season, but that’s certainly not the case after their Week 1 loss.

With expectations through the roof, the Buccaneers traveled to New Orleans to begin the season Sunday afternoon and were unable to come away with a win. The Saints defeated the Bucs 34-23 and there were thousands of fans and analysts alike expressing concerns and raising questions about Tampa Bay moving forward.

Based off of that one game, the Buccaneers are in absolute ‘free fall’ mode when it comes to NFL Power Rankings. Here’s a look at where several major publications have the Buccaneers ranked after their Week 1 loss compared to last week.

•  ESPN: No. 13 (No. 6 last week)
• NFL.com: No. 13 (No. 13 last week)
• Yahoo Sports: No. 19 (No. 9 last week)
• CBS Sports: No. 10 (No. 9 last week)
• USA Today: No. 11 (No. 8 last week)

Buccaneers have work to do, but there’s no reason to panic yet

Tampa Bay is still ranked as one of the top 0-1 teams in the league, and for good reason. No one expected the Bucs to go into New Orleans and win, but then all of a sudden they lose and everyone seems ready to give up on them.

There’s work to be done, no doubt. There are areas in which this team needs to improve, but there’s no reason to believe that those developments won’t be done.

The Buccaneers have the talent to compete with anyone in the league and this team will still take a few more weeks to put it all together, but that doesn’t mean we should panic or completely write them off, no matter what ‘power rankings’ may say.

The Bucs continue their season Sunday afternoon with a home opener against the New Orleans Saints.