Over the first few weeks of the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have benefited from their fair share of lucky breaks. There was the missed Youghoe Koo field goal in Week 1 and then the complete collapse of the Houston defense in Week 2, but no matter how you spin it the Bucs are still 2-0 and that's all that matters.
There's already an increasingly good chance they add to that win total in Week 3.
No offense to the New York Jets, but they head into this Sunday's matchup in Tampa as less than formidable foes. It's an uphill battle that got even harder with the news that starting quarterback Justin Fields will miss the game after being ruled out with a concussion.
It's bad news for New York but another lucky break for the Bucs.
Buccaneers will face a backup quarterback against the Jets in Week 3
Of course, any talk of a backup or rookie quarterback sends most fans into a fit of anxiety. For some reason, the Bucs simply cannot figure out how to stop themselves from making unsuspecting quarterbacks look like Hall of Famers.
Go back to last season and Bo Nix carved the Bucs up a few weeks before Tampa's defense flirted ever so briefly with making Spencer Rattler look good. The history of allowing big games to quarterbacks the Bucs should have no problem stamping out is long, but it might be about to end.
If Week 2's comeback win over the Texans taught us anything, it's that the stars might finally be aligning for Tampa Bay. So many times in years past the Bucs were the team on the wrong side of what happened on Monday night, but it felt like the first time they were able to grit out a gutsy win.
There's a lot that goes into that, and it extends well beyond luck, but the vibes are immaculate. Defensively the Bucs look better than we expected, too. There was a tough break on the 25-yard Nick Chubb touchdown run but for the most part the defense was a big part of why the comeback on the final drive was possible.
That suggests that the winds have shifted, and a game that we would normally be worried about suddenly becomes as ridiculous as it sounds when you say it. In no world should a 2-0 team like the Bucs be afraid of Tyrod Taylor and the Jets coming to Tampa.
We've been fooled by the Bucs before, but everything we've seen so far from the team indicates times are finally different and fans deserve to be a little more confident than we've been in the past.
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