The NFL playoffs have been full of surprises. The Dallas Cowboys folded in the first round, which really is not a surprise, losing to the Green Bay Packers. The Packers came into the playoffs with a 9-8 record in a division that really wasn’t that good of a division. The biggest surprise of Green Bay’s 48-32 win against the Cowboys was that the game was in Jerry World, Arlington Texas. The Cowboys were 8-0 at home, so it was unimaginable that they would lose in the first round of the playoffs at home to a team that was 4-5 on the road. Still, I do not think that the Packers are the biggest story this January.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have just one player that is on the 2024 pro bowl roster, but they are 1-0 in the playoffs so far, not to mention the fact that they beat the 11-6 Philadelphia Eagles 32-9. The Bucs were 9-8 in the regular season and won the NFC south division. The NFC south division was not a great division, with just two teams having an above .500-win percentage. Those teams had the same 9-8 record, and only one team made the playoffs, the Tamp Bay Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay is scheduled to play the Detroit Lions in Detroit for the divisional round, and while it did not go as planned for Tama Bay, their season was nothing short of a success.
Now the question: why are the Buccaneers even somewhat successful this season? I ask that question because last year Tampa Bay’s quarterback was the great Tom Brady in his last season in the NFL. They had a losing record and lost a lot at the most important position in football. That means that the Bucs had to replace one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. The replacement is a familiar face to the NFL, a man whose name has become synonymous with mediocrity and sometimes magical moments that can only be described as a miracle, Baker Mayfield.
The Buccaneers signed Baker Mayfield in March of 2023. The main mission of Mayfield was to just be good enough to justify him being a starting quarterback in the NFL. Mayfield has way outperformed expectations. He threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns, and both of those numbers put him in the top ten of those categories.
Even though Mayfield has been a great surprise, I do not think that he is the main reason for the Bucs’ success.
Todd Bowles took over Tampa Bay in 2022. He had Tom Brady under center to lead the offense, but that is about it. The Bucs had just one player go to the pro bowl, had an 8-9 record and won a weak NFC south division.
In that season, the Bucs lost to the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. This year, the Bucs won their division and have moved on to the second round of the playoffs. As mentioned before, Tampa Bay has just one representative at the pro bowl and beat an Eagles team that was in the Super Bowl last winter.
There is only one way to explain why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the remaining eight teams in the NFL, and that is Todd Bowles. Bowles has directed a roster of misfits and has-beens to an appearance in the Divisional round of the playoffs. That is coach of the year stuff from Bowles. To sum it all up, I think that Shane Steichen did a great job with the Colts this year. I think that Kevin Stefanski took the Browns way farther than anyone thought that they would. But, Todd Bowles has something that they do not have, a playoff win.
by Ollie Hammonds
