Buccaneers GM Jason Licht Sends Message to Saints’ Cam Jordan
General manager Jason Licht took to social media following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ third consecutive NFC South division championship.
Playfully, Licht sought to make amends with defensive end Cam Jordan of the New Orleans Saints, who had a go at the Buccaneers the previous season. In an NFL Network interview, Jordan asserted that following Tom Brady’s retirement in 2023, the Buccaneers would “go back to being the Bucs.”
Yes, returned to the role of the Bucs! Again, we’re champions,” Licht tweeted on X, the former Twitter.
In actuality, the Buccaneers performed better in 2023 than they did in 2022—Brady’s last season with the franchise. The Dallas Cowboys crushed the 2022 Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card Round after they had staggered into the playoffs with an 8-9 record.
This season’s Buccaneers went 9-8 with Baker Mayfield at quarterback. Tampa Bay faces a sliding Philadelphia Eagles squad going into another Wild Card home game this time.
Todd Bowles Expects Tough Challenge With Philly
Despite a 10-1 start, the Eagles have dropped five of their last six games, but Bowles believes this Eagles team will be stronger than it has been in recent weeks. On “Monday Night Football” in Tampa early in the season, Philadelphia defeated the Buccaneers.
“They’re a talented team, but I haven’t gotten to know them well yet,” Bowles said to reporters on Monday. “Over the last several weeks, they have also sustained some injuries. They are a really talented team that made it to the Super Bowl last year, and they still won double-digit games. I won’t really be able to pinpoint it until I study more footage, though. They’ll be a challenging team to defeat.
Tampa Bay faced the Eagles in late September, a 25-11 defeat. The Eagles defense hasn’t looked like a team that gives up 11 points of late with more than 400 yards allowed in each of the past two games.
“I don’t think it compares at all,” Bowles said about the Eagles’ recent struggles. “It’s about the same, for the most part. It doesn’t compare because we played them so early in the year. We were still growing, I’m sure they were still growing. Playoff time is different because it’s one and done. Everybody’s nicked up, everybody’s hurt, it’s just a matter of who makes the most mistakes.”
‘Which Bucs Team Will Show Up?’
Many Buccaneers supporters are concerned about the question that ESPN’s Jenna Laine raised as Tampa Bay enters its fourth consecutive postseason berth.
Which Bucs team will it be? wrote Laine.
Laine went on, “They’ve been wildly inconsistent this season between a defense that gives up big chunk plays but somehow remains stout in the red zone and offensive coordinator Dave Canales’ growing pains.” In Week 17, the offense’s momentum came to an abrupt halt, and the Bucs reverted to their own self-inflicted wounds of penalties, drops, and fumbles. In addition, Mayfield has a rib issue that might hinder his throwing.
After an impressive four-game winning streak late in the season, the Buccaneers slipped up against the Saints in a 23-13 loss for Week 17. While Tampa Bay bounced back for a 9-0 win over the Carolina Panthers, it didn’t resemble the strong overall performance during the winning streak.
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