The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished the 2010 NFL regular season with a 10-6 record. All in all this is not too bad a football team. Over the last two years they have drafted a new QB and have taken several small steps forward. A 10 win season is the first goal of any NFL team in August, and when it finally happens a team can start to look to take the next step. For now this is a team that wins the games they should and once they add a few more pieces they could be a real force.
The offense scored 341 points or 21.3 points per game on average. That is not the best, but they are still young and have a coach still looking to fully imprint his identity on this team. Josh Freeman saw the most action at QB and he completed 61.4% of his passes for 3451 yards, 25 TD’s, and just 6 INT’s. Pretty good number for a second year QB. The running game behind averaged 125 yards per game, and the O line gave up 30 sacks.
The defense gave up 318 points, or 19.9 points per game on average. Their take away differential was +9 as they forced 12 fumbles and picked off 19 passes. They also racked up 26 sacks. While those numbers are not terrible they rank in the teens in most key team defensive stat categories so there is some room for improvement there.
Overall this is a team that was able to rebuild on the fly, draft the right young arm to lead them and win the games they should be winning. Raheem Morris is one of the most underrated Coaches in the NFL and it seems the Bucs made a very good choice handing the reigns over to him. I look for them to be very good, very soon.
Related Links:
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and notes
- The Business of the NFL
- Joshua Lobdell.com