The Tampa Bay Buccaneers rarely get the credit they deserve, as Todd Bowles' team has quietly gone about its business over the past five years.
With the arrival of Baker Mayfield, the franchise has made it to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, while Baker has been a two-time Pro Bowler and is coming off a career year in 2024.
Now that we move into this offseason, the Buccaneers have addressed several positions on both sides of the ball to further strengthen their roster, to the point where some now consider them an NFC dark horse.
And one such person who shares that thought is former Buccaneer Gerald McCoy.
“I believe that the Bucs are good enough to challenge the Philadelphia Eagles this year,” McCoy said on the Rich Eisen Show. “I honestly believe that. They was good enough last year but they ran to the Washington Commanders, had some mistakes at the end, but the thing is we've seen that the Eagles’ kryptonite is the Buccaneers.”
That's quite the statement, and there is a little stat that backs up McCoy's "kryptonite" theory. And it is one that may surprise you.
In the last seven outings, the Buccaneers are 6-1 against the Eagles.
So there's that. But as we know, that will mean nothing once the regular season comes around.
Tampa Bay added Emeka Egbuka to its receiver room, plus Haason Reddick comes in to bolster the pass rush, so the Buccaneers have done a bit of work improving certain parts of their roster.
Is that enough to topple the Eagles in the NFC? We aren't there yet, but Tampa certainly has the weaponry to do so.
