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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It's Do-or-Die Time | S.S. Mailbag

This week, Buccaneers fans have questions about win-or-go-home games in team history, Antoine Winfield Jr. and the Pro Bowl, Baker Mayfield's ribs and more

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Since fumble data started being regularly aggregated in 1999, here is the full, unabridged and complete list of NFL players who have recorded at least 100 tackles, 5.0 sacks, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and three interceptions in a single season:

Antoine Winfield Jr.

Now on to your questions.

A reminder that you can send questions to me any time you want on Twitter (@ScottSBucs) and they're easier to find if you include the hashtag #SSMailbagBucs. We are also now soliciting questions each week on our Instagram page; look for that story on Wednesdays. As always, if you want to get a longer question into the mailbag and would prefer to email your question, you can do so to tbbsocial@buccaneers.nfl.com.

View pictures from Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice on 01/04/2024

How many times have the Bucs been in a win-and-in or lose-and-go-home situation in the final week of the regular season? What were the outcomes?

- @cjprescott2000 (via Instagram)

In 1979, the Buccaneers entered the last week of the regular season in a tie atop the NFC Central with the Chicago Bears, both at 9-6. They had not yet clinched a playoff spot at that point, as Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington were all 10-5 and there were only two Wild Card spots available. The Bucs could make sure they made the postseason for the first time in franchise history by beating Kansas City at Tampa Stadium…and they did so in one of the most memorable Bucs games ever. In a torrential downpour that turned stadium aisles into waterfalls and completely shut down both offenses, the Bucs won 3-0 on a 19-yard Neil O'Donoghue field goal with six minutes left in the fourth quarter.

In 1981, the Buccaneers went to Detroit on the final weekend for a winner-take-all game to decide the NFC Central title, as both teams were 8-7. The big play was a strip-sack by Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon, with David Logan picking up the ball and returning it 21 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of a 20-17 thriller. The two Wild Card spots went to 10-6 Philadelphia and 9-7 Washington, so the Bucs would have been out without a win.

In 1982, the season was shortened to nine games by a players' strike and the playoffs were adjusted into what was branded a "Super Bowl Tournament," with the division lines erased and the top eight teams in each conference making it. This time, the Bucs were at home against Chicago in the final week, sitting at 4-4 and needing a win to lock up one of those eight spots. The game went to overtime thanks to a 17-point Bucs rally that included two Doug Williams touchdown passes to Jimmie Giles. Bill Capece won it in the extra period with a 33-yard field goal.

The Bucs clinched a playoff spot before the final week in 1997. In 1999, they did have a playoff spot in hand prior to the final weekend but did need to win at Chicago to take the NFC Central title. They did so quite handily, 20-6, in the process earning a first-round bye. In 2000, Tampa Bay clinched a spot a week early in that unforgettable Monday Night Football showdown with the Rams, which the home team won, 38-35. Unfortunately, the following week in Green Bay they had a shot to win the division again and earn another first-round bye but lost in overtime, 17-14. The usually automatic Martin Gramatica just missed on a 40-yard field goal try at the end of regulation.

In 2001, the Bucs clinched a Wild Card spot and were locked into the sixth seed a week early. In 2002, the Super Bowl-bound Buccaneers clinched the first NFC South crown in Week 16 but still had a first-round bye to possibly claim in Week 17 (which they did). The 2005 season doesn't quite qualify as a win-and-in, lose-and-go-home scenario. The Buccaneers beat the Falcons in overtime in Week 16 to take over first place in the South thanks to a tiebreaker edge over Carolina. The Bucs definitely knew they would win the division with a win over the Saints in Week 17, but there were some scenarios in which they could lose and still win the division or a Wild Card spot. They did go on to beat the Saints the next week, making that a moot point.

The 2007 Buccaneers actually clinched the NFC South title in Week 15 with a win over the Falcons, then coasted to a 9-7 finish. A playoff drought then ensued until Tom Brady arrived in 2020 and led the Bucs to their second Super Bowl championship. That team was eliminated from NFC South title contention by a Saints win on Christmas Day, but the next day was able to clinch a Wild Card spot with a 47-7 thrashing of the Lions in Detroit. In 2021, the Buccaneers captured the division title with a win in Carolina in Week 16 (out of 18, as this was the first 17-game season). Last year, the Bucs clinched a second straight NFC South crown with a win over Carolina in the penultimate weekend.

So that's every Bucs playoff season, and I would say the only ones that fit your criteria, C.J., are 1979, 1981 and 1982. What about seasons that came down to win or go home that didn't end up in the playoffs? Nope, not really. There are four worth looking at but none that I believe match that criteria.

The 1998 team still had a shot at a Wild Card spot heading into the finale at Cincinnati despite being 7-8, but it wasn't a win-and-in scenario. That team needed help, and they didn't get it. They did demolish the Bengals, 35-0, but they were eliminated later in the afternoon by a last-minute Cardinals win, which the Bucs learned about on their flight home.

The 2008 team looked like a shoo-in for the playoffs when it stood at 9-3 with four games to go, tied for the second best record in the NFC. Instead, those Bucs lost their last four games and missed out on the postseason entirely. They still had a shot going into Week 17 but even if they had beaten the Raiders that weekend (they didn't), they would have needed a Dallas loss to claim the final Wild Card spot.

The 2010 team was the Raheem Morris "Race to 10" group, with the belief that 10 wins would be enough for a playoff spot. It wasn't. The Bucs won their last two to get to 10-6 but lost out on the final Wild Card spot on a tiebreaker with the Packers, who would go on to win the Super Bowl. The Bucs had to win their final game to have a shot, but were eliminated by a Green Bay win on the same day, so that wasn't a true win-and-in game.

Finally, the 2016 team was still mathematically alive heading into Week 17, but it's pulse was extremely weak. The Bucs had to beat Carolina, which they did, but they also need six other games to go their way, including a tie between Washington and the Giants. Needless to say, that did not happen.

So if you made it this far into the explanation, C.J., here's the one word answer for your question: Three.

What could possibly be the reason that Antoine did not make the pro bowl? Outrageous

- @br.an.do.03 (via Instagram)

Would you like me to locate Amelia Earhart's plane and tell you exactly what's inside Area 51 while I'm at it? I've got just as much of a chance to explain those mysteries as to come up with any logical reason that Antoine Winfield Jr. is not a second-time Pro Bowler. (He went for the first time in 2021.)

I quite possibly may have made my feelings felt on this issue at the top of this article. You could say I'm a little salty about it. I didn't put this question at the top of the list because I wanted a little time to calm down. It didn't really work.

Here's one theory that might help explain, to a small degree, how this travesty occurred, but I wouldn't call it a good reason. The Pro Bowl spots are selected by a three-part vote, one by fans, one by NFL players and one by NFL coaches. The Pro Bowl ballot had the safeties split into two spots, free and strong. Three safeties make the team – the top vote-getter at each spot and then the next highest vote-getter at either spot.

Winfield was listed with the free safeties, where Atlanta's Jessie Bates took the starting spot. That's unsurprising, given that Bates has six interceptions this year and is undeniably a great player. Since Winfield is a first alternate for the game, it seems clear that he was second in the voting at free safety. Arizona's Budda Baker, now a six-time Pro Bowler with outstanding name recognition, was voted the starter at strong safety. Crucially, the third safety, Seattle's Julian Love, came from the strong safety pool. Perhaps those two came closer to splitting the votes than Bates and Winfield did, which ended up giving Winfield fewer votes than Love.

Now, I don't know that this happened, or even care particularly much. I guess my actual answer to your question is that the Pro Bowl selection process is one that is flawed in a couple ways (see: Lavonte David only being picked once). Otherwise, it's hard to understand how anyone with the accomplishments Winfield has had this season could be seen as not one of three best safeties in the NFC in 2023.

Here's the good news: Winfield still has a shot to be named an Associated Press first-team All-Pro. That one is voted on by members of the media, and hopefully enough of them do their homework. It's a more exclusive honor than the Pro Bowl and would certainly ease the sting of this Pro Bowl snub.

By the way, the one Pro Bowler the Bucs do have so far this year, Mike Evans, agrees with my assessment. In the locker room on Wednesday he told the media that he has seen plenty of Pro Bowl snubs through the years, but this is the worst one he's seen.

How concerned are you that Baker will not play??

- @dleddy1016 (via Instagram)

I mean, you have to be a little concerned when your starting quarterback isn't able to practice on Wednesday because his ribs are still too sore from a hit he took on Wednesday. However, Baker Mayfield was a limited participant on Thursday and Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales said he was able to "rip" some throws downfield. That's a good sign. Hopefully he feels a little bit better each of these next three days and is able to go on Sunday in Charlotte.

I guess I would put my concern at about 25%. Mayfield is clearly a tough guy and has played through injuries before. There is a lot at stake on Sunday and he wants to help his team finish the job. And, yeah, I think there is some personal motivation for him to go back to Carolina and play against the team he started with in 2022. To me, those factors add up to a player gutting through an injury if he is capable of playing. Still, there has to be a threshold where it just won't work, where he can't twist his torso or take another hit, and that's why my concern level isn't all the way down at zero. We'll find out in a couple days.

Who was the first wide receiver for the buccaneers?

- @amos_tunstall (via Instagram)

I don't think there's any one player we could call the "first" receiver for the Bucs because every team has more than one at all times. The Buccaneers got their first big influx of players in their inaugural 1976 season through a "veteran allocation draft" conducted between them and the Seattle Seahawks. There were four receivers among the 39 players the Bucs selected – Willie McGee (no, not the former Cardinals baseball player), J.K. McKay (who was the son of Tampa Bay Head Coach John McKay), Barry Smith and Lawrence Williams.

Neither McGee nor Williams ever actually played for the Buccaneers, so I think you can rule them out. But McKay and Smith did, so I guess if you want to define it that way, they were the first two receivers in Bucs history. McKay was drafted higher so you could give him the title of first Bucs receiver.

However, the way I think I would define it is as a tie between all the receivers who played in Tampa Bay's first regular season game, at Houston on September 12, 1976. Two started that game – McKay, and Lee McGriff – and a third, Isaac Hagins, got playing time. (Meanwhile, five different running backs got carries for the Bucs in that game…it was a different time.) Wide receiver Morris Owens, who would lead that 1976 team in receiving, didn't arrive as a waiver claim until Week Three.

McKay was the only wide receiver to catch a pass for the Bucs in that game, so I think that makes him the best answer. McKay was also the first Buccaneer at any position to catch a pass in that game, so that solidifies his case. Everything is coming up J.K.

What is your go-to karaoke song?

- @kahaian (via Instagram)

I have only ever tried my vocal cords at karaoke twice, so I can't really claim to have a "go-to" song. The first time I did it the selection was "One" by U2. The second time it was – this is mildly embarrassing – "Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms.

I've actually thought quite a bit about what I would choose if I ever tried karaoke for a third time. So far, I've resisted because the world doesn't really need that, but I do sing various things quite a bit while walking around the office, so at least my coworkers get that treat. I always sing along to the radio if I know the song; to me, that's what music is for.

Now, I could very credibly say all the words in the right order and at the right pace to "Nuthin but a 'G' Thing" by Dr. Dre, or really just about any song on that album, but I'm fully aware that if I did that into a microphone I would not actually sound anything like a rapper. It wouldn't be a good look for me, so I'll save that for my car. Let's stick to songs where I might actually sound like a singer (if not necessarily a good one).

Anyway, like I said I've thought about this quite a bit and lately I think I've settled on the answer should the opportunity ever arise:

"Nice & Slow" by Usher.

First of all, I know every word to that song and when I'm singing along to it I feel like I completely match Usher's pace on every line. (There is one word I would skip.) Second, it's a very sensual song and I believe I could convincingly convey that to an appreciative crowd. Third, it's just a great freaking song and I love when he spells out his whole name. So that's my answer. It's probably best if this remains a hypothetical situation.

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