Were you one of the 127.7 million people who reportedly watched Super Bowl LIV on Sunday? Did it go the way you expected? Personally, I was expecting a Philadelphia victory (I'm on the record here), but I can't say I felt too sure about it. I mean, it never feels good to pick against Patrick Mahomes. I'm pretty sure about this: No one outside of a somewhat delusional Eagles fan was predicting before Super Bowl LIV that Mahomes would be completely stymied and Philadelphia would win in an absolute blowout.
Now, if you're a Buccaneers fan and you're like me, one of your bigger takeaways after that unexpected domination was, hey, we beat the Eagles in Week Four! Pretty convincingly, too. After racing out to a 24-0 second-quarter lead behind two Baker Mayfield and cruised to a 33-16 final. Jalen Hurts was sacked six times and held to 158 passing yards. Saquon Barkley had 84 yards and no scores, which counts as a victory against the NFL's best running back.
So that's pretty cool. (The Bucs also took the Chiefs to overtime in Kansas City in Week Nine.) Now, here was my next thought: Has this ever happened before. In 48 previous seasons, had the Buccaneers ever beaten the team that went on to win the Super Bowl at the end of that season. I thought surely it must have happened a few times.
Well, turns out this was definitely not a common occurrence. In fact, this was just the second time that Tampa Bay notched a victory over the team that went on to raise the Lombardi Trophy that season. The first one just happened to be one of the most stunning upsets the NFL has ever seen.
In 2009, the Buccaneers were sporting a 2-12 record when they went to New Orleans to play the 13-1 Saints. New Orleans had already clinched the top seed in the NFC playoff field but after taking their first loss of the season the week before, hadn't quite locked up the number-one seed. The Saints played their starters; Drew Brees played every offensive snap. The home team seemed to be cruising to an easy and expected win with a 17-3 halftime lead, but Cadillac Williams ripped off a 23-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to make it a one-touchdown lead.
New Orleans still led by a touchdown when they punted it away with a little less than three minutes left in regulation. That's when Micheal Spurlock ripped off a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown to leave the Superdome crowd stunned. The Saints still should have won the game, but Garrett Hartley missed a 37-yard field goal with five seconds left and the game went to overtime. Tampa Bay won the toss and the Bucs gave it to Williams on eight of the nine plays on a 48-yard drive that ended in Connor Barth's game-winning 47-yard field goal.
It was the first time in NFL history that a team with 13 wins lost to a team with two or fewer victories. Of course, it was just a blip on the radar for the Saints, who would go on to beat Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLIV for the franchise's first championship.
On four other occasions, the Buccaneers beat a team that went on to make the Super Bowl but not win it. That first happened in 1979, when a 21-6 Week Four win over the Los Angeles Rams was part of Tampa Bay's memorable 5-0 start to the season. The Rams got revenge with a 9-0 win in Tampa in the 1979 NFC Championship Game but then lost to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XIV.
In the strike-shortened 1982 season, Tampa Bay beat instate rival Miami, 23-17, in Week 11 but the Dolphins advanced to Super Bowl XVII before losing to Washington. In 2001, the Buccaneers topped the Rams, 24-17, on Monday Night Football in Week 11 on Warrick Dunn's dive-to-the-pylon touchdown in St. Louis. St. Louis made it to Super Bowl XXXVI but then lost to Tom Brady's New England Patriots. And in 2016, the Bucs started the season and Dirk Koetter's tenure as head coach with a 31-24 win in Atlanta. The Falcons advanced to Super Bowl LI and also ran into Tom Brady's Patriots, famously surrendering a 28-3 second half lead in an overtime loss.
And that's it. We all obviously prefer when the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl, but a rare win over the eventual champions is at least a small, and rare, feather in their cap in 2024.
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 and on the Buccaneers app; look for that 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.
Do you think we will be active in free agency and how much will Chris Godwin negotiations play into this?
- Chris. E, via Bucs App
In Jason Licht I trust, so whichever direction he and his crew go in this 2025 offseason is fine with me. If you're asking me for a prediction, however, I would guess the Buccaneers will pursue an approach must like last year. That means starting with your own pending free agents that you hope to keep then making some mid-level surgical strikes on the free agent market. And yes, Chris, I do think the Godwin outcome will play into what happens with the rest of the roster.
Personally, if the Bucs were able to retain Godwin and Lavonte David and a few others from their own free agent list, I'd be just fine with limited free agency spending otherwise. The offense is set at most positions for 2025 and I think the handful of issues the team faces on defense can mostly be addressed in the draft and with a couple players returning to health.
According to Spotrac, the Buccaneers as currently constituted have about $5.7 million in cap space for 2025, which ranks 24th in the NFL. Yes, there are ways to increase that number and work around it; last year the Bucs faced a restricted cap situation and still managed to re-sign David, Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Chase McLaughlin and hand Tristan Wirfs a much-needed extension. The situation is far less dire this year, with Godwin and David being the main issues. Starting left guard Ben Bredeson is also a pending free agent, but the other four OL stalwarts are under contract.
The Bucs landed Bredeson on a very affordable one-year deal last spring and that worked out very well. I liked the Bryce Hall signing as well, but he suffered a season-ending injury in Week One so we'll never know if that would have proved to be a good call. And that was about it in terms of outside additions. (A flirtation with edge rusher Randy Gregory ultimately never came to fruition.) The Bucs then nailed the draft, adding starting center Graham Barton, the NFL's best rookie running back in Bucky Irving, a very promising wideout in Jalen McMillan and a starting slot back in Tykee Smith.
You can never guarantee that draft picks are going to work out, but I feel like Licht and his people have a pretty good track record at this point. Like most NFL G.M.'s, light would prefer to build primarily through the draft. I expect that's the approach he will make this offseason and the Buccaneers will not be major players on the free agency market.
Now, if the Bucs did decide to splurge on a high-priced addition in free agency, who could they target? Staff Writer/Reporter Brianna Dix and I made some suggestions earlier this week.
What is the least worn/most rare Buccaneer jersey number across history?
- John. S, via Bucs App
This is a fun one to answer because it allows me to connect one of the Bucs' rising young defensive star with the team's very first Hall of Famer. There are two jersey numbers that have only been worn by a single player in Buccaneers' history, for two very different reasons.
Defensive end and 1995 Hall of Fame inductee Lee Roy Selmon was the first college player ever drafted by the franchise and he was given the number 63. He wore it for nine seasons (1976-84) and was still the "owner" of it in 1985 while on injured reserve. After the 1985 season, Selmon retired and the Bucs honored him at the start of the 1986 season by making his number the first one officially retired by the franchise. Thus, no one else has ever put on #63 for the Buccaneers, and no one ever will
Yaya Diaby was drafted by the Buccaneers in the third round in 2023, which just happened to be the same year that the NFL allowed, for the first time, players to wear number 0 on their jerseys. Diaby said, "I'll bite," and became the first Buccaneer ever to don the zero, doing so in honor of him being a zero-star recruit coming out of high school. Of course, while we hope Diaby has a long and prosperous career with the Buccaneers, there's a good chance that at some point in the team's future another player will select the zero and Selmon will go back to being one of one.
After that, the two least-issued jersey numbers in team annals are 42 and 99. Running back Ricky Bell, who died at the age of 29 due to heart failure caused by dermatomyositis, was actually the second Buccaneer to wear 42 after cornerback Frank Oliver in 1976, and two more players (running back Steve Bartalo in 1987 and cornerback Eric Everett in 1990) briefly had it but at some point the team's equipment managers stopped giving it out and it became "unofficially retired," if you will. Warren Sapp was the fourth Buc to wear 99 after DL/G Tom McHale (1987…he switched to 73 after moving from offense to defense), linebacker Eugene Marve (1988-91) and defensive tackle David Grant (1992). No one will follow in Sapp's 99 footsteps, as his number was officially retired by the Bucs after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Similarly, Hall of Fame safety John Lynch was the last of five Bucs players to wear #47 and fullback Mike Alstott was the last of six to wear #40. Wide receiver Mike Evans is the seventh Buccaneer to wear #13, and something tells me he'll be the last.
What was Shaquil's best play as a Buccaneers?
- Cael R., via Bucs App
There's a lot to choose from, because Shaquil Barrett had 45.0 sacks, 15 forced fumbles and even three interceptions in 71 games during his first stint with the Buccaneers. He was the NFL's strip-sack king for much of that period. But that's only the regular season. Was there a stretch of Barrett's career that was more important, impactful or exciting than the 2020 NFC Championship Game plus Super Bowl LV, in which he racked up four combined sacks of future Hall of Famers Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady? Barrett also had four of the Bucs' eight hits on Mahomes in the Super Bowl as a no-blitz strategy worked to perfection (sound familiar?).
Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul combined for five sacks on Rodgers and were the difference in the game. Barrett had three, so let's take a look at what those plays accomplished. After the Buccaneers took the opening possession of the NFCC game down the field for a touchdown, the defense forced a quick punt to keep Rodgers and company from answering right back on their first drive. On third-and-nine from Green Bay's 43, Barrett dropped Rodgers for a loss of eight, leading to a punt. That early momentum helped the Bucs rush out to a 28-10 lead in an eventual 31-26 victory. That seems pretty important.
In the fourth quarter, with the visitors' lead down to 28-23, Green Bay got the ball back on an interception at their own 24. Three plays later, on third-and-five, Barrett got to Rodgers again for a 10-yard sack to force a punt, which was huge. Green Bay never got closer than five points. Barrett's last sack was for zero yards on Green Bay's next drive, and it did contribute to a three-and-out, which was critical. Probably not as big as the first two, though.
In the Super Bowl, Barrett's sack came midway through the third quarter with the Bucs already up, 28-9. It set up a third-and-13 play on which Mahomes was intercepted by Winfield, which at the time felt like pretty much the final dagger, to borrow a Gene Deckerhoff-ism. Barrett's sack was big, and some of his QB hits contributed to killing drives, as well. That said, I think it has to be one of the sacks from the game in Green Bay. I'll go with the one in the fourth that kept a Brady interception from becoming a game-changer in the wrong way.
What is the "best worst-movie" you have ever seen in your life? (a movie that is so bad that
it's funny/good, but not intentional)
- Max B.
Does Balls of Fury, the ping pong-based movie that randomly has Christopher Walken in it count? I've always thought it was quite funny but I didn't know if it was considered a "bad" movie. Plus, they were trying to be funny. Still, I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes and it has a Tomatometer score (critics) of 22% and a Popcornmeter rating (movie watches) of 33%, which is not much better.
If that doesn't count I would go with Serenity, a bonkers 2019 movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, but mostly McConaughey as fishing boat captain Baker Dill. Yes, Baker Dill. Look I like weird movies. Like, I really like them. It might be my favorite movie subset. When things are happening and you don't understand why, and then the reasons are eventually revealed…that's my jam. Examples: Jacob's Ladder, Annihilation and Sorry to Bother You (that last one is REALLY weird). I'd put Serenity into that genre, but the twist at the end is just so dumb it makes the whole thing laughable. And that was fine. I enjoyed the watch.
In retrospect, I would call Balls of Fury a guilty pleasure rather than a "best worst-movie," as you put it Max. I bring that up because I want to shame my wife publicly for her number-one guilty pleasure movie: Malibu's Most Wanted. If you haven't already seen it, don't.
Don't worry, she doesn't read my articles.