Not Your Father’s Buccaneers
3 min read
Bruce Arians became the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl - but he wants more | Credit: Sky Sports.com
Your father’s Buccaneers
Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, and Mike Alstott are heroes from a different generation. Chances are most fans in early adulthood know these Bucs to be the ones their father’s cheered on at the newly named Raymond James Stadium in the late nineties to early 2000s. That squad of players had been trying to break through the NFC Championship game, and the Eagles it seemed like for years. It was a team built over a good number of years and a few coaches.
It started in 1995 under Sam Wyche with the drafting of Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks. Who could have imagined at the time that these two defenders would end up in Canton as two of the best defensive players to ever had played the game? These two in-state products would lead Tampa to its first Super Bowl Blowout Win.
Enter Tony Dungy, who would instill a change in culture with our perenially bad, but ever so loved Buccaneers, as well as a style of defense that would rule the league for a number of years (The Cover-2). It would take another 18 seasons to bring home the Lombardi Trophy.
Dungy’s inability to hire the right Offensive Coordinator and bring home the trophy was his undoing and led to his firing. Enter Jon Gruden, who stepped in and made changes covering both sides of the ball, instilled his offense to go along with Dungy’s\Kiffin’s Cover-2; and the rest is history.
Like the first champions, the Defense led the way.
The current reigning Super Bowl version of the Buccaneers has a few veterans from some years ago, such as Lavonte David, Mike Evans. For the most part, the rest of the stars have come aboard much more recently. Like the first champions, the Defense led the way.
The final piece that most mattered in the end was Tom Brady, who got himself another ring in his first year here. In comparison, this version only needed one coach to get it done. Bruce Arians, in only his second season as head coach, guided the Bucs to the promised land and to his first title as a head coach.
The Championship came with what I believe will be another Hall of Fame Defender in Devin White. In fact, White’s numbers, in only his second season, were better than Derrick Brooks’ numbers in his Super Bowl season. The feeling here is that if White stays healthy and the Bucs don’t let him get away, his numbers will outshine Brooks by quite a bit. Knowing how freakishly good Brooks was at the time, it’s hard to believe, but oh so welcome. We have only seen just a glimpse of what White can and will do. His best days are still in front of him.
wrapping up
Obviously, the current version has a much better chance to go back to back than your father’s version. It’s a shame that that version wasn’t able to get another title. The inability of Dungy to get the offense on track and on a high level probably wasted at least two to three seasons where we had a chance to make it to the big game but didn’t. To his credit, without him, I don’t think we would have the first title. It took Dungy and Gruden to get it done in the end.
Cherish every Lombardi Trophy, while the Bucs’ overall story is mostly one of many losing seasons.
The upside is one that many teams wish they could claim. What would the Vikings, Bills, and Browns give for just one modern time’s title? Be especially proud of your team Buc’s fans, and ignore the haters. It all stems from jealousy. Their teams didn’t get it done. Our Buccaneers did. So while the two championship teams were very different in many ways, they both did what 31 other NFL Clubs did not do, win it all. Go Bucs!!
