Carolina Panthers: The Rising Buccaneer Threat?
The Carolina Panthers will have a target on their back on from all of their divisional opponents, but they should not overlook the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Carolina Panthers road in the NFC South was supposed to be different last year. New Orleans was supposed to be the big deal. That never really got together last year. Then Atlanta started off strong only to falter midway through, but still provide the Panthers their only loss last season. Quietly Tampa Bay remained in the playoff conversation for a while although they were handled by the Panthers.
The Buccaneers began to take form last year. Jameis Winston proved to be a capable quarterback at the NFL level. There were weapons put around him like Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans. Doug Martin had a good season when healthy from the running back position. The beginnings of an offense were there.
On defense, the Buccaneers relied on Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David but lacked the depth of a true Lovie Smith team. With all of these things looking up, Tampa fired Lovie in the off season and replaced him with offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. The theory was that Koetter had done a lot for Winston and the team did not want him poached by another franchise.
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Sure. During the off season the Buccaneers tried to shore up some of their holes. Robert Ayers came from the Giants to add pass rush. Daryl Smith came over from Baltimore to add some leadership to middle of the defense. They signed Brent Grimes and drafted Vernon Hargreaves to give their cornerback combination a completely new look.
These are all good things, but adding defensive help would have made more sense if Lovie was still there to coach it. He is not. Instead Koetter will be in command of an NFL team for the first time. Koetter is one of those string of Boise State coaches that never worked out outside of Boise. In his case, Arizona State was his bridge too far before spending the last decade as an NFL assistant.
So Tampa should be better, it’s just hard to say how much better they will be. Koetter is something of a wild card. Winston should be better year 2, and it seems that he has reported in much better shape this time around. The defense should be better on paper, though teams will test Hargreaves early in the year.
Before Cam Newton came along, the NFC South’s quarterback rivalry was Matt Ryan and Drew Brees. Now we may be witnessing the birth of next rivalry between Newton and Winston. Let’s just hope that Jameis isn’t quite ready for that yet.