ALL-IN: How the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Built the Super Bowl Champions

I don't know how you felt about the 2020 NFL season, but for me it ended at breakneck speed. I mean, football season never lasts long enough, but in an unprecedented scenario, to be honest, it felt like a fever dream, but if there was a team that matched the energy of the fever dream, it was definitely the Tampa Bay Buccaneers In an 11-month period, while the world was ending, the greatest quarterback of all time joined a new team and won a seventh Super Bowl title and also made history as the first to do so in his home stadium because I I mean what other records are there to break, it's such an incomprehensible timeline that I can understand why people think Brady is the only reason the Bucks were in the same zip code as the Super Bowl hell he played in. in half of them since he first became a starter, but with the Tampa trade in particular, Tom Brady was less the

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star and more the catalyst for accelerating the evolution of a young team, an evolution that, unlike What 2020 would have felt like didn't happen overnight for some of the veterans.

Viewers of the channel will know that I've been a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan for a long time, so it's pretty safe to say that I've been looking forward to this one, but given that all the money I make from this will go directly into the hands of Papa Goodell , I'm so excited that this video is sponsored by omaze and in a second I think you'll understand why I've talked about omaze before on the channel and how they support great causes by offering amazing and unique prizes like oh here's one playing to the ball and having lunch with Tom Brady.

Yes, the goat has teamed up with Omaze to bring someone and a friend to meet Tom. Try on one of his seven different Super Bowl rings and do your best Rob Gronkowski impression while he pitches. you a dime in the end zone and the best part is that a portion of every contribution benefits Best Buddies, the world's largest organization empowering the 200 million people worldwide with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well What if you have lunch with the best of all time and support Best Buddies International. Sounds like something you can get behind the link in the description at omaze.com ste and use the code ste 150 to get 150 extra entries again i.e. omaze.com ste with the code ste 150 to make your donation and get those 150 additional. innings so big thanks again to omaze and now let's fire some cannons so let's take a big step back in my knowledge of football as a kid I wasn't a huge

buccaneers

fan I know I'm sorry but to have passed mid-2000s spoiled watching Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow win

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hips in Florida, turning my attention to Tampa Bay was like getting hit with a spoiled frying pan, not only had I missed the boat on its taste of Super Bowl. glory, but by the time it caught up with me, the bucks were in the middle of deciding whether or not they wanted to be mediocre or horrible season by season, of course, it wasn't as unbearable as Owen 26's cursed start to the franchise. and if anyone who saw this was a fan back in the day, you have my condolences, but the kids of the early 2010s had a unique vibe of being painfully boring, at least outside of the Greg Schiano years, but then of a particularly horrible 2-14. season in 2014, new general manager Jason Light would use his hard-earned first overall pick to embrace a new era of Buccaneers football to this day the theme of Jameis Winston's five seasons as quarterback of dollars is still very controversial, there are people who Swear that he will throw a pick on a run play and then, on the other end, you have this gentleman who wrote a 404 page book in defense of Jameis and his professional career in the hall of fame, yes, but this video is not about Winston.

I want to direct our attention to the man I briefly mentioned above general manager Jason Light because for most Buccaneers fans who have been tuned into the team for the last half decade, Light was the bane of our existence until very recently time and I'll be the first to admit that I once thought Light was a terribly bad GM. I'm so sorry, Jason Bud. Light is up to me if we ever meet, but hey look, things weren't always pretty. Light became general manager in 2014, but in the end. of the 2018 season, the Buccaneers' record under him was a dismal 27 and 53 with zero playoff appearances and he also

built

a very varied track record through free agency and the draft, there were some home runs as the top wide receiver of the NFC South, but there were also a lot of misses and I don't want to have to mention it, but we can't ignore the 2016 draft.

We'll post them, but we'll go back to the end of 2018, when Light had just fired Dirk Cutter for not capitalizing. In the roughest start to the season in history, there was also no shortage of people calling for Light to pack his bags, but with his upcoming head coaching hire, Light would not only save his job, he also saved the Buccaneers franchise and The former Bruce Aryan also entered. Arizona Cardinals head coach brought out of brief retirement by his lifelong friend Of course, leading Aryan's responsibilities would be to fix the Buccaneers quarterback's turbulent situation, but that wasn't the biggest obstacle he faced when he reached a low place,

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bay had not made the playoffs in 11 years and had finished last in the nfc south seven of the last eight seasons when it comes to analyzing the impact of a head coach, the most difficult but most important thing to achieve is To get the entire organization to believe in your vision, you may have the greatest football brain of all time, but once you start to lose acceptance within the building, the wheels come off.

They fall incredibly fast. Bruce Ariens has always understood the value of that with trust and loyalty. His two defining traits above all else say what you will about his football philosophy, the man can lead, as a result, he quickly amassed the NFL's largest coaching staff with 28 assistants, a diverse and successful group that has followed Aryans throughout their career if Tampa were to move forward from their disappointing past, they had to abandon the losing culture that was then ingrained in the walls of their facility, but the Buccaneers had been a disaster saddled with poor leadership and discipline for years, so despite the best efforts of Aryans and company, It took more than a few weeks to clean up, let's take the obvious and you're not going to beat anyone with seven turnovers.

Aryans has never shied away from calling out players directly in press conferences and that was especially the case during the Buccaneers' 2nd and 6th starts. In 2019, however, a clear line was drawn in Week 10 when former top 10 forward Vernon Hargraves was cut from the team following a win against the Cardinals and Aryan cited a lack of rush on the ball, but this move was not due only to Hargrave's bad play. In isolation, it was about setting the tone for how Tampa was going to approach the game under Bruce Arians, ending that complacency, and while forging that new perspective wasn't easy for a team that had gone 5-11 for two seasons in a This row allowed bright spots to emerge on the Buccaneers' young roster, putting them on the path to the Super Bowl long before anyone could suspect defensive coordinator Todd Bowles integrated his aggressive 3-4 base scheme. based on disguising blitzes and coverages in order to apply pressure from literally anywhere on the field, making it even more difficult for opposing offenses to exploit a certain look as the unit went through increasing pains to adapt to that new system, especially in the young team's secondary, the bones of that dominant 2020 defense began to materialize - in fact, it went virtually unnoticed due to circumstances - but in the second half of the season, Todd Bowles' defense finished as one of the best in the NFL jumping from last place in defensive dvoa in 2018 to fifth place in 2019.

According to football outsiders, Tampa's run defense was helped in particular by the emergence of Vida Veya as one of the fiercest interior defenders in football American, was the NFL's all-time best overall, had a 2019 Bucks defense that finished 15th in yards allowed, top 5 in acquisitions, second in quarterback hits and 11th in NFL history In terms of rushing yards allowed by crunching the numbers and a good old-fashioned eye test once things clicked, the Buccaneers finished 2019 as a burgeoning elite defense and, on the other hand, thanks to the high ability by aryan. flying offense the

buccaneers

were fourth in points scored, first in passing yards and second in passing touchdowns, so from an outside perspective it certainly appears that in aryan's first year with the team he had achieved his goal of getting the buccaneers back to play winning football, but The team went 7-9.

If you're not a Buccaneers fan, you probably remember one thing about the team's 2019 season: Jameis Winston became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a single season. Remember how I said The Bucks defense ranked in the middle of the pack in yards and had one of the best run defenses of the last two decades, yeah well they would also finish fourth next to last in points allowed and a big part of that was the field position in which the Buccaneers rank last. gifts and, as a consequence, they also rank last in the average starting position of their opponents.

I'm no expert, but that's not ideal. In fact, I was so flabbergasted by its ability to shoot itself in the foot that I made an entire half-hour video trying to do it. i found out if

tampa

could win with jameis winston under center and my conclusion was that maybe for jason light there was definitely a decision to make: do you keep the 5,000 yard passer you drafted with a sky-high ceiling and a devastatingly low floor or do you admit? fail and make the decision elsewhere because, as fun as it was, getting rid of the most risk-prone quarterback in the league might have been even riskier than keeping him, but on the other hand, no risk, no cookie , the room applauds, I'm coming. through them they want to see what it's about, yes I have skills, do it for the thrill, I want to do it easily, the biggest move of the offseason, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally changed their uniforms to a design that isn't horrible to see tom brady signed two in all seriousness, he was and probably always will be one of the most shocking free agent signings in history. tb12 decided to hang up with the New England Patriots after 20 years and six Super Bowl victories to start over in Tampa Bay, a team.

Coming from a 7-9 record worse than he had ever experienced in the NFL, but when it comes to turnovers, Brady had never thrown more than 14 interceptions in a season throughout his entire career, but just like When Aryans joined the team elevating the quarterback position wasn't the only contribution Brady needed to make. The cultural change had already begun in Tampa Bay, but now the winningest player of all time would be another leader to cement that belief. Suddenly, Rob Gronkowski was offside again. Retirement Leonard Fournette and Lashawn McCoy were Buccaneers running backs and Bruce Aryan's goal of reclaiming his ascending defense just got a lot easier, but while talk of free agent acquisitions dominated any discussion about the Buccaneers, let's take a look at what they are. their holders. would it look like in 2020 devon white draft 2019 sean murphy bunting jamel dean draft 2019 scottie miller draft 2019 mike edwards draft 2019 vida veya draft 2018 ronald jones draft 2018 carlton davis draft 2018 jordan whitehead draft 2018 alex kappa draft 2018 chris godwin draft 2017 blacksmith draft 2015 ally marpette draft 2015 mike evans draft 2014 levan david draft 2013 will golston draft 2013 that are 15 or 16 of the 22 starters that the buccaneers would field all the local draft picks forming the core of the team is not so bad recognizing a weakness of drafts Previous Jason Light had also opted to pay for pass-rushing talent, adding Jason Pierre Paul via trade in 2018 and signing Domikong Sioux and Shaquille Barrett in 2019; the latter posted an NFL-leading 19 and a half sacks the previous season with just four million. dollar offer, oh and not to forget, the Bucks also signed kicker Ryan Suckup, who after providing stability to the Buccaneers kicking game, I

built

a shrine to him in my room, so after adding a couple Of other NFL greats to the list, there were only a couple of areasThe Buccaneers' offensive line was still pretty suspect and their young secondary could definitely use some help, so in the 2020 draft, Jason Light did it again, two absolute additions in Tristan Worfs and Antoine Winfield Jr.

Worfs would come in immediately. right tackle and immediately rise as one of the NFL's best, allowing just one sack in 799 pass-blocking snaps at safety Winfield would lead all defensive rookies in snaps with 1,034 and never committing a single penalty either, but I'm moving forward a little. of myself here because as much fun as the Buccaneers may have looked on paper heading into 2020, there was no way they were going to have an easy time putting it all together. Coronaviruses, getting a team fully adjusted with a new quarterback is a huge task for a single offseason, but it becomes a little more difficult to accomplish when there is essentially no offseason at all.

The training camp was reduced. Social distancing was fundamentally altered. Team meetings. Tom Brady became so disoriented that he walked into the wrong house, it just wasn't ideal, especially for a quarterback trying to align himself in a new system foreign to his usual style, so while many had painted the team as contenders for the Super Bowl, that paint doubled as a huge target on his back and once the regular season started it wouldn't take long. Not at all for critics to start taking direct shots at him. During the first three quarters of the year, the Buccaneers were consistently inconsistent.

Tampa Bay showed flashes where they looked like the

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team that had envisioned them, but there was also no denying that there were major flaws that needed to be addressed. If they wanted to make the postseason, despite having weapons like Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and even the addition of Mr. Big Chest Antonio Brown later in the season, the Buccaneers' offense seemed essential. broken most of the time, the most prominent example of that was in the team's 38-3 primetime gasp against the New Orleans Saints, where Brady's quarterback rating was 3.8, that's not a typo, it's the lowest in quarterback rating history, but it wasn't.

In fact, in New Orleans, in Week 14, the Buck's win-loss column against teams leading their division was very shaky and four, the defense had problems of its own, losing Vitaveya to injury had significantly weakened its presence against the He ran and headed towards the team. They had been outscored 49-7 by their opponents in the first half of their last four games, so now those criticisms were getting louder, there were rumors about the Buccaneers regretting the Tom Brady experiment, outright rumors of a growing gap between the Aryans and Brady calls for the Aryans to be fired the Buccaneers were seven and five, but with three losses in their last four it was exactly the kind of media frenzy you get when a Tom Brady-led team looks vulnerable, overblown Yes, of course, but there were real concerns beneath the clickbait headlines. putting more pressure on Brady and as a result he had become hurried and inaccurate from the pocket despite Aryan's style.

Brady was not traditionally a deep passer throughout his career and at 43 years old it showed that, heading into the previous game, he was coming off a streak of 19 consecutive incomplete passes beyond 20 yards and was on track to achieve his second highest interception total of his 20-year career, so going into the purchase of the team there were some obvious issues to address and Tampa Bay was running out of time to address them. In the face of adversity it is the fine line between champion and disaster, but despite doubts outside the building that the bye week is where the culture cultivated by the Aryans and reinforced by Brady showed a clear separation of the teams from the Bucks of the past, while losing is never easy for a locker room. there was no panic when the players needed leadership, they had it and when the coaching staff gave the players solutions to the team's problems, trusted them, took advantage of weaker competition to right the ship in their last four games, the offense came out of nothing. shining with an average of 37 points per game recognizing where they were missing opportunities, the offense incorporated more pre-snap movement and relied more on the running game to open the play action on the other side of the ball, the bulls regrouped and They altered their decisions by adding new creases to further disguise their lineups and lean more on two-man coverages, a change that had not been so subtly suggested in the team's purchase, but those changes paid off in 11 and 5, the Buccaneers finished their playoff drought to return to the dance as a wild card. team for the first time since 2007 but still not finished in a game against washington the buccaneers would silence a loud pursuit of young and hold him to zero sacks in a 31-23 victory in the divisional round tampa bay would redeem their usual season losses to new orleans in a suffocating defensive performance that would be the last game of draw brees' career and then, in the nfc

champions

hip game, the buccaneers would surprise the seed packers at lambeau field highlighted by a brave fourth decision just Before halftime to connect with Scotty Miller on a 39-yard touchdown, a hugely important addition was the return of Veda Veya, who recovered from a broken right leg and ankle in Week 5 to return just in time for Wreaking havoc on the Packers' interior offensive line by opening lanes for Shaq Barrett and Jpp, who would combine for five sacks, the Bucks played three road playoff games and earned three road playoff wins, scoring 31 points in each. and now an nfc title for tom brady, which gave him as many as aaron rodgers and draw brees. the buccaneers or tom brady played perfect football, it certainly wasn't tom brady who threw three interceptions in the nfc title game, but tampa was playing its most complete football all season and when both sides of the ball executed they were exactly the team they had been.

It was expected to be, but despite returning home for the Super Bowl, they recognized they had a completely different beast waiting for them in Kansas City. Their regular season matchup with the Chiefs was their last loss to date and it wasn't a pretty one. Tampa had a magical run up to that point and no one was going to deny how impressive it was, but the consensus among analysts was pretty clear that the Chiefs were simply too dominant to slow down after essentially sleepwalking through the regular season to a record 14 -2, Pat Mahomes and Andy Reed had found their groove again as they capped a 38-24 AFC Championship beatdown against an eager Buffalo Bills team, while the Buccaneers had certainly been impressive, they would have to be nearly perfect to get past the defending champions, of course, you'll probably get to where I am.

I'm going with this action play, I passed fake, he's going to score a touchdown, touchdown, Tampa Bay went under pressure, he's going to catch at the 21 yard line, falling to knock down the houses, we run, an acrobatic runner, in the yard line, wow, he hit the fumble. football recovered by the chiefs mahomes running to his right lookout can run manager muhammed down battle intercepted kicked in the end zone fox gotta beat the chief to call Tampa Bay's performance in their 31-a win masterful 9 in the Super Bowl would be a ridiculous understatement Todd Bowles' defensive game plan will go down as a textbook example of how to learn from past mistakes by attacking the boss's weak spots while eliminating the big plays that destroyed them In their first meeting with Casey's battered offensive line, the Buccaneers pressured Mahomes 29 straight times. 56 dropbacks constantly pressure their front four, but also throw shifts like corner blitzes and unconventional looks to keep the Chiefs from adjusting when you add in the Buccaneers' ability to disguise their coverages and shift to a complete two-look reliance. high they had.

It helped stop the Chiefs in their first meeting and was a recipe for a Mahomes offense going without a touchdown in what was likely the first time in Mahomes' life. Devin White was absolutely everywhere on the field and the defensive backs stepped up massively. To close out Tyree Hill and Levante David put on a physical masterclass covering Travis Kelsey, there wasn't a place you could point to on the field that didn't absolutely exceed expectations, not to mention the sweetest revenge moment I've ever seen in my life. my life, on the other side of the ball, it was appropriately the team's brilliant free agent additions that led the way with Rob Gronkowski doing what he does in Super Bowls, Antonio Brown making his biggest catch of the season and Lombardi Lenny Fernett capping off an unforgettable playoff run with an unforgettable Super Bowl run, even though they had dominated for 60 minutes, it still felt completely unreal in football's most uncertain year.

Tampa Bay's gamble to go all out had paid off. I think we knew this was going to happen. That was not to be, while the legacy implications of Brady winning a seventh Super Bowl ring and doing so without his former boss understandably took center stage in the context of 2020 and everything that happened in it, the victory of the Buccaneer in the Super Bowl, it feels even more special. More than that, of course, that could be my bias in speaking, but the Tampa victory truly serves as a testament to not only the importance of strong leadership in quickly overcoming your failures, but also of recognizing when you have something special in your hands, the phrase Jason Light often referenced during the team's pursuit of Tom Brady was the famous field of dreams quote, if you build it, he will come.

Not many people outside of the Buccaneers thought Tampa was a threat to go to the Super Bowl after a 7-9 season. Me in that group, but with the right coach and players in the locker room, Brady recognized that something special was being built there long before he walked through the door and now he's shown everything that can be proven one season later, Tom Brady will look to do it again. As he does with Brucerians Forever, a man of his word would not only get a tattoo in honor of the team's achievement, but would also become absolutely furious promising that he would bring everyone back to the team's celebratory boat parade.

We're going to keep this band and them together. knowing how to earn your ass is not going anywhere in another crazy feat, they really did it. Ariens and Jason Light became the first head coaching duo to return a Super Bowl starting 22 in the salary cap era. Will they be able to achieve it? two in February 2022, well, the odds are definitely against him, but if there's one thing the madness of the 2020 season proved, it's that you never bet against Tom Brady.