They begin the season Thursday, September 9 at 8:20 at home against the Dallas Cowboys.
The schedule features the usual 6 games against NFC South opponents, with 4 games against AFC East opponents, the first coming Sunday night against the New England Patriots in Week 4 on October 3. The Bucs will also be facing all 4 teams from the NFC East, the first matchup coming in Week 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Many have complained about the Bucs having an incredibly easy schedule, as the NFC South is going to be one of the weakest divisions in football, the NFC East is certainly going to be awful for a second straight year, and other than the Bills, the AFC East is probably going to be pretty easy for the Bucs to coast through.
But, you know what? The Bucs deserve this. They’ve been so bad for so long, they deserve to be able to coast through a regular season to an NFC South title. They might go undefeated against the division, with the Saints losing damn near half their team and the Panthers and Falcons not really making any substantial improvements in the offseason. The rest of the schedule should be equally as easy.
My way-too-early prediction as far as the record goes? I think they’ll go 13-4. They might lose to the Bills and the Cowboys (I know the latter might come as a shock, but be prepared for a letdown game to open the season), and mix in a couple random losses to bad teams (it happens to every good team) and there it is.
Tom Brady, Sr. has already predicted for the Bucs to start 4-0, as the GOAT’s father went on a popular Boston sports talk show and claimed he started “salivating” when he saw New England in Week 4.
I’m not sure I’d be that ballsy, but it could certainly happen. It’s always important to temper expectations, though. These are still the Bucs.
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This article appears in May 13-19, 2021.