Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles recently spoke with the media at the annual NFL’s Owner’s Meetings about several topics.
One topic that seemed to be front and center was the free agents acquired by the Bucs divisional rivals. In particular the Atlanta Falcons signing of quarterback Kirk Cousins which now has the “experts” picking Atlanta to win the NFC South division.
Bowles responded in true “Bowles” fashion,
“We’re not trying to win the offseason, we’re trying to win the season,” Bowles said via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “So, our focus will be the same. It fuels a lot of us. It fuels a lot of the players, and we get ready to come back and try to defend our title like we did and just go further in the playoffs. That’s all we worry about this time of the year.”
Most sportsbooks have the Falcons as the favorites for the division at -130 odds. Which seems odd considering the talent up and down the Buccaneers roster compared to the Falcons roster. But we’ll address that at another time.
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht doesn’t put much stock in Vegas having the Bucs as underdogs for the division.
“That’s fine with me,” Licht said. “I like being the underdog. This team likes being the underdog. I like keeping the receipts.”
The Pewter Pirates weren’t favored to win the division last season, or the season before that, so this is nothing new for this team. As Licht said, “I like keeping the receipts.” So do we Jason, so do we.
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