Buccaneers on 'revenge tour' amid unexpected playoff run

Members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to embrace silencing doubters amid a playoff run few saw coming at the start of December. 

"It's a revenge tour," Buccaneers inside linebacker Devin White said following the club's impressive 32-9 wild-card playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, per Jenna Laine of ESPN. "Everybody in this locker room, we believe in one another, and that's all that matters. People are going to talk on TV, they're going to make their predictions. But at the end of the day, the ball has to be placed and we have to go out there and play. What people say doesn't determine the outcome."

Tampa Bay players and coaches repeated similar mantras before and during the season as many expected the club to post a losing record following the retirement of quarterback Tom Brady. Such predictions seemed spot on when the Buccaneers dropped six of seven games to fall to 4-7, but starting signal-caller Baker Mayfield then helped Tampa Bay win five of six contests to claim the NFC South division title. 

Laine mentioned the Bucs were 3.5-point home underdogs against the Eagles on Monday. 

"There's something about whether it's you're an underdog or [on] a road game, just having your backs against the wall and knowing it's just your team versus everybody else when you're counted out," Mayfield said after he passed for 337 yards and three touchdowns versus Philadelphia. "It's always fun to be in that role. Obviously, I'm pretty comfortable in it, but our team has completely embraced that throughout the year."

As of late Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Buccaneers as six-point underdogs for this coming Sunday's divisional playoff matchup at the Detroit Lions. It sounds like those inside the Tampa Bay locker room such as tight end Cade Otton wouldn't have it any other way. 

"We don't really think or care about what the outside says," Otton somewhat defiantly remarked. "We know the quality of players we have in the locker room, the quality of people, the coaches, the whole entire organization."

Much will be said and written about the futures that Mayfield and head coach Todd Bowles may or may not have with the Buccaneers beyond this Sunday's game at Ford Field. While things unquestionably change quickly in the NFL, logic suggests both men have done enough to run it back with Tampa Bay for at least one more season.