_“You sure about that?”_
The Bucs had a top-five offense last year and return all starters. The Bucs even added to their high-powered offense by drafting a receiver in the first round.
And, the Bucs have a franchise quarterback. The Bucs also loaded up on defensive players in the draft in their quest for a five-peat of the NFC South title.
But no! Gilberto Manzano of SI.com is not impressed.
He thinks the work Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and Bucs coach Todd Bowles have done in the offseason signals a collapse coming soon.
Hey, if you are wrong about a team imploding, keep at it. After a few years, you might get it right.
Manzano predicts the Bucs will have a losing record this season and the new kings of the NFC South will be Dave Canales and the Stinking Panthers. In fact, Manzano has the Bucs finishing [in third place](http://Nope, https://www.si.com/nfl/2025-nfl-schedule-nfc-team-record-predictions#_5hpp9xdpg) behind the Dixie Chicks.
Bu it seems Manzano is trying to cover himself, just in case he flubs like so many national stenographers have repeatedly over the years.
> It’s probably not wise to doubt the Buccaneers, who have won four consecutive NFC South titles. However, Baker Mayfield, who will be without former offensive coordinator Liam Coen, has a tough slate, including road matchups against the Texans, Lions, Bills and Rams. The Buccaneers can prove they’re still the team to beat in the division by knocking off the Falcons at home in Week 1.
This is just weird and Joe can only guess folks still either cannot embrace Mayfield as a franchise quarterback or they simply detest him.
Joe has never seen a Bucs team consistently win year after year and have folks outside Florida treat them like a case of jock rot.
If any dude on national sports radio or in a nationally publication like _The Athletic_ or _SI.com_ or some such place ever typed an ill word about Lamar Jackson, he’d be gaslit so badly he might lose his career. Mayfield has just one more playoff loss than Jackson. One! You will \*never\* hear that on BSPN, or maybe not even NFL Network.
The only thing Joe can think of is the national sports media ranks are overpopulated with former Browns fans and Ohio State and Texas grads — or Mayfield must have really, really p!ssed off the fourth estate before joining the Bucs.