NFL.com Takes A Stab At Bucs’ Win-Loss Total
May 20th, 2025
Cynthia Frelund has a surprise.
Bucs fans, please don’t be mad at NFL.com stats queen Cynthia Frelund. She actually has your back.
But wait, Joe! How can she have Bucs fans’ backs while projecting the Bucs to win less than 10 games? As the great eastern philosopher Moe Howard famously said, “We shall see.”
Frelund hopped on what she likes to call her “models” (Kate Upton and her gal pals?) to determine the win-loss totals for the Bucs. She has the Bucs winning 9.7 games.
(Before someone asks, “How do you win a seventh of a game?” — just play along, you know?)
In the first seven weeks, the Bucs face four games against teams I forecasted to win their respective divisions: at Houston (Week 2 on Monday Night Football), vs. Philadelphia (Week 4), vs. San Francisco (Week 6) and at Detroit (Week 7 on MNF). That stretch — combined with Weeks 11 and 12, when Tampa must face the Bills and Rams on the road — drives the Bucs’ win total under 10 games. Don’t be too mad, though, because I have them winning the NFC South for the fifth straight season.
Yeah, well, with a possible new playoff rule being put into effect this week, that nine-win season might just cost the Bucs a home playoff game. Thanks, Rog.
Joe can see a path to 11 wins. But that four-game stretch with the Eagles, 49ers, Seahawks and Lions likely will define the season for the Bucs. If the Bucs can win two of those games, that’s fine. If they can pull out three wins, that would be excellent.
Would that force Frelund to then pick the Bucs over her beloved Lions if the two meet again in the playoffs?
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