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On Thursday, Joe will celebrate what’s considered a national holiday at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters.
That’s the day the 2026 schedule will be released in its entirety. Oh, what a night! Fall planning begins. The upcoming season finally feels real. Saints hate starts to re-percolate. Joe’s dozen interns start their dogged annual research.
Joe got thinking more about the schedule watching former NFL defensive back Bryant McFadden break down his top-5 NFL wide receiving corps for CBS Sports. His top four, in order, are the Bengals, Cowboys, Rams and Lions. And whaddya know, all four are on the Bucs’ schedule. Only the Rams will be a Bucs home game.
What a nightmare it could become if the Bucs get those four teams early in the season. The leaky Bucs pass defense would have to be fixed in a hurry.
This is not a scenario Joe wants to see. But beating, say, the Bengals on the road on opening day could be a heck of a springboard for the revamped Bucs defense, as long as it doesn’t mirror the Bucs’ 48-40 win on opening day in New Orleans in 2018.
Joe wonders how the schedule could influence Todd Bowles’ early-season defensive lineups. The Bucs can’t afford to start the season slow, something they’ve never done on Bowles’ watch.