Starting Fast In The Heat
July 16th, 2026
Florida heat is rarely an advantage for Bucs.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles usually has the Bucs ready to play in the early weeks of the regular season.
What happens when Bowles and the Bucs get into the meat of the schedule is a mystery. The Bucs melt down year after year under Bowles midway through the season and (except for last season) catch fire in December.
Noted handicapper-turned-stathead Warren Sharp notes in his Warren Sharp’s 2026 Football Preview that with the Bucs’ schedule this year, it’s a good thing three of the first four games are at home facing far-northern teams (Cleveland, Green Bay and Minnesota) where roasting heat and choking humidity aren’t a thing.
Three of the Buccaneers’ first four games are at home in the Florida heat and humidity, so Tampa must start fast in an advantageous early stretch that may define their season.
Joe knows many Bucs coaches wanted to use the heat advantage against visiting teams, but the only teams Joe can remember that truly wilted in the Florida sun were lousy teams to begin with.
Joe remembers Raheem Morris spoke loud and long about turning the Bucs stadium into a kiln and that was going to have the Cowboys, a Week 1 opponent in 2009, into milk chocolate.
Morris seemed to forget that Dallas gets toasty in the summer, too. Naturally, the Cowboys clobbered the Bucs.
Then there was lousy Lovie Smith who had the Bucs practice daily at 1 p.m. so they could broil opponents. Too bad the only thing that got broiled was Lovie’s defense. #TennesseeReady
Just look at last year for more evidence. The horrible Jets came to town and damn near beat the Bucs. New York doesn’t have Tampa weather.
Same with the Eagles, who beat the Bucs in the Florida heat.
Not since the glory days of the Bucs when Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks were cracking heads have the Bucs ever been consistently adept at making other teams melt under the unforgiving Florida sun.