So the NFL ordered 30 of its analysts to pick this season’s NFC South champion.
How many picked Tampa Bay to hoist the banner for the fifth consecutive season? It was 22 out of 30. That’s 73 percent.
Notable Bucs non-believers include Pro Bowl running back Maurice Jones-Drew and chief NFL media clown Adam Rank.
Things have changed a lot in a year, [NFL.com](http://nfl.com) notes.
> In a role reversal from last August, the Bucs enter the 2025 season as the clear favorites in the NFC South, with the Falcons viewed as the No. 2. … … Meanwhile, neither the Falcons nor the Panthers have reached the playoffs since 2017, and neither has captured the South since their respective Super Bowl-losing efforts in the mid-2010s.
Joe’s guess would have been about 80 percent picking the Bucs. Joe monitors just about everything NFL and it seems at least 3 out 4 analysts nationwide are on the Bucs’ bandwagon.
A lot of them will jump off head-first if the Bucs dare to lose Week 1 in Atlanta in eight days. _Eight!_