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Tampa Bay Buccaneers (often shortened as
the Bucs) are a professional American football team
based in Tampa, Florida. They are currently members
of the Southern Division of the National Football
Conference (NFC) in the National Football League
(NFL). The team, along with the Seattle Seahawks,
joined the NFL in 1976 as expansion teams. They
played their first season in the AFC West as part
of the 1976 expansion plan. After the season, they
switched divisions with the Seattle Seahawks and
became part of the NFC. The club is currently owned
by Malcolm Glazer and coached by head coach Raheem
Morris.
Founded: 1976 as an NFL expansion
team
Home stadium: Raymond James Stadium
Uniform colors: Red, Pewter, Black, and
White; some Orange |
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Started out in AFC West in 1976; moved
to NFC Central in 1977. Tampa Bay went 0-14 in their inaugural
season, and started their second season 0-12 before recording
their first win. the club also did not win a game in which
the temperature at kickoff time was below 40�F (4�C) until
the last week of the 2002 regular season, having lost 20
such games prior. they also once lost 27 consecutive games
played both outdoors and on artificial turf; this streak
began after a victory over the Bengals at Cincinnati in
the 1980 season opener and lasted until they defeated the
Eagles in Philadelphia on the first week of the 1995 season.
In addition, the club once had a 20-game road losing streak
against AFC teams, which ended when they won 17-10 over
the Broncos at Denver on December 26, 1993.
the team made a habit of losing. the
Buccaneers lost at least ten games in 17 of their first
21 seasons, including 12 straight from 1983 to 1994. After
a particularly dismal effort in the late 1970s, longtime
Bucs coach John McKay gave perhaps the quintessential comment
on the organization's plight: A reporter asked McKay about
his team's execution during the game. McKay responded "I'm
in favor of it." In the mid 1990s the team was sold by original
owner Hugh Culverhouse to the Glazer family, who's financial
support allowed them to finally become competitive. the
team's performance dramatically improved when the Glazers
brought in Tony Dungy to coach. the Bucs also abandoned
their traditional team colors of orange and white in favor
of dark red, black, and pewter.
With league realignment in 2002, the
Bucs moved into new NFC South division, along with the Atlanta
Falcons, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints. they
are 1-0 in Super Bowls, having defeated the Oakland Raiders
in Super Bowl XXXVII in January, 2003, and they are 1-2
in NFC Championship games, having defeated the Philadelphia
Eagles on the road on January 18, 2003), and losing to the
Rams twice, in 1979 to the Los Angeles Rams at home, and
in 1999 to the St. Louis Rams on the road.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2003�2008
Soon after
the Super Bowl victory, a growing number of press reports
indicated Gruden's lack of patience with general manager
McKay. McKay was a major architect of the Bucs' rebuilding
effort over the previous ten years, and he, like Gruden,
had long-established ties to the Tampa Bay area. However,
during the 2003 season, the Gruden-McKay relationship deteriorated
as the Bucs struggled on the field. In November, Keyshawn
Johnson was deactivated by the team ten games into the season
for his conduct, which included sideline arguments with
Bucs coaches and players. Johnson was eventually traded
to the Dallas Cowboys for wide receiver Joey Galloway.
In December, the Glazers allowed McKay to leave the
Bucs before the end of the regular season, and he promptly
joined the Falcons as president and general manager. Thus,
McKay watched his first game as a Falcons executive sitting
next to owner Arthur Blank in a Raymond James Stadium skybox.
The Falcons defeated the Bucs 30-28. The Bucs suffered a
sluggish start and finished the season 7�9. With the Raiders'
dismal 4�12 performance, neither Super Bowl team reached
the playoffs that year.
For 2004, Bruce Allen was
hired as general manager. After Allen's arrival, both John
Lynch and Warren Sapp were released, stunning many Buccaneer
fans. The distracted Buccaneers began the 2004 season with
a 1�5 record, their worst start under Gruden. The fading
accuracy of kicker Martin Gramatica did not help matters,
as the team lost many close games en route to a 5�11 record.
The replay of the controversial 2-Point Conversion was
deemed inconclusive. This proved to be the turning point
of their season.In the 2005 season, the Buccaneers celebrated
their 30th season in the league, and returned to their winning
ways. The Bucs selected Carnell "Cadillac" Williams in the
first round of the 2005 draft, and the rookie would provide
a running game the Buccaneers had not possessed since the
days of James Wilder in the 1980s. After starting 5�1, the
team entered a midseason slump hampered by a season-ending
injury to starting QB Brian Griese. Replacement starter
Chris Simms struggled early, but came into his own leading
to the team to a last-minute win over the Redskins. The
Bucs won the NFC South Division finishing 11�5. The season
ended abruptly, however, with a 17�10 loss in the Wild Card
round, in a rematch with the Redskins.
After winning
the division in 2005, the Bucs suffered through an abysmal
2006 season. The season was plagued by injuries, with starters
such as G Dan Buenning, WR Michael Clayton, RB Carnell Williams,
DE Simeon Rice, CB Brian Kelly, and QB Chris Simms all being
placed on injured reserve at some point in the season. The
season also saw a lot of rookies starting for the Bucs,
such as QB Bruce Gradkowski, T Jeremy Trueblood, and G Davin
Joseph.
The Bucs started off the season 0�3, with
QB Chris Simms throwing only 1 touchdown to 7 interceptions.
In the third game of the season, a last-minute loss to the
Panthers, Simms's spleen was ruptured, and he was placed
on injured reserve for the balance of the season. After
their bye week, the Bucs elected to start rookie quarterback
Bruce Gradkowski, a 6th-round pick from Toledo. After nearly
beating the Saints, Gradkowski led the team to last-minute
wins over the Bengals and Eagles. The success was short-lived,
however, and the Bucs lost five of the next six games. Tim
Rattay replaced Gradkowski as quartback late in the season,
and the team finished 4�12. The aged defense, with 5 starters
who had played there for a decade or more, was ranked 17th
overall, the first time a Tampa defense was not ranked in
the top ten since 1996.
Against the Jacksonville
Jaguars at Raymond James StadiumAfter a disappointing 4�12
effort in 2006, the Buccaneers for the first time in several
seasons had money to spend in free agency. They brought
in quarterback Jeff Garcia, offensive tackle Luke Petitgout,
defensive end Kevin Carter, and linebacker Cato June. On
April 28, the Buccaneers drafted Clemson defensive end Gaines
Adams with the 4th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. After
the draft the Buccaneers picked up tight end Jerramy Stevens
and defensive tackle Ryan Sims.
The offseason changes
resulted in the Buccaneers winning the NFC South title in
the 2007 season, finishing with a 9�7 record, and the 4th
seed in the NFC. The division crown was the second one in
three seasons under Gruden. In the Wild Card round of the
playoffs held on January 6, 2008, the Buccaneers lost to
the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants by a final
score of 24�14.
During the 2008 offseason, the Bucs
re-signed head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce
Allen through the 2011 season. They also acquired former
players Warrick Dunn, who had spent the last 6 seasons with
the Atlanta Falcons, and Brian Griese who was the starting
quarterback for the team in 2005 until a knee injury sidelined
him for the remainder of the year. Chris Simms was finally
released, having not played in a game since his injury in
2006. The Bucs got off to a great start in 2008, with a
9�3 record going into the final month of the season, tied
for first place in the division, with a chance at the top
seed in the conference. On December 2, it was announced
that defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin would be leaving
the team after the season's end, for the same job at the
University of Tennessee, serving under his son Lane Kiffin,
who had just been named the new head coach at the school.
After the announcement, the Buccaneers would lose the final
four games of the season to finish 9�7 for the second consecutive
season. Unlike 2007, it was not enough to secure the division
championship, nor a playoff appearance.
In
January 2009 the Buccaneers fired Jon Gruden and made Raheem
Morris the head coach after having just named Morris the
replacement of Monte Kiffin as defensive coordinator. Bruce
Allen was also let go, along with Mark Dominik his successor
as general manager. On February 25, the Bucs released veterans
Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard,
Jeff Garcia, and Cato June.[14]The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
traded for TE Kellen Winslow Jr. on February 27 for two
undisclosed draft picks. They signed RB Derrick Ward, from
the New York Giants, to a four-year, $17 million contract.
They signed quarterback Byron Leftwich to a two-year deal.
They drafted Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman 17th
overall in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. They also
signed free-agent kicker Mike Nugent to a one year deal
on March 4.
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