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Tampa Bay Buccaneers (sometimes abbreviated as the Bucs)
are a National Football League team based in Tampa,
Florida, currently owned by Malcolm Glazer and coached
by head coach Jon Gruden.
Founded:
1976 as an NFL expansion team
Home
stadium: Raymond James Stadium
Uniform
colors: Red, Pewter, Black, and White; some Orange |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Football |
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.
the
2003 season proved to be a losing one for the Buccaneers.
Finishing the regular season 7-9, it marked the first
time in the decade of the 2000s that both Super Bowl
teams from the previous season did not even make the
playoffs; Tampa Bay was thus unable to successfully
defend their Super Bowl title.
In
the 2004 season, the Bucs started out 1-5 after losing
two of their best defensive players (John Lynch, Warren
Sapp) and one offensive player (Keyshawn Johnson) after
deactivating him ten games into the 2003 season. This
is Tampa's worst start since Gruden took over the Bucs
in 2002, and led to a final record of 5-11, which made
the 2003-04 Buccaneers the first NFL team ever to follow
up a Super Bowl championship with back-to-back losing
seasons.
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