{"id":392819,"date":"2026-09-07T12:44:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/392819\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T12:44:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:44:36","slug":"hope-o-meter-joebucsfan-com-tampa-bay-bucs-blog-buccaneers-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/392819\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope-O-Meter – JoeBucsFan.com – Tampa Bay Bucs Blog, Buccaneers News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Bucs coach Todd Bowles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first started coaching, one of the worst things that I think I heard was, \u2018It will be OK.\u2019 I would wonder, \u2018How the hell is it going to be OK?\u2019 The worst word in the English language is \u2018hope.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bob Knight
There\u2019s an old saying in football that hope is not a strategy. Sometimes, Joe wonders if shot-callers at One Buc Palace are aware of this.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s common \u2014 especially when it comes to edge rushers \u2014 to hear someone with the Bucs say of Player-X, \u201cWe hope\u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n

And invariably that\u2019s exactly what happens. They\u2019re left hoping the light comes on for Player-X (and Player-Y and Player-Z, etc., etc.). The next season, it\u2019s rinse and repeat. Joe hates \u201chope\u201d in the NFL.<\/p>\n

In a cool study of NFL fanbases, Adam Coleman of The Athletic determined the 2026 \u201cHope-O-Meter<\/a>\u201d for each team.<\/p>\n

Despite all the hype for Rueben Bain being the next Lawrence Taylor, enough Bucs fans have doubts the direction of the franchise, Coleman found.\u00a0So in The Athletic\u2019s Hope-O-Meter, the Bucs are No. 20<\/a>.<\/p>\n

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 68.2 per+cent optimism<\/p>\n

Optimist: Because Baker has a chip on his shoulder. We have one of the best O-lines in the league, and our receivers are looking great. Also, our defense is young and coming together beautifully. Now that we have Vita, I\u2019m confident we can do well.<\/p>\n

Pessimist: Definition of mushy middle.<\/p>\n

Optimist: Think we can regain the NFC South, the only real metric for success in our division.<\/p>\n

Pessimist: Losing Mike Evans hurt. I am hopeful but not optimistic.<\/p>\n

Joe thinks there is a lot to be proud of with the Bucs. Baker Mayfield is capable of leading the Bucs deep in the playoffs. Hey, if Sam Darnold can, so too can Mayfield.<\/p>\n

Joe has been on the bandwagon for years that the Bucs have a strong offensive line. And while Mike Evans left, name a deeper receiver room than the Bucs\u2019.<\/p>\n

It is the defense where Joe loses optimism. The defense has been underwhelming for too long, and Joe is skeptical that will drastically change overnight. Maybe it\u2019s a year away when the rookies get a season under their belts and an offseason in an NFL weight room.<\/p>\n

At cornerback, don\u2019t get Joe started on this fine holiday.<\/p>\n

Joe does believe the Bucs could be the best team in the NFC South landfill. But doing anything past winning the division? Well, Joe\u2019s not overly optimistic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bucs coach Todd Bowles. \u201cWhen I first started coaching, one of the worst things that I think I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10998,10997,135,2964,137,136],"class_list":["post-392819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-bucs-message-boards","tag-bucs-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}