The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-2, and Ronde Barber isn’t sugarcoating what that looks like from the inside.
On a recent edition of his WFLA show, the Buccaneers Hall of Famer said the atmosphere around the team is not exactly upbeat after Tampa Bay’s 23-19 Week 2 loss at home to the Cleveland Browns. That defeat came against a Browns team that had been beaten 34-10 the week before, and it left the Buccaneers staring at a difficult stretch with the 2-0 Minnesota Vikings coming to town Sunday.
"Look, the mood is not great," Barber said about the Buccaneers, per the JoeBucsFan website. "There’s too many mistakes.
There’s a lack of urgency, if you will, in my mind when I look at them going onto the field. There’s got to be a little bit of a sense of a defining characteristic of your team through Week 2.
I don’t know what that is. It’s mistakes.
It’s busts. It’s lack of execution."
The concerns only grew after Baker Mayfield, who signed a big-money contract extension earlier in September, had a chance to engineer a late go-ahead drive against his former team. Instead, his final two passes fell incomplete, and that opened the door to questions about whether the Buccaneers already have buyer’s remorse over the deal.
Barber doesn’t sound convinced this group is close to snapping into form, either. A report after the Cleveland loss suggested Buccaneers ownership would fire head coach Todd Bowles if he goes through a second straight losing season, and Barber’s read on the team’s early-season rhythm was bleak.
"Week 2 can’t be the fifth preseason game," Barber continued. "At some point you have to start hitting your stride.
And it doesn’t feel like they’re in their stride right now on either side of the ball. I feel like for much of the secondary, especially the coverage unit, they’re so focused on what they’re trying to do that they don’t know how to do it now."
Tampa Bay enters the week as a 1.5-point home underdog at DraftKings Sportsbook, and if the Buccaneers drop to 0-3, the mood Barber described is likely to get even darker.
In Other News...
Leonard Fournette Just Turned Up The Heat On Todd Bowles
The frustration around Todd Bowles has only grown as Tampa Bay has stumbled out to an 0-2 start, and now a familiar former face has added more fuel to the conversation. Leonard Fournette said on his podcast that he believes the Buccaneers should move on from the head coach, a pointed critique from someone who spent time in the building and has seen the expectations that come with it.
It is the kind of public comment that lands harder when the record already invites scrutiny. Bowles is 35-35 in the regular season and 1-3 in the postseason with Tampa Bay, and while fans and media have been sharpening their criticism, there has been no official decision about his job. For now, the noise is building faster than any resolution. [Read more 🡒]
Todd Bowles Just Got A Public Warning Bucs Fans Will Feel
The Buccaneers rough opening has already turned the heat up on Todd Bowles, and now the noise is coming from a familiar voice. Former Tampa Bay running back Leonard Fournette said on his podcast that he believes it is time for the head coach to move on, a blunt public critique that lands in a week when the Bucs are still trying to steady themselves after an 0-2 start.
Tampa Bay has not helped its own cause, with Baker Mayfields turnovers adding to the early-season frustration and a tough matchup against the Minnesota Vikings next on the schedule. Fournette did acknowledge Bowles past success, but he pointed to the current struggles as a sign that the coachs tenure may be nearing its end, a familiar kind of pressure for a team that suddenly needs answers fast. [Read more 🡒]
Warren Sapp Is Taking A New Tampa Fight Public
Warren Sapp has taken a fresh fight with the city of Tampa into federal court, filing a civil rights lawsuit over an incident at City Hall during a Tampa City Council meeting. The former Buccaneers star says he was there lawfully to obtain paperwork, but the complaint alleges city officials overreacted and had him removed, turning a routine visit into a confrontation with public consequences.
The lawsuit argues that the city violated Sapps First Amendment rights and says he was also hit with a trespass warning. Sapp is seeking nominal damages, and the case is being handled by attorney Anthony Sabatini, adding another layer to a dispute that now stretches well beyond City Hall and into the public eye. [Read more 🡒]