Buccaneers Are Finally Playoff Hopefuls Again by Doing Things ‘The Right Way’

The 2016 NFL season was still young back on Oct. 3. It was the first Monday of October, and Week 4 was nearly complete. The time for blaring alarms and well-worn panic buttons hadn’t arrived quite yet.

Or at least that’s what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have been repeatedly telling themselves during quiet moments.

The Buccaneers did more than just sputter to a 1-3 start as the season reached its quarter pole. They did their stumbling while acting as the opponent’s speed bag.

After winning their season opener over the Atlanta Falcons, the Bucs then lost three straight games by a combined score of 104-46. They scored only seven points in two of those losses and seemed outmatched against a higher caliber of competition in the defending champion Denver Broncos (a 27-7 loss in Week 4).

Nothing about the Buccaneers at that time hinted at a team capable of being in contention for a division title in mid-December and tied with the Falcons atop the NFC South. And nothing about them said they were a team that could do anything with consistency on either side of the ball. They would score 30 points one week and then get outscored by 20-plus points the next.

Most of all, nothing about the Buccaneers told us they were any more than a team with a rookie head coach, a quarterback barely above rookie status himself and other promising though inexperienced starters scattered everywhere.

It was difficult to believe in that version of the Buccaneers. It’s tough to have faith in any team with only one win after four games. As ESPN.com’s John Clayton noted, only 14 percent of teams that started 1-3 have made the playoffs since 1990 (26 out of 183).

How were the Buccaneers supposed to beat history when they couldn’t even muster a win against the lowly Los Angeles Rams?

The answer: by having fun under new head coach Dirk Koetter but doing it the right way.

“He’s one of those guys who doesn’t repeat himself,” linebacker and defensive leader Lavonte David said. “He’s straightforward, and guys respect him. He lets you have fun as long as you do it in the right way. As you can see, we’re doing that.”

Having a right and wrong way to go about enjoying football may seem like it goes against the very nature of fun. But the foundation of a Koetter team—and by extension, the root of Tampa’s turnaround that’s now included a five-game winning streak—is fun, but not wild undisciplined fun.

“Last year, we were one of the top penalized teams in the league, and now, we’re much more disciplined,” David added. “So guys are having fun but doing it the right way. That’s all a credit to coach Koetter.”

The Buccaneers were even more youthful in 2015 and became unhinged at times. They finished tied for the league lead with 143 penalties, and are now on pace to see 116 yellow hankies thrown in their direction. That’s a more manageable and mid-pack total showing growth and maturity—two characteristics found in abundance on a roster colored green in many places.

David seems like a graying veteran at the age of only 26 compared to some of the core defenders around him. He plays alongside fellow linebacker Kwon Alexander, the 22-year-old who’s just outside the top 10 in tackles with 104. Then along the boundary is 21-year-old rookie cornerback Vernon Hargreaves.

There’s more youth in key places on the other side of the ball, most notably from second-year quarterback Jameis Winston and his …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com