Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2022 Regular Season Wins Total Preview and Prediction

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Season Win Total Under 11.5 +100 (BET365)

Tampa Bay 2022 Betting Odds

Not only do the Bucs have the highest projected win total of any team in 2022 (tied with Buffalo), but the number is juiced to the over (-130). After winning the Super Bowl two years ago, they won 13 games during the 2021 season. The LA Rams went into last season with the league’s youngest (average age) roster, and they won the Super Bowl.

The Bucs went into the 2021 season with the league’s oldest roster, and they came up just short in the second round of the playoffs losing to the Rams. Tampa hasn’t gotten any younger this season, particularly on offense.

Brady versus Father Time

Tom Brady is now 44 years old, putting him in uncharted territory for an NFL quarterback. While plenty of money has been lost betting against Brady over the years, it’s not a matter of “if” age catches up with him, but a matter of “when”. History tells us that the deterioration of an aging NFL quarterback can happen in the snap of a finger.

Let us use the career of Brett Favre for example. At the age of 38, Favre had one of his best years ever for the Minnesota Vikings. He threw for 4,202 yards, 33 TDs and just 7 INTs in 2009. The following season he was picked off 19 times, throwing for just 2,509 yards and 11 TDs. Peyton Manning was 34 (10 years younger than Brady is now) when he threw for almost 5,000 yards and 39 TDs in 2014. The following season he threw for just over 2,000 yards and nine TDs with 17 picks, retiring after winning the Super Bowl.

Missing Pieces

Tampa’s receiving corps took a hit with the retirement of Rob Gronkowski, who was third on the team in receiving yards and second in receiving TDs last year. Antonio Brown only played in seven games in 2021 (all wins), and he caught 42 passes for 545 yards with four TDs.

Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are both studs, but depth could be an issue. Leonard Fournette split the workload with Ronald Jones the last two seasons, but Jones had the better numbers. His departure to Kansas City results in a lack of depth in the backfield with Fournette the only proven commodity.

Tough Schedule

If you use a simple method of calculating last year’s records to determine strength of schedule for the upcoming season, there are only three teams that have a more difficult schedule than Tampa Bay. They begin the season with back to back road games at Dallas and New Orleans, before hosting Green Bay and Kansas City. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them lose at least two of those  first four games. This team could struggle to win 11 games with such a challenging schedule.

Projected record: 9-8 Overall

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