Category: Bucs History

Five former Buccaneers playing in Super Bowl LVIII

There are quite a few former Bucs playing in the big game on Sunday — with a large majority suiting up for Kansas City.

Very few players get the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.

NFL greats like Tony Gonzalez and Barry Sanders never got to step foot in a championship game. Nevertheless, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has defied the odds and is days away from competing in his fourth Super Bowl in six seasons. Along with him are several former Bucs who will play with him — additionally, one member of the 49ers was also recently in Tampa Bay, so there’s plenty of former Bucs pedigree in the big game on Sunday.

Here’s a list of the former Buccaneers who will participate in the Super Bowl:

WATCH: CB Ronde Barber picks off Donovan McNabb at the Vet

We figured we’d post this highlight for no reason in particular.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to play the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs on Monday. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The Bucs have a 3-2 record against the Eagles in the playoffs, spanning back to the first time the two played each other in 1979. The team has also won its last matchup against Philly in 2021, when Tom Brady and the Bucs beat Jalen Hurts and the Eagles 31-15 in Raymond James Stadium. Now, the two squads are set to play each other in Tampa again, with the Bucs looking to avenge a regular-season loss in Week 3 and the Eagles looking to avenge that Wild Card Weekend loss in 2021.

The most notable of these games happened in the 2002-03 season, when the two teams played each other in the NFC Championship. In the last Eagles game at Veterans Stadium, the Bucs were up on the Eagles 20-10 with around four minutes left. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb dropped back to pass, but he didn’t see Bucs corner Ronde Barber, who jumped it an completed a pick-six to seal the game and send the Bucs to a Super Bowl they’d go on to win.

The play lives on in NFL lore as the play where Barber “shut down the Vet”, and for no particular reason, you can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHvKUzTK4k

Every quarterback who has thrown a pass to Bucs WR Mike Evans

Mike Evans has hauled in a pass from seven different Bucs quarterbacks on the road to his 10th 1,000-yard season — here are Evans’ numbers with each:

Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans is a Bucs legend, and he only furthered that legend on Sunday in Week 13.

Evans surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the 10th consecutive time in his career, making it a part of a monstrous 162 yard, one-touchdown game. Baker Mayfield delivered him those passes, and he’s done so all year — but through his storied Bucs career, Evans has caught balls from seven different signal callers, and they’ve all contributed to his 11,437 yards while wearing a Buccaneers uniform since his rookie year in 2014.

Here are all seven of those quarterbacks, as well as Mike Evans’ stats playing in games with each, courtesy of StatMuse:

One player from each NFL team who should be in the Hall of Fame by now

The Pro Football Hall of Fame revealed its 25 semifinalists for the Class of 2024. Which got us thinking: Who should already be in?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame recently revealed its list of 25 modern-era semifinalists who will be considered for the Class of 2024, which will be revealed before Super Bowl LVIII in February.

Among them are two first-year eligible candidates that made the semifinalist cut in tight end Antonio Gates and pass rusher Julius Peppers. There are a slew of other notable names who have been finalists in the past, including return specialist Devin Hester, wide receivers Steve Smith Sr. and Torry Holt and linebacker Patrick Willis.

There are also three senior finalists up for induction: Linebacker Randy Gradishar, defensive tackle Steve McMichael and wide receiver Art Powell.

That made us wonder: Who is one player, coach or owner from each NFL team who should be in the Hall of Fame by now? Because, let’s face it, there are multiple deserving parties who continue to wait their turn.

From multi-year semifinalists to those who have been waiting decades to those considered among the greatest ever at their position, our NFL Wire editors revealed their pick for one player, coach or owner who should be in the Hall of Fame by now.

Five things to know about Tampa Bay’s Week 11 matchup against San Francisco

Here are five tidbits about Week 11’s matchup against the 49ers, from series history to Todd Bowles’ playing days:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have quite the task ahead of them on Sunday.

They’re set to face one of NFL’s best teams in the San Francisco 49ers, who just snapped a three-game losing streak with a dominant showing over the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s going to be a tough matchup for the Bucs, and on top of that, Tampa Bay hasn’t performed well against San Francisco in the past.

There are a few connections between these two teams, from head coach Todd Bowles’ playing days to two players currently on Tampa Bay’s roster. Check out five things to know about the Week 11 matchup on the West Coast:

Five things to know about Tampa Bay’s Week 9 matchup vs. Houston

The Texans have had Tampa Bay’s number for most of the two squads’ history.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to play the Houston Texans on Sunday, and unlike with some other teams this year, the two squads don’t have a lot of history.

Houston only became a team in 2002, the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl — as such, the teams have only played each other in the regular season five times. But while there isn’t as much history, it’s still there, with a few different connections to be made and some more recent history to comb through between the two teams.

Here are five things to know about the Bucs’ impending matchup with the Texans:

Five things to know about Week 8’s Bucs vs. Bills matchup

The Bucs haven’t played the Bills all that often, but there’s still some interesting history between the two teams.

There isn’t a lot of history between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Buffalo Bills, but it certainly is an interesting history nonetheless.

Tampa Bay is set to play its first AFC opponent of the year when it takes on the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football in primetime. Naturally, since the Bills are from a different conference, the Bucs don’t play them all that much, but Tampa Bay won the most recent matchup when it defeated Buffalo at home 33-27 in overtime in 2021.

Although the two don’t often meet, there are still some things that tie the two together. Here are five things to know about Tampa Bay’s Week 8 matchup against Buffalo:

Five things to know about Tampa Bay’s Week 7 matchup with Atlanta

Here are a few things to know about Tampa Bay’s matchup with its division rival in Atlanta.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to play one of its division rivals in the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, and it’ll be a game with massive ramifications for the NFC South.

Tampa Bay has a 30-29 lead on Atlanta, so its winning record against the Falcons all time is in jeopardy. The Bucs have done well as of recent, however, and they can also expect to run into a few old friends when they take the field at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

Here are five things to know about this rivalry matchup between the Falcons and the Bucs before Sunday’s game:

Six great Bucs players of the ‘creamsicle’ era

In honor of Tampa Bay’s return to the creamiscles on Sunday, here are some of the best players of the creamsicle era in Tampa Bay from 1976 to 1996:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are bringing out their throwback “creamsicle” uniforms on Sunday, and they’ll be looking to win in a uniform that doesn’t have a whole lot of history of seeing many.

The orange and white era of Bucs history is far more often dire than not, but that doesn’t mean that every player on those teams was bad. There were actually quite a few contributors who donned a helmet with Bucco Bruce on the side, with some of them earning a spot in the Bucs’ Ring of Honor and beyond to the Hall of Fame.

In honor of the Bucs wearing those uniforms against the Lions on Sunday, we compiled (in no particular order) six great Buccaneers players from the “creamsicle” era of Tampa Bay football:

WATCH: Mike Evans’ impressive performance at the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine

Relive Mike Evans’ stellar showing at the NFL Scouting Combine back in 2014

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht made his first-ever draft pick at No. 7 overall back in 2014, and he knocked it out of the park.

After a dominant career at Texas A&M, Mike Evans would eventually become the most prolific offensive player in Bucs history, well on his way to a Hall of Fame tenure in the NFL.

Before that, he was putting on a show at the NFL Scouting Combine, just like many new draft hopefuls in Indianapolis this week.

Watch the video above to relive Evans’ fantastic showing at the combine.