Tom Brady is officially a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, and Bucs fans, well, they’re on cloud nine.
Brady, 42, won six Super Bowls for New England. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2007 or won a playoff game since winning the Super Bowl in 2002.
“I’ve talked to a lot of fans the last couple days, and part of this is history, too,” Encina said. “They want to be able to say, ‘Hey, I got to see Tom Brady play in a Bucs uniform.’ It automatically makes the Bucs relevant and it makes them contenders. For a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs in 12 straight years, it’s very different for Bucs fans. They’ve gone through a lot of losing over the years. They’re excited about the prospect of that changing really fast.”
The Bucs, who went 7-9 last season, have finished with a winning record just once since 2010. Last year, the Bucs finished fourth in scoring offense (28.6 points per game) but 29th in total defense (28.1 points per game allowed) and finished 2-6 at home.
Expect better in 2020.
“You got the coaching, you got the offensive weapons, and you got a defense that really grew in the second half of the season,” Encina said. “I think everyone is really optimistic here that things are finally going to change – which, it hasn’t been that way in a while here.”