Tampa Bay On the verge of Offensive Dominance?

We handed the ball off.
We ran the play-action Fake.
We hit the Tight End, and receivers.
We ranked 10th in offense, the best ever.
Am I talking about yesterday? No. Im talking about the last time the Tampa Bay Bucccaneers had an offense that was feared; that another team had to game plan for us.
John McKay, Steve DeBerg, James Wilder.
1984.
(continued)

If you want to throw in 2003, when we had a 10th ranked offense, you can. But there was no running game, it was all pass. This new offense under Head Coach Raheem Morris, is using the run, and in fact dominating with Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward.

And we havn’t even used Earnest Graham yet!

Yes its only the first game, and several times in history the Bucs have opened up the season with either a win or an impressive showing. But it was always disguised somehow, as if with mirrors. No this offense looks for real folks. It runs when its behind, It passes when its ahead.

And it doesn’t dink and dunk down the field!

So what kind of season can we expect? With the third best rusher in the League, James Wilder had 1544 yards in ‘84, and added another 1300 in 85. But that team did not have a 3 headed monster. It only had one head. And if we didn’t hand off to Wilder, we were throwing to him too! Wilder was 3rd in the 1984 season in receptions with 85 catches. That's almost 500 plays from one guy!

This 2009 offense has multiple weapons, all of which had a hand in the current NFL’s 5th ranked offense for the most part.  But will it continue?

In the best offensive year on record, the Bucs did not start the year out as well as this one. QB Jack Thompson started the season, and wasnt replaced until week 3 at home vs the Lions. DeBerg came in off the bench and won the game, and the offense didn’t stop there. Were talking about a 2009 squad that rolled up 450 yards on last years 8th ranked Defense.

Since this franchise has never really had any type of offensive dominance before, its hard to judge based on history what exactly to expect. But we can look at a few examples of dominant opening performances to see what happens….

2008- 367 Yards put on the Saints, not a very good defense. Result: 15th ranked offense (4th best).
2005 – 361 yards on Minnesota in the Dome, Result: 23rd offense.

Heck, 2004 we moved the ball quite well after Brian Griese took over the ball. But only finished with a 22 ranked team. As I stated, 2003 and 2000 were good offensive years, with the 2000 featuring us as the highest scoring Bucs team ever. Averaging 24 points per game, that was enough to rank the Bucs 5th in the league. Bucs missed FGs aside, that seems like a very do-able reach for this team.

Were stuck, no matter what year it is, to wait for week two and see what kind of team we are really getting, but for the first time in a long time, we can sit down and watch a Bucs team that will entertain us by moving the football.
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