Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a franchise that will be enjoying its 47th season in the National Football League when the 2023 season kicks off. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had the highest of highs and the lowest of the lows during their franchise existence. The team joined the National Football League in 1976 as an expansion team, the same season Seattle came into the league. Let’s take a look at some of the most important information when it comes to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had just two venues that they have called home. When they first started playing in the league, they were at Tampa Stadium. They played at this venue all the way up to the 1997 season. In 1998, that’s when they moved to Raymond James Stadium, one of the most recognizable venues in the league.

Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium that’s commonly used for football but oftentimes used for other events as well. The stadium holds just shy of 70,000 fans. The Buccaneers share the facility with the University of South Florida Bulls for their college football games. Obviously, Raymond James Financial has naming rights to the stadium.

The venue has hosted three Super Bowls, along with College Football National Championship and other mega-events. Wrestlemania, International Soccer, Professional Wrestling, and many major concerts have taken place at Raymond James Stadium. The largest tour that came to the stadium was Taylor Swift, as it sold out two and three shows in a single tour.

When the franchise was told they were going to get a team in Tampa Bay, they immediately started planning for what was to come. The team elected to have a name the team contest. Buccaneers was a reference to the Pirates who often came to Florida’s Gulf Coast way back in the 17th century. It did not take long for the name to be shortened to the “Bucs,” and the rest is history from there.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won 299 games in their franchise history. That is well below .500, as they have 442 career losses. The Buccaneers are 11-11 all time in the postseason.

Matt Bryant hit a 62-yard field goal against Philadelphia in 2006. At that time, it was the third-longest field goal made in an NFL game. Now, it has moved to 7th all-time.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 69 straight games with at least one sack. That was an NFL record. It beat Dallas, who had 68.

The Tampa Bay defense also went 50 straight games with a sack and a forced turnover.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won two Super Bowl titles in franchise history. They are a perfect 2-for-2 in Super Bowls, as they have not been back any other time than in 2002 and 2020.

The first Super Bowl title came in Super Bowl XXXVIII. This game saw the Buccaneers score 48 points on Bill Callahan and the Oakland Raiders. Head Coach Jon Gruden saw his safety Dexter Jackson win the MVP award. He had two interceptions and returned them 34 yards. He was the second safety and third defensive back to be named the Super Bowl MVP. This game was played in front of nearly 68,000 fans in San Diego. Tampa Bay scored in each quarter, with 28 points coming in the second half.

The most recent was Super Bowl LV, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers smacked the Kansas City Chiefs around and won 31-9. Tom Brady was the quarterback of this game and won yet another MVP; this time, the first with the Buccaneers. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, just under 25,000 fans were allowed in to see this game. This was the first time a team played the Super Bowl in their own stadium.

Tampa Bay has won 8 divisional titles in franchise history. The first three came in the NFC Central. While the next five came in the NFC South. Oddly enough, the Buccaneers won division titles in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history in 2021 and 2022.

Tampa Bay has been to the postseason 13 times. The Buccaneers reached the postseason back to back in 1981 and 1982, and then four years in a row in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Recently, the Bucs made the postseason for three straight seasons from 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Trent Dilfer leads the list of starting quarterbacks for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as far as games started. Dilger started in 76 games but went just 38-38. The others on the list for games started, in order, include Vinny Testaverde, Jameis Winston, Doug Williams, Jose Freeman, Tom Brady, and Brad Johnson.

Winston is the leading passing yards, and touchdowns signal caller for the franchise. He finished his Buccaneers career with 121 touchdowns and 88 interceptions, with nearly 20,000 passing yards. Brady, who started in just 50 games with Tampa Bay, is second on the list with 14,632 yards and 108 touchdowns. Freeman is third, as he finished with 80 passing touchdowns.

Only 7 quarterbacks have made starts in the postseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady has the most starts with 7, as he won 5 of those games. Brad Johnson and Doug Williams made four starts. Johnson won three of those games, while Williams just went 1-1. Other guys, Trent Dilfer and Shaun King, won 1 game with the franchise, while Chris Simms and Garcia lost their only starts.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have five guys they consider their own in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They also have a coach as well.

The first player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was Lee Roy Selmon. The defensive end played with the team from 1976-1984. He was inducted in 1995.

Second was Warren Sapp. Sapp was known for his presence on the defensive end. He was inducted in 2013 after playing with the Buccaneers from 1995-2003.

The third was linebacker, Derrick Brooks. Brooks was right alongside Sapp for much of his career but played a little longer. He was inducted in 2014.

John Lynch was fourth. The safety on the squad from 1993-2003 was inducted in 2021. Finally, Ronde Barber was inducted in 2023. Barber was the starting cornerback for Tampa Bay from 1997-2012.

Tony Dungy, the head coach from 1996-2001, was inducted in 2016. Ron Wolf was the other, as he was the General Manager of the team in the late 1970s.

The guys that played a little with Tampa Bay that have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame include Steve Young, Randall McDaniel, Tim Brown, and Darrelle Revis.

Captain Fear is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ mascot. He is a Caribbean Pirates Captain. He has blue eyes, black hair, and thick eye. In 2000, he replaced a parrot mascot with the name of Skully.

The franchise has changed its team’s logo and colors five times in team history.