Getty Tom Brady will look to get the Buccaneers started on the right foot for the 2021 season in one month.
In one month, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick off the NFL season against the Dallas Cowboys, which Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dubbed as “David vs. Goliath.”
Jones called the Sept. 9 Week 1 match up just that on Back Together Saturday via NFL.com. Nick Wright of FS1’s First Things First doesn’t buy that the Bucs will run all over the Cowboys in 31 days though. The Bucs are only 6.5-point favorites at the moment according to FS1.
“I hate this comment for so many reasons,” Wright said. “Because they’re not even the biggest underdog of the weekend. There’s three games with a bigger point spread than the opening night game, so I don’t know how this is ‘David vs. Goliath.'”
“There were 10 teams who had as many or more wins than the Bucs in the regular season,” Wright added. “And the Bucs, their big offseason move was change nothing. How they all of sudden are Goliath? And I don’t know how the Cowboys with (quarterback) Dak Prescott coming back and all that talent are David.”
Wright Doubtful on Bucs’ Focus to Repeat
Wright doesn’t doubt that Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski know what it takes to keep going strong after a championship but questions the rest of the team.
“These other guys on Tampa up to and including one Bruce Arians, I feel like maybe (are) still celebrating,” Wright said on the show. “I know Bruce Arians always gets a lot of time in the sun, but my goodness, I feel like he’s been on a beach chair with a Corona for 36 days in a row given the colorization of his face like that.”
“I feel like Tampa maybe has enjoyed the Super Bowl, and I think the Cowboys could be ripe for an upset,” Wright added. “So, no, I don’t think it’s ‘David against Goliath.'”
Arians, Bucs Disprove Wright’s Take
Bucs training camp has been anything but basking in the glow of a Super Bowl LV win. Arians got adamant with the Bucs during the first week of camp on everything from their handling of the hot weather to their execution.
“I think our guys right now are giving in to the heat,” Arians said on July 26 per USA Today’s Bucs Wire. “We’ve got to get in shape. I’m not really pleased with the last 30 minutes of either practice so far. Love the fact that it gets really, really hot in the second half; it does in games, too, especially here. It’s something that we’ve got to be better adjusted to as we get going, and making plays when we’re tired and hot. (We) dropped way too many passes, gave up way too many plays in the second half of practice. Other than that — the first half of practice is outstanding, but the second half is not very good.”
Arians took his displeasure to another level after a lackluster practice on July 30.
“I thought we were really, really sluggish,” Arians said per Sports Illustrated’s All Bucs. “We talked about it before we left and took the day off. We came out — I don’t know if our receivers caught a pass. The same thing defensively — we didn’t stop anything over third-and-nine. It was just a (expletive) practice.”