In this article we speculate as to just how high that could be or whether our infatuation with the legend of Tom Brady is completely clouding our judgement.
Tampa Bay: The Story So Far
It hasn't been good. At the time of writing, Tampa Bay have a record of 6-7, having lost resoundingly to the San Francisco 49ers in their last game. The week before they scraped to a 17-16 win over the New Orleans Saints in a game that has been symptomatic of their season thus far - labouring to wins.
Unsurprisingly, the Bucs have struggled both offensively and defensively. They have given up points at an alarmingly regular rate and in the offensive department looked about as creative as a blunt spoon.
Only once have the Bucs managed to score over 22 points this season, which is some feat actually when you consider their meagre 17.2 average per game. Despite all of that Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are still the favourites to win NFC South and make it to the playoffs.
That's because the Panthers, Falcons and Saints have all been equally disappointing this season and don't look like changing anytime soon. The Bucs have home games against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Carolina Panthers to come.
Victory in one of those games would all but guarantee their spot in the playoffs, but how far can they go beyond that?
(What made Tampa Bay's defeat to San Francisco so bad recently was how rookie quarterback Brock Purdy completely and utterly outshone his more experienced and illustrious opposite number.)
The Playoffs
If Tampa Bay can scrape through those two games and come out on top of the NFC South they will set up a home clash with most likely the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. The Cowboys currently sit second in NFC East behind the imperious Philadelphia Eagles and have a record of 10-3.
Unlike the Bucs, the Cowboys have had no problems scoring this season, racking up 360 points (the third highest in the NFL) at an average of 27.7 a game - in total that's 136 more points than the Bucs.
Do the defensive stats make for better reading for Bucs fans? Well, slightly yes. Forgetting last week's disaster against San Francisco, the Bucs haven't actually performed too badly in defensive terms this season.
They have been the ninth stingiest defense in the NFL this season, conceding 254 points at an average of 19.5 per game. Unfortunately for the Bucs, the Dallas Cowboys have performed better in that regard too.
The Cowboys are the third tightest defense in the league, conceding 229 points at an average of 17.6 per game. All in all, the outlook doesn't look good for Tom Brady and Tampa ahead of a potential playoff clash with the Dallas Cowboys.
(Tampa would have to summon some of this opening day spirit to beat Dallas in the playoffs.)
The only things standing in their favour however are home advantage, and the recent memory of beating Dallas 19-3 on opening day. With all that said though, it still seems out of the realms of possibility that this current Tampa Bay team could be confident ahead of a playoff clash with Dallas.
Even if they somehow managed to beat an in-form Cowboys side, further progression would surely be out of the question. In the most up to date betting markets, the Bucs are the ninth favourites to reach the Super Bowl.
Their odds of +3000 must be the highest of any team featuring Tom Brady in recent memory. Unfortunately for Bucs fans, those odds seem about right, it's time to start thinking about next season
