Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, USA They are currently members of the South of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL) are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West. The team, along with the Seattle Seahawks, joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team. The Bucs played their first season in the AFC West as part of the 1976 expansion plan. After the season, they switched conferences with the Seattle Seahawks and became part of the NFC. The club is owned by Malcolm Glazer. They play their home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the first team after the merger to win a division title expansion, win a playoff game, and to host and play in a championship game of the conference, this was achieved in the 1979 season. They are also the first team since the merger completing a winning season to start 10 or more rookies, which they did in the 2010 season. In 1976 and 1977, the Buccaneers lost their first 26 games. After a brief period of victories in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the team suffered through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Then, over a period of 10 years, were consistent playoff contenders, and won Super Bowl XXXVII at the end of the 2002 season, but have not yet returned to the Super Bowl, so the Bucs, with Saints New Orleans and New York Jets are the only NFL teams to win his only appearance in the Super Bowl.


The name "Tampa Bay" is often used to describe a geographic metropolitan area which encompasses the cities around the body of water known as Tampa Bay, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Bradenton and Sarasota. Unlike in the case of Green Bay, Wisconsin, no municipality known as "Tampa Bay". The "Tampa Bay" in the names of local professional sports franchises denotes that represent the entire region, not just Tampa or St. Petersburg.

The Buccaneers joined the NFL as members of the AFC West in 1976. The following year, they moved to the NFC Central, while the other 1976 expansion team, the Seattle Seahawks, switched conferences with Tampa Bay and joined the AFC West. This restructuring was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so both teams can play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once during their first two seasons. Instead of a traditional division schedule of playing each division opponent twice, the Buccaneers played every conference team once again the Seahawks.

Although the profitability of the Buccaneers in the 1980s, Culverhouse's death revealed a team close to bankruptcy, which surprised many observers. His son, Miami attorney Hugh Culverhouse, Jr., practically forced the administrators of the estate of his father to sell the team, which cast doubt on the future of the franchise in Tampa. Stakeholders include own the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner, and the owner of Baltimore Orioles, Peter Angelos, the latter of whom publicly that move the team to Baltimore said, because the city did not have an NFL franchise then. However, in a last minute surprise, Malcolm Glazer outbid both for $ 192 million, the highest sale price for a professional sports franchise to date. Glazer immediately placed his sons Bryan, Edward, and Joel in charge of the financial affairs of the team, and much family money and serious commitment to fielding a winning team, finally allowed the Bucs to be competitive. Computer performance improved dramatically when the Glazers hired Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Tony Dungy as head coach, got rid of the old uniform designs (see below), and convinced voters of Hillsborough County to raise sales tax to fund the construction of Raymond James Stadium.

During Dungy's first season in 1996, the team continued to struggle, from the 1-8 season. But in the second half of the season ended 5-2 mainly due to the completion of a seventh ranked defense in the NFL led by Hardy Nickerson and the maturing of Wyche recruits Brooks, Lynch, and Sapp. Dungy, with his balanced personality, quickly brought balance and morale to the team, and his cover 2 defensive scheme, sharpened to perfection by defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and linebackers coach Lovie Smith, became the foundation for success future of Tampa Bay. His version of the cover 2 was so successful that it became known as the Tampa 2. It has been brought to the Chicago Bears by Smith, Detroit Lions by Rod Marinelli, Kansas City Chiefs by Herman Edwards and the Indianapolis Colts by Dungy himself, and copied by other teams.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defense

Throughout its history, the Buccaneers have been known for their suffocating defense. It all started with the drafting of Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon with their first pick in 1976. Three Buccaneer players have been named to the AP Defensive Player of the Year, and the team has led the league in total defense three times. All three of the Hall of Fame Buccaneers are defensive players.

The team developed cornerstones of the franchise in 1993 John Lynch and Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks in 1995 to go along with All-Pro linebacker Hardy Nickerson. This was followed by the hiring of defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin innovative in 1996. The Buccaneers new image set the stage for one of the greatest defensive careers in NFL history. From 1997 to 2008, the Buccaneers defense finished top ten in the league every year, but one, including eight top-5 and two finishes, high ranking efforts. Kiffin along with head coach Tony Dungy's defense created "Tampa 2", a modified version of the Cover 2 scheme established.

Kiffin defenses defenses were known as the gang team with tremendous speed with a front four that could pressure the quarterback consistently fast linebackers band-to-sideline and a strong secondary that caused turnovers. Many teams have copied the Tampa 2, but none has come close to the success of the Buccaneers led by experienced numerous Pro Bowlers and Hall of Fame. Tampa Bay's defense had Brooks, Sapp, Lynch, Ronde Barber, Simeon Rice, Hardy Nickerson, Donnie Abraham, and other Pro Bowl player.