Tampa Bay Bucs version 2.0

(Full disclosure: I have two sports loyalties of any significance - the Hoyas and the Buccaneers. This post concerns the latter.) The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have traditionally found success on the gridiron through tenacious, turnover-and-touchdown-producing defense and a disciplined, if predictable, running game. Despite a hopeful season that only truly turned sour in the last four weeks, the team has apparently decided to launch a MAJOR rethinking of Bucs football, offensively and defensively.

As ESPN reports, Tampa Bay has cut loose John Gruden and Monte Kiffin (left on his own, I guess, to join son Lane at Tennessee), the offensive and defensive masterminds behind its sole Super Bowl, as well as such key veteran players as Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Cato June, Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard. Clearly, with the former Bucs defensive coach Raheem Morris taking over as head coach, Tampa Bay has decided it's time to look toward the future, rather than relying on the past.

But what future is this? Besides Earnest Graham and the Antonio Bryant (breakout year this year, as my fantasy foes will attest), Dunn and Galloway were the Bucs' main offensive threats, and now the team will be led by either a draft pick, some journeyman like Leftwich or Losman, or, most likely, Luke McCown, in whom I place somewhat little faith. The new offensive coordinator, Jeff Jagodzinski ("Jags") seems to have decided upon a wilder, West Coast-style offense, but it remains unclear how effective his limited arsenal of weapons will prove in that scheme.

Defensively, the famous Bucs cover 2 has been abandoned in favor of...who knows what? No doubt, the Bucs defense will remain fundamentally solid, as it has been historically, but will it continue to produce the turnovers and touchdowns necessary to keep the team ahead? If the defense proves weaker, will the new offense be able to take up the slack on the scoreboard so early? Obviously, questions abound regarding the Bucs' reorganization and new strategy. One thing's for sure: This won't be last year's Bucs taking the field come fall.