The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, additionally identified affectionately as the "Bucs" are the professional football group located in Tampa, Florida. Considered one of three pro soccer teams in the state of Florida, they are members of the Southern Division of the Nationwide Football Convention that is a part of the National Football League - the NFL. They joined the NFL in 1976 as certainly one of two growth groups of the AFC West. The opposite crew was the Seattle Seahawks. The Bucs misplaced their first 26 video games and have been not likely very fashionable with the local fans within the Tampa Bay area. They'd a brief successful season in the late Nineteen Seventies and the early Nineteen Eighties but the workforce did undergo through a foul fourteen season shedding streak after that time period.
They have been fairly constant as a workforce since 1996 and have been playoff contenders on a daily basis. They received Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003 and that has been their only Tremendous Bowl look up until now.
The enlargement franchise for Tampa Bay was initially awarded to Tom McCloskey but quickly he was changed by Hugh Culverhouse from Jacksonville, Florida. The Buccaneers acquired their name through a contest of identify-the-crew and have been named after the Gasparilla Pirate Festival which occurs yearly and is situated in Tampa, Florida. The workforce plays their house games in the Tampa Stadium and it seats just a little over seventy two,000 fans for every game. The crew's first quarterback was Heisman trophy winner Steve Spurrier.
They started out with a rocky beginning and their first two seasons have been winless. They had an overall record of 0-26 before they lastly received their first sport in 1977. They beat the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans after which went on to win their subsequent sport at home with a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
The team faced some financial issues when the crew's authentic owner passed away in the Nineteen Eighties and the team had to be bought by the family heirs. By 2002 although, the group had recovered underneath the brand new owners and the coaching of Jon Gruden. Gruden was from the world and was only too comfortable to come residence to educate the Tampa Bay Bucs. He immediately modified the offense to a more efficient powerhouse and at the same time the Bucs have been placed in the new NFC south Division. That they had an outstanding protection that led the league and this led to the 2002 season to be the Bucs best season ever. They won the NFC South title and had a document of 12-four that year. They then went on to win in opposition to Jon Gruden's former team, The Raiders of Oakland. Even though the Raiders have been reputed to have the nation's prime offense, the Bucs prevailed and won the Super Bowl XXXVII with a rating of forty eight-21.
They'd droop years in 2003 and 2004 but returned to their winning ways in 2005 and marked their 30th season as members of the NFL. They won the NFC South division that year with an 11-5 record. They went on to lose although in a Wild Card round game to the Washington Redskins. 2006 saw a bad year for the Bucs with injuries and a whole lot of their starters being rookies. They finished the 12 months with a four-12 document and were pressured to spend money in the free agency that yr to be able to get some fresh talent for the team.
The 2007 season had the team profitable the NFC South title and ended the 12 months with a 9-7 record. Together with this they obtained the 4th seed within the NFC. This made their 2nd division crown in three years underneath the route of Jon Gruden. The Wild Card playoff game performed in January of 2008 found the Bucs losing to the to-be Super Bowl Champs, the New York Giants with a score of 24-14.