The Buccaneers haven’t frequented prime time television in recent years.
But that’s about to change.
Tampa Bay is scheduled to play in five (!) prime time games in 2020, an impressive feat for any team in a 17-week season. The Bucs will appear on both “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football” twice between Weeks 7 and 11 and “Thursday Night Football” once in Week 5.
That’s a whole lot of late-night action for a team that’s only played in *checks notes* 17 prime time games since the 2005 season. In fact, that’s the lowest number of appearances for any team in that stretch.
The Buccaneers have 5 primetime games this year.
Tampa Bay had a league-low 17 primetime games over the last 15 seasons (2005-19). pic.twitter.com/1sOhKdc5Tz
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 8, 2020
The timing certainly is interesting, to say the least.
After all, the Bucs just happened to nab New England Patriots superstars Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski during the offseason. And they were pretty successful in the 2020 NFL Draft in April, too.
But we’re sure none of that has anything to do with this season’s configuration.