Derrick Ward: Buccaneers Offense Is as Good as Any in the NFL

I’m all for players having confidence and believing in themselves and their teams — that’s the best attitude you can have. So if new Tampa Bay running back Derrick Ward is confident in himself and proud of his team then who am I to ruin his party? Well I don’t expect much out of the Bucs this year so let’s just say I wasn’t far from laughing out loud when he made these remarks on The Monty Show on Sporting News Radio Thursday night:

“I’ll put our offense up against any offense in the NFL. You can write that down on the internet sites and all that stuff. The offense that we have now can match up with any offense in the NFL. On Sundays, just because you have the big names doesn’t mean that it’s automatically going to come about with yards and touchdowns, you gotta prove it on Sundays. On paper, we stack up with anybody else.”

Without blinking I’d say all three offenses in Tampa’s division are better than the Bucs, on paper and on the field. The NFC East has better offenses and the NFC North has a few better ones. In fact I’d only consider Tampa a match on paper to some of the teams in the NFC West and that’s about it. They’re not a very good team and I’m really expecting a 4-12 season. But who am I to rain on Ward’s party, right? They have a chance to prove it on the field starting Sunday.