Order restored, building continues for Bucs

By nearly every measure you might want to use, the outlook this season is bleak for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That's not just me saying that.

You, the ticket-buying public, haven't bought in to what's going on at One Buc. One look at the vast expanse of empty seats for the two home exhibition games in August confirmed that. Both games were blacked out on local television and it almost certainly won't be the last time that happens this season.

The national pundits haven't bought in, either. They see a team coming off a 3-13 season in 2009 that was as complete a meltdown as could be. How many times do you recall teams firing both coordinators before the end of the season? Or in the case of offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski, 10 days before the season even began?

Those same pundits look at a division that includes the reigning Super Bowl champs from New Orleans along with the Atlanta Falcons, widely considered a team on the rise. That's about as deep as most people go when analyzing the Bucs because, really now, how much better can a team get in one offseason?

And in the backdrop is second-year coach Raheem Morris, whose learn-on-the-job rookie season went about like you'd expect for someone promoted from defensive backs coach, to defensive coordinator, to the top job in a matter of weeks.

So clearly, these Bucs have a lot to overcome. They've made a reasonably good start in that direction.

To a certain extent, I'd say order has been restored after last season's chaos. The Bucs seem to know what they're trying to build and how they need to go about it. That alone puts them well ahead of last year, although that doesn't mean the city needs to be making parade plans along Bayshore Boulevard just yet. It's a long road back.

I've got them pegged for six wins.

Last year, I picked them with four.

OK, so I was a cockeyed optimist.

While most everyone agrees these Bucs aren't ready to return to the ranks of contenders just yet, I'll give them high marks for putting things in place during the offseason to eventually get this right. Their draft, led by defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, was widely praised. Receiver Mike Williams could be a fourth-round steal.

Combine that with the expected improvement from quarterback Josh Freeman and the Bucs could have something cooking.

We're also starting to see some pieces of a defense that could once again be the backbone of this team. It perked up noticeably after Morris took over coordinator duties late last season, and the linebackers - Barrett Ruud, Quincy Black, Geno Hayes - are capable of playing at a high level.

Depth? I don't see a lot of it.

Every National Football League team has injuries and that's where depth comes in. I don't know if the Glazers didn't want to spend for backups or if players like that simply didn't want to join a losing organization as a reserve, but this is a thin team and it probably will take a couple of more drafts to fix that. The Bucs remain a work in progress.

They're paying for years of patchwork, Band-Aids and poor drafts, and that doesn't get fixed in one season. They're paying for that in more ways than the win-loss columns, though. Fans are making them pay as well.

By staying home in mass numbers, fans are saying they don't believe it's worth spending their hard-earned money to watch a young team endure growing pains.

That triggers the NFL's archaic home television blackout policy, though, which could mean up to half the season's games won't be available for local exposure. The policy went into effect decades ago when the league didn't rake in the other-worldly amount of TV money it now does. You can even argue that TV made the NFL what it is.

But now, Bucs fans will have to find other ways to spend their Sunday afternoons, at least during home games. The Bucs lose that three-hour local infomercial that shows just how the rebuilding program is coming along. Fans who might have been curious but unwilling to part with their cash just yet will have only the highlight shows and other news reports to rely on, but they'll do just fine.

It's the Bucs and the league that will suffer.

Anyway, back on the field, the building continues. Another season of three or maybe four wins surely will trigger rumors about Morris' job, so that will be a storyline to watch.

In a best-case scenario, the Bucs show steady progress this season and avoid double-digit losses. Then they have another good draft and, assuming the NFL avoids a labor meltdown, the Bucs enter 2011 with that "team on the rise" label.

Judging by the look of things around here, most people have simply decided to wait and see what happens.

It's not the most exhilarating way to start a season, but that's the way it is.