'Hope' Alone Won't Get Tom Brady and Buccaneers Out of Their Funk

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in search of answers, there's an alarming rise in the use of a particularly dangerous word.
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers closed out the first quarter of the season with a 2-2 record. 

Road wins against the Dallas Cowboys and especially the New Orleans Saints were positives to build on, while home losses to the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs were low moments to start the season. 

But the losses were excusable for the most part, under the mask of losing to fellow competitors. 

After all, it does happen. 

READ MORE: Could Bucs Target QB in 2023 NFL Draft?

Losing to lower-rung teams also happens sometimes, even for prize fighters like the Bucs were expected to be. 

So losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers was hard to watch, even harder to swallow, but it didn't drain the confidence pool completely. 

In fact, it only seemed to make the Buccaneers mad. Determined to take that frustration out on the Carolina Panthers. 

Speaking the Monday after that loss, coach Todd Bowles used the word 'hope' just once. And he used it when referring to offensive lineman Josh Wells' potential of returning to action for his team. 

But after losing to the Panthers by 18 points in Week 8 - a Christian McCaffrey-less starting a fourth-string quarterback Carolina Panthers team, by the way - hope suddenly appears to be in stock in large doses at the AdventHealth Training Center. 

"I hope we go play well, and execute well, and do our jobs at a high level," quarterback Tom Brady said on Tuesday when asked by The Athletic's Greg Auman if his team can turn things around this Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens. "That's obviously the expectation for all of us (and) that's what we're working toward this week."

Not exactly the words of a general ready for war, now is it?

But Brady and Bowles weren't the only ones.

Seven times that word came out of the mouth of a Buccaneers player or coach on Tuesday. 

Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich said he hopes the fans will see more points and that hopefully, his offense will get the job done in short-yardage situations moving forward. 

Star receiver Mike Evans said he hopes to get more opportunities down the field and added, "Hopefully my next opportunity, I’ll make a big play for us.”

The only one who didn't talk about hope was All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs, who said, "I thought yesterday was a little – I don’t want to say ‘woe is me' – but we were a little down...I thought today was a lot better...I think everybody is just ready to turn this ship around – turn the pirate ship around.”

Actions speak louder than words, as the saying goes, and maybe Wirfs is right. 

Because his team's words don't sound very convincing at the moment. 

In fact, Brady even said so himself, stating, "I think there's always hope, and then there's reality. I think you really focus on what the reality of the situation is, and that's we haven't played our best football."

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One more quote about hope as we stand days away from witnessing a potential slide to 3-5 for the Bucs. 

“False hope is in no way better than a harsh truth," wrote Northern Adams in the book Mickey and the Gargoyle. "A harsh truth is painful to accept, but there's healing at the end. False hope, on the other hand, is a very dangerous thing that offers no reward. Not immediately, nor with the passage of time. It never pays off.”

The bottom line is, if something is going to turn the Buccaneers around this season, it isn't hope. 

Hopefully, someone in the building knows that.

Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the season.

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David Harrison
DAVID HARRISON

David Harrison has been in sports media since 2015 using written, audio, and video media to cover athletes, coaches, and games. In addition to covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for BucsGameday and Locked On Bucs he also covers the Washington Commanders for Commander Country and Locked On Commanders and the Washington Wizards for Inside the Wizards. David also covers the NFL as a whole as one of the Friday hosts for Locked On NFL. He is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and previously spent 20 years as an active member of the United States Army. Contact David via email at david.w.harrison82@gmail.com or on Twitter @DHarrison82.