Perhaps this is the reverse of the “Brady Effect,” where we saw for three years players flooding to Tampa to play with the GOAT for heavily reduced contracts. Perhaps this is the result of an 8-9 season last year with Tom Brady. Or perhaps this is just another example of the disconnect between national media and local media.
Quite simply, the national pundits - who don’t have their finger on the pulse of every team across the league - despise who the 2023 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shaping up to be.
Power rankings can be silly, but they give a talking point of the perception of the league from those putting them together.