At this last season’s end, I checked the roster of the Buccaneers and concluded this was an overall poor lineup to contend for some sort of a playoff spot.

But then, after conversations with my Tribune associates who cover the Bucs on a regular basis and Buccaneers coaches, I relented.  From afar right now, although there is still hard work still ahead, the consensus seems to be with a few breaks here and there, well, these Buccaneers might surprise a few people. 

Might.

Coach Raheem Morris, a pleasant young man who speaks at a staccato pace, seems to have his hands on the problem and has a generally confident air about him with this season ending and an offseason just ahead.  Those who have worked with him like him, I do. 

For one thing, Morris has already settled on a starting quarterback, Josh Freeman, a big kid with a strong arm that causes him to send the ball off on flyers, but who may have enough of the basic credentials to be a Buc quarterback in the NFL for a long time.  He is big enough and a hard tackle. He has escape-ability techniques. He is fearless, and should mature early.  He clearly is Morris’s quarterback for the Bucs.  In his first year, he won some and lost some.  He lost some he should have won and he won some he should have lost.  His teammates like him, he seems to take charge in the huddle.

In the National Football League, you are nowhere without a quarterback and there are doggone few of them in the NFL.  This new quarterback on the block appears to have an opportunity to make it. 

The necessary early conclusion here is the Buccaneers, who have for so long been without a quarterback with future and talent, may well have one.

He closed strong last season with wins, but customarily, as a rookie quarterback often does, threw far too many interceptions, most of them obvious, most of the behind his receivers, sinful. He won’t do that long.  He will work on interceptions ‘till he is sick of the drill, and he needs to.

The Bucs also made surprising progress in other areas, notably pass receiving, running the football, and defensive play.  The defensive backs on this Buc team will start out as a group from which much is expected, notably veteran Ronde Barber, Tanard Jackson, Sabby Piscitelli and Elbert Mack. Defensive line and the offensive line will be bigger and stronger this year, Barrett Ruud is a genuine star on the rise and the Buccaneers will have some fine pass catchers, like Kellen Winslow, an all Pro down the line.

The Bucs will get some specialty team help, although, there was certainly no shortcoming this past year.

The Buccaneer schedule is not out and won’t be out until April.  However, they are again locked into the Southern Division of the National Football Conference, which causes two games to be scheduled with Atlanta, two New Orleans, and two with Carolina.  It is a tough, tough, division.

It is far too early for predictions, I suppose, but the Buccaneers should be able to compete in their league, win some and lose some.  In these troubled economic times, Buccaneer season tickets are no longer an automatic sale.  These Buccaneers have to sell tickets based on performance, which I suppose, is how it always has been and always will be.