Which quarterback is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' nemesis? That's a question Football Perspective answered for every NFL team, and the result isn't surprising: it was Brett Favre, if you measure it by total passing yards. But what does the rest of the top 10 look like? And what happens when we look at other positions, too?
The greatness of Wade Wilson
Brett Favre was the most productive passer against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by most measures, but he certainly wasn't the most efficient. That's what happens when you face one of the best defenses in NFL history twice a year. Drew Brees and Matt Ryan didn't exactly do that, so they're not that far behind and likely to overtake Favre's records.
Brees is just 1,113 yards short of topping Favre's total yards, so that will probably take, what, 1.5 games? The touchdown record is as good as gone, too: Brees needs just four more to get that one. Ryan's much further off, and the Bucs have actually done well against him. 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 10 games with barely over 200 yards per game -- that's fairly awful. In fact, the Falcons offense always seems to struggle against the Bucs. Of course, they still won seven of those games.
But the quarterback who was most dominant against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Wade Wilson of Vikings fame. Anyone remember him? A well below-average passer for most of his career who somehow crushed the Bucs, winning 8 games and losing just one, throwing for a ridiculous 9 yards per attempt, 14 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Of course, doing that against the 1980s Buccaneers is basically the equivalent of stomping on some kittens.
Interestingly, the only player in the top 10 to not be a division rival is Joe Montana.
Passing
Rk
Player
From
To
Tm
G
W
L
T
Cmp
Att
Cmp%
Yds
TD
Int
Rate
Y/A
AY/A
1
Brett Favre
1992
2005
GNB
23
15
8
0
474
774
61.24%
5125
37
23
84.3
6.62
6.24
2
Drew Brees
2004
2012
TOT
15
9
6
0
356
527
67.55%
4012
33
14
99.9
7.61
7.67
3
Tommy Kramer
1978
1989
MIN
15
12
3
0
249
416
59.86%
2852
18
14
80.9
6.86
6.21
4
Jake Delhomme
2002
2010
TOT
13
10
3
0
202
335
60.30%
2465
16
15
80.3
7.36
6.30
5
Lynn Dickey
1977
1985
GNB
9
5
3
1
179
285
62.81%
2216
8
19
68.4
7.78
5.34
6
Joe Montana*
1979
1993
TOT
9
8
1
0
190
275
69.09%
2106
11
6
95.8
7.66
7.48
7
Matt Ryan
2008
2012
ATL
10
7
3
0
181
298
60.74%
2069
10
10
78.8
6.94
6.10
8
Wade Wilson
1984
1994
TOT
9
8
1
0
144
219
65.75%
1959
14
6
104.0
8.95
8.99
9
Jim McMahon
1982
1996
TOT
10
9
1
0
142
224
63.39%
1831
10
8
89.0
8.17
7.46
10
Jim Harbaugh
1988
1994
TOT
11
6
5
0
130
216
60.19%
1694
8
6
85.7
7.84
7.33
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
You can find the full list here.
Barry Sanders dominates
The Bucs weren't very lucky with the running backs in their division. Barry Sanders and Walter Payton for the entirety of both players' careers? What a disaster. Both were a joy to watch, but also incredibly frustrating to watch. Especially Barry Sanders.
Unsurprisingly, those two players dominate the list -- but no one else really racked up yards against the Bucs. Ted Brown comes close, but at 65 yards per game he's hardly dominant. Eric Dickerson certainly was, but played just 6 games against the Bucs.
Interesting note: The modern-day backs in the top 10 aren't exactly doing much against the Bucs. None of them top 80 yards per game. That's partly a result of a shift to a passing game and the lack of feature backs in the division. In fact, it's mostly that, because the Bucs were awful at stopping the run from 2008 to 2011. So yeah. Luck, I guess.
Rushing
Rk
Player
From
To
Tm
G
W
L
T
Att
Yds
Y/A
TD
1
Barry Sanders*
1989
1998
DET
19
12
7
0
392
2195
5.60
14
2
Walter Payton*
1977
1987
CHI
20
16
4
0
407
1629
4.00
11
3
Ted Brown
1979
1986
MIN
14
10
4
0
196
907
4.63
8
4
Deuce McAllister
2001
2008
NOR
11
6
5
0
195
795
4.08
3
5
Eric Dickerson*
1984
1991
TOT
6
5
1
0
154
768
4.99
10
6
Robert Smith
1993
2000
MIN
13
6
7
0
175
756
4.32
2
7
Neal Anderson
1986
1993
CHI
14
10
4
0
172
752
4.37
13
8
Terry Allen
1991
2001
TOT
9
5
4
0
151
707
4.68
4
9
DeAngelo Williams
2006
2012
CAR
12
7
5
0
141
675
4.79
8
10
Michael Turner
2008
2012
ATL
9
6
3
0
153
649
4.24
8
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
You can find the full list here.
Wide receivers galore
Two Hall of Famers, one more who's almost certainly going to make it into the Hall and three more with at least solid credentials make the wide receiver list. Wide receivers loved beating up on the Bucs, I guess. Which is weird, because the Bucs have historically had a pretty good pass defense. If we ignore the games they played in the '80s -- like we do with most things from the '80s.
Steve Smith is probably going to overtake Cris Carter, soon, who mostly seems to have lived off volume rather than big plays. James Lofton's numbers stand out, too: he averaged three more yards per catch than anyone else in the top 10.
Receiving
Rk
Player
From
To
Tm
G
W
L
T
Rec
Yds
Y/R
TD
1
Cris Carter*
1988
2001
TOT
25
14
11
0
114
1416
12.42
10
2
Steve Smith
2002
2012
CAR
20
11
9
0
91
1311
14.41
6
3
Sterling Sharpe
1988
1994
GNB
14
9
5
0
83
1114
13.42
12
4
James Lofton*
1978
1991
TOT
16
9
6
1
63
1089
17.29
4
5
Anthony Carter
1985
1993
MIN
15
12
3
0
67
909
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