Emeka Egbuka Makes Close-Games Argument
February 21st, 2026
So the Bucs went winless in December, losing four games by a grand total of 11 points.
That means the Bucs dropped four consecutive games by one score. Painful!
Receiver Emeka Egbuka thinks that shows how close Tampa Bay is to being a special football team, so he told CBS Sports.
“But if you look down at it, we weren’t getting blown out,” Egbuka said of the Bucs’ late-season collapse. “We were losing games by three points, one point here and there. You know you got to find ways to make plays in those critical moments. And I think we just need to do more of that down the stretch. I think we have a very bright future. We have all the pieces that we need to make a deep run in the playoffs and even a Super Bowl.”
Joe’s main issue with Egbuka’s argument is that the Bucs lost all those games to losing football teams: Saints, Falcons, Panthers and Dolphins. And the Bucs had 10 days rest to prep for that road matchup with Carolina.
Overall, the Bucs’ record was 6-6 in one-score games last season. In 2024, the Bucs were 3-5 in one-score games. A year earlier in 2022, their record was 3-4. In 2022, the Bucs finished 6-4 in one-score games.
In a league dominated by close games and signficant parity, Joe’s can’t say losing close games is anything to feel positive about.
Conversely, Joe would wag a finger at the Bucs fans who bark that the team barely pulled out games early last season.
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