The Buccaneers have won four straight NFC South crowns. Which means that, for four straight years, they’ve emerged with the most difficult schedule of any team in the division.
On Tuesday, coach Todd Bowles said that the players have changed the manner in which they regard the undesirable reward for capturing a division crown.
“I think the mental toughness has gotten a lot better this year,” Bowles said on SiriusXM NFL Radio, via JoeBucsFan.com. “We’ve kind of embraced the grind. You know, playing the first-place schedule, [players] used to look at that as playing all these teams in a row as a burden; now they look at it as a challenge .”
The challenge, this year, has been exacerbated by a rash of injuries.
“[I]t doesn’t matter who plays,” Bowles said. “I think they understand the