2011 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season The 2011 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season will be the club ' s 36th season as a franchise in the NFL . The team will compete in the NFC South . Both of their preseason home games , and seven of their regular season home games will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa , Florida . One regular season home game , on October 23 , will be played at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the NFL International Series Raheem Morris will spend his third season as head coach . The team will attempt to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007 . They will try to build upon their success from 2010 , when despite having a 10 - 6 record , they failed to make the playoffs . Offseason . 2011 draft board . After finishing the 2010 season 10 - 6 and narrowly missing the playoffs , the Buccaneers had the 20th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft . A provision in the now expired collective bargaining agreement ensured that the draft still take place , despite the current lockout and lack of a new CBA . Preseason . Schedule . The Buccaneers ' preseason schedule was announced on April 12 , 2011 . For the third consecutive year , training camp was held at the team ' s facilities at One Buc Place . During training camp , Tampa Bay became the first NFL club to discontinue the use of paper copies of playbooks , and instead distributed all players their playbook and videos in electronic format via an iPad 2 . Regular season . Schedule . The Buccaneers ' regular season schedule was announced April 19 . Tampa Bay will play Chicago at Wembley Stadium in London on October 23 as part of the NFL International Series , with Tampa Bay serving as the host team . The team ' s Ring of Honor induction ceremony is scheduled to take place during the December 4 game against Carolina . The team will honor Jimmie Giles at halftime , and wear their orange throwback uniforms . LEGEND : Game summaries . Week 1 : vs . Detroit Lions . Detroit scored two touchdowns in the second quarter , and led Tampa Bay 27 - 13 late in the game . Josh Freeman suffered through some cramping issues , but rallied the Buccaneers to score a touchdown with under four minutes remaining . The subsequent onside kick failed , but the Buccaneers were able to get the ball back in the final two minutes . Freeman drove Tampa Bay to the Lions 42 yard line in the closings seconds , but they were unable to score . Week 2 : at Minnesota Vikings . Minnesota led Tampa Bay 17 - 0 at halftime , but the Buccaneers rallied for the 24 - 20 victory on the road . In the final four minutes , Josh Freeman drove the Buccaneers 61 yards in 9 plays , capped off by a game - winning 4 - yard touchdown run by LeGarrette Blount with 35 seconds remaining . Week 3 : vs . Atlanta Falcons . Tampa Bay led Atlanta 16 - 13 with 1 : 49 remaining . The Buccaneers faced 4th down & 1 at the Atlanta 44 yard line . The Falcons had no timeouts remaining , and were looking to get the ball back for one last drive . Josh Freeman and the Buccaneers lined up for the fourth down play , and the Falcons flinched on the hard count . The Falcons were penalized 5 yards for " Offsides " , the Buccaneers received a first down , and were able to run the clock out the secure the victory . Tampa Bay snapped a 5 - game losing streak to their division rivals , and coach Raheem Morris won his first game against Atlanta . Week 4 : vs . Indianapolis Colts . Tampa Bay hosted the winless Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football . Miscues and penalties nearly cost the Buccaneers control of the game , but Josh Freeman threw for 287 yards , and LeGarrette Blount rushed for 127 yards , as Tampa Bay won the game 24 - 17 . Curtis Painter started at quarterback for the Colts , his first career NFL start . The Colts led early after an Adam Vinatieri field goal . Tampa Bay then sacked Painter and recovered the fumble . Connor Barth ' s field goal attempt , however , bounced off the upright , and the score remained 3 - 0 . Late in the first quarter , Freeman connected to Arrelious Benn , who ran 62 yards for an apparent touchdown . However , the touchdown was nullified since Benn has stepped out - of - bounds before the catch ( illegal touching ) . In the second quarter , the Buccaneers pinned the Colts at their own 2 yard line . Painter threw to Pierre Garçon , who ran for an 87 - yard touchdown , and 10 - 0 lead . Tampa Bay answered with a touchdown , and trimmed the score to 10 - 7 . In the final seconds of the first half , Freeman drove the Buccaneers to the Colts 19 yard line , but was sacked with 20 seconds to go and counting . The field goal unit hurried on to the field , and the field goal was initially good . Tampa Bay , however , was penalized for 12 men on the field , and the score was nullified . Tied 17 - 17 in the fourth quarter , Tampa Bay received a punt with just under 7 minutes remaining . LeGarrette Blount blasted for a 35 - yard touchdown run , and a 24 - 17 Tampa Bay lead . In the final three mintues , Tampa Bay ran out the clock , including a " 4th & Inches " quarterback sneak by Freeman , to seal the victory . This was Tampa Bay ' s first appearance on " Monday Night Football " since 2008 , and the first home Monday night game since 2003 . This " MNF " telecast was notable in that Hank Williams , Jr . ' s " All My Rowdy Friends " opening was omitted due to comments he made on " Fox & Friends " earlier in the day where he compared a golf outing involving Barack Obama , John Boehner , Joe Biden , and John Kasich to " Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu . " Week 5 : at San Francisco 49ers . Josh Freeman threw two interceptions ( one returned for a touchdown ) , as Tampa Bay was crushed 48 - 3 at San Francisco . Tampa Bay was held to only 86 yards rushing , had three turnovers , and suffered 9 penalties for a total of 96 yards . Television blackouts . Preseason . Both of Tampa Bay ' s home preseason games were blacked out on local television because they failed to sell out prior to 72 hours before kickoff . The affiliates affected include WTSP in the Tampa / St . Pete market , WFTV in the Orlando market and WFTX in the Fort Myers area . The game was shown instead in tape delay . The game was aired live on WTLH in Tallahassee since it falls outside the designated 75 - mile blackout radius . Dating back to 2010 , Tampa Bay has had four consecutive preseason home games blacked out . Regular season . Tampa Bay ' s week 1 game against Detroit and week 3 game against Atlanta failed to sell out , and were blacked out locally . Tampa Bay was the only NFL team to face a blackout in week 1 . The FOX affiliates affected were WTVT in the Tampa / St . Pete market and WOFL in Orlando . Dating back to 2010 , Tampa Bay had ten consecutive regular season home games blacked out . The blackout streak ended in week 4 , when the Buccaneers hosted the Colts on Monday Night Football . Tampa Bay ' s week 7 game against Chicago in London is not subject to blackout , regardless of sellout status .