TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have played seven games and are approaching the midway point of the season, but quarterback Jameis Winston said they still have to figure out who they are.

"I think every team has to find its common ground," said Winston, who's led the Bucs to a 2-5 record. "Last year [there] was a point in the season where we found out our identity. We are still trying to develop that identity and continue to get better. Every team has its own identity and we've got to find it."

Wait what?

Wasn't that what last year was for? That period of soul-searching after painful losses to the Oakland Raiders and Atlanta Falcons and the 1,000 yards of offense that the defense gave up in between, and those talks about communication on defense and the five-game win streak that propelled them to 9-7?

Not exactly.

"It changes from year to year," said head coach Dirk Koetter, now in his second year as head coach. "I mean obviously when you're 2-5, it's not the identity you want."

Winston said, "Every time you add new pieces to the puzzle, you are always trying to see how you can work it. ... I'm ready for us to go ahead and find our identity, but I know it's a process."

We thought we knew these guys after watching them kick and scratch and claw their way to a winning record for the first time since 2010. We thought we knew them after seeing Winston, Mike Evans, Cameron Brate, Adam Humphries, Doug Martin, Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet in Koetter's offense for three years.

We thought we knew them after seeing Lavonte David and Gerald McCoy grow up in the organization and get rewarded with new contracts, adding key pieces around them like Kwon Alexander and Brent Grimes.

We thought we knew them after HBO's "Hard Knocks" gave us an intimate look into their lives. We watched Koetter chew Winston out on the sideline, and out of all the words to describe a poor decision by his quarterback, he chose the word "greed."

We thought we knew them after watching McCoy tuck his twins into bed at night and Evans changing diapers, and the unfortunate experience of witnessing Chris Baker do unspeakable things to a palm tree outside a Jacksonville hotel.

Do they know themselves though?

"Right now, our team is not where we want to be so of course everybody is searching for the reasons why," Koetter said. "The reasons why that we keep saying every day is that we're not playing consistent-enough football across the board."

Without consistency, they have no identity. Or it's just not a pretty one.

We knew them as a ball-hawking defense last season that finished third in the league in takeaways and fourth in defensive scoring. They owned third down as the No. 1 team in the league in that department, but now can't get off the field and are ranked 32nd.

We thought they'd be stout against the run after holding Pro Bowl running back Jordan Howard to just 7 rushing yards on nine carries in Week 2. Dalvin Cook, Adrian Peterson and McCoy would debunk that theory.

On the most basic level, we knew them as a flexible 4-3 defensive front and they like to play quarters, but suddenly they're unveiling a 3-3-5 against the Buffalo Bills, with Tyrod Taylor and LeSean McCoy having a field day. Applaud them for trying, for scrambling to find a solution in the absence of healthy pass-rushers while getting rookie Kendell Beckwith more playing time.

We knew that they liked to have interchangeable safeties but they signed T.J. Ward, who made his living (and has gone to three Pro Bowls) in the box, not in coverage. That's entirely fine if that's the way they intended to use him. We knew they wanted some more beef up front, but they have Baker playing nose tackle when he's spent much of his career as a 3-4 end.

On offense, we know they're going to start slow. They've averaged roughly 10 points in the first half of games since 2015. But supposedly they're 'run-first,' and they say that their goal is to be balanced. Their run-to-pass ratio has been anything but, averaging 40 passing attempts per game while running the ball an average of 21.9 times. Even without the two games where they were playing from massive deficits -- against the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings -- they still averaged 39 passing attempts and almost 25 rushing attempts.

We knew DeSean Jackson as one of the premier deep threats in the league before he got to Tampa. He's caught just 30 percent of his targets at least 15 yards downfield, the worst rate in a season in his career. That connection with Winston has to happen.

Time is running out. They're into divisional play right now -- a gift that they're getting it so late in the season -- and have to gain some ground. They've fallen three games behind the first-place New Orleans Saints and then the Panthers. The next closest team, the Atlanta Falcons, are two games ahead.

The time is now for players to figure out who they are and how they fit together. A win in New Orleans would put them at 3-5, exactly where they were last season at the midway point.

"One thing about the puzzle is you might have all the pieces, but if you don't build a puzzle the right way, you won't get the masterpiece," Winston said. "By us coming to work every single day, by us focusing on our job, focusing on our preparation [and] stacking up wins. You'll eventually see the pieces of the puzzle come together."

They're far from a masterpiece.

The time is now for the coaching staff to figure out how best to attack opponents and for figuring out how opponents have so successfully attacked the Bucs. What worked well in the past? If the defensive line stunts aren't effective, let McCoy rush head on. If the deep ball isn't working with Jackson, have Evans go deep and as the coaching staff says, "Throw a tall guy a tall ball."