Gameday Preview: Bucs-Falcons to Face Off in Final Game of the Regular Season
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons will meet in Week 18 in what will be the final regular season game for each team.
Thanks to a strong offensive performance by the Buccaneers in Week 17 vs. the Carolina Panthers, they will be moving on to the post season, regardless of what transpires in this contest. So the top priority for the Bucs heading into this matchup with the Falcons is clear: Stay healthy.
The obvious way to achieve this is by resting their most important players, to avoid as much risk as possible.
Although Todd Bowles indicated earlier in the week that his plan was to play his starters in this game, the reality of that proclamation has already (and thankfully) started to come into question.
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Carlton Davis, Carl Nassib, Logan Ryan, Donovan Smith, and Vita Vea have all been ruled out for Sunday's game. Meanwhile, Jamel Dean, Mike Edwards, and Julio Jones are all listed as questionable on the official injury report.
Although each of these players are surely dealing with some form of injury recovery, the reality is, the majority of them would likely be fine to play had this game held any significance for the team.
So for the Buccaneers, of course they would prefer to win this game and finish with a record above .500. But the truth of the matter is, it doesn't really matter whether they win or lose.
So even if players who are essential to the team's playoff hopes, like Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Lavonte David, Devin White, and others are to start this game, I wouldn't expect them to remain on the field for very long.
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Which means the majority of attention focused on this game — in addition to avoiding injury — should revolve around seeing some of the younger players on the roster have a chance to play in regular season action. Watching players such as Kyle Trask, K.J. Britt, Logan Hall, and Deven Thompkins assume more prominent roles provides an enticing opportunity to see what these young guys have to offer.
Fans have been clamouring to get a look at Trask in a real game, which hasn't happened due to Tom Brady's incredible consistency and durability over the course of his time with Tampa Bay (and entire career for that matter).
This game provides a golden opportunity for the coaches, front office, and fans to get a chance to evaluate the former Florida Gator's potential as an NFL signal caller.
For the Falcons, a team that is in the midst of a full fledged rebuild, a loss in this final game of the season would undoubtedly have a more positive impact on the franchise, as it would provide them with the potential to improve upon their current draft position.
Having recently handed the keys over to rookie quarterback, Desmond Ridder — similar to the Bucs with Trask — the Falcons can focus on evaluating his performance in isolation of the final outcome of the game. And the same can be said for other young players on the roster, who may be fighting for a chance to be retained next season, and remain apart of the team's rebuild moving forward.
So although the stakes of this game are in some respects, minimal — with the exception of draft implications for the Falcons — there will be aspects (more specifically players) worth watching on both sides.
Although many onlookers from a Buccaneers perspective will be eager to observe the development of Kyle Trask in this game, no matter how that goes (should he get the opportunity we expect), they will surely come away satisfied as long as the team is able to avoid any further injuries to any of their key contributors heading into their third consecutive NFL postseason.
For continuing coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, make sure to follow Collin Haalboom on Twitter, and check out his work on the Bucs Banter YouTube channel!
