Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Carolina Panthers: Three Keys to the Game
Most thought that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had gotten back on track entering last week's matchup against New Orleans. The Bucs were winners of 4 straight but the Saints had other plans winning 9-0 at Raymond James Stadium.
Now, Tampa Bay has an opportunity to end their season with three wins against two relatively weaker opponents including facing the Carolina Panthers twice as the Bucs close out the regular season.
With a win on Sunday, the Bucs will clinch the NFC South division title for the first time since 2007. Here are three things Tampa Bay must do to win in Week 16:
1. Challenge Carolina's weakened passing defense
While the Panthers feature the No. 2 passing defense in the league, limiting opponents to 178 passing yards a game, they've lost their top three cornerbacks since the start of the season.
Most recently, A.J. Bouye was placed on injured reserve after Jaycee Horn was placed on IR in November. Additionally, safety Sam Franklin Jr. was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday as well. Meanwhile, cornerback Stephon Gilmore is questionable for Sunday's game.
As Carolina deals with a number of injuries in the secondary, Bucs quarterback Tom Brady should be able to have a field day, especially coming off a tough loss last week. There's a reason the Bucs have the No. 2 passing offense in the NFL and they should be able to take advantage of a depleted Carolina defense.
2. Feed Ronald Jones II
With Leonard Fournette likely done for the regular season, this is a major opportunity for Bucs running back Ronald Jones II.
If for some reason Brady has trouble breaking through Carolina's passing defense, even with key injuries in their secondary, the Bucs will likely shift their focus to moving the football on the ground.
The Panthers are just inside the top 20 among the NFL's rushing defenses, sitting at tied for 19th, so compared to their No. 2 passing defense, this is a weakness of theirs.
And Jones has taken advantage of this in the past. Last year when these two teams met, he ran a season-high 192 yards and 1 touchdown. With Fournette out, this is a big chance for Jones to have a huge game when it's needed.
3. Tom Brady needs to have a strong performance
Brady posted a 57.1 quarterback rating last week in Tampa Bay's 9-0 loss to the Saints.
He was sacked 4 times for a loss of 30 total yards, was picked off once, and completed only 54% of his passes despite throwing the ball 48 times.
Simply put, he needs to get back on track for the Bucs to do the same. Even without Chris Godwin for the rest of the regular season, Brady has plenty of weapons in the passing game.
This week is a great chance for Brady to have a big game too. The last time Brady faced Carolina, he passed for 341 yards and had 4 total touchdowns (3 passes and 1 run) along with no interceptions finishing with a 124 passer rating.
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