Bucs vs bengals preview pack

 Bucs at home to Cincy this week

This week Tampa bay take on a very hot Cincinnati bengals team who have looked very good this year winning 9 games to this point and losing 4. Majority of their good play has come from quarterback Joe Burrow and his number one wide receiver , Jamar Chase. Although chase has had injury troubles this season he has still been one of the most productive receivers with 821 yards and 7 touchdowns so far this campaign. The bengals defence has also been very good this season with being the number 10 ranked defence in the league this season so far. Having allowed 22.1 ppg , 331 yards per game  and having a low number of only 21 sacks. Tampa bay will hope that their offensive line struggles can tamp down a bit this week playing one of the worst pass rushes in the league. 

Speaking of Tampa bay they come into this game after being torn apart on the west coast losing 35-7 against Brock Purdy and the 49ers. They’ll realistically want to win this one to sit at .500 heading into a massive Christmas game against the Murrayless cardinals. This weeks matchup marks the first in the series for both quarterbacks playing each other and the first time the teams face up since 2018 where a Jameis winston disaster blew the bucs out. This time around both teams have elite rosters but one has gelled far better for the season than the other. The bucs could put their divisional hopes in jeopardy if they lose this weekend , all Carolina would have to do then is win 1 game and beat the bucs on NYD to claim the south. However Cincinnati are in a very tight bout at the top of the AFC North with Baltimore , both teams sit very respectfully at 9-4 with Baltimore holding the tie breaker but both teams have to play again in the last regular season matchup (8th January). So realistically Cincinnati will really want this matchup to go in their favour this weekend. 

Bucs offence  

Getting into the nitty gritty facts , Tampa bays Mike evans who’s not been his old self this season is on 805 receiving yards up to now and will look to edge closer towards that 9 straight 1000 yard season mark this week , but he will have to pick it up as he only has 4 games left to get 195 yards. 

This week is quite drastically influential for the bucs as they really need to figure out who they are on offense and if they want to cash in on their (potential) last season with Tom Brady , they need to get things worked out and fast.

Last week in San Francisco was one of Tom Brady’s worst ever collapses in an offensive disaster where they only managed to find the end once , when they were down 35-0. 

They’ll hope to fix things this week and try and outscore their opposition.

Bucs Defence 

Defensively the bucs were pretty good up until that collapse last week in San Fransisco where they allowed 4 first half touchdowns and just couldn’t get off the field.

I really do believe this bucs defence can be the game changer this week if they manage to put pressure on joe burrow and force turnovers BUT that’ll be a lot tougher this week , let’s find out why.

Key absentees for Tampa 

Bucs head coach Todd bowles said he “doubts” vita vea plays this Saturday after sustaining a calf injury in SF last week , said it is very important that he practices Saturday if they want him to play.

Bucs secondary could be getting some key pieces back this week in Sean Murphy Bunting (who is said to be “miles ahead” of the other two) , Mike Edwards and antoine winfield jr (antoine apparently “plans on playing”) , all three have practiced this week.

Bucs breakout corner Jamel dean suffered a big toe injury last week that was viewed as “not severe” but likely to miss some time and that being said , likely to miss this week. Jamel did not practice.

Bucs tackle Tristan wirfs is still very doubtful having just stepped out onto a practice field yesterday. 

Bucs wr Julio Jones also didn’t practice with a knee injury

Bucs pass rusher carls nassib didn’t either (I still expect both to play)

UPDATE: as of Friday night Jamel Dean Vita Vea and Carl Nassib are the only 3 that HAVENT practiced , it’s looking increasingly likely the bucs will have majority of their team available but ,Tristan wirfs still limited 

Prediction

Just because I’m a Homer , I’m giving the bucs an upset victory 17-10 , a defensive masterclass and we finally find out the identity of this teams offence.