Bucks with 7 games left in the season We have a very winnable schedule in the future. To get them back in the playoff race. Tampa Bay, coming off a bye, will face the Giants and Panthers at home against the Raiders, then on the road again against the Chargers and Cowboys, and concludes with two home games against regional rivals, the Panthers and Saints.
All of these teams except the Chargers have losing records and are more focused on draft seeding than on a path to the postseason. The Bucks should have the advantage against all of these teams, but tampa bay game planning Most of them may need to be different based on what’s going on with their respective quarterback situations.
QB questions loom for teams facing the Bucks.
Many of the teams the Bucs will now face have seen their plans derailed at quarterback, including their next two opponents. Ironically, the Giants and Panthers just played each other in Germany last Sunday, and like the Bucks, they will receive a bye this week. On paper, when the schedule was announced, the Bucs thought they would play New York’s Daniel Jones, who actually made his NFL debut with the Bucs in 2019.
However, in what may have been a stroke of fate, Giants head coach Brian Daboll was not keen on sticking with Jones, who was returning from a bye, citing his poor performance. Daboll was asked point-blank whether Jones intended to advance by default.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time here watching tape and evaluating things,” Daboll said. “We’ll be doing that next week as a coaching staff.”
Not exactly a vote of confidence. Jones signed a four-year, $160 million contract two seasons ago, but has not lived up to that contract. But there would be an incentive not to play Jones anymore, since he could be waived after this season and given a $22 million cap hit in 2025 without any debt. He has eight touchdowns and seven interceptions this season with a 2-8 record.
The Panthers are also considering who they want to be their quarterback going forward. Second-year player Bryce Young had a poor start to the season and was benched after an 0-2 start, but was replaced by veteran Andy Dalton and played in Carolina’s Week 3 win over Las Vegas. He made his first start. Dalton continued to be the starter, but unfortunately three weeks ago he was in a car accident and left the game, allowing Young to return. After losing to the Broncos, Young and the Panthers won their next two games for their first win. This is the first consecutive record since 2022.
Now, who will start winning from a bye? Head coach Dave Canales, who served as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator last season, did not give a clear answer.
“We collect all the information. We do it all,” Canales said. “But Bryce is certainly sending a message to all of us.”
Carolina will play the Kansas City Chiefs on a bye, so the Bucs may not necessarily have to guess who will start depending on the situation.
The only time the Bucs still have to guess who will play is their home game against the Raiders. Head coach Antonio Pierce appears to be very dissatisfied with quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell, consistently benching one or the other for several games. Minshew started seven games and appeared in eight, while O’Connell started two and appeared in four. O’Connell was placed on injured reserve with a broken thumb a few weeks ago and has missed the last two games.
The Raiders have a bye this week. Former Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder replaced Minshew in the Nov. 3 loss to the Bengals, completing 11 of 16 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown. . By the time the Bucks and Raiders meet, no one knows who Las Vegas will have under center.
Unplanned move at quarterback
The next three opponents have a lot of uncertainty in their quarterback decisions. The opponents below know who their starters will be, mostly because things haven’t gone as planned.
After playing against Justin Herbert and the Chargers, the Bucs will travel to take on the Dallas Cowboys at “Jerry World.” However, Dak Prescott will not play against him as he just underwent season-ending hamstring surgery. He will be replaced by Cooper Rush, who had a less-than-impressive performance in a 34-6 loss to the Eagles, which also featured Trey Lance. Maybe they’ll see Lance in that game.
Tampa Bay’s finale is against the Saints. The difference in this second matchup of the season is that he will be facing a familiar face, Derek Carr, rather than rookie Spencer Rattler. The Bucs took advantage of the inexperienced Rattlers and won 51-27. They recorded two interceptions, forced a fumble and were sacked five times.
Carr is certainly prone to turnovers, but he also has the ability to score and keep the Saints in games. Tampa Bay has struggled recently in home games against New Orleans.
The Bucks made other teams’ QBs look like stars.
From the start of the season to the bye, the Bucs have faced some pretty talented quarterbacks. They’ve played against top quarterbacks like Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts, Kirk Cousins, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes, while also facing extremely talented rookie quarterbacks like Jaden Daniels and Bo Nix. Ta.
In many ways, the Bucs were the perfect highlight reel team for these quarterbacks while Tampa Bay struggled mightily on defense. Perhaps playing against lesser competition will help the Bucks win. But once you make these quarterbacks look like stars, Todd Bowles will have no excuse.