One Factor Bucs Can’t Lean On In Week 15 vs. Chargers

The Bucks will have their hands full on Sunday as they head to SoFi Stadium to take on the Chargers. Los Angeles is the only team remaining on Tampa Bay’s schedule with a winning percentage over .500, as Jim Harbaugh’s team enters the game with an 8-5 record.

Considering who their head coach is, the Chargers are disciplined and built on running the football and tough defense. Not to mention, the Chargers have Justin Herbert under center, who has thrown 14 touchdowns and one interception this season. The Bucks are far from home and will be a weak team defensively, so it may be up to Baker Mayfield and the offense to win this game against the league’s No. 1 scoring defense.

Panthers K Eddie Pineiro Photo Credit: USA Today

Considering the above, this is a difficult test To Tampa Bay. Todd Bowles’ team can use all the rest it gets in this game, but one of the things the Bucs benefit from this season is that they can’t rely on it this Sunday. What is the reason? Kick game of the opposing team.

Opposing kickers have missed 10 field goals against the Bucks this season and have made 24 of 34. The success rate is only 70.1%, which is an unusually low number. The game started with a jumper, with Commanders kicker Cade York going 0-for-2 against the Bucs in Week 1. Tampa Bay won the game 37-20.

Most recently, Tampa Bay defeated Carolina 26-23 in overtime as Carolina’s Eddie Pineiro went 3-of-5, including misses from 38 and 45 yards.

Now, Tampa Bay hasn’t always used missed kicks to actually win games. However, Bowles and Co. missed many games due to field goal misses by their opponents.

Bucks HC Todd Bowles – Photo courtesy of USA Today

In the first matchup between the top two teams in the NFC South in early October, Atlanta’s Yong-Ho Koo missed two misses, giving Tampa Bay a late lead. Block) almost won the match. Koo missed a field goal in the Week 8 rematch, and the Bucks stayed in the game until losing 31-26.

When the 49ers came to town in Week 10, Jake Moody missed three field goals and nearly handed the game to the Bucs. But Tampa Bay wasn’t able to make the most of it, and Moody made the winning kick as time expired.

Importantly, opposing kickers helped the Bucs quite often in 2024. That made Bowles’ defensive scoring numbers look better than they actually were, and on several occasions served as a crutch for the team to stay in the game.

So why can’t the Bucks expect more help with the missed kick Sunday against Los Angeles?

Cameron Dicker is one of the best players the Bucks have seen this year.

The trick answer is that the Bucks never Really You can rely on kick mistakes to get into the game. In a way, it’s sheer bad luck. However, it’s highly unlikely that that luck will manifest itself at SoFi Stadium, as Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker is one of the best players in the NFL.

Dicker has converted on 28 of his 30 field goal attempts this year, a good 93.3% conversion rate. Few kickers have had a better record this season, even if they’ve had at least eight fewer attempts. Anders Karlsson is 11-for-11 between the two teams this year, while Tennessee’s Nick Folk and Detroit’s Jake Bates are at 95.5%, with both teams hitting 22-for-21 so far. There is.

Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh and K. Cameron Dicker Photo courtesy of USA Today

Dicker has been Los Angeles’ Mr. Reliable for years. After signing for 2022 after one game with the Eagles, he won 19 of 20 games (95.0%) in 10 games with the Chargers. After that, in 2023, they achieved 31 wins (93.9%) out of 33 games, and this year they achieved 28 wins (93.3%) out of 30 games in 13 games. Regarding his career, The former Texas Longhorn is 80-of-85 from the field for a 94.1% conversion rate. Four of those five mistakes came from over 50, and he made 15 of 19 overall.

That means Dicker is 65-of-66 (98.5%) from inside 49 yards in his career. His only miss inside 49 yards came from 44 yards out in a Week 9 win over the Browns earlier last month. His only other mistake this season was a 56-yard failure in Week 4 against the Chiefs.

So the Bucs have benefited from missed kicks this year, but if they can benefit from missed kicks again on Sunday, it would almost be historic.

Bend-don’t-break is unlikely to be a useful strategy for Tampa Bay’s defense against Los Angeles. Because bend don’t break often means 3 points even on a bend. And those three points will add up, especially considering the Chargers’ defense is allowing just 15.9 points per game.

In what is likely to be a close game, Dicker’s feet and the strength of Los Angeles’ defense could be the difference. And that would be music to Jim Harbaugh’s ears.