While the Atlanta Falcons may not be the most impressive team right now, they are a scrappy team and are not to be taken lightly. Both teams are banged up (although the Buccaneers are definitely more injured), but this will be a good litmus test for where both teams are.
The Falcons have had to scratch and claw their way to victory while the Buccaneers have won a lot more easily. However, in a divisional match-up with two good defenses, grit may be far more important.
For The Buccaneers Offense
For the Bucs on offense, the key is keeping the ball away from Justin Simmons and Jessie Bates. The pass rush for the Falcons is still hot stinking trash. So, that honestly makes the fact their secondary is really good all the more impressive (they are ranked 13th in air yards). Having a good pass rush makes your secondary look way better because the corners/safeties don’t have to hold up for as long in coverage.
The good news with that is the offensive line should look significantly better. The bad news is that Baker may not have a great game. The Falcons’ run defense is definitely worse (25th in rush yards), so the Bucs should be feeding Bucky and Rachaad White a great deal.
For The Buccaneers Defense
For the Bucs’ defense, it is all about slowing down Bijan and Tyler Allgeier. The Bucs run defense is not that much better than the Falcons (a whooping 22nd in rush yards allowed). Now, Vita Vea being back will help a lot in making the run defense better. But the Falcons’ have two really good running backs, so we’ll see who wins that battle. The Falcons’ have weapons at WR, but that will not matter if the pass rush can make Kirk Cousins uncomfortable. Cousins has looked mostly fine for the dirty birds, but he still looks like he needs time to recover from his injury last year. If the Bucs can get him out of the pocket, that should do a lot to getting the Falcons off schedule.
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Usually I have a pretty good idea of who has a better chance of winning after writing this, but this game is weird. The Bucs I think are the better team, but are so injured it may not matter. Coupled with the Bucs’ lack of success on Thursday Night and it being a divisional game, this game can really go either way. This is a win that would be huge for the Bucs with an incredibly difficult gauntlet of games coming up.
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