The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to do anything they can to stop the bleeding. They have gone 1-4 over the past weeks and they have a good chance of missing the playoffs if they drop this game. I’m not saying it’s do or die because of that end of season stretch, but things become a lot harder if they drop this game. Normally, this would be a game I have very little confidence the Bucs have of winning, but there are a few things working in the Buccaneers’ favor.
The 49ers are dealing with their share of injuries. They had been without CMC until this point, Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL, they lost Drew Greenlaw in the SB to a torn Achilles, they won’t have Charvarius Ward for the game, and it Nick Bosa might be on a snap count. And even when they were healthy, they had been massively underperforming. They blew games against the corpse that was the Rams and blew a 23-10 lead to the Cardinals. Now, to totally dismiss the 49ers would be the stupidest thing in the world, but they don’t appear to be all the way there.
The Buccaneers do need to limit the 49ers run game, something they were not able to do against a far less talented back in Kareem Hunt. The 49ers have the 3rd best ypc in 5.1 and the Bucs are ranked 28th in how many rush yards they allow in 4.8. This is not a good combo for the Bucs. And remember, the 49ers have done this all without CMC.
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In the 49ers passing game, I think we just have to accept a big game from George Kittle. Why should I expect anything different from this defense at this point? The Bucs have at least been subbing K.J. Britt on certain plays for the defense, something we should all thank God for, but whether or not that can help is something else entirely. The 49ers also have Deebo Samuel, and with few other weapons to help, the Bucs can at least focus on him and Kittle to try and force Brock Purdy to beat them with other guys. Not saying they can’t because the Bucs defense can allow that bs, but eliminating the top weapons would help the Bucs immensely.
On offense, we just have to stay the course we charted in KC. It wasn’t a perfect game and the offense was prone to stalling, but it proved against one of the league’s best defenses, this unit is legit. They were able to dink and dunk their way to OT. Baker Mayfield also managed to limit his mistakes (although he did have one pass that should’ve been picked). With Ward out, that makes me a little more confident in the passing game as opposed to our ground game.
If the Bucs team that showed up in Arrowhead shows up today, I like the Bucs chances. Their offense played exactly the game they needed to and it almost got them the victory. If the defense can just be mediocre instead of complete trash, that will go a long way to getting the first one in what feels like years.
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