Home NFL Skeleton Keys To Victory: Week Twelve Buccaneers vs Giants

Skeleton Keys To Victory: Week Twelve Buccaneers vs Giants

November 20, 2024

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back at it this week after being on the bye last week. They will be traveling to New York to play the Giants who were also on a bye last week. A rare time when two teams will be coming into the game fresh for their matchup.

For the Bucs, this is the start of their final seven game stretch. These games have been viewed as very easy by NFL standards and most are expected to be wins. This will need to be the case for the Bucs if they want to make a playoff push.

The road to the postseason starts this week against a Giants team who is 2-8 this year. A relative softball for a good team to knock around. However, at 4-6 the Bucs still have to prove that they are the good team that I believe them to be.

Will this Buccaneers squad catch fire in the second half of the season? Or will they continue to underachieve this year? It all starts this week with my Skeleton Keys to victory.

Is That Tommy DeVito or Danny DeVito?

The Giants are making a change with their starting quarterback. Daniel Jones is heading to the bench and is being replaced by the listed third string quarterback Tommy DeVito. This, in theory, should be a huge advantage for the Bucs.

Even though Todd Bowles’ defense has made essentially every quarterback look like an All Pro this year, this has to be a time where they shut down the passing game. The Giants lack both quality pass catchers and a good offensive line. That is to say that a third string quarterback who doesn’t have a ton of help around him shouldn’t have a good day.

Getting pressure on DeVito should be achievable as the Giants have allowed the 8th most sacks in the NFL this season. Their star rookie wide receiver leads the way with 607 receiving yards, but no other player has more than 500 after that. For perspective, Chris Godwin had 576 receiving yards when he went down with injury over a month ago.

It doesn’t really matter if you go blitz heavy or drop a lot of guys into coverage, there isn’t a bad way to stop this offense. It’s one of those days where the talent just has to show up and play their game. Let the likes of Antoine Winfield Jr, Calijah Kancey, Vita Vea and Zyon McCollum go out and dominate their competition.

Hold The Line

As bad as the Giants have been this year, they do have one elite strength to their team. That would be their pass rushers on the defensive line. Even with Kayvon Thibodeaux out with injury, they still have plenty of talent up front.

This all starts with All Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence. The 340 pound big man already has 9.0 sacks this year in just ten games. He will be an incredible challenge for Graham Barton and Cody Mauch in the middle of the offensive line.

On the edge is a familiar face; former Panthers pass rusher Brian Burns. The two time pro bowler has 6.0 sacks this year in his first season since being traded to New York. Opposite him is Azeez Ojulari who also has 6.0 sacks and is on pace to set a new career high in that department.

This will be an especially difficult matchup with All Pro offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs out with injury. Justin Skule will have to step up in his absence and help slow down this vicious pass rush. If they can’t then there is a real pathway to victory for the G-Men.

Dominate ON The Defensive Line

I have already mentioned that this Giants offensive line isn’t very good. Their excellent left tackle, Andrew Thomas, is out with injury and there aren’t many other notable names along the line. Guys like Vea and Kancey should have their way with this group and even the edge guys like Yaya Diaby and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka should get in on the fun.

In terms of rushing yards, the Giants rank right in the middle of the pack in terms of yards per carry. However, they are one of the worst teams in the NFL in terms of rushing touchdowns. Even if the Buccaneers give up some plays from time to time on the ground, they should still expect to keep the Giants out of the end zone.

I would think that shutting down the run would be the priority with a third string quarterback. Especially with rookie running back Tyrone Tracy being one of the few bring spots on their team. He leads all rookie running backs in rushing yards and the Bucs will want to key in on making his day difficult.

Overall

There are no easy wins in the NFL, especially when you are a 4-6 football team. However, this is really as easy as it comes and the Bucs should comfortably control this game. If not, then we will be having very different conversations next week about potential head coach replacements and draft prospects.

I don’t believe it will come to that though. The Bucs are as healthy as they have been in months and are expected to get Mike Evans and Jamel Dean back this week. Just show up, play hard and out talent this opponent.