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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have their hands-full with Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby / via NFL.com

Skeleton Keys To Victory: Buccaneers vs Raiders

December 5, 2024

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are officially on a winning streak. The squeaked out of Carolina with an overtime win against the Panthers and are looking to keep their winning ways going. This week they will host a Las Vegas Raiders team who has an even worse record (2-10) than the Panthers did last week (3-9).

Needless to say that the Bucs, who are now tied for the division lead in the NFC South, are expected to win. However, as we saw on Sunday, it takes more than just talent to win these games. There need to be a lot of improvements made for this game to get the Bucs on the path to the playoffs.

Fortunately, this is a favorable matchup to clean things up in. There are a lot of favorable matchups that give the Buccaneers the advantage. I take a closer look in this week’s Skeleton Keys to victory.

Force The Raiders To Make Tough Throws

In terms of passing offense, the Raiders are very middle of the road statistically. They rank 14th in passing yards per game despite a group of pass catchers and quarterbacks that are very underwhelming. Frankly, this passing attack lacks talent in a big way, so for them to even be as good as they are is fairly impressive.

However, with their passing offense has also come interceptions. Between the two quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell they have thrown for 12 interceptions and just 14 touchdowns. If you force these two to beat you, specifically O’Connell for this week, then they have proven that they can’t.

Todd Bowles needs to make life difficult on this second year back up quarterback. Take away the quick hitters and force him to read the blitz, go through his progressions and find the open man. If you let O’Connell dump it off or find the hole in the zone then you are playing right into the Raiders’ hands.

Dominate The Line Of Scrimmage

The Buccaneers are built with the idea that games are won in the trenches. If the Raiders share the same belief then they haven’t shown it. The Bucs defensive line should have a massive advantage in this game.

The Raiders have given up the 6th most sacks in the NFL this year. They are also averaging the fewest yards per carry as well as rushing yards per game in the NFL. While there is individual talent on this offensive line, the unit has been awful.

On the other side of that, the Bucs feature what is probably the best duo of defensive tackles in the NFL. Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey are both tied with the team lead with 6.0 sacks this season. They will also get help from Yaya Diaby on the EDGE, who is one of the bigger and most physical outside linebackers in the game. The Bucs defensive line should win early and often up front this weekend.

Don’t Allow Splash Plays To The Raiders Defense

On defense the Raiders have fared better than you might expect this year. They are middle of the road in terms of passing yards allowed and they rank 10th in fewest rushing yards allowed. This Maxx Crosby led unit is actually somewhat respectable, which you might expect from a team who has a super star pass rusher.

However, despite all of this, the Raiders have allowed the 5th most points per game this year at 27.8. I believe the appropriate word for this defense would be inconsistent. They have held teams like the Chargers, Ravens, Rams and Chiefs to under 24 points, but have given up 34+ points to the Broncos and Panthers.

What we do know about them week in and week out is that they don’t sack the quarterback well. They rank 7th worst in sacks this year. They also don’t force turnovers with just five on the entire year. Despite their best efforts, the Raiders just are not able to make plays on that side of the ball and that puts them in a difficult position when their offense keeps turning the ball over.

Overall

I believe this Raiders team is actually more feisty than their talent says they should be. However, while talent isn’t everything there is a big gap in this game. The Bucs should clean things up this week and impose their will defensively and offensively.