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Giants (3-6) Tampa
Bay (6-3)
Last Sunday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got off
to a poor start. Early in the second quarter the Washington Football Team held
a 13-0 lead. Tampa Bay trailed the whole game, finishing up with a 29-19 loss.
Before
their bye week, the Giants hosted the Las Vegas Raiders. The Giants were trailing
13-10 at the end of the half. Three plays into the third quarter, they came up
with an interception returned for a touchdown. The Giants held the lead for the
rest of the game for a 23-16 win over the Raiders. Tampa
Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers were stuck
in muddy waters until Tom Brady came aboard. They hadn't been to the playoffs
in 12 years. Brady's rescue ship even included former crewmate, tight end Rob
Gronkowski. Brady and Gronkowski had both spent their entire careers with the
New England Patriots prior to joining the Buccaneers. Still, it took a lot to
right the Buccaneers ship during the season.
They started off at 6-2, but
four games later were at 7-5. Wide receiver Antonio Brown heard Brady's SOS, and
he joined up in week nine. Brown hadn't played football in over a year, but once
he got his sea legs going, he worked along with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, and
the rest of the crew, to have the Bucs finish 11-5, second in the NFC South to
the New Orleans Saints.
Tampa Bay was the traveling team for every playoff
game, and they went on to beat Washington, New Orleans, and Green Bay, before
meeting up with Kansas City in the Super Bowl.
Tampa Bay became the first
team in NFL history to play in a Super Bowl hosted at their own home stadium.
The Bucs went on to win Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida,
beating the Chiefs 31-9. All 22 starters returned this season, setting sail to
be the NFL's first repeat champions since Brady's 2004 Patriots did it once before. Buccaneers
Offense
The
seas have gotten stormy for the Buccaneers this season. After a nice 6-1 start,
they lost a game to New Orleans, a division rival, and then after a bye week,
dropped another to Washington, a team with a 2-6 record. Tom Brady has thrown
only 7 interceptions this season, but four came in those last two games. It's
a bit troubling, but you can't forget that Brady also leads the NFL with 27 touchdown
passes. Wide receiver Mike Evans has caught 9 of them, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown,
and tight end Rob Gronkowski, have each caught 4.
Antonio Brown has appeared
in just five games this season, with the Buccaneers winning every one he's played
in. Their record is 1-3 without Brown, and It looks
likely that Brown's current three game absence will continue into Monday night.
Godwin was limited in practices this week, is listed as questionable, but is expected
to play. Gronkowski, who has missed 5 games including the last one, had practiced,
but has since been listed as questionable for Monday night.
Running back Giovani
Bernard has only seven carries on the season, but he has 3 touchdown catches.
Ronald Jones was the lead rusher with the most yards last season averaging 5.1
yards on 192 carries, and Leonard Fournette was second with 97 carries. Those
roles have changed this year, and Fournette already has 112 carries to Jones 44.
Fournette has shown that aside from his running abilities, he has good hands.
We all know that Brady likes to throw the ball, and Fournette, the leading rusher
on the team, is also the fourth leading receiver.
Buccaneers
Defense
The
Bucs were the toughest team to run on last season, allowing an average of just
81 yards a game. They haven't slipped much, and currently are the second best
defense against the run. Saquon Barkley has missed the last four games, and Devontae
Booker has been decent in his absence, trying to make things happen behind the
Giants shaky offensive line. It might be useful to have them both on the field
at times to keep the defense guessing, and as possible receivers. It
will be interesting to see how capable they are, as both were listed as questionable
for the game.
Against the pass, Tampa Bay's
defense also ranks about the same as they did last year,
22nd in passing yards. Outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett had an NFL high 19.5
sacks in 2019, and currently leads the team with 5.5 sacks. Barrett works with
former Giant Jason Pierre-Paul to keep pressure up on the quarterback.
They
both had a disappointing game last week against Washington, finishing with a combined
one tackle. Others in their unit did come up with 5 sacks, but quarterback Taylor
Heinicke still completed over 81 percent of his passes for 256 yards and 1 touchdown.
Tampa Bay is dealing with a banged up secondary, so the Giants may see some opportunities
there, especially if a number of their receivers show up healthy. Giants
Offense
The Giants offensive line is always
a work in progress. Some good news is that left tackle Andrew Thomas, who missed
four of the last five games with ankle and foot injuries, had returned to the
practice field this week, and he might play. Things will also be a bit easier
for them, as Tampa Bay's rush defense will likely be missing tough nose tackle
Vita Vea. It's also no secret that the Bucs pass rush is being impacted by Jason
Pierre-Paul playing through a shoulder injury.
In the Giants last game, they
were lucky to squeak by the Raiders with a 23-16 win. It showed that Kenny Golladay,
Kadarius Toney, and John Ross could seriously use a bye week. Well they've had
that, and what could Daniel Jones be expected to do with a healthy crew? Kenny
Golladay had his best game for the Giants in the win over the New Orleans Saints,
with 6 catches for 116 yards, before he was injured in the next game with the
Dallas Cowboys. A healthy Kadarius Toney had a 10 catch, 189 yard game in that
Cowboys game, but then an ankle injury sidelined him the next two games.
When
Toney came back he sustained a thumb injury in the Kansas City game. Also, Sterling
Shepard and Dante Pettis left that same game, and did not return. This was after
Shepard had missed three of the previous four games with a hamstring injury. Jones
has thrown only 8 touchdown passes, and the Giants have the league's worst red
zone offense, but the Bucs are 27th in passing
touchdowns allowed this season. With a healthy crew, things could work out for
the Giants in that area this week Giants
Defense
They will have to play sharp against
a Tom Brady led offense that ranks first in the NFL in passing yards, averaging
over 315 yards a game. It's hard to pressure Brady because he's great at reading
defenses, and he gets rid of the ball quickly. If Rob Gronkowski is back at near
full strength, pass coverage gets much harder. Tight ends Cameron Brate, and O.J.
Howard have played in every game, but they are not reliable targets compared to
Gronkowski, and they come up with less yards per catch. Gronkowski is averaging
one touchdown per game.
The others each have one touchdown catch, after playing
in all nine games. The Bucs likely don't mind that their ground game yardage ranks
low in the NFL just as it did last year. They're content hitting their running
backs with passes, as long as it keeps the ball moving. It will be interesting
to see what defensive coordinator Patrick Graham comes up with. In the Kansas
City game, he kept Patrick Mahomes stymied, limited to one touchdown and one interception,
and a 60.4 completion percentage, though in the end Mahomes plowed through his
mistakes.
Last game before the bye, Raiders Derek Carr was victimized by safety
Xavier McKinney, who returned one of his two
interceptions for a touchdown. Brady hasn't been playing his best in his last
two games, so if the defense can get him to doubt himself, it could pay off big.
The Giants sure could use Logan Ryan in this venture. Ryan leads the team with
72 tackles, and is the most experienced member of the secondary. Ryan is listed
as out for the game, as he is currently on the reserve COVID-19 list. There is
a chance that could change right up to gametime. Overall
All
three of the Bucs losses have been on the road, but that won't be helpful for
the Giants this Monday night, as they are the traveling team. The Giants are 3-6,
and Tampa Bay is 6-3. That win loss record would buy you a lot on the NFC East
currency exchange, but it's not gratifying for the Bucs, where winning the NFC
South division is a lot more expensive. Tampa Bay didn't do that last year, even
though they never lost more than two games in a row on their way to the title.
They currently hold a slim division lead, and don't want to entertain the thought
of losing their third straight game while hosting the Giants on Monday night.
Tom Brady hasn't lost three games in a row since 2002, but Tampa Bay doesn't always
have it's best luck against the Giants. Last year, also on a Monday night, the
Bucs won 25-23 thanks to a broken up two-point conversion, but that's not the
kind of game they'd like to see coming at them from the Giants. NFC
East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Saints (5-4)
at Eagles (4-6)
Sunday at 1:00pm Washington (3-6) at Panthers (5-5)
Sunday
at 4:25pm Cowboys (7-2) at Chiefs (6-4)
Monday at 8:15pm Giants (3-6) at Buccaneers
(6-3)
The Eagles are the only NFC East team favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Giants
are 13-19 in games after the bye week
New York beat Cincinnati last season in coach Joe Judge’s first post-bye game. Daniel
Jones is 0-7 in primetime games in his career.
Daniel Jones made his first career start
against Tampa Bay in 2019.
Jones threw 2 touchdowns, and ran for 2 more in
the Giants 32-31 win.
Next Games
Nov 28 Philadelphia at Giants
Dec
5 Giants at Miami
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