We’re now officially in Week one of the NFL season because the Buccaneers will play later tonight.
In what has been a especially tumultuous off season for our Tampa Bay Buccaneers…. With the retirement of Tom Brady, the un-retirement of Tom Brady, the retirement of Ali Marpet, the departure of key veteran free agents, hiring of Todd Bowles to update Bruce Arians as he moves into an advisor function, the retirement of Gronk, and more drama surrounding Tom Brady(leaks of his plans to enroll in the dolphins after which his absence from the team which now seems to be because of personal issues at home)….. There was lots to unpack for our group.
But, right here we are with soccer being returned.
The Buccaneers will kick their season off in opposition to the Dallas Cowboys inside the primetime sport later tonight.
Closing year, we began our season towards the identical team, and it proved to be a nail-biter in the first game as we slightly pulled out a 31-29 win in opposition to the Cowboys. Dak Prescott threw for over 400 yards in last year’s version of this game, and controlling their passing game will need to be a focus for Tampa Bay this year.
One big distinction for the Cowboys this year is the lack of Amari Cooper, who become their crew’s leading receiver in ultimate 12 months’s game towards us and was 2d on their group for the 12 months. Buying and selling Cooper to the Browns become a bit of a questionable flow as it truely takes a dynamic playmaker off their team, however they have loads of faith in CeeDee Lamb, their main receiver last 12 months, to hold to hold the weight along side Michael Gallup and rookie Jalen Tolbert.
Supporting them out will be the efficiency of Dak Prescott, who had the fourth-maximum finishing touch percent inside the league remaining season, which should in reality make his receivers look higher.
Our corners will need to be competitive at the road and throw their receivers off their routes for you to provide our line a few extra time to get pressure to Dak, which ought to cause less correct passes. Carlton Davis, Jamel Dean, and Sean Murphy-Bunting will all be very busy with this Dallas offense that loves to pass the ball loads!
Our run defense need to be honestly effective again this 12 months, despite the lack of Ndamakong Suh, as we still have Vita Vea ingesting up space in the middle and one of the pleasant linebacker groups in the sport.
In terms of our offense, we need to recognize in which Micah Parsons is lining up on each single play. Parsons is a recreation changer who can get after the passer without problems, drop lower back into insurance, and sniff out ball vendors before they even make it to the road of scrimmage. This guy is competitive, and he makes a big effect on the game, so we genuinely want to make certain he’s accounted for.
The Cowboys protection also forced greater Turnovers than any other crew within the league final yr, consisting of forcing four(two fumbles and interceptions) closing time we performed them, so taking care of the ball can be extremely crucial this time round. A variety of that starts with Trevon Diggs, The Dallas cornerback who led the league in interceptions last year. One thing to notice, but, is that while Diggs pressured loads of turnovers, he also offers up a TON of yards, giving up over 1000 by using himself remaining year, which makes him very excessive chance, very high praise. Diggs became capable of pick out off Brady closing year, so it will likely be up to Tom and his receivers to limit Diggs’ threat this 12 months and limit his reward.
Some other key piece to fulfillment on Sunday night time, will be to return at the Cowboys with a balanced attack. Final year, Tampa rushed for the 7th most yards in the league, and if we are able to make Dallas recognize the hazard of the run, that should sluggish down their lethal bypass rush, and take a number of the strain off of our offensive line to preserve their blocks for as lengthy. The Cowboys rush protection tied for eighth worst inside the league in terms of opposing yards in step with convey, and that’s something that Leonard Fournette will want to capitalize directly to actually effect the sport this 12 months.
All in all, I suppose we are in for every other very close recreation this first week of the season, and i can’t wait to break down the win (with a bit of luck) with you guys.
