The teams meeting in this week's Sunday night game have quite a lot in common. Both teams are coming off disappointing defeats. Both teams are still Super Bowl contenders. Both teams started this season in shaky fashion. Both team's QB's will end their career as one of the game's all-time greats. Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes gets a ton of media attention, and for good reason, but Tom's Tampa Bay Buccanneers offense looks inefficient so far.
Tampa's offense ranks 24th in scoring and 27th in yardage. However, practically every Bucs receiver has struggled with injuries this season. Today, despite being listed as questionable, key Tampa wideouts Chris Godwin, Russell Gage and Julio Jones are all expected to play. This unit's cohesion will decide if the Bucs can finish a game with more than 20 points for the first time this season.
The Bucs defense, on the other hand, already looks Lombardi-ready. No team in football allowed fewer points per game through three weeks, and only three teams allow lower total yardage. I guess averaging 17 points a game works just fine when the defense allows just 9 a game. While KC's defense has succeeded in pressuring opposing QB's, Tampa is one of only four teams who have more sacks than KC's 10. Whichever team can keep their superstar quarterback most comfortable will win tonight's game. Brady has Patrick's number throughout his career, and unless both these teams go on to reach the Big Game, this will be Mahomes' final chance for some payback.
This one should be close, and it could be a classic. Tampa's defense is legit, but their secondary still has flaws that Mahomes can exploit. I'm predicting a bounceback 24-21 victory for KC.
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