BUCS vs. COMMANDERS
WHEN: Sunday, January 12, 2025 | WHERE: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL) | KICKOFF: 8:15 p.m. ET | TV: NBC
PLAY-BY-PLAY: Mike Tirico | ANALYST: Cris Collinsworth | SIDELINE: Melissa StarkRADIO: 98 ROCK 97.9 FM | PLAY-BY-PLAY: Gene Deckerhoff | ANALYST: Dave Moore | SIDELINE: T.J. Rives
Recreation day is approaching, and it’s time for the Pewter Report employees to make its weekly sport predictions and supply up our sport preview of this week’s matchup. Tell us what you assume within the article feedback part and add your prediction, too.
Scott Reynolds: Skilled Bucs Overcome Upstart Commanders
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Picture by: USA Right now
The Bucs have hosted a Wild Card playoff sport in every of the final 4 years and have been within the playoffs in every of the final 5 years. That have ought to assistance on Sunday night time when Tampa Bay hosts Washington. This jogs my memory of when Tom Brady and the 13-4 Bucs beat the 9-8 Eagles within the 2021 Wild Card sport. Philly received 14 video games the subsequent 12 months earlier than shedding to Kansas Metropolis within the Tremendous Bowl.
The Commanders have made an incredible turnaround in Dan Quinn’s first 12 months as head coach, however his group simply lacks playoff expertise. Washington’s final playoff sport got here in 2020 at 7-9 when the group hosted Tampa Bay in a Wild Card sport and misplaced. Not many gamers The Bucs even have the expertise of beating the Commanders in Week 1, 37-20.
Each groups have gotten higher since then and have the No. 4 (Bucs at 29.5 ppg) and No. 5 (Commanders at 28.5 ppg) scoring offenses within the league. However Tampa Bay’s protection has been stellar down the stretch, permitting simply 17 factors per sport because the bye in Week 11. The Bucs have gone 6-1 over that span and have solely allowed a median of three.3 factors per sport within the second half of the final seven video games. The Commanders have received a number of video games within the final minute, however the Bucs protection must be prepared and seeking to blitz Jayden Daniels much more than it did in Week 1.
Baker Mayfield acquired snubbed for the Professional Bowl by Daniels regardless of throwing 41 touchdowns to Daniels’ 25. He’ll have an additional massive chip on his shoulder for this one. If he can replicate final 12 months’s Wild Card efficiency through which he threw for 3 touchdowns – or his season-opening salvo of 4 TDs vs. the Commanders – the Bucs ought to rating 30 or extra factors once more. Bucky Irving must also run wild in opposition to the league’s No. 30 dashing protection. Tampa Bay is 3-0 when he rushes for 100 yards or extra, and is 6-0 when he hits at the very least 80.
REYNOLDS’ GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 31, Commanders 26REYNOLDS’ SEASON RECORD: 10-7
Matt Matera: Bucs Win In Shut Contest
Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
It’ll be enjoyable that this can be a matchup between two groups that kicked the season off in opposition to one another, so the Bucs and Commanders are a lot completely different groups than after they met months in the past. That doesn’t imply that the high-scoring moments will likely be few and much between. This sport could be a shootout, simply used otherwise.
Throughout the first sport, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield balled out with 289 passing yards and 4 touchdowns as Tampa Bay scored 37 factors. This time round, although, the Bucs will take benefit within the floor sport, leaning on Bucky Irving as they exploit the weak spot of the Commander’s potential to cease the run.
And naturally, we get the all the time thrilling matchup of Mike Evans in opposition to Marshon Lattimore. I’m certain offensive coordinator Liam Coen will get Evans getting into a number of methods.
How the Bucs attempt to decelerate Jayden Daniels will likely be a thriller. Can Yaya Diaby proceed his momentum after successful NFC Defensive Participant of The Week? They will’t let Daniels purchase time and discover Terry McLaurin and Zach Ertz downfield. The excellent news for the Bucs is that they’ll get security Antoine Winfield Jr. again and cornerback Jamel Dean returning, who could make up for lots. It could take one huge play by the protection to get it carried out, however the Bucs discover it inside them to win and advance.
MATERA’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 33, Commanders 31MATERA’S SEASON RECORD: 11-6
Bailey Adams: Bucs Do Simply Sufficient To Maintain Off Commanders
Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
Honestly, I used to be going backwards and forwards on this matchup all week. I feel this can be a uncommon case the place the Bucs like that they ended up drawing the Commanders, and the Commanders like that they ended up drawing the Bucs. Each groups have to like their possibilities on this one, and I feel it’ll be a detailed contest.
These are two of the very best offenses within the NFL, and each groups have defenses that may be loads shaky. That might result in a high-scoring sport. The truth is, I feel it is going to. However I feel Tampa Bay prevails in the long run.
Offensively, it’s arduous to place one among these models too far above the opposite. However I feel the place I’ll give the Bucs the sting is with their run sport. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is harmful together with his arm and legs, however I don’t like Washington’s possibilities to muster up a lot of a dashing assault in opposition to this Tampa Bay protection, at the very least exterior of what Daniels can do when he escapes the pocket.
On the flip aspect, I feel Liam Coen’s offense will have the ability to strike an incredible steadiness between the move sport and run sport. Baker Mayfield is enjoying nice soccer proper now, and the duo of Bucky Irving and Rachaad White ought to have a discipline day in opposition to the Commanders’ Thirtieth-ranked run protection. As arduous as it’s to name which of those offenses will convey extra to the desk on Sunday night time, it could be the identical conundrum with the defenses.
However, for all of the faults of the Tampa Bay protection, there’s one thing telling me that Todd Bowles will pull out one other masterful gameplan come Sunday night time like he did within the group’s 32-9 win over Philadelphia in final 12 months’s Wild Card sport at Raymond James Stadium. It could not result in the Commanders solely scoring 9 factors, however I feel the protection does simply sufficient to assist out the Bucs offense and hold this season going. Oh, and don’t be stunned if Chase McLaughlin’s leg finally ends up making a distinction on this one.
ADAMS’ GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 34, Commanders 28ADAMS’ SEASON RECORD: 12-5
Josh Queipo: Bucs Win And Return To Divisional Spherical
Bucs HC Todd Bowles, OC Liam Coen – Picture by: Cliff Welch P/R
Full disclosure. Whereas my prediction seems above Adam Slivon’s, I used to be the final to enter my prediction. And it’s killing me to agree with ALL of my colleagues and make this a clear sweep of us predicting the Bucs will win. However that’s actually what I feel will occur.
The Bucs have a greater level differential than the Commanders this season at +117 to +94. The Bucs are 7-2 in video games determined by multiple rating. The Commanders have an identical win proportion however have been in simply 5 such contests this 12 months, exhibiting they battle to actually put groups away.
The place Washington has excelled is in a single rating video games, the place they’re 8-4 on the 12 months. However historical past has proven these kinds of groups have a tendency to return again to the imply over time – the 2022 Vikings come to thoughts. The Bucs maintain the benefit within the trenches on either side of the ball. And that must be what decides this sport.
There has not been a secondary that Liam Coen hasn’t been in a position to scheme open his playmakers in opposition to, and Marshon Lattimore be damned, I don’t see that beginning this week. Baker Mayfield has leveled up in current weeks, and an underreported facet of his sport has been the truth that he has been a rattling good playoff quarterback thus far, albeit in a small pattern measurement. The query comes right down to the protection and I feel that Todd Bowles’ blitz-heavy method will do sufficient to get a few key stops to permit the Bucs to win this by greater than most individuals assume.
QUEIPO’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 27, Commanders 19QUEIPO’S SEASON RECORD: 10-7
Adam Slivon: Bucs’ Offense Does Sufficient To Beat Commanders And Advance
Bucs security Antoine Winfield Jr. – Picture by: USA Right now
On paper, the Bucs and Commanders match up fairly nicely heading into Sunday night time’s Wild Card sport. Tampa Bay has the fourth-scoring offense and Sixteenth-scoring protection within the NFL, whereas Washington ranks fifth and 18th in these classes, respectively. Whereas the house group holds slight statistical benefits over their opponent, the offense – led by Baker Mayfield – actually units them aside. Mayfield has proven all through the season that he can lead the Bucs to wins in quite a lot of methods.
Whereas most might be credited to placing up a excessive quantity of factors on the board, he has been in a position to play with no matter weapons he has at his disposal. Anchored by an offensive line with first-team All-Professional Tristan Wirfs, it’s a stout entrance that buys him time and offers Bucky Irving ample area to make issues occur. Combining his success by way of the air with dealing with the Thirtieth-ranked dashing protection is a recipe to maintain the nice instances going.
Bobby Wagner leads the Commanders protection, however it’s a unit that was uncovered again in Week 1, permitting 37 factors. Including cornerback Marshon Lattimore provides some intrigue, however till confirmed in any other case, offensive coordinator Liam Coen will get the advantage of the doubt.
There are some doubts about how Tampa Bay’s protection will fare dealing with a extra snug Jayden Daniels. Daniels is a dynamic menace on the bottom and thru the air, with a lot of his current manufacturing being a product of his elite effectivity in making all types of throws. Stopping him is paramount, and getting Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jamel Dean again bodes nicely in stopping Terry McLaurin from having an enormous day.
Lavonte David has a tall job of containing him within the pocket, coming house on blitzes, and holding his personal in opposition to Zach Ertz in a battle of 34-year-olds, however I feel “LVD” nonetheless has some gasoline left within the tank. I predict a detailed, back-and-forth first half, however the group’s playoff expertise paired with being led by an ignitor of a quarterback permits them to drag away late to a postseason victory at house.
SLIVON’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 31, Commanders 27SLIVON’S SEASON RECORD: 11-6
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