The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back home this weekend after a massive victory in Detroit. The Bucs are undefeated but significantly injured. So far, they've managed these losses by having younger guys step up. They've been fantastic so far and helped stuff Detroit's offense last week. It's been surprising and promising to see, and this depth will be a huge advantage later in the season. The Buccaneers will face an easier opponent than last week as the 0-2 Denver Broncos are in town. The Broncos are still breaking in their rookie quarterback and working on finding an identity on offense.
Sean Payton is in his second year with the team and hopes to bounce back from a losing season a year ago. Though their offense is struggling, the Broncos have a top-tier defense that may give the Bucs some struggles. If the Bucs can win this game, it will be the first time they've started the season 3-0 since 2005 and only the fifth time in franchise history. All previous 3-0 starts resulted in the Bucs making the playoffs, putting this team in great company if they win.
Game Info
Date: Sunday, September 22nd
Start Time: 1 P.M Eastern
Location: Tampa, Florida
Stadium: Raymond James Stadium
TV Info: FOX (Time Brando and Matt Millen on the Call)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Uniform Info: Alternate Pewter Uniform. Gray Jerseys, Gray Pants
Denver Broncos Statistical Rankings
Points Per Game: 13.0 (29th)
Points Allowed Per Game: 19.5 (11th)
Offensive Yards Per Game: 263 Yards Per (28th)
Passing/Rushing Yards Per Game: 181.5 Yards Per (22nd) and 81.5 Yards (27th)
Defensive Yards Allowed Per Game: 277.5 Yards Per (9th)
Passing/Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game: 134 Yards Per (4th) and 143.5 (24th)
Third Down Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 23.33% (29th) and 32% (15th)
Red Zone Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 14.29% (32nd) and 33.33% (9th)
Penalties: 17 (27th)
Penalty Yardage: 184 Yards (32nd)
Players Ruled Out Before Saturday
Broncos: JL Skinner, Baron Browning, Mike McGlinchey, Audric Estime, Drew Sanders, Delarrin Turner-Yell, Demarri Mathis, Quinn Bailey
Buccaneers: Vita Vea (Doubtful), Kameron Johnson (Doubtful), Luke Goedeke, Antoine Winfield Jr., Calijah Kancey, Bryce Hall, Earnest Brown IV, Chase Edmonds, Rakim Jarrett.
Denver Broncos
Defense
Despite the offensive struggles, the Broncos have been stout on defense this year. They're ninth in yards allowed and eleventh in points allowed per game—all thanks to defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who's calling the shots. Joseph is in his second season as defensive coordinator with the Broncos, but his history with the Broncos goes further than that. In 2017 and 2018, Vance Joseph was the Denver Broncos Head Coach. Joseph was fired after those two seasons went disastrously, but he quickly found his footing. He became the Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator before returning to Denver once Sean Payton was hired. Joseph has a great defensive mind, and he's proven that again this year. The Broncos are also fourth in passing yards allowed per game with 134 yards. A lot of that credit goes to star cornerback Pat Surtain II. Surtain has made the Pro Bowl in the last two years and has proven to be a dominant CB1 in this league. Watching him match up against Mike Evans on Sunday will be intriguing.
Though the passing defense for the Broncos looks excellent, the rushing defense needs some work. So far, they've allowed 143.5 rushing yards per game. That puts them as the eighth-worst rushing defense in the NFL. Luckily for the Broncos, they'll be playing against the Bucs, who have notoriously struggled running the ball. Last season, the Bucs were last in rushing yards, and they're still in the bottom seven this year. If the Broncos can keep the Buccaneers rushing offense at a minimum and their passing defense plays like they have been, the Broncos may be able to keep this game closer than anticipated. Buccaneers right tackle Luke Goedeke being injured also heavily favors the Broncos. Last week, Baker Mayfield was sacked by Aiden Hutchinson 4.5 times, and four came in the first quarter alone. Had Goedeke been healthy, that wouldn't have happened. The Broncos don't have an edge rusher quite as talented as Hutchinson, but they do have Jonathon Cooper. Cooper has two sacks so far this season and four QB hits. He'll be lined up against the Buc's backup tackle, and it'll be another tough test for the Buccaneer's depth. Overall, the Broncos will need their defense to perform well because it's not looking too good offensively.
Offense
In the first round of this year's draft, the Denver Broncos selected quarterback Bo Nix out of Oregon. Nix was a starting quarterback in college for five years and put up fantastic numbers in his final two seasons at Oregon. Sean Payton is considered a quarterback guru, and he was thrilled about drafting Bo Nix as he saw him as the best QB in the draft. Unfortunately, we haven't seen Nix do too well in his first two starts. Last week against the Steelers, Nix only completed 55% of his passes, threw two interceptions, and recorded zero touchdowns. However, he improved from his first game, as he was atrocious against the Seahawks. In his NFL debut, Nix passed for 138 yards on 42 attempts, completing only 47.5% of his passes and throwing two interceptions. He found the endzone using his legs but has yet to throw a passing touchdown in his career. Nix must change this soon if he wants to beat the Buccaneers. I think Nix will eventually settle in for the Broncos, but he may be in for a long rookie season.
To make matters worse, the Broncos' running game is as bad as their passing game. They have the fifth-worst rushing offense in the league, averaging barely over eighty yards a game. The team's leading rusher through two games is Bo Nix. It would be okay if Bo Nix were similar to Lamar Jackson or Jayden Daniels, but that's not the case. Nix is not known for his mobility and should not be the team's leading rusher. Nix has sixty rushing yards this season, twenty yards more than their starting running back, Javonte Williams. Williams had an outstanding rookie year in 2021, but since then, he has been average to bad. This year, he's averaging 2.1 yards per carry. A lot can be blamed on the offensive line, but Williams could still be better. To have a chance against the Bucs, the Bronco's offense will have to flip the switch and turn into a completely different offense than we're used to seeing. A good start would be scoring at least one touchdown this week, as they had zero the week prior.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Defense
The Buccaneer's defense has been outstanding this season despite many injuries. Through two games, the Bucs are sixth in points allowed per game, only allowing 18 per game. However, the Bucs give up a lot of yards on defense. Despite being in the top ten in points allowed, they're 28th in yards allowed. This is because the Bucs are a bend but don't break type of defense. Teams will be able to move the ball on them, but they won't be able to get into the endzone. Last week, against the Lions, the Bucs held Detroit at a 14.29% Red Zone TD percentage. This was an awe-inspiring feat, especially against a team as good as the Lions. They accomplished this despite being down some key players like Antoine Winfield Jr., Byrce Hall, Calijah Kancey, and Vita Vea (Vea got hurt in the third quarter of this game.) The guys in their place played phenomenally, and they'll have the chance to replicate their performance again, as the four guys listed above are out again this week.
My biggest concern last week was how the Bucs' secondary would fair after being shredded thin due to injury. They turned out to be spectacular and intercepted Jared Goff multiple times. We saw incredible performances by Christian Izien and Zyon McCollum. McCollum's performance was particularly impressive because he had just been cleared of concussion protocol hours before the game started. He intercepted Goff on the first passing play of the day while also racking up four pass deflections. If he keeps up this performance, McCollum has finally come into his own and maybe a sneaky pick for the Pro Bowl. Rookie Tykee Smith started in place of the hurt Antoine Winfield Jr., and he also excelled. Smith had eight tackles, including a tackle for loss. His play has been encouraging and exciting for Bucs fans. Hopefully, with Winfield being out a few more weeks, we will see Smith continue to play well in his place. The defense is solid for Tampa Bay, and I don't think they'll need to replicate their performance last week to hold off the Broncos. Todd Bowles will be hungry to coach against this struggling rookie quarterback, and I wouldn't be surprised if he tosses another couple of interceptions in this game as well.
Offense
Like the defense, the Buccaneers offense has been spectacular. They're fourth in points scored per game with 28.5 and thirteenth in passing yards. Baker Mayfield continues to be what he was supposed to be coming out of college six years ago. He's turned out to be an elite quarterback who will win you football games, and Tampa Bay lucked out with him. It is also helpful that Mayfield has two outstanding throwing targets, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. They both have shown no signs of aging by continuing to rack up touchdowns and yards. The Bucs also have the valuable additions of rookies Bucky Irving and Jalen McMillan. Irving is the second-string running back but has been playing like he's the starter. Irving leads the team in rushing yards with 84, averaging over five yards per carry. I look forward to seeing Irving continue to get more carries this week as he tries to revitalize the struggling Buccaneers rushing attack from a year ago.
A big concern from last week was the pressure that was getting to Baker Mayfield. The Lions were exposing the backup tackle and hitting Mayfield throughout the night. The Buccaneers desperately need to keep their quarterback healthy to go anywhere this season. Unfortunately, Luke Goedeke, the usual starting tackle, will be out again this week. This makes me nervous, and it should make others nervous as well because backup Justin Skule did a terrible job protecting Mayfield last week. Thankfully, the Broncos don't have Aiden Hutchinson, but that still doesn't mean this won't happen again. However, Tampa Bay shouldn't be passing the ball much, as the Broncos have an excellent passing defense and a bad rushing defense. The Bucs aren't a good rushing offense by any means, but they will be able to run against the Broncos, mainly if they feed Bucky Irving. With the Denver Broncos offense being so bad so far, the Buccaneers won't have to score many points to keep up with them. So even if they do struggle to score points in this game for some reason, it'll always be a possession game.
Betting Info
Points Spread: TB -6 (-110) | DEN +6 (-110)
Money Line: TB (-258) | DEN (+210)
Over/Under: O 41 (-108) | U 41 (-112)
Lines Via DraftKings as of Friday, September 20th
I'm going all Buccaneers for my betting predictions this week. I think the Bucs will win this game by more than six points, and I'm also willing to take the over in this game as I think it'll be a blowout for Tampa. To sum it up, I like the Bucs -6 on the points spread, the Bucs for the money line, and over 41 total points. You won't win hardly anything if you bet the Buccaneer's money line, but you can always parlay all three of these bets into one and come out with some good dough if it all hits. The Bucs have been great at home lately, and I think this game will end like the Washington game that ended in week one.
Prediction
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now, and the Broncos are on the other end of the spectrum. I would be shocked and highly discouraged if the Bucs even let the Broncos hang around in this game. Tampa is better than them on all fronts, which should be shown in this game. The Bucs will have a packed crowd with many rowdy and excited fans. The only way I see this going bad for the Buccaneers is if they start to play sloppy or don't take the Broncos seriously. That's a common occurrence in the NFL, and if they can avoid that, I'll be very optimistic about how this season will play out. In summary, the Buccaneers must beat up the bad teams, and the Broncos are terrible.
Final Score: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33, Denver Broncos, 13
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