By: J.T. Olsen
Bucs Report – Special to Sports Talk Florida
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at a crossroads of their season. They are fresh off a Monday night loss to the Baltimore Ravens and having lost their top two wide receivers for the foreseeable future. This dropped their record down to 4-3 and kept them in second place in the NFC South.
This week, they have a pivotal game with the team they are currently trailing in the division. The Atlanta Falcons hold the tiebreaker over the Bucs after beating them on Thursday night a few weeks ago. Winning this game would not only put Tampa back in first place in the standings, but it would take away that tiebreaker that Atlanta currently holds.
The problem is that the Bucs recently lost to this same Falcons team and with the latest batch of injuries there isn’t really a reason to believe they are in a better position to win now than they were then. It will take a new approach to overcome the losses they took at wide receiver and get the much needed win.
What will that approach look like? Here are my week eight Skeleton Keys to victory against the Falcons.
Pound The Rock
With the loss of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the Buccaneers have to find another way to move the ball. And while they will obviously continue to pass the ball regularly, the Bucs will have to lean more on their running game. Until now this has been a complimentary part of their offense, but now it is time to become the identity.
Currently, the Bucs rank 7th in rushing yards and 4th in rushing yards per attempt. This is in large part to the development of their offensive line. This is a position group that the Bucs have invested four 1st or 2nd round picks into in the last five years and the young players are rounding into form.
This week will be the first opportunity for the team to show that they can be a smash mouth football team. They play a Falcons team that is ranked 25th in rushing yards allowed, but a much more impressive 11th in rushing yards allowed per attempt. It won’t be an easy task necessarily, but the Bucs must impose their will in the trenches to win this game.
Keep K.J. Off The Field
Football is the ultimate team game and one play or player is never the reason a game is won or lost. With that said, keeping linebacker K.J. Britt off the field will be a big part of the Buccaneers potentially winning this game. He has been a key factor in too many games this year and not for positive reasons.
The most recent game against the Falcons is a prime example as to why. In that game Atlanta threw for over 500 yards and picked the Bucs apart over the middle of the field, where Britt typically lined up. He is in every way a liability to the defense, but especially in pass coverage.
How the Bucs will do that isn’t completely clear yet. Perhaps it will involve more safety packages with Chris Izien or maybe implying more of a linebacker rotation with someone like JJ Russell getting more opportunities in pass coverage. Either way would be a step in the right direction.
Pressure Cousins
The last time these two teams played, the Bucs recorded 4.0 sacks in the game. And while it did manage to make a dent in the Falcons passing offense, it only was only a small one on the path to over 400 passing yards in regulation. But that would have still been enough to win if not for a last second field goal to tie the game at 30.
One key factor in this game that was missing last time will be defensive tackle Calijah Kancey. The second year player out of the University of Pittsburgh is a very good pass rusher on the interior defensive line. His quickness and ability to stunt will add that much more pressure.
With Kirk Cousins not being a particularly mobile quarterback, making him uncomfortable in the pocket is essential. Pressure up the middle can move him off his spot and affect his overall accuracy. Sacks are great, but consistent pressure will be just as important in this game.
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