2016 Buccaneers’ Season Preview: Week 11 at Kansas City
As we move along in our Buccaneers’ season preview, we move ahead to week 11 when the team heads out to Arrowhead to face the Chiefs.
As the Buccaneers continue their prep for the 2016 season, we continue our previews. Over the last several days and weeks, we have been taking a game by game look at the upcoming season. It’s early, but what is the preseason without speculation? We know who the major threats are, we can have some early discussion.
For anyone who has missed the last few previews, here are the last three: week eight, week nine, and week ten. That completed a three-game homestand. In week 11, the Bucs head out to face Alex Smith and company in Kansas City.
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The Chiefs and the Bucs don’t meet too often, but the boys from Tampa have done well, especially as of late. The two teams have done battle 11 times, with the Bucs winning six of them. The Bucs have also won the last four meetings, the last one coming in 2012, when they won in convincing fashion. That afternoon, Josh Freeman threw for three touchdowns, helping his team to a 38-10 victory.
A weapon that cannot be ignored when talking about the Chiefs’ offense is the quarterback, Alex Smith. Is he a guy that is going to light up the scoreboard all by himself? No. But he is a guy that will always make the correct throw. He is accurate and always keeps his team in position to win, which is all you can ask for from a quarterback.
Smith has posted a completion percentage of 61% for his career, and 63.7% over his three years with the Chiefs. This will be an excellent test of the new Bucs’ secondary, as we all know about the trouble they had defending the pass in 2015. Can they induce mistakes from the veteran QB? It will be important.
A key will be a big game out of Noah Spence and the guys up front. Smith can be put down on the ground. In three years with the Chiefs, Smith has been sacked an average of 43 times. No quarterback likes to be pressured, and Spence is off to a good start so far. If they can knock him down a bit, they can cause some errors and help out the secondary.
Jamaal Charles is a threat whenever he touches the football. If a guy can boast a career average yards per carry of 5.5, he is a dangerous weapon. He is on the PUP list for now as he comes off of a right knee injury suffered last season, but if he is healthy, the Bucs had better be ready.
The offensive line will have its hands full. Justin Houston is a beast, there is no other way to describe him. In today’s game, when you can average double-digit sacks, you are one of the best, and that is exactly what Houston has done. In five years, Houston has averaged over 11 sacks per season, including a 22 sack performance in 2014. Don’t be fooled by his dip to 7.5 last year, he can wreck a game all by himself.
If they figure out Houston, they have Tamba Hali to contend with. Over his ten-year career he has averaged nearly nine sacks per season. One pass rusher is tough, two makes things a daunting task. The offensive line had better prepare well otherwise Jameis Winston might be lunching on some Arrowhead turf.
Next: VHIII Working With the Starters
Being in the top-ten both in run and pass defense makes the Chiefs a huge obstacle. It’s going to take a balanced attack and an A+ effort for the Bucs to pick up the road win in week 11. It can be done, but it will be all hands on deck.