Buccaneers 2017 season preview: Game predictions
By Zain Ahmed
Week 17: vs New Orleans Saints, 1:00 PM
In the last regular season game, the Bucs will host the New Orleans Saints. Tampa Bay will need this game to clinch a playoff berth. The Saints would love to play spoiler against the Bucs and complete the sweep but the Bucs are on fire at this point.
Tampa Bay will come out firing, to take away New Orleans run game. The Bucs will jump out to a quick lead and finish off a Saints comeback before it has a chance to materialize. With a quick lead, Adrian Peterson’s impact will be minimized when the Saints are playing from behind. They will be forced to all but eliminate him and Mark Ingram from the equation to generate points quickly.
The Bucs defense will harass Drew Brees all game and force him to commit four turnovers. Brees always has a tougher time on the road anyways. His passer rating drops from 101.4 at home to 91.2 on the road. And he is worse outside, with his passer rating dropping from 102.5 indoors to 90.3 outdoors. The Saints had their run, it’s the Bucs time now.
Prediction: Bucs win 31-17, finish 11-5.
That’s right, the Tampa Bay Bucs will finish the season 11-5 and with a playoff berth. There will be a crowd of Bucs fans that will begin to worry after dropping two straight, but the Bucs respond with a four-game winning streak to show these are not the same old Bucs. The 2017 Bucs will be speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
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