Buccaneers Predictions: Forecasting the 2017 Second Quarter
@ ARIZONA CARDINALS (15 October 2017)
What’s worse than being 2-2 like the Buccaneers are? How about 2-3 like the Cardinals are. Of course, if the Bucs fail to execute in Arizona next week, they’ll know just what it’s like to be 2-3.
The Cardinals may be on their way to drafting a quarterback very highly in the 2018 NFL Draft, but they aren’t going to go down without a fight.
They’ve taken losses to the Lions, Cowboys, and Eagles. All considered legitimate contenders for playoff spots. So, they aren’t exactly getting beat by scrubs.
Those would be teams like the 49ers and Colts. Each of the two teams they’ve beaten in 2017.
The story coming into this game is going to be vengeance of course. In 2016, the Buccaneers got their literal and figurative butts kicked in Glendale 40-7.
There’s a pretty big difference between the 2016 version of this Tampa squad and the 2017 one though.
For one, this year’s team isn’t coming into this game thinking they’re bigger than they are. In fact, it’s been a very up-and-down four games so far, meaning they should come in with a humbled determination more than anything.
The Cardinals aren’t the same either. For one, they’re missing running back David Johnson, and really haven’t been able to recover from losing him yet.
In fact, they only have 259-yards rushing on the season, ranking them 32nd in the league by a long way. Making this statistical fact even worse is that they’re one of just 16 teams in the NFL to play five games at the time of this writing. Yikes.
It shouldn’t be too surprising then, the team relies heavily on the pass. Up to now, Arizona has thrown for 1,445-yards, bringing them in just behind the New England Patriots for second in the league.
Unlike the Patriots though, the Cards just aren’t good at scoring touchdowns with their passing attack, where they rank just 21st to this point.
The Buccaneers have a mini-bye week before this one, and are hoping to get at least linebacker Kwon Alexander back for this one. He’s been out since leaving in the first quarter of the Bucs’ win against the Bears in Week One.
Safety T.J. Ward is also a hopeful to return, although, with the way Justin Evans played last week it may not be a necessity.
Lavonte David is an outside shot to return, but he would certainly be a welcomed face back on the field.
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Tampa shouldn’t be too afraid of this road game, and with the extra time to prepare, there’s no reason the coaches can’t have a really solid game plan ready to go.
Arizona has lost to three playoff teams. If Tampa truly is one of those, then they will get the win as well.