Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2018 schedule release
By James Yarcho
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the order of their 2018 opponents set.
The NFL announced its 2018 schedule Thursday and the order of opponents have been released for all 32 NFL teams. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have known their opponents since the end of the 2017 season, but they now have their official schedule and know their home/road splits.
Here is what we know as of now, thanks to the schedule being leaked in advance;
September 9 – at New Orleans Saints – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
September 16 – vs. Philadelphia Eagles – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
September 24 – vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Monday Night Football) – 8:15 p.m. – ESPN
Spetember 30 – at Chicago Bears – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
BYE
October 14 – at Atlanta Falcons – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
October 21 – vs. Cleveland Browns – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
October 28 – at Cincinnati Bengals – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
November 4 – at Carolina Panthers – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
November 11 – vs. Washington Redskins – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
November 18 – at New York Giants – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
November 25 – vs. San Francisco 49ers – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
December 2 – vs. Carolina Panthers – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
December 9 – vs. New Orleans Saints – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
December 16 – at Baltimore Ravens – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
December 23 – at Dallas Cowboys – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
December 30 – vs. Atlanta Falcons – 1:00 p.m. – FOX
There are a few takeaways as of now. For starters, there doesn’t seem to appear to be a Thursday night game, although every NFL team is supposed to get one. This will likely be resolved, again, when the schedule is officially released unless the NFL has done away with every team being featured on MNF.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also only appear to have one legitimate “cold weather” game, heading to Baltimore on December 16. Granted, it’s April and we’re still seeing snow in some areas so for all we know an October game in Cincinnati could see four inches of snow on the ground.
The Bucs also only have one stretch where they play back to back games on the road – at Baltimore and at Dallas. Yes, they do have consecutive road games September 30 at Chicago and October 14 at Atlanta, but those games are broken up by a bye week giving the Bucs plenty of rest.
The Bucs get a week five bye for the third time in four years, but it beats the week one bye they had last season.
Finally, the Buccaneers will get a Monday night game in week three, hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the gauntlet laid out in the first three weeks, it puts even more emphasis on the pending investigation of Jameis Winston and whether or not he will be suspended to open the year.