The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the rest of the NFL will soon be playing their 17th regular season game in Week 18 for the first time ever. While winning is more of a priority for some clubs more than others, the Bucs go into the season finale against the visiting Carolina Panthers with a whole lot to play for. Those goals are of both the team and individually variety.
Team wise, the Bucs currently sit at 12-4 on the year. A win over Carolina would be a season sweep over their division rivals and it would also break the franchise record of 12 victories that was set by the 2002 squad that won Super Bowl 37. That would also set a Bucs record for best all-time regular season winning percentage at .764.
Tampa Bay sits as the current three Seed in the NFC. A combination of the Bucs winning and the currently-2nd seeded Los Angeles Rams losing to the San Francisco 49ers, who need a win to make the playoffs, would make the Bucs the two Seed.
Individually, the biggest goal for the Bucs focuses on Mike Evans as it did in last season’s finale against the Atlanta Falcons. Evans is 54 yards away from extending his NFL record of consecutive 1,000 yard receiving seasons to 8. He needed 40 yards against the Falcons in 2020 and got 46 to set the all time mark.
Tom Brady is ten yards away from passing for 5,000 yards on the season. It would be the second time in his career to reach that mark. He threw for 5,235 yards for the New England Patriots in 2011.
Brady’s 4990 yards and 40 touchdowns passing both lead the league entering Week 18, and he holds a 342 yard and 2 touchdown advantage over Matthew Stafford of the Rams. Should Brady hang on to the lead in both categories, at 44 years of age, he would be the oldest to ever do so.
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