The good and the bad of the Buccaneers schedule release

Tough break for the Buccaneers

Bad: Those First Four Games

Wow. The Buccaneers start the year off with a bang, playing four extremely tough matchups in a row to open 2022. As they did last year, the Buccaneers open the season against Dallas.

Dallas was a playoff team last year, and the Bucs required some final-drive heroics from Chris Godwin and Ryan Succop to eke out a two point win against them. This time around, neither one is expected to play. In fact, it is highly likely that Chris Godwin misses significant time early this season, as he fights back from a torn ACL suffered late last year on a low hit against the Saints.

This is a problem for Tampa Bay, as Godwin is Brady’s favorite target, and the Cowboys are far from the best team they will face at the start. Immediately following the opener against Dallas, the Bucs head to New Orleans for a rivalry game against a team that has absolutely had their number these past two seasons. Though the Buccaneers have played better in New Orleans than at home recently, it is a tall order for Russell Gage to have to pick up Chris Godwin’s slack while Mike Evans engages in his biannual battle against Marshon Lattimore.

Then, Tampa Bay gets to play the Green Bay Packers, last year’s NFC #1 seed. And finally, a brutal four game stretch rounds off with a game against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Both Packers and Chiefs have lost superstar receivers in the offseason, but the lethality of Rodgers and Mahomes is not to be taken lightly and each team has gotten sneaky good in other areas of the game.

Long story short, this is a brutal stretch of games that will have to be played without a huge impact player in Godwin. We will find out early what kind of team Tampa Bay is fielding in 2022.