Two and one isn’t a bad start for the Buccaneers given all that they are dealing with, but they can still focus on beating the Chiefs with some small moves.
The Buccaneers schedule definitely looked harder a few months back before we saw that Dak Prescott performance or Jameis Winston regress to his Tampa roots, but most of the world agreed that the Bucs going 2-2 in their first four games was going to be a great start to the season.
Well, Tampa is at 2-1 right now, so this final game against the Chiefs is basically playing with house money. This game won’t be a must-win by any stretch, but beating Patrick Mahomes and that offense without so many key pieces would be a major litmus test for this roster against the best competition in the league.
To that end, the Bucs did just lose a winnable game against the Packers, throwing away a real chance of going 4-0 to start the year, and a few small changes could’ve made a difference in that game.
The easiest moves for the Buccaneers to make right now to help the roster is to get several guys more reps on the field.
Player #1
Jaelon Darden
Maybe this is more about getting Scotty Miller off the field, but the coaching staff does apparently love Darden and the growth they have seen over the past two years, so it stands to reason that he should play a real role with so many players out and such poor performances from the guys ahead of him.
Darden isn’t getting many chances, but what we have seen when he gets on the field is encouraging. The Bucs are just capping how much they can get out of Darden when they only put him on the field for a handful of snaps.
These snaps have to go up.