While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to enter the softest part of their schedule on Sunday, fans can't help but be a littler nervous about how things might go.
Everything is lined up for the team to end its four-game losing streak and start charting a course toward coming out of this upcoming stretch of games 7-6. With the Falcons playing two tough games in a row—and coming off two straight losses—there's a clear path for the Bucs to get back into first place in the NFC South.
It seems strange to be nervous about this, but the only thing standing in Tampa Bay's way is a bad New York Giants team that has decided to start its third-string quarterback. Daniel Jones was officially benched on Monday, with Brian Daboll starting Tommy DeVito over Drew Lock in what will likely be games he needs to win to save his job.
DeVito was a surprise success story for a few weeks last season, but it's the situation around him that should make Bucs fans feel better about how things might go on Sunday.
Reported dysfunction over Daniel Jones getting benched is good news for the Buccaneers
NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported that several Giants players he talked to are baffled by how Daniel Jones' benching went down. The decision is apparently causing a rift in the locker room, the kind that the Bucs could benefit from.
“We’re not idiots. They did it because of money. So be it. But Daniel has been all class, never complained, and is now being completely disregarded," an anonymous player said, stating that blame deserves to be passed around rather than placed at the feet of Jones. "To try to blame him is trash, and making him third string is weak as fu**.”
Star pass rusher Dexter Lawrence gave perhaps the most biting quote, and the one that indicates the dysfunction in the locker room is only just starting to truly rear its ugly head.
“To me, is the best quarterback on the team," Lawrence said.
That's not just a backing of Jones, but it's also sort of a shot at new starting quarterback Tommy DeVito. Brian Daboll's decision to start him over Drew Lock is what the anonymous player Schultz talked to is getting at, as benching Jones is about saving on the massive contract the Giants gave him but skipping over Lock is also meant as a money saving move.
Lock has incentives in his contract that if he were to start he'd likely easily meet. The Giants pretty clearly choosing money over anything else sends the wrong message to the team but might end up cutting the Buccaneers a break.
Fans in Tampa Bay are already frustrated over the four game losing streak the team is on, and hearing that a backup quarterback was starting against the struggling defense didn't inspire much confidence.
If the Bucs are as good as they claim to be, there shouldn't be much of an issue on Sunday. DeVito is the perfect quarterback for the defense to bounce-back against, and the supposed dysfunction around the Giants is yet another reason to believe Tampa Bay will start getting things back on track in Week 12.
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