Buccaneers get a ton of unexpected help in Week 11 to keep playoff hopes alive
By Josh Hill
While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t play on Sunday, they got some nice boosts in the playoff picture that should help them on the other side of their bye.
Help came from all corners of the late window, as the San Francisco 49ers getting upset in the final seconds of their game against Seattle shook up the Wild Card standings and reshuffled what things look like just on the outside of the bubbble. Nothing changed as far as teams moving in and out of hte picture as it was at the start of the day, but some cracks have started to show as far as others potentially capitalizing and flipping the script.
The biggest assist for the Bucs came from an old enemy. Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos absolutely beat the doors off of the Atlanta Falcons, handing them their second straight loss. It didn’t drop the Falcons out of the playoffs but did knock them down to the No. 4 seed and helped the Bucs close the gap just a bit.
Updated NFC Playoff Picture and Wild Card Standings after Week 11
Tampa Bay sat three full games behind Atlanta thanks to not having the tiebreaker, but the Falcons loss means the Bucs are just two games back with seven left to go.
A lot of work still needs to be done, but the stars are starting to align for the Bucs. They play their next three games against teams with a combined record of 7-22 while the Falcons get matchups against the Chargers and Vikings.
That bodes well for Tampa Bay getting back into the mix for the NFC South crown, but it’s easier said than done.
Playoff Seed | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
No. 1 | Detroit Lions | 9-1 |
No. 2 | Philadelphia Eagles | 8-2 |
No. 3 | Arizona Cardinals | 6-4 |
No. 4 | Atlanta Falcons | 6-5 |
No. 5 | Minnesota Vikings | 8-2 |
No. 6 | Green Bay Packers | 7-3 |
No. 7 | Washington Commanders | 7-4 |
There’s a lot of traffic right on the outside of that playoff picture. The 49ers losing to the Seahawks means that the Rams leap up to the No. 8 spot and sit just a game out of sneaking past Washington.
Right now the matchups on Wild Card Weekend would be:
- (2) Philadelphia Eagles vs. (7) Washington Commanders
- (3) Atlanta Falcons vs. (6) Green Bay Packers
- (4) Arizona Cardinals vs. (5) Minnesota Vikings
Tampa Bay is just on the outside of that bubble, with the Commanders' loss on Thursday night helping out in a big way. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done, but the Bucs own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Washington, which opens up a clear lane to get back into the playoff picture.
Of course, the 49ers stand between Tampa Bay and that final Wild Card spot so there would nee dto be more help than just the Bucs winning and Commanders losing to juice their playoff chances. Still, even though things feel fire at the moment the season is hardly over and the Bucs have emerged from their bye week in a pretty decent position to make a run in the home stretch of the season.
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