Bucs try to create breathing room in a top-heavy NFC
TAMPA — Wading into November, the humidity is only starting to dissipate. The Tampa Bay Bucs’ upcoming bye week — the NFL equinox of sorts — will be followed by nine more regular-season games. Which is to say, it’s still early. Problem is, that annual sense of urgency didn’t opt for a fashionably late arrival. It’s here now, punctual and profound.
“It’s hard when you put yourself behind the eight ball and lose a bunch of games early in the year,” Bucs quarterback Tom Brady said.
This year, especially. Rush-hour traffic on the Howard Frankland Bridge has nothing on the logjam atop the NFC. The conference owns the five best records in the NFL: The Cardinals and Packers are 7-1, the Bucs and Rams are 6-1, and the Cowboys are 5-1.
Every AFC team has at least two defeats. Since the 1970 merger, the NFC is the first conference to have five teams with the outright best records in the NFL through Week 7, according to ESPN.
Not that Bucs coach Bruce Arians counting — yet.
“We don’t look at the standings,” said Arians, whose one-loss team faces a two-loss team (the Saints) in an NFC South clash Sunday in New Orleans. “We know that we’ve got an away game in our division with the next-best team in our division. So that stuff will take care of itself. Right now, we’ve got to win our division, and this is a big game in our division.”
A Saints win Sunday, followed by another home win against the Falcons on Nov. 7 (when the Bucs have a bye), would give Tampa Bay and New Orleans identical 6-2 records, with the Saints owning the division lead via the head-to-head tiebreaker.
It also would intensify the NFC’s
crowded scrum for postseason seedings. While playing three consecutive postseason games on the road worked out splendidly for the Bucs last season, it’s clearly not a scenario they wish to repeat.
Might as well try to stay ahead of that scenario.
“It sounds maybe corny, but it truly is, like, one game at a time,” left guard Ali Marpet said. “And it really is; you have to win every game if you want to give yourself the best chance to play playoff football and win the Super Bowl.”
Fortunately for the Bucs, their remaining schedule is favorable compared with the conference’s other top contenders.
Only three of their remaining 10 games
are against teams currently above .500 (Saints twice, Bills). Only one remaining opponent (Buffalo) is in the top 10 of ESPN’s latest NFL power rankings.
The Cardinals and Packers each have two remaining games against top-10 squads; the Rams have four (Titans, Packers, Cardinals, Ravens).
Ultimately, the logjam will break. For the Bucs, a win Sunday could help it break the right way.
“You want to give yourself the best opportunity, especially down the stretch, and put yourself in a great position,” Brady said. “It’s just winning games, stringing them together, playing well consistently. We’ve done a good job of that.”