Ranking the Buccaneers' four prime-time games

This one more has to due with the time of the year it’s being played and the level of opponent than it does with the name brand of the Cowboys. While these teams didn’t play against each other last year, they had some memorable games in 2021 and 2022 facing each other three times, including two season openers. The Bucs won twice in the regular season, but the Cowboys knocked Tampa Bay out of playoffs in 2022, which was the last game of Tom Brady’s career.

It’ll look different this time around as it is the first game for Baker Mayfield as the quarterback playing in his home state of Texas. Mayfield has also had a rivalry with the state of Texas going back to his college playing days at Oklahoma, and there won’t be any love lost between he and Cowboys fans.

This is a very high-stakes game, as it comes so late in the season. Each team will be lobbying to win its division, but a win for the Bucs on the road in Dallas would be a signature victory. Plus it would be an NFC win and would help them with many tiebreakers for seedings in the division or wild card. A win over the Cowboys puts the Bucs in position to rack up more NFC wins against the Panthers and Saints to end the season in Weeks 17 and 18.

2. Week 5 – Bucs at Falcons – Thursday Night Football

I really wanted to put this game first, but the fact that it’s so early in the season, on a short week, and that these teams play again just a a three weeks later in the same month takes the wind out of the sails a little bit. There’s no denying that the magnitude of this matchup is most important out of all of Tampa Bay’s primetime games and it’ll set the table for the whole division.

The Bucs and Falcons are considered the top two favorites in the NFC South. It’s the first time the Bucs face off against quarterback Kirk Cousins in a Falcons uniform. The winner of this first matchup immediately gets the upper hand in this race for first place and an early tie breaker with the other in a must-win scenario for their Week 8 game.

The Falcons do play the Saints the week prior, so they’d have at least one division game on their record, but it’s a great test to see if Atlanta is truly legitimate.

3. Week 9 – Bucs at Chiefs – Monday Night Football

All of the stories will be written about a Super Bowl LV rematch. Yes, many faces have come and gone since the Bucs defeated the Chiefs 31-9 at the Super Bowl in Tampa, but it’s still Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce going against Todd Bowles and his defense.

This is the first time that Bowles and many defensive players from the the Super Bowl winning team, such as Vita Vea, Jamel Dean, Jordan Whitehead and Antoine Winfield Jr., will be playing against Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium as opposed to their last three matchups taking place in Tampa.

Only inside linebacker Lavonte David and wide receiver Mike Evans played at Kansas City the last time they made that trip in 2016. In the Bowles era, as either defensive coordinator or head coach, the Bucs have gone 1-2 against Mahomes and the Chiefs. The losses have been shootout games where Bowles’ defense had difficulty getting stops. The lone win in Super Bowl LV was a defensive masterpiece by Bowles and ended in a 31-9 rout.

Kansas City hasn’t exactly dwelled on that Super Bowl loss either, as the Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowl championships over the last two season. The Bucs will also be very battle tested having gone through a gauntlet of playing the Ravens and Falcons in consecutive weeks, followed by the NFC champion 49ers the week after. Will the Bucs be able to hold up during the toughest stretch of their schedule?

4. Week 7 Bucs vs. Ravens: Monday Night Football

While this is the the last of the group, it certainly doesn’t diminish the excitement of this game. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is arguably the most electrifying players in the league. The Ravens love to run the ball and have weapons at receiver as well. So it’s another test for Todd Bowles and his defense.

Baltimore also has a stingy defense year in and year out. So we’ll see how Liam Coen, Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans and the rest of the Bucs on offense plan to attack a great unit.

The Bucs do have the benefit of being home for this game, their only home primetime matchup out of the four. Tampa Bay is committed to running the ball efficiently, and if they can do it against the Ravens, the team should be successful against anyone. They might have to run it often given how good Baltimore’s secondary is.

It’s also the beginning of the aforementioned gauntlet, so picking up a win at the start of a rough, four-game stretch could catapult the Bucs into going on a run before their much needed bye in Week 12.