How the Buccaneers can upset the Rams on SNF

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are finishing up the toughest part of their schedule following their bye week with a Sunday night road trip to Los Angeles to take on the Rams. Since joining the Bucs, head coach Todd Bowles is 2-3 against Sean McVay, which includes a painful playoff loss in 2022. The Bucs won their last meeting in the regular season of 2022 in a low-scoring battle, but that was before Matt Stafford had Davante Adams and Puke Nacua to throw to. 

The Rams are rolling right now on a five-game win streak, boasting an 8-2 record. Meanwhile, the Bucs find themselves in another mid-season slump, having lost their last two games to the Patriots and Bills. Injuries continue to impact the team, with Ben Bredeson set to miss another game and Bucky Irving ruled out despite practicing for the second straight week. Chris Godwin looks likely to return Sunday, but the Bucs are still banged up, with Jamel Dean joining the list of inactives due to injury. 

Even still, the Bucs have a shot at winning this game. Of course, they will have to rid themselves of the mental errors that have plagued them over the last two weeks, but there is a path to victory. If the Bucs follow these keys to cannon fire, they could get a bounce-back win against the Rams on Sunday Night Football. 

Stop the explosive plays!

So much for "bend but don’t break". The Bucs have 11 touchdowns of 25-plus yards or more this season and have allowed six over the last two games alone. What’s worse is that it’s almost been a different player every week, making correctable mistakes, which makes it all the more frustrating to the Bucs and their fans that it continues to happen. 

To make matters worse for the Bucs, the Rams' offense has been humming this season and is tied for second in explosive plays. Their big-time receiving duo of Nacua and Adams each have 11 apiece and a combined 14 touchdowns on the season. Stafford isn’t afraid to target them deep, especially with the Bucs likely deploying a rookie cornerback with Dean out. If the Bucs can’t fix their big-play issues this week, the Rams are sure to take advantage of it. 

Finish drives

This applies to both sides of the ball. 

The offense has had too many drives stall out due to failed third-down and red zone conversions. The Bucs' third-down offense has improved and will hopefully get better with the return of Chris Godwin to the lineup — however, the red zone scoring must improve. The Bucs were 2-4 inside of the 20-yard line last week and rank 25th overall on the season. Ending drives in touchdowns and not field goals needs to continue to be an emphasis for the offense. Unfortunately, the Rams rank top-five in both red zone and third-down defense, adding even more of a challenge to an already difficult assignment. 

Outside of letting up big plays, the defense has also let up critical, extended drives. The Bills' last two offensive series of the game in Week 11 went eight plays each for 85 and 81 yards and scores while taking up over half the fourth quarter. Buffalo went 6-11 on third down and 1-2 on fourth down, but the Bucs couldn’t get them off the field when it counted. The Rams have a top-10 scoring and red zone offense but are ranked middle of the pack on third down. This is a game where the Bucs' pass rush must step up and play smart football against a veteran like Stafford. Tampa Bay’s defense will need to bounce back from an abysmal outing and show they can hold up on third down and force the Rams into difficult decisions. 

Win the trenches

In what was kind of a role reversal, the Bucs' offensive line handled itself fairly well last week compared to their counterparts on the defensive side of the ball. The Bucs were able to get the running game going while putting up 32 points on a Bills defense that was allowing under 22 points per game. Meanwhile, the Bucs weren’t able to generate any sort of consistent pressure on Josh Allen, allowing him to pick apart the Bucs' secondary for 317 yards and three explosive touchdowns. 

They’ll be tasked with another smart veteran quarterback this week in Matthew Stafford, who knows how to combat pressure. The Bucs will need to be smart when bringing extra rushers, putting extra pressure on the front four to make Stafford uncomfortable in the pocket. They’ll also be tasked with slowing down Kyren Williams, who is on the precipice of 1,000 all-purpose yards on the season and has nine total touchdowns. The Bucs front did a good job at slowing down James Cook last week and will need to replicate that while getting more pressure against the Rams. 

Offensively, the Bucs have their hands full with a dangerous duo of Jared Verse and Byron Young. The Rams' defensive line is stout all across, anchored by Poona Ford in the middle with Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner presenting plenty of problems of their own.

Protecting Baker Mayfield will be key to establishing any sort of balance on offense. The Bucs need to ride the hot hand of Sean Tucker to get the run game established and take what the defense gives them. But they won’t be able to do much if they don’t win the battle in the trenches.