Week 6 of the NFL season is upon us. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers return from their much needed bye week, after a mauling from the Chicago Bears. No more breaks, just 12 weeks of Sunday afternoon football games.
The stage is set for Jameis Winston to return to the field as a starter. He has had a lot of success playing Atlanta where he is 2-0.
The Falcons season is on life support and they are desperate for a win. As the saying goes ” A wounded animal is always more dangerous”. Make no mistake, the Falcons are a dangerous team. In week three, the Buccaneers gave the Steelers new life after starting the season 0-1-1.
On October 14, 2018 at 1 pm Eastern Time the (2-2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel Atlanta, to take on a desperate (1-4) Falcons team.
Series History
For the 50th time the Buccaneers will play against the falcons. This match up is surprisingly even in terms of wins and losses. The Falcons currently hold the lead at 25 games. The Buccaneers look to even things up this week. These two teams have never tied.
Although it looks like the Falcons have historically put a whooping on this team, the Buccaneers from 1997-2003 won six straight match-ups. The most points the Falcons put up in that time span, was 20 points. I would love for that to be the amount of points the Falcons put up in Sundays’ game.
Last Time They Went Head to Head
The last meeting between these two teams was December 18, 2017 on Monday night football. The Buccaneers did a better job of containing Julio Jones, holding him to 3 catches for 54 yards. By halftime the Falcons were up 17-7. In the second half, the Buccaneers managed to keep the game close, but the Falcons held the lead 24-21. The Buccaneers offense got in a great position to send this game into overtime, but Patrick Murray couldn’t connect on a 51 yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation. (That’s a story most of us are familiar with)
The Best of the Worst
Both teams have struggling defense. I mean, they are bad, really bad. Both teams have high flying offenses. Many expect this game to be a high scoring game, I do not. I think whoever scores 30 points will win this game. For that to happen, the Buccaneers defense will have to put forth much better effort than what we saw week four, against the Bears. The good news for the Bucs, is that they are really healthy going into this game. The Falcons meanwhile, have lost several big pieces of their defense to injury.
I am not going to sugar coat anything, this Bucs team is much better than this Falcons team. These are games that teams who make the playoffs, win. In the NFL you don’t get many chances to knock a team out of the playoff race this early, the Buccaneers need to take advantage of this opportunity. Have you ever played Mortal Kombat? Remember that screen in Mortal Kombat that says “Finish him”? That’s exactly whhat the Bucs must do this Sunday.
This is a game the Bucs need to win to get to 3-2 on the season and head home to face the Browns.
Feel free to follow me on twitter @TB_Bucs_4life or leave a comment below.
Christian Worthen has been a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 22 years. He currently is a contributor/writer for Full Press Coverage Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To see more of his work or the work by Full Press Coverage follow @FPC_Buccanners on Twitter.
