“The Falcons Feel Like Frauds”
December 11th, 2024
Can the defense rise up?
Joe will take it however it’s given.
If it takes the Dixie Chicks to lose out and the Bucs to limp their way to a flaccid division title, so be it. Hosting a playoff game is better than watching one from your couch.
The Bucs (7-6) painted themselves into the corner in which they now stand by and not taking care of business at least once against Atlanta (6-7) and by losing four games in a row to hit their Week 12 bye.
In a roundtable discussion of NFL topics for The Athletic, Zac Keefer, Mike Sando and Jeff Howe discussed the NFC South. All three think the Bucs have an edge.
Zac Keefer: I like Tampa Bay’s chances in the NFC South simply because the Falcons feel like frauds. Atlanta’s been so wildly inconsistent this season, and Kirk Cousins is amid one of the worst slumps of his career. The Bucs, meanwhile, [only] see [one] team with a winning record the rest of the regular season.
Jeff Howe: If the Bucs take care of business, they should win four of their last five games and take the NFC South. Their defensive inconsistencies are concerning because it’s tough to rip off a winning streak like that, but their schedule is the most accommodating compared to the Seahawks and Cardinals.
Mike Sando: Tampa Bay is the team for me as well. It’s amazing to me the Bucs lost twice to the Falcons, but they did, and that’s why they’re in this position. The Athletic’s model puts the Bucs’ playoff chances at 54 percent, compared to 35 percent for Arizona and 26 percent for the Rams. That feels about right to me.
Howe makes a great point about the defensive inconsistencies. If the Bucs had a solid defense with their run game, this division would just about be over.
Zero edge rush — and Joe means zee-ROW edge rush — with injuries to starters in the secondary is not normally a recipe for success. Luckily, the Bucs can play keepaway with a solid run game.
If the Bucs can just play decent defense, Joe will feel much more comfortable about all of this.
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