**Gabriel Kahaian: Season Opener in Atlanta**
Honesty, I do not think I could have asked for a better way to open the season. I understand that opening the season at Raymond James offers a homefield advantage; however the Buccaneers will be eager to make a statement early in Week One against a divisional opponent.
Tampa Bay lost both matchups to Atlanta in 2024 – one a high-scoring primetime battle in overtime and the other a close contest with a depleted receiving corps. Ultimately, the Bucs overcame these losses and won their fourth straight division title and enter 2025 seeking their fifth. What better way to set the tone than to seek revenge on a division rival?
The Buccaneers should have all hands on deck for the division matchup, a luxury they were not able to have in their injury-riddled past season. This will be the team's first look at Falcons' quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who showed flashes last season. That said, he is still relatively inexperienced with only three starts under his belt. He may be more prone to mistakes earlier in the season, something the Bucs can exploit. Marching into Mercedes-Benz Stadium and silencing the 'Dirty Birds' would be a powerful way to kick off the season.
The schedule makers gave us an opportunity to make an early statement and remind the Falcons who the Kings of the NFC South are – and for that, I am incredibly thankful.
**Brianna Dix: Week Nine Bye Week**
Last year, the Buccaneers had a Week 11 bye and coasted into that allotted break period on fumes with a laundry list of injuries. Following the bye, several players were able to return from ailments, and hopefully, the placement of this year's bye is just as impeccably-timed as last season's. In 2025, the Bucs will have their bye in Week Nine. Most often, a preferable bye is the midway point of the year to provide reprieve and a time to refresh for players, coaches and staff.
I would like to give the schedule-makers my gratitude for a middle-of-the-season bye week. Tampa Bay will have eight games prior to the bye, including two-straight road games against the divisional-rival Saints and the NFC North Champion Lions on Monday Night Football. Those are two pivotal games that will serve as a measuring stick for where the Buccaneers are at. Then, the Bucs will get their rest week.
After Week Nine, the Bucs have nine games left on their 2025 docket, including two consecutive road games against two division winners in the Bills (Week 11) and the Rams (Week 12), along with a pivotal Thursday Night Football matchup against the Falcons. Everything comes down to which teams play their best football in December and for Tampa Bay, a beneficial bye placement could catapult the team forward.
**Scott Smith: (At Least) Six 1:00 PM Home Games**
I feel like I am speaking for Head Coach Todd Bowles and his whole staff when I send my thanks for this quirk in the schedule. From Weeks Three through 14, the Buccaneers will play a total of six games at Raymond James Stadium and _every one of them_ is currently scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff. Assuming that none of them get flexed to a different time slot – a pretty solid assumption – that's an amazing opportunity for the team to get into a rhythm when they're playing at home.
Coaches _love_ sticking to the same routine week after week, and most of them vastly prefer getting right to kickoff at 1:00 p.m. over waiting around all day for a 4:20 p.m. game or, worse, a night game. Yes, this run of early-afternoon games at Raymond James Stadium is only possible because all three of the Buccaneers' Sunday and Monday night games are on the road – something I am definitely not giving thanks for – but that's a matter for a different Roundtable. (Foreshadowing.)
The Buccaneers are the only team in the NFC to make the playoffs in each of the last five seasons, and they have tied an NFC South record by winning four straight division titles. In that five-year span, the Buccaneers are 30-12 in regular-season games that kick off in the early afternoon. That's a .714 winning percentage, which is _pretty, pretty good._ In that same span, they are 21-21 in games starting later than that, which is great if you feel like picking 16th in the draft every year. Those aren't all home games, but I think the point is still clear: Let's play as many 1:00 p.m. games as possible.
The Buccaneers' Week 15 home game against Atlanta is on a Thursday night, and at least one of those was basically unavoidable. The eighth and final home game on the schedule is in Week 18 against Carolina, and the league hasn't officially scheduled the games for that weekend yet. I would say there's a very good shot that also ends up being a 1:00 p.m. game, which would make all of this even sweeter.