KEY MATCHUPS
1. Falcons WR Drake London vs. Buccaneers CB Zyon McCollum
The Falcons did move Drake London all over the line in his third season in 2024 and he succeeded everywhere, catching exactly 1000 balls for 1,271 yards (his first 1,000-yard campaign) and nine touchdowns. However, the spot at which he took the most snaps was split out wide to the right of the offensive formation, and when he lines up their on Sunday he'll find himself competing against Zyon McCollum, the Bucs' fourth-year cornerback. McCollum and London are a good match physically – the former is 6-2, 199 and the latter is 6-4, 215 – and McCollum has the speed and length to stay with the Falcons' top pass-catcher if Penix tries to hit him deep. London did nearly double his percentage of plays run out of the slot last season and he had a very high target rate when in that position, but the Buccaneers purposely gave Zyon McCollum some training camp time as a nickel back in case they wanted to match him up against big slot receivers on game-to-game basis. London has historically performed well against Tampa Bay, averaging seven catches and almost 95 yards per game in six outings, and his 10.94 yards per target versus the Bucs is his highest against any team he's faced more than once. McCollum, meanwhile, has four passes defensed and a forced fumble in those same six games.
2. Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving vs. Falcons S Jessie Bates
Atlanta signed Jessie Bates in 2023 after he had played five seasons in Cincinnati, and that addition has been a home run as Bates has emerged as the best player on their defense. In his two seasons as a Falcon he has intercepted 10 passes, returned two of them for touchdowns, recorded 21 passes defensed and earned one Pro Bowl spot and one second-team All-Pro selection. He's also strong in run support and was second on the Falcons' defense last year in both total tackles (102) and solo tackles on run plays (26). This will become important if and when second-year Bucs' tailback Bucky Irving breaks through the first line of defense, as he did so frequently in his rookie campaign. On his way to 1,122 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns and 1,514 yards from scrimmage in 2024 – all league highs among rookies – he led all NFL players with a forced missed tackle rate of 37.1%. Bates may also find himself having to cover Irving out of the backfield on passing plays; the rookie had 47 catches last year, and while that was mostly on screens his action in training camp and one preseason game indicates that Irving might get a more robust route tree in Year Two. Against Pittsburgh, he scored a touchdown on a straight go route on which he beat the press defender at the line and made a marvelous over-the-shoulder catch.
3. Falcons T Elijah Wilkinson vs. Buccaneers OLB Haason Reddick
As noted above, the Falcons absorbed a tough loss shortly before the start of the regular season when starting right tackle Kaleb McGary was carted off the practice field with a leg injury, just 16 days after he had signed a two-year, $30 million contract extension. That gave Atlanta little time adjust, particularly because reserve tackle Storm Norton is also expected to miss up to two months after undergoing ankle surgery in late August. Fortunately for Atlanta, they had an experienced and versatile hand on deck in Elijah Wilkinson, who started nine games for the team in 2022, albeit all at left guard. Wilkinson has played eight seasons in the NFL for Denver, Chicago, Arizona and Atlanta and has made 45 starts, including significant in-season stretches at both guard and tackle. The Buccaneers are likely to use their starting edge rushers, Haason Reddick and Yaya Diaby on both ends of the line at various times, but the last time he played a full season, with Philadelphia in 2023, Reddick leaned more towards rushing off the left edge of his team's defensive front, which would put him up against the right tackle. In this case, that also happens to be the quarterback's blind side, because Michael Penix is lefthanded. While Reddick's 2024 season was mostly a wash due to a late trade to the Jets and a contract dispute, in that 2023 season in Philadelphia he was one of only three players in the NFL who recorded six or more QB pressures in eight different games. The other two were Micah Parsons and Josh Allen-Hines.
4. Buccaneers G Cody Mauch vs. Falcons DT David Onyemata
When interior lineman David Onyemata left the Saints in free agency in 20223, the Bucs would have preferred he also left the NFC South entirely, but instead he ended up in Atlanta, and with Grady Jarrett now in Chicago he is the Falcons' focal point on the inside. Onyemata's pressure rate fell fairly steep last year in his second seasons with the Falcons but in 2023 it was at 11.0%, very good for an interior lineman, and he had 36 QB pressures overall, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. In his two seasons in Atlanta, opponents have double-teamed him on 38.5% of his defensive snaps. Mauch, a second-round draft pick in 2023 who as a rookie had to transition both from Division I FCS North Dakota State to the NFL and from tackle to guard, took a very significant leap forward in 2024, helping to solidify one of the best offensive lines in the league. After focusing on adding size and strength during his first full offseason of work, Mauch played 99% of the team's offensive snaps last year and helped the Bucs rank fourth in rushing yards per game, third in yards per carry and 17th in sacks allowed per pass play. Mauch only drew one holding penalty and one false start penalty the entire season, as well. The Buccaneers want to keep their revitalized rushing attack going heading into 2025 and same Mauch-Onyemata brawling will help settle that matter.