This coming Sunday at 4:25 Eastern Time (1:25 PT), the defending Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will match up against one of the hottest teams in the NFL, such as the LA Rams at SoFi Stadium. Both teams are 2-0 at the moment, with impressive wins in both of their games. Both teams have great passing offense, a good combination of pass and run offense, and above all, both teams have the best of the best defensive players in the entire NFL. Therefore, despite being played in the afternoon, this game is being called Game of The Week.
What Is At Stake?
Many analysts have already predicted that these two teams will be going to the playoffs, so the winner of this game will indeed have the upper hand over all of their competitors. A Lot is at stake in this game.
Apart from an important win, Matthew Stafford is playing with a chip on his shoulder; he understands what the Rams and Sean McVay had to give up to get him from the Detroit Lions. It’s also very interesting that the same QB that Stafford will be facing influenced him to leave the Lions. Tom Brady won the Super Bowl immediately, leaving the Patriots and proving that it can be achieved at any age, and it doesn’t have to be tied up with the same organization.
The next match-up is between the battle of the defenses, especially the Buccaneers’ defensive line. It’s not just the d-line; it’s the linebackers and cornerbacks as well. We all saw how amazingly the cornerbacks and safeties of Tampa Bay performed against Mahomes and the Chiefs. Well, guess what?
Jalen Ramsey saw that too, and he will be motivated to prove his value against the Super Bowl champions. Lastly, it is also a duel between Bruce Arians and Sean McVay; both don’t have anything to prove, both are considered one the best coaches in the NFL, and both are known for their aggressive calls. Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Los Angeles Rams is being called the game of the week and even game of the month. As we have discussed, there is a reason for that.
Teams Insights: General Preview
When the Buccaneers Have the Football
The Buccaneers offense is being considered by many as the best offense in the league. They got Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, and Scotty Miller as elite wide receivers. You have players like Tyler Johnson, who was consequently called the next Antonio Brown when he was in college.
Next is the tight-end core with Rob Gronkowski, OJ Howard, and Cameron Brate. In the backfield, you have Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, Ke’shawn Vaugh, and Giovani Bernard. These talented weapons are being led by “Greatest of All Time,” aka Tom Brady.
When the Bucs have the football, they can utilize their offensive weapons at their own will. With a signal-caller like Brady, you never know what kind of play you are going to get.
Even a decade ago, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady were being considered the best signal-callers in the NFL. Brady has only gotten better with time. He can read the defense and change the play at the last second. With the personnel on offense, Tampa will always have options when they are on the field.
The Buccaneers also have the best red zone record because of the very fact that they can utilize their offensive schemes very quickly. However, we can expect this to be impacted slightly because they will be against Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. It’s going to be great watching the Buccaneers take the ball and move it towards the Rams’ endzone inside their own home.
When the Rams Have the Football
Well, Stafford hasn’t been with the Rams for long to calculate his level of playcalling as with Brady, but we have seen him on the field, and he looks terrific. He is already on our top 5 list of potential MVP candidates of 2021. Stafford’s QB rating of 127 is better than Brady’s 113 QBR. In just two games- Stafford has already made every possible thrown he can make. He was the fastest QB to reach 30, 40, and 45 thousand passing yards in the history of the NFL.
Although the receiving core of the Rams is not talented as the Buccaneers, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp have been phenomenal since they have been part of the Rams’ offense. Jared Goof was comfortable throwing in their direction, and both Woods and Kupp have proven that they can catch the ball in clutch situations, including in the end zone.
One thing that differentiates the Rams’ offense from the Buccaneers is their usage of short passes, screen passes, and gaining those 5 to 6 yards to keep getting towards the next first down. In essence, extending their time of possession will be the turning point that might favor the Rams.
If the Rams can keep the football away from the Buccaneers for as long as they can, they will be able to guarantee their third straight win. The Rams running backs are as talented (if not more) than the Bucs personnel at the position. They have Darrel Henderson, Cam Akers, and Sony Michel, and all these talented players can move the football, block the edge rushers, and best of all, catch the quick action football.
Sean McVay has proven by now that he is a talented coach, and one of the things he loves is making sure to have always safety nets ready for quarterbacks. Jared Goff used to do this, and now we have seen Stafford making quick, underhand side throws towards the receivers who are hardly 5 yards away, which keep the chains moving, and that is McVay’s strategy that might very well get him a win against the Buccaneers.
Final Outcome
We believe that the Rams have a slight advantage over the Buccaneers because the Buccaneers’ wins came from the teams considered to have the worst defensive personnel in the 2020 season -Cowboys and the Falcons. On the other hand, the Rams and Stafford have beaten the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts, both of whom have a respectable defense.
The Colts had one of the best passing defenses in 2020. So, keeping that in mind, we believe this will be a high-scoring game with 65+ total points by both teams, but in the end, the Rams will edge out the Buccaneers, handing them their first loss in their last ten games.
Buccaneers 28, Rams 37
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
