Normally in this article, I break down this week’s matchup, identify the opponent’s weaknesses and where the Bucs can take advantage of them. I give you the tale of the tape, showing where the two teams match up statistically.
Let’s be real here. The winner of this game is the loser. Neither the Bucs or Falcons are headed to post season play. Tampa Bay is on the verge of a regime change (again) and unlike last year, where your team desperately needed a victory over a
A victory tomorrow only serves to give Atlanta a better draft pick than Tampa Bay. Who wants to help out their division rival?
You will never hear me say or see me write that I want the Bucs to lose a game. There was only one time I wanted that in recent memory, and that was at the end of the 2014 season, when the Bucs needed to lose to get the 2015 1st overall pick and have their choice of Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota.
If the Bucs do win, I’ll be happy, because wins in these parts are rare and you should enjoy each one, whether they come at the end of another meaningless season or in the season opener. But I’ll also be sad, because I’ll know the Bucs hurt themselves more than they helped.
Of course, any GM worth his salt should be able to find talent no matter where you pick. Not everyone in the Top 5 made the Pro Bowl, and not every rookie who made the Pro Bowl was picked in the Top 5. The Bucs could have picked Derwin James. There’s players in other rounds who make impacts with their teams.
I guess what I’m saying is enjoy Sunday. Come out to the What The Buc tailgate and get your drink (and eat) on. If the Bucs win, great. If they lose, even better. In Tampa Bay, we only get 20 of these (including Pre-Season), and it’s going to be a long summer.
But hey, we can finally say it’s hockey season!
J.C. De La Torre
Want to give JC a piece of your mind? E-mail him at JC@whatthebuc.net JC De La Torre is formerly a columnist/blogger for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers blog site BucsNation.com where in 2016, he was nominated as best sportswriter in Tampa Bay by Creative Loafing. Previously, he served as a featured columnist for Bleacher Report on Tampa Bay sports, an editor and featured columnist for SB Nation Tampa Bay covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Gators, wrote for NFL.com’s Blog Blitz and contributed to Pewter Report, one of the top magazines on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. JC is also a filmmaker, comic writer and rabid Whovian.
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