It’s been difficult to make a prediction on the Bucs next game against the Jaguars considering the status of Jacksonville’s quarterback Trevor Lawrence. All week Lawrence has not practiced as he is still in concussion protocol having suffered the injury on Sunday night football.

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence Photo by: USA Today

Just a short time ago this evening, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that it is very unlikely that we will see Lawrence against the Bucs when these teams play against each other in Tampa on Sunday afternoon.

Bucs Catch A Break

“Trevor Lawrence (is) not on the practice field again,” Rapoport said. “Doug Pederson starting the week by saying he is progressing well in the NFL’s concussion protocol but that has not on the field. Generally if a quarterback or really any player’s not able to practice Wednesday, not able to practice Thursday, almost always that means a player’s not going to progress fast enough through the concussion protocol to be able to play on Sunday.

“It is a big game for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Bucs, one they absolutely have to have but it does seem like it’s going to be C.J. Beathard the back up quarterback, who did spend a week earlier in the season preparing as if he was the starter when Trevor Lawrence was dealing with that ankle injury. It does seem that Beathard is going to get the start here for the Jags.”

These teams are trending in completely opposite directions heading into this game. The Bucs have won three in a row and particularly have found a groove on offense. Meanwhile, the Jaguars have lost three in a row, including two games to backup quarterbacks. And following this report, it sounds like the Jags won’t have their own starter. His replacement, Beathard, has a starting record of 2-10 in his career.

For more information about the matchup between the Bucs and Jaguars along with what everyone can expect from Beathard, we had Jaguars reporter Gus Logue on Wednesday’s Pewter Report Podcast to discuss the game. Pewter Report’s Bailey Adams joined me for the first half of the show before Logue hopped on the latter side of it.

Bucs Still Need To Stick To Their Game Plan

Bucs outside linebacker Shaq Barrett told everyone on Wednesday that they had still planned on preparing for Lawrence.

“We are going to start off with Lawrence because they say he hasn’t missed a game yet in his NFL career,” Barrett said. “I was wondering the same thing, because we were like, so what if Lawrence [does not] play. I’m pretty sure our coaches are going to come up with something and get us ready for it. But I don’t know what we are going to do right now if…but we are preparing for Lawrence.”

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Either way, they still have to stop the rest of their players on offense.

“Limiting their explosive plays,” Barrett said of the keys to victory. “Really, [Travis] Etienne, [Trevor] Lawerence if he’s out there, who else… [Evan] Engram. Just limiting their guys who are good out there at making plays with the ball, and we should be okay.”

Across the NFL every team has to deal with injuries. It makes it that much tougher when it’s your quarterback. The Bucs have to take advantage of this big time injury and come away with a win. They can set themselves up in great playoff position by making it four victories in a row.

With the NFC South division available, there are also two wild card spots up for grabs. The Bucs, Saints, Vikings, Rams and Seahawks all have 7-7 records as Minnesota and Los Angeles hold the sixth and seventh seeds. With the Saints and Rams playing on Thursday night, one of those teams will suffer a defeat (unless there’s a rare tie) knocking one of them a rank lower.

If the Saints lose, the Bucs can take the division on their own with a chance to clinch next week by defeating New Orleans. If they win, that can at least put the Rams behind the Bucs and leave more cushion if they were to fall to the Saints next week because Tmapa Bay has a head to head tie breaker over Minnesota from Week 1 of the season and they still have to play Detroit twice.

A win on Sunday can get the Bucs much closer to their playoff destination with multiple options on how to arrive.