With seven games to go on their season, the Bucs have a very winnable schedule down the stretch to get them back into the playoff race. Coming out of the bye, Tampa Bay plays at the Giants, at the Panthers, home against the Raiders, on the road again to face the Chargers and Cowboys and then finish with two home games going up against divisional opponents with the Panthers and Saints.

Excluding the Chargers, all of these teams have losing records and are looking more at their draft seeding than what the road might look like to making a postseason run. While the Bucs should have an advantage against all these teams, Tampa Bay’s game planning might have to differ for most of them based on what’s going on with each of their quarterback situations.

QB Questions Loom For Teams Facing Bucs

Bucs OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Giants QB Daniel Jones – Photo by: USA Today

Many of the teams the Bucs are about to face have seen their plans go awry at quarterback, including their next two opponents. Ironically, the Giants and Panthers just played against each other in Germany last Sunday and also have a bye this week like the Bucs do. On paper, when the schedule came out, the Bucs figured they’d be lining up against Daniel Jones for New York, who actually made his NFL debut for the Bucs back in 2019.

But, as fate would have it, Giants head coach Brian Daboll has been noncommittal to sticking with Jones coming out of the bye due to his poor performances. Daboll was asked point blank asked if Jones was going to  start coming out the bye.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time here watching our tape and evaluating things,” Daboll said. “We’ll do that as a coaching staff over the next week.”

Not exactly a vote of confidence. Jones signed a four-year, $160 million contract two seasons ago and has not lived up to it. There would be incentive not to play Jones anymore, though, as they could cut him after this season and take a $22 million cap hit in 2025 but not owe him any money after. He has eight touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 2-8 record on the season.

The Panthers are similarly juggling who they want to be their quarterback moving forward. Second-year player Bryce Young had an abysmal start to the season and was benched after an 0-2 start in favor of veteran Andy Dalton, who then won his first start in Week 3 as Carolina defeated Las Vegas. Dalton remained the starter, but unfortunately was in a car accident three weeks ago that kept him out of the games and putting Young back in. After losing to the Broncos, Young and the Panthers have won their next two games, making for their first winning streak since 2022.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales – Photo by: USA Today

So, who’s starting coming out of the bye? Head coach Dave Canales, who was the Bucs’ offensive coordinator last season, would also not give a straight answer.

“We’ll take all the information; we’ll do all that,” Canales said. “But Bryce certainly is making a statement to all of us.”

Carolina takes on the Kansas City Chiefs coming out of the bye, so the Bucs may not necessarily have to guess on who is starting depending on the circumstance.

Where the Bucs may still have to guess on who is playing is their home game against the Raiders. It seems as if head coach Antonio Pierce gets very frustrated with quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell and has consistently benched one for the other in several games. Minshew has started seven games and played in eight while O’Connell started twice and played in four. O’Connell went on injured reserve after fracturing his thumb a couple of weeks ago and has missed the last two games.

The Raiders are on a bye this week. They lost to the Bengals on November 3, and in that one, former Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder came in for Minshew and completed 11 of his 16 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown. By the time the Bucs and Raiders get together, who knows who Las Vegas will have under center?

Unplanned Moves At Quarterback

Those next three opponents have a lot of uncertainty with their decision at quarterback. The following opponents know who their starter is going to be, but mainly due to things not going down the way they might’ve planned.

After playing Justin Herbert and the Chargers, the Bucs travel to play in “Jerry World” against the Dallas Cowboys. They won’t be facing Dak Prescott, though, as he just had season ending hamstring surgery. Instead, it’ll be Cooper Rush, who had a less-than-inspiring performance in their 34-6 loss to the Eagles where Trey Lance also got to play. Maybe they’ll see Lance for that game.

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey and Saints QB Spencer Rattler – Photo by: USA Today

Tampa Bay’s finale is with the Saints. The difference in their second matchup this season is that they’ll be going against the familiar Derek Carr instead of rookie Spencer Rattler. The Bucs took advantage of the inexperienced Rattler in a 51-27 win. They recorded two interceptions, forced a fumble and sacked him five times.

Carr is certainly susceptible to the turnovers, but also has the ability to put up points and keep the Saints in games. Tampa Bay has struggled in home games against New Orleans recently.

Bucs Have Made Other Teams’ QBs Look Like Stars

Starting out the season up until the bye, the Bucs have faced some pretty talented quarterbacks. They’ve went up against upper-echelon quarterbacks such as Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts, Kirk Cousins, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes while also facing very talented rookie quarterbacks in Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix.

In many senses, the Bucs have been the team to provide the perfect highlight reels for these quarterbacks as Tampa Bay has struggled heavily on defense. Maybe going up against lesser competition will help the Bucs down the stretch. But if they make these quarterbacks look like stars, Todd Bowles won’t be able to have any excuses for it.