Bucs HC Todd Bowles and Panthers HC Dave Canales – Photo by: USA Today

It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ 2-Point Conversion post-game column, which features two statements, two questions and two predictions based on the latest Bucs game.

The Buccaneers snapped a three-game losing streak on Sunday, beating the Cardinals, 20-17, to improve to 7-5. But the Panthers also got to seven wins on the season with an impressive upset win over the Rams in Carolina to move to 7-6. That has some Bucs fans feeling uneasy – and that’s understandable. But Tampa Bay could be improved – and even healthier – by the time the two teams square off in Carolina in Week 16.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1. Bucs Can Beat Panthers, Retain NFC South Supremacy

Did Sunday’s Bucs win over the Cardinals leave you feeling a little disappointed? Would you have liked to see more points than Baker Mayfield and Co. scored in the team’s narrow 20-17 victory? Did that last Arizona touchdown to cut into Tampa Bay’s 20-10 lead with less than five minutes left irk you?

The Bucs did win, though – and that beats the alternative.

This team is 7-5 by winning a must-win game against a lesser opponent to snap a three-game losing streak.

But what makes the win a little hollow for you is the fact that the Panthers upset the L.A. Rams, 31-28, in Carolina at the same time on Sunday, right? I mean the Fighting Dave Canaleses just knocked off the best team in football to improve to 7-6 on the season. This is the same Rams team that crushed the Bucs, 34-7, on Sunday Night Football the previous week.

So Carolina’s win was more impressive than Tampa Bay’s win on Sunday. I get it – I understand.

Panthers DT Derrick Brown and Rams QB Matthew Stafford – Photo by: USA Today

But the Bucs are still a half game ahead of the Panthers in the NFC South, and have the chance to increase it to a full-game lead with a win over the Saints on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium while the Panthers have a bye week.

Yet in your mind, in three weeks if the Panthers play the game they played on Sunday versus the Rams, and the Bucs play the game they played versus the Cardinals then Carolina will beat Tampa Bay at home in Week 16. And you’re absolutely right.

But that’s not how football works.

You see, if the Bucs play like they did at Seattle in a 38-35 win in Week 5, they’ll win in Carolina. And if the Panthers play like they did at home in a 17-7 upset loss to the Saints in Week 10, they’ll lose to the Bucs.

We don’t know which Bucs team will show up in Carolina in Week 16, nor do we know which Panthers team will show up. We can’t look at what just happened in Week 13 and forecast what will happen in Week 16. Tampa Bay could get better – or worse – by the time this team plays Carolina. The same could be said of the Panthers.

What we do know is that the NFC South division winner will either be the Bucs or the Panthers, as the Saints are 2-10 following a loss to the Dolphins, and the Falcons are 4-8 after losing to the Jets on Sunday. And we do know that three straight wins in next three weeks against the Saints, Falcons and Panthers would give the Buccaneers a fifth straight NFC South championship by the end of Week 16 – no matter what else happens.

Here is how the remaining schedule looks for both Tampa Bay and Carolina. The Panthers’ remaining games appear to be a bit tougher than the Bucs’.

Bucs’ Remaining Games

Week 14: vs. New Orleans (2-10)
Week 15: vs. Atlanta (4-8)
Week 16: at Carolina (7-6)
Week 17: at Miami (5-7)
Week 18: vs. Carolina (7-6)

Panthers’ Remaining Games

Week 14: BYE
Week 15: at New Orleans (2-10)
Week 16: vs. Tampa Bay (7-5)
Week 17: vs. Seattle (9-3)
Week 18: at Tampa Bay (7-5)

We also know that the DNA of Todd Bowles’ teams is that of a winner in December and January to close out the regular season. Tampa Bay has gone 5-1 in each of the last two years, finishing strong and clinching division championships in the process. Sunday’s win on November 30 was a big step in the right direction down that similar path with five games left.

Bucs OLB Anthony Nelson – Photo by: USA Today

Last year, Canales’ Panthers were 2-4 down the stretch with one overtime loss to the Bucs and two overtime wins. We’ll see what the 2025 version of Carolina is made of this year.

As uninspiring as the Bucs may have been on Sunday, they have two more weeks to show improvement, get healthier and gain some momentum to find its playoff-ready groove. So hang tight, Pewter People. This isn’t over yet. In some ways, the fight for the NFC South has just begun and Sunday’s win over the Cardinals was a needed step in that direction.

There are far worse records than 7-5 in the NFL.

And the folks in Atlanta and New Orleans would definitely swap records with Tampa Bay right now if they could.

“We’ve got some plays we would like to have back, but we gutted out a win, which was positive to get on the win side,” Bowles said. “And we can work on the other things, and we understand we have to execute down the stretch.”

STATEMENT 2. Bucs’ Tackling Has To Improve Down The Stretch

The Bucs defense managed two takeaways on Sunday and also had a pair of turnover on downs on fourth down stops, including one on the Cardinals’ final drive, which really never got started. Yet Todd Bowles’ troops need to tackle better, as the tackling was sloppy in the second half, leading to a pair of touchdown drives.

“I think we got to get better with the tackling aspect of it, especially in the second half,” Bowles said. “I thought we tackled well in the first half. And the second half we let some plays out. Wasn’t necessarily deep balls, but the 5-yard passes, especially the one on third-and-3-or-4 where three guys missed him behind the line of scrimmage. We’ve got to tackle and wrap up better.”

The play that Bowles is referring was a swing pass to Michael Carter on third-and-4. Jacob Parrish had Carter dead to rights, but couldn’t bring him down. Then Zyon McCollum and SirVocea Dennis came in with big hits and didn’t wrap up.

That kind of stuff can’t happen on defense moving forward.

While the Bucs won’t do any live tackling in practice, expect Bowles and his coaches to break out the tackling dummies again like training camp this week and have his defenders work on wrapping up.

“It’s definitely something we can work on,” Bowles said.

Tampa Bay got a pair of sacks of Yaya Diaby and Vita Vea on Sunday, but Jacoby Brissett was able to slip out of at least four more would-be sacks due to poor tackling.

“As a pass rush group, I thought we got back there quite a bit,” Bowles said. “I thought we missed quite a bit of them. But we did get back there and put pressure on him, Haason [Reddick] included. I thought he did well for his first game back, but we’ve got to get him on the ground. We missed about five of them where we could have had him on the ground.”

“We couldn’t get the quarterback down before the half. I think he got out two or three times and we had hands on him. And we couldn’t get him [down] – even on one of the touchdowns. He scrambled and we had two guys free that we couldn’t get him on the ground. Credit to him, he made a play. We knew he was a sneaky scrambler from that aspect of it. But the guys came out in the last series when they closed it out. Considering we lost the last three, that’s pretty good.”

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1. Is The Old Chris Godwin Jr. Back?

It certainly looked like it, right? I really had my doubts if Chris Godwin Jr. would ever look like the old Godwin this year after returning from a broken and dislocated ankle in Weeks 4 and 5 and then suffering a setback that caused him to miss Weeks 6-11. In games against the Eagles and Seahawks, Godwin posted just three catches for 26 yards in each game. In his return to action in Los Angeles, Godwin had only two catches for nine yards on a pitch count.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin Jr. – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But Godwin erupted for three catches for 78 yards on Sunday against the Cardinals, including a 25-yard catch-and-run where he broke a tackle and turned upfield to pick up an early first down. Then Godwin helped set up Tampa Bay’s first half touchdown with a great, 31-yard catch into the red zone.

“It was amazing,” Godwin said. “Definitely felt a lot more like myself, and I’m fortunate for that. Being back out there and getting to play, and getting to make some plays that contributed to a win – I’m grateful.”

Godwin showed some burst and speed that we really haven’t seen much of this year. That’s a great sign of what could be coming down the stretch for Godwin and the offense in general. And with wide receivers Jalen McMillan and Mike Evans poised to return from injured reserve in the coming weeks, this could be a December to remember for the Bucs receiving corps.

QUESTION 2. Will Mike Evans Or Jalen McMillan Return This Week?

I doubt it. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles confirmed what NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported this week, that wide receiver Jalen McMillan will return to practice and that the 21-day practice window would open this week. That would give McMillan, who suffered a serious neck injury in the preseason, three weeks to practice to see if he can come back off injured reserve and Tampa Bay down the stretch.

Bowles also indicated that Mike Evans, who has been on injured reserve since breaking his clavicle in Week 7 and undergoing surgery, could also return to practice this week under the same scenario. While this is welcomed news, it’s doubtful that either McMillan or Evans would be ready to go and back in football shape for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints in Tampa.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and WRs Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan – Photo by: USA Today

Instead, the target date for their return could be the following week against the Falcons on Thursday Night Football in Week 15. That would give both receivers about a week and a half to get game-ready, and then have 10 days worth of rest and recovery by the time the Bucs play the Panthers in Week 16 at Carolina. Ultimately, I think the team wants Evans and McMillan back for that Bucs at Panthers game. So whether they return or not the week before versus the Falcons – that might just be a bonus.

But with the division championship truly on the line with a two-game series versus Carolina, getting both receivers back for the Panthers games in Week 16 and Week 18 is the true goal.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1. Bucs at Panthers Game Will Be Flexed To Primetime

I wrote about the possibility of the Bucs at Panthers game in Week 16 being flexed to Sunday Night Football in my previous SR’s FAB 5 column, and I think that’s going to happen. Right now, the 4-8 Bengals are set to play at the 5-7 Dolphins on Sunday Night Football in Week 16. The possibility of a 9-5 Bucs squad playing an 8-6 Panthers team in a fight for the division title could be quite appealing in primetime, especially if a star player like Mike Evans is back by then.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: USA Today

The only other attractive games that could be moved to Sunday Night Football aside from Bucs at Panthers would be Patriots (10-2) at Ravens (6-6) if Baltimore gets above .500 and is making a playoff push, or the Jaguars (8-4) at Broncos (10-2) game if those two teams keep winning. If the Tampa Bay at Carolina game is not flexed in Week 16, the rematch at Raymond James Stadium could appear in primetime on Week 18. There is a primetime game on Saturday, January 3 and also a Sunday night game on January 4.

PREDICTION 2. Bucs Sweep The Saints – Again

There was a time when the Saints ruled the NFC South, winning the division title four straight years from 2017-20. But those days are long gone, and now the Bucs reign supreme in the South. Tampa Bay has won the last four straight division championships from 2021-24 and is in contention to do it again. Coinciding with Tampa Bay’s rise in the division is New Orleans’ fall in the NFC South.

Bucs OLB Anthony Nelson and ILB SirVocea Dennis and Saints QB Spencer Rattler – Photo by: USA Today

Todd Bowles has done what no other Bucs head coach has done, and that is have complete mastery over the Saints. Under Bowles, Tampa Bay is 6-1 against New Orleans, including series sweeps in 2022 and 2024. Look for the Bucs to sweep the Saints once more with a win on Sunday that will move Tampa Bay to 8-5 on the season. This will be a close, hard fought game as the Saints play the Bucs tougher in Tampa Bay than they do in New Orleans for some reason.