It’s GAME DAY at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux – Come watch Bucs football all season long!

BUCCANEERS vs. BENGALS

WHEN: Sunday, December 18, 2022 | WHERE: Raymond James Stadium | KICKOFF: 4:25 p.m. ET | TV: CBS

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Jim Nantz | ANALYST: Tony Romo | SIDELINE: Tracy Wolfson

RADIO: 98 ROCK 97.9 FM | PLAY-BY-PLAY: Gene Deckerhoff | ANALYST: Dave Moore | SIDELINE: T.J. Rives

Game day is approaching, and it’s time for the Pewter Report staff to make its weekly game predictions and offer up our game preview of this week’s matchup. Let us know what you think in the article comments section and add your prediction, too.

Scott Reynolds: Even The All-Pewter Look Won’t Save The Bucs vs. Bengals

Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Pewter Power? Ha! I’ll believe it when I see it. The Bucs have been anything but powerful this year, and the all-pewter uniform ensemble isn’t going to help. The strength of this Tampa Bay team is its defense – the same defense that has surrendered 41 points to Kansas City and 35 points at San Francisco last week. Cincinnati’s high-flying offense comes to town this week and will go up against a banged up secondary that will be without top cornerback Jamel Dean and possibly its top defender in safety/nickel cornerback Antoine Winfield.

We know the Bucs offense can’t match points with Joe Burrow and Co., so the defense will have to save the day by holding the Bengals to 20 points or less – and get some elusive takeaways. Even then, can Tampa Bay’s offense score more than 17 points on Sunday? It’s something that has only happened six times this year, but the Bucs are just 3-3 in those games. It might take more than 20 points for the Bucs to prevail against the Bengals, which is something the Bucs haven’t done since before the bye week in Germany against the Seahawks.

The dysfunction on offense continues against a Bengals defense that may not be at full strength without edge rushers Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai. The 9-4 Bengals are one of the league’s hottest teams right now and I don’t see them cooling off against the lukewarm Bucs. Tampa Bay loses its fourth game at Raymond James Stadium this year and slips to 6-8.

REYNOLDS’ GAME PREDICTION: Bengals 30, Bucs 16
REYNOLDS’ SEASON RECORD: 4-9

Matt Matera: Bucs Can’t Keep Up With Bengals

We have another week of questioning if the Bucs offense can show up enough to make it a close game. They clearly didn’t last week when they only scored one touchdown in a debilitating 35-7 loss. Maybe playing at home on Sunday can give them a little more energy. They have won their last two games at Raymond James Stadium in dramatic fashion. Plus we’ll finally get to see them in the Pewter uniforms this season.

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette – Photo by: USA Today

You look over at the opponent they face this week and you realize that the Bucs have to do more than just keep up with the Bengals. Already going into it, they’ll be without Vita Vea, Carl Nassib and Jamel Dean. Where is the pass rush going to come from in trying to stop Joe Burrow? If Carlton Davis lines up with Ja’Marr Chase, who is going to stop Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd if they play? This is a defense that doesn’t get interceptions anymore either. I’m not saying they can’t limit the Bengals, but with their offensive struggles, the defense needs to be great and it’s tough to do that without your best players.

The Bucs clearly have the talent to score points on offense. I don’t care who they lost from last season, when you still have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin plus an exciting new rookie with Rachaad White and a solid veteran in Leonardd Fournette – that should be enough for Tom Brady. This offense looks exhausted, though. They can’t run the football and consistently find themselves in third-and-longs. They can’t go down more than two scores against the Bengals if they want to stay in the game but that’s exactly where they’ll find themselves if they don’t get creative and attack more down the field. There’s room to do it on the outside, we’ll find out if they can execute it correctly.

MATERA’S GAME PREDICTION: Bengals 27, Bucs 14
MATERA’S SEASON RECORD: 5-8

JC Allen: It’s Morphin’ Time For Bucs Offense

Call me crazy, but for some reason – while I’ve given up on hoping Byron Leftwich will change his play calling – I haven’t given up hope on these players. There’s absolutely no reason for me to think the Bucs can win this game. The offense has been abysmal and injuries have once again hit this defense harder than a bag of rocks, but here I am. At some point the talent on offense has to shine through. The talent on offense has to overcome the poor play calling. The execution has got to click, right? And in a do or get knocked out of first in the division scenario, for whatever reason I think the Bucs can get it right.

There’s a glimmer of hope right tackle Tristan Wirfs could be back in as little as two weeks from what – at first glance appeared to be a season ending injury. The skill players are all mostly healthy, though Julio Jones has been dealing with a knee injury. And there’s a lot on the line and at stake this Sunday against the Bengals. Win this game and you continue to control your own destiny lose and it’s an uphill battle to secure the division. The Bucs offense needs to recapture the magic of the last two seasons. With the Cincinnati dealing with a few significant injuries on defense of their own, the offense needs to take advantage.

Defensively it all comes down to game-time decisions. Antoine Winfield Jr, Mike Edwards, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Joe Tryon Shoyinka are all in jeopardy of missing this contest. Their ability to play will go a long way in helping secure a Bucs win. On the flip side the Bengals are also dealing with game-time decision injuries at wide receiver of their own in Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. The loss of Vita Vea and Jamel Dean are huge but if Cincinnati is missing their number two and three options in the passing game as well as tight end Hayden Hurst they could struggle to move the ball as successfully as they have. The Bengals will be wearing their white tiger themed uniforms this week, but it’s the Bucs offense that will morph into something we’ve yet to see this season. A team that can score points.

ALLEN’S GAME PREDICTION:  Bucs 27, Bengals 23

ALLEN’S SEASON RECORD: 4-9

Bailey Adams: Bucs Don’t Have The Offense To Keep Up With Burrow’s Bengals

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I see no reason to pick the Bucs this week. They were dominated in a 35-7 loss to the 49ers last Sunday and they’ve shown little — nothing, really — this season that gives me even the slightest bit of confidence that they can beat the 9-4 Bengals in Week 15. Tampa Bay, insanely enough, will fall to 6-8 in what was supposed to be another winning season with Tom Brady under center. Falling to 6-8 means the team will have to win out to even finish above .500.

Looking at this matchup, I see two defenses that are on somewhat similar footing. Tampa Bay’s is slightly better in terms of total defense and points per game allowed, but both units are pretty solid on the whole. That brings the offenses into the fold as the deciding factor and if I’m being forced to pick between a high-powered offense led by Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase or an offense called by Byron Leftwich, I’m going with the former 100 out of 100 times.

Seriously, could these two groups be any different? Cincinnati’s offense is flying high this season and Tampa Bay’s hasn’t gotten off the ground at all through its first 13 games. Why would that change on Sunday? Look, can the Bucs win this game? Of course they can. The defense will have to keep them in it throughout and hope that Brady can do Brady things in the end. That was the recipe in wins over Los Angeles and New Orleans at this very same stadium this season. But Cincinnati is too good and Tampa Bay is too disappointing for me to take the road less traveled this week. Bengals win, and it won’t be pretty.

ADAMS’ GAME PREDICTION: Bengals 28, Bucs 16
ADAMS’ SEASON RECORD: 7-6

Josh Queipo: Bucs Have Lost That Winning Feeling

Bucs LT Donovan Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The title may or may not have given away that I watched Top Gun recently. But much like Tom Cruise alluded to when he serenaded Kelly McGillis in the bar with one of the great karaoke songs of all-time, the Bucs have lost that winning feeling. And I don’t see them getting it back at home against the Bengals.

If the Bucs have a similar lack of pass rush as last week, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow will carve up the Tampa Bay secondary that looked extremely mortal in Week 13. And even though they may have good news in some members of that depleted secondary returning for the Cincinnati game, none of them are truly a match for Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.

On offense, there is not one single piece of evidence that can lead me to believe they will score more than 20 points. But with several Bengals edge rushers banged up I believe they can once again hit their lackluster season-long average of 17 points. Even with the possibility of Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai missing the game, I fully expect defensive tackle D.J. Reader to eat the Bucs running game up on first down and force the Bucs to once again ask Tom Brady to convert 12-plus third downs to make the offense work. And I fully expect Brady to not be able to live up to those ridiculous expectations.

QUEIPO’S GAME PREDICTION: Bengals 27, Bucs 17
QUEIPO’S SEASON RECORD: 8-5

Kasey Hudson: Bucs Cannot Contain The Bengals

At this point of the season, most of us just want to see if the Bucs can piece together a decent game… While this team continues to struggle getting on the same page, the talent is still there. This week, the Bucs host the Bengals, who have started to get into a winning a rhythm. Cincinnati has held most of its opponents to under 20 points, which is scary for a Tampa Bay offense that can’t execute consistently in the red zone.

While some injuries for Cincinnati will change key matchups Sunday, it may not make much of a difference. We have barely seen Mike Evans before the second half, the tight ends total three to four receptions tops and while Rachaad White has been great, his utilization is predictable. If the Bengals defense can adjust like they did against their last three opponents, the Bucs are looking at another blowout loss.

Furthermore, there’s no relying on the defense. Vita Vea has officially been ruled out of Sunday’s game, we’ve seen this pass rush take a step back since the loss of Barrett and when a key interior guy goes out, this run stop defense is easy to wear down. And they’ll be taking on Joe Mixon, who is coming off of a 100+ rushing yard game. All this to say, it’s just another week I’ll be holding my breath and wishing for the best.

HUDSON’S GAME PREDICTION: Bengals 28, Bucs 13
HUDSON’S SEASON RECORD: 7-6