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BUCCANEERS vs. CHIEFS
WHEN: Sunday, October 2, 2022 | WHERE: Raymond James Stadium | KICKOFF: 8:20 p.m. ET | TV: NBC
PLAY-BY-PLAY: Mike Tirico |ANALYST: Cris Collinsworth | SIDELINE: Melissa Stark
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: Bucs Defense Steps Up Once Again
The Tampa Bay area is fortunate that it was largely spared from the damage that Hurricane Ian inflicted on southwest Florida. That allowed this week’s Sunday Night Football game between the Bucs and Chiefs to remain at Raymond James Stadium. Sunday night will be an emotional one for the players who returned home from Miami where they escaped the hurricane, in addition to reminiscing about the franchise’s Super Bowl LV victory against Kansas City at the end of the 2020 season.
Bucs ILB Devin White – Photo by: USA Today
But with both teams coming off a tough loss a week ago, the Bucs need to be prepared to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Getting off to slow starts on both offense and defense has been a problem for the 2-1 Bucs. They’ll need to get after Patrick Mahomes on defense and apply pressure right off the bat to come away with a few takeaways throughout the game. Shaq Barrett talked some smack about the Chiefs offensive line, so he better come prepared to back it up. Barrett has 14 pressures, two sacks and a forced fumble in the last two games against Mahomes and the Chiefs.
On offense, will the return of Mike Evans and possible either Chris Godwin and/or Julio Jones provide a spark and increase the Bucs’ point production? Tampa Bay has only scored one offensive touchdown in each of the three games this season. One touchdown on offense isn’t going to beat the Chiefs, which can score points in bunches. This game will be the biggest test yet for Tampa Bay’s defense. But will the Bucs offense be up the challenge when it comes to point production, too? We’ll find out Sunday night, but I’m thinking that the answer is “yes” due to a shaky Chiefs secondary.
REYNOLDS’ GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 23, Chiefs 19
REYNOLDS’ SEASON RECORD: 1-2
Matt Matera: Bucs Offense Gets Back On Track With Returning WRs
We have two teams that aren’t happy with the way they lost the previous week with the Bucs and Chiefs. This could be an emotional one as well for the Bucs with the recent event of Hurricane Ian coming to the Tampa Bay area and causing severe damage to the south. The game will still be played at Raymond James Stadium and it’ll make for a raucous crowd in this Super Bowl LV rematch.
Bucs WR Julio Jones – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
A lot has been made of the Bucs struggling on offense, and rightfully so. With that said, they’ve only played one game in which Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Julio Jones have been on the field together. In their absence, the Bucs receivers have failed to create separation or make an impact in the passing game outside of Russell Gage. But Evans is back this week and there’s a good chance Jones and Godwin are too. With a healthy group, Tom Brady connects with his top receivers as the offense gets back on track. It looks like we’ll finally see plenty more of Rachaad White too, after Byron Leftwich was criticized for his lack of usage in the backfield.
Shaq Barrett needs to backup his talk from this week. The star outside linebacker said that there’s no difference from the Chiefs offensive line that they played in the Super Bowl compared to how they look now. That’s bulletin board material, especially for an offense that has only allowed two sacks. It’ll be up to the Bucs to stop Patrick Mahomes and that begins with limiting Travis Kelce. Inside linebacker Lavonte David has been great in pass coverage, so I see him doing the job. Because the Bucs’ offense breaks out this week, I see them getting the win on Sunday night football.
MATERA’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 30, Chiefs 21
MATERA’S SEASON RECORD: 1-2
JC Allen: Bucs Bounce Back With Emotional Win
After a week of uncertainty revolving around Hurricane Ian, the Bucs will be returning home to Tampa to host the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. The team relocated it’s entire football operations to Miami on Tuesday in advance of the storm, bringing players, workers and their family members as well, to move them out of harm’s way. When an ownership group shows that kind of dedication to its employees, it’s hard not to leave it all out on the field playing for them and the millions affected by the storm.
Beyond that the Bucs look like will be receiving some reinforcements to an offensive unit that has been banged up as of late. Mike Evans will be returning from suspension, no longer dealing with a calf injury that has been bothering him. While receivers Julio Jones and Chris Godwin could also make their return to the lineup. And the Bucs, who have sorely missed their left tackle Donovan Smith, could also be back. All three players are game time decisions. Their potential return to action will give the Bucs offense a huge boost where they have struggled in recent weeks.
Sunday’s game marks the first meeting of these two teams since the Bucs triumphant Super Bowl LV victory in 2021. While the teams are very different there are two constants that remain the same, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles. The latter stifled the former at every turn of that game. The pressure put on Mahomes rendered him mostly ineffective in the passing game as the Bucs stymied their rushing game. Mahomes threw two interceptions and was sacked three times, though he was pressured much more than that. If the Bucs are going to win this matchup, sticking to the script that worked the last time they met might be the best plan.
ALLEN’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 24, Packers 20
ALLEN’S SEASON RECORD: 1-2
Bailey Adams: Home Crowd Boosts Bucs To Third Win In Four Games
It’s a big boost for the Bucs that this game is still being played at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday night after the way things looked with the path of Hurricane Ian earlier this week. I think everyone can simultaneously be thankful that the Tampa Bay area made it through the storm OK while also lending our hearts, thoughts and resources to those further south who were impacted. Football-wise, the team had to deal with the disruption of preparing for Week 4 down in Miami Gardens at the Dolphins’ facility, but everything about its gameday routine should be normal come Sunday. Playing this game in front of 65,000-plus home fans rather than a neutral crowd in Minneapolis could make a major difference as the team looks to start 3-1.
Bucs OLB Shaquil Barrett and Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
As for the matchup itself, it’s another tough one to call. The Bucs and Chiefs both look very different than they did when they last met, which was on this very same field for Super Bowl LV in February 2021. Tampa Bay has since lost Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Ali Marpet, Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul. Meanwhile, Kansas City has rebuilt its offensive line since that game and is about to play its fourth game of the post-Tyreek Hill era. Both teams are still contenders, but they’re different teams than they were two seasons ago. And really, they seem to be a pretty even matchup for each other.
Patrick Mahomes is a tough guy to beat, but I think Todd Bowles’ defense finds a way to frustrate him again on Sunday night. Without Hill, I think the Bucs match up well with Mahomes’ weapons, and that could lead to another impressive performance. Now, can Tom Brady and the offense get things going? I’d like to think they can, especially with Mike Evans back. If they can also get a healthy Julio Jones back — and even more so if they can get Chris Godwin back — I think Tampa Bay puts it together and plays some complementary football on Sunday to get its third win in four games to start the season. Making it through the first four games with a 3-1 record would set the Bucs up nicely as things get a little more manageable in the next few weeks.
ADAMS’ GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 27, Chiefs 20
ADAMS’ SEASON RECORD: 1-2
Josh Queipo: An Emotionally-Charged Bucs Prevail
I am not one who typically buys into narratives that go beyond the X’s and O’s of football. I think by now most of you readers have seen me try to center my predictions around who has the better roster and scheme combination. That’s why I predicted a win in New Orleans. That’s why I predicted a loss against Green Bay. So if we take an analytical approach to this matchup you have a Chiefs pass rush that should have some success against a make-shift Bucs offensive line. You have the Bucs getting a much needed boost at playmaker against a solid, but unspectacular Cheifs secondary. You have a Bucs rushing attack that has crashed back to earth against an average Chiefs run defense.
Bucs OLB Shaquil Barrett – Photo by: USA Today
On the other side of the ball, the Bucs will re-test a two-high approach against Patrick Mahomes that the NFL has largely abandoned to start the 2022 season. The Bucs defense is poised to limit a Kansas City offense. With all of that said, I think most of it will largely take a backseat to the context with which this game is being played within. I’m buying into the narrative that this Bucs team will play inspired football that transcends the data and the playbook. A game being played just hours north of an area that was devastated by sheer power that Mother Nature can bring to bear will carry an air and weight that can’t be measured.
The Fort Myers area sports thousands of Bucs fans. Those people need something to distract them from their current reality. We have seen this before in sports. The Yankees post-9/11. New Orleans post-Katrina. A team takes on the burden of a community mired in tragedy and lifts them up, if only momentarily, if only as a small way to leave the worries of the world behind. The team embodies the strength of it’s people to overcome adversity. I am buying into this Bucs team doing that Sunday night. The team and its stars have already begun to pledge help in the form of donations. On Sunday night in front of the rest of the country the Bucs also pledge to show the strength of Floridians by winning.
QUEIPO’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 28, Chiefs 13
QUEIPO’S SEASON RECORD: 3-0
Kasey Hudson: Bucs Offense Comes To Life, Succop Makes The Difference
The Bucs win this game by a field goal with the return of Mike Evans to the offense and possibly Julio Jones, who has dealt with a PCL sprain since Week 1. Getting Ke’Shawn Vaughn a few reps will alleviate Leonard Fournette’s workload a little bit as he’s dealing with a hamstring strain. That should bring some balance to the running game, and hopefully more effectiveness. Tom Brady should have the ability to get some quick passes off like he was able to do against the Packers when he completed 73 percent of his passes.
Bucs FS Antoine Winfield, Jr. and Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill – Photo by: USA Today
The defense needs to come out with a faster start this week. As Todd Bowles said, the Bucs have surrendered 20 of the 27 points they’ve allowed on the first two opening drives of their three games. The defense has done a great job of making in-game adjustments, evidenced last week in shutting out Green Bay in the second half. But the 14 points the defense gave up on the first two drives proved to be the difference-maker in last week’s 14-12 loss.
Devin White didn’t have as much production last week as he thought he was going to have. Antoine Winfield, Jr. usually makes a bigger impact, too. Those players, plus Shaq Barrett, need to step us as well. And the Bucs need Mike Edwards to continue to play well in the secondary and create some more turnovers. I’ll take Tampa Bay by three points from Ryan Succop at home on Sunday Night Football before a national TV audience.
HUDSON’S GAME PREDICTION: Bucs 27, Chiefs 24
HUDSON’S SEASON RECORD: 2-1
