Heading into Week 10, the Bucs are slipping into “What do the mock drafts say?” season rather than playing for the postseason. They’ve lost four games in a row and now sit in third place in the NFC South with a 3-5 record. Last week’s 39-37 loss to the Texans in the final minute of the game could prove to be the one that truly throws the team into disarray as it barrels toward its first playoff-less January since 2019.

Yet despite all of that, it just takes one win over the Titans on Sunday to stop the bleeding and put Tampa Bay back in contention. The Bucs are only 1.5 games out of the NFC South lead, and they have a win over the division-leading Saints to boot. The NFC is also weak this season, meaning the Wild Card picture is loaded with middle-of-the-road teams. In fact, Todd Bowles and his team are only 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot as well.

Now, the Bucs haven’t shown many reasons to believe that they’re capable of getting back on track and playing like contenders over the next couple of months. They look more like a team destined for a top-10 pick than one worthy of playing for the Super Bowl. But this is still a roster that has top-tier talent, and that talent needs to come to play at Raymond James Stadium come Sunday. Get to 4-5 and you’re still alive, but fall to 3-6 and you can start bookmarking mock draft simulators and draft profiles before Thanksgiving.

The direction of the season is on the line this Sunday when Tampa Bay hosts Tennessee, but there are also some big milestones in play. Last week, Mike Evans became the first Buc to surpass 11,000 receiving yards with the team and Will Gholston moved ahead of Tony Mayberry for the seventh-most games played in franchise history.

Now, let’s see where things stand heading into Week 10.

Mike Evans

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

Evans needs one more receiving touchdown to tie Andre Reed (87) for 16th-most in NFL history, while two more will pull him even with Don Maynard (88) for 15th-most. He is four away from tying Davante Adams (90) for 14th-most, though Adams is still active and adding to that total.

With 236 more receiving yards, Evans will pass Andre Johnson (11,254) for 11th-most receiving yards in the first 10 seasons of a career. He is also 406 yards away from his 10th straight 1,000-yard season, needing to average 45.1 yards per game over the final nine games to accomplish that feat. He already has the most consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons to begin a career, but he needs to surpass that mark this year and next to tie Jerry Rice (11) for the NFL record for consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

Sunday will be Evans’ 146th game as a Buc, leaving him two behind Shelton Quarles (148) for the 10th-most in franchise history.

Finally, Evans needs 63 more points to break Martin Gramatica’s team record (592).

Chris Godwin

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo By: Cliff Welch P/R

Godwin needs one more receiving touchdown to tie Jimmie Giles (34) for second-most in Bucs history while simultaneously passing Cameron Brate (33) for third-most.

Godwin also needs just one more touchdown of any kind to pass Giles (34) for fourth-most total touchdowns in Bucs history.

With 14 more receptions, Godwin will join Mike Evans as the only players in franchise history to record 500-plus receptions with the team.

Sunday will mark Godwin’s 96th game with Tampa Bay, which ties Jermaine Phillips (96) for 50th-most in team history.

Will Gholston

Gholston is set to play his 162nd game with the Bucs on Sunday, leaving him two behind John Lynch (164) for sixth-most in franchise history.

Shaq Barrett

Barrett is 11.5 sacks away from passing Gerald McCoy (54.5) for fourth-most in franchise history.

With one more forced fumble, Barrett will tie Warren Sapp and Ronde Barber (15) for fourth-most in team history.

Lavonte David

Bucs ILB Lavonte David – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Sunday’s game against the Titans very well could be the one that sees David pass Ronde Barber (1,428) for second-most tackles in Bucs history. He needs just seven more to do so and at that point, he would trail only Derrick Brooks (2,198).

David is also five solo tackles away from becoming the only active player in the NFL with 1,000 career solo tackles. 

With 10 tackles on Sunday, David will become the first Buc since at least 1999 to record 10-plus tackles in five straight games. Not only that, but with 10 tackles and a tackle for loss, he’ll become the first player to reach that stat line in five straight games since Ray Lewis did it in 1999.

This will be David’s 175th game as a Buc, leaving him eight behind Paul Gruber (183) for fourth-most in team history. It’ll also be his 175th start, which has him eight behind Gruber (183) for third-most in franchise history.

The legendary Tampa Bay linebacker needs 2.5 sacks to pass Brad Culpepper (33) for eighth-most in Bucs history, while four more passes defensed will move him ahead of Donnie Abraham (64) for fifth-most in team history.

Carlton Davis III

Davis is 17 passes defensed away from passing Derrick Brooks (84) for third-most in franchise history.

Jamel Dean

Dean needs 12 more passes defensed to move ahead of Aqib Talib (54) for seventh-most in Bucs history.