NFC South rivals will collide at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday when the reigning Super Bowl Champions in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Atlanta Falcons. The Buccaneers opened the 2021 NFL season last week with an exciting victory over the Cowboys. Despite trailing in the waning minutes, QB Tom Brady led the Buccaneers on a game-winning drive that was capped off by a 36-yard field goal by Ryan Succop. The victory was the Buccaneers 9th straight win going back to last year, and judging by the rest of this weekend’s games; Tampa Bay still appears to be the top dog in the NFC.
The Buccaneers will have the opportunity to capture their first division victory of the season if things go according to plan this weekend. The visiting Atlanta Falcons will be sizable 12.5 point underdogs following an embarrassing 32-6 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Falcons’ opening day loss highlighted all of the team’s weaknesses that new Head Coach Arthur Smith is trying to address with salary cap challenges. The Falcons could not run the ball, they could not protect Matt Ryan, and the defense appeared even worse than they were in 2020 when they allowed 26 points per game. Needless to say, nothing appears to have changed from the Falcons 4-12 SU campaign last season, and while I try not to judge 1-game samples, Atlanta may be among the worst teams in the league.
Falcons OL vs. Buccaneers DL
To be fair, the Falcons have some weapons on offense in WR Calvin Ridley, rookie TE Kyle Pitts, and running back Mike Davis, who came over from Carolina in the offseason. The problem is that the Falcons’ offensive line is absolute trash. I literally felt bad for veteran QB Matt Ryan last week as he was hit on seemingly every play in the 2nd half. The Falcons could not convert short-yardage situations because of the lack of space up front and simply could not create any time for the passing attack to have a chance. The scary fact is that the Eagles are not even known as a great defensive team. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers have one of the better defensive lines in the NFC that is notorious for creating pressure and getting to quarterbacks. In my opinion, this is the biggest mismatch among OL vs. DL for the entire Week 2 slate and maybe one of the bigger mismatches of the season. I expect the Buccaneers front to dominate Atlanta’s line and provide similar struggles as the Falcons experienced in week 1.
- Get more details: Atlanta at Tampa Bay 9/19/21 Match-up Stats
Trust Tampa Bay’s Offense
Any time you are going to lay double-digit points in the NFL, you better have extreme confidence on both sides of the football. Despite my expectations for Tampa Bay’s defense to dominate, we need the Buccaneers’ offense to have a similar advantage to counteract any unexpected scenarios where the Falcons capitalize on scoring opportunities. Luckily, Tampa Bay appears to be in mid-season form on the offensive side of the football. If you thought another year was going to have an impact on Brady’s arm, he attempted 50 passes in the victory over Dallas last Thursday.
Brady completed 32 passes for 379 yards with four touchdowns and two picks. Brady looked good, TE Rob Gronkowski looked good, and WR Antonio Brown looked amazing. Brown looks to have regained his Pittsburgh Steelers form, and when you combine that factor with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, Brady has the best receiving group of his entire career. Needless to say, I don’t expect Atlanta’s defense to have much success when they failed to defend Jalen Hurts in just his 5th start.
