Suddenly back in the hunt to win the NFC South, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will try for their third straight victory on Sunday when they host the Las Vegas Raiders.
Tampa Bay (6-6) lost four in a row before returning from a bye to post a 30-7 win over the New York Giants on Nov. 24 and a 26-23 overtime victory against the Carolina Panthers last Sunday.
The Atlanta Falcons (6-6), in turn, have lost three games in row to reside tied with the Buccaneers atop the division. The Falcons, however, swept the season series with Tampa Bay.
The Raiders (2-10), losers of eight games in a row, arrive at an opportune time for Tampa Bay. The Raiders were poised to attempt a game-winning, 49-yard field goal with 15 seconds left against Kansas City last week, but a botched snap on the set-up play was recovered by the Chiefs to secure the latter’s 19-17 win.
Tampa Bay is paced by the emotionally charged play of quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is third in the NFL with 25 touchdown passes.
Concurrently, the Bucs’ running game has rounded into a multi-faceted force, averaging 5.1 yards per carry behind Week 13 NFC Offensive Player of the Week Bucky Irving (732 yards, six touchdowns), Rachaad White (419, two) and Sean Tucker (189, 2). Mayfield is the Bucs’ third-leading rusher with 229 yards and three touchdowns.
Irving has set personal bests in rushing and scrimmage yards each of the last two weeks. His 152 rushing yards were the most in the NFL in Week 13 as he became the first Bucs rookie to record 180-plus scrimmage yards in a game since wide receiver Mike Evans in Week 11 of the 2014 season.
“He’s getting more comfortable with the offense,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said of Irving. “The more comfortable he gets, the more you can give him, the more he can do. … Bucky has a skill you can’t teach: He can make people miss in the hole. He’s tough on the inside. Rachaad had a big run at the end of the game, as well. Using them both together seems to be working out for us.”
Irving did not participate in Wednesday’s practice, however, after sustaining a hip/back injury that Bowles deemed a non-issue on Monday. Evans, safety Mike Edwards (hamstring), offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs (foot, knee), and linebackers K.J. Britt (ankle) and Anthony Nelson (shoulder) also did not participate in Wednesday’s practice.
Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers, who has 84 catches, needs 116 yards to reach 1,000. With three receptions, he would pass Detroit’s Sam LaPorta for the most catches by a rookie tight end in league history.
“This guy is different,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. “It’s different, because when you get matched up on the number one corner, when you’re getting double teamed throughout the field, and they know we’re going to throw him the ball, and we’re going to keep throwing him the ball, and he’s winning those matchups.”
The Raiders signed running back Sincere McCormick from the practice to the active roster on Tuesday. McCormick was active the Raiders’ last two games with Alexander Mattison (ankle) and Zamir White (quad) out.
Mattison was limited in Wednesday’s practice while White joined cornerback Nate Hobbs (ankle) in being unable to participate.
–Field Level Media