The final game of the season has finally come. The Buccaneers will face the Falcons today, as they try to get their fifth win of their season and prevent a ten-game losing streak.

With a win, the Bucs could have the seventh overall draft pick. With a loss, the Bucs could pick as high as fourth overall in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Discuss the game, the playoffs, the draft and whatever else here.

It's holiday season, and with Christmas falling on a Sunday the NFL has moved back all of its games to Saturday. That is, today. Including the matchup between the Bucs and Panthers.

So, discuss the game here. Maybe the Bucs can give us a Christmas present with a win, but more likely they give us a Christmas present in the form of improved draft position.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys face off today, in a sold-out Raymond James Stadium no less. That's pretty rare, sadly.

But hey, it's the Bucs' second nationally televized games, and that's certainly worth something.

The Bucs have been putrid recently, but the Cowboys have not been great either. And while the Cowboys are playing for a playoff spot, the Bucs are trying to earn their beloved head coach another year with some good performances to close out the year.

Discuss the game here.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost six straight games. If they can't halt this slide, there could be a lot of changes coming to Tampa this offseason. Raheem Morris' job security is certainly in question, and the Bucs are fighting for their beloved coach's career.

Last week, the Jaguars were a miracle cure for another team with a struggling quarterback and a six-game losing streak: the San Diego Chargers. Can the Jags be that cure again, or will they manage to beat a Buccaneers team that's playing worse every week?

Discuss the game here.

With Josh Freeman missing today's game, can the Bucs put up a fight ad stop Cam Newton? Can Josh Johnson lead the Buccaneers to victory? Can Legarrette Blount get enough carries today? Can the Bucs defense limit the Panthers' running game?

Here's your game thread for today.

The Bucs need to win six straight games to make it to the playoffs. They need to start that today, in Tennessee. The chances of making the playoffs are already tiny, and if they can't win today they will be so small that not even the Tampa Bay Rays could make it. 

But even if the Bucs can't make the playoffs, they need to show improvement to save their coaches this season. The way they played before the Green Bay really was unacceptable and showed regression from the year before - and for a team that has explained away previous failures with "we're young", that's deadly. Can the Bucs show the effort they showed last week, or will they revert to their old ways again? 

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This looks and feels like a blowout. The Buccaneers are on a three-game losing streak during which they have played worse each game. To make matters worse, they face the best passing offense in the league and an undefeated team. Blow out? 

But there's always a chance they beat the Green Bay Packers.. I mean, this is the NFL. Any team can win if things go right. The Bucs will have to have a lot of things go right for that to happen, but they managed to do it in 2009 - when the Packers were worse, but so were the Bucs. They did it through great special teams play, good red zone offense and by creating turnovers. Can they do that again?

Bucs - Packers Inactives

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Three key matchups on offense

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Can the Bucs stop the Houston Texans running game? That's the matchup that will decide this game. If the Bucs can slow down Arian Foster and Ben Tate, they can win this game. If they can't stop that zone-based run game, the Bucs have a major problem. 

The key player? Albert Haynesworth. He's going to start, and he's going to be asked to get in the backfield and disrupt the Texans offense. Haynesworth has the talent to be good, but he hasn't shown the skills and effort in recent years. Is there any real reason to believe this will different for the Bucs? 

On the other side of the ball, the Bucs have to get Legarrette Blount going and try to stick with running the football throughout the game. Having Josh Freeman continue his slow return to playing well would help too. Maybe this week Arrelious Benn can finally actually be involved in the game plan. 

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Three key matchups on offense

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Here's your game thread for today. Can the Bucs beat the Saints in New Orleans and re-take the division lead, or will they fall to 4-4 today? Watch and see, and discuss the game with us.