The Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the New Orleans Saints in a little while. A win would keep their playoff hopes alive and even likely to come true, while a loss would be a pretty harsh blow, though not a fatal one.
So can the Bucs win? It’ll be interesting to see how, because they’ve got some things to compensate for on offense. They not only benched but even deactivated Doug Martin, who’s averaging just 2.9 yards per carry this year. They’re also starting their third-string right tackle, with the first two out with injury.
That’s quite an adjustment, but it might not be a bad thing. After all, the Bucs could barely get anything going against the Saints last time, scoring just 16 points on the day despite the defense taking away the ball four times. That was enough to win the game, but it’s unlikely to be good enough this week: the Saints scored 48 points against the Cardinals last weekend.
So, I think this’ll be a high-scoring game. Say, a 31-30 win for the Bucs. What’s your prediction?