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The Bucs picked a terrible time to lay an egg on the road. I’m not trying to be negative, pessimistic, or anything like that, however, it would be very nice to be 4-1 instead of 3-2 with the upcoming slate of games on deck.
Tampa Bay’s next seven opponents are tough. Six of them currently have winning records, the seven combined records come out to a 21-13 (0.618) mark, and three of them currently lead their division. Three of the next seven teams were also playoff teams in 2019, with the Chiefs obviously being the defending Super Bowl champions.
I just named the Chiefs, but who else will the Bucs play over the next few weeks?
The Bucs host the Packers this week, then they travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders on Sunday Night Football. Another road trip is on the schedule for the next game and so is another primetime slot as the Bucs travel to New York to play the Giants. Tampa Bay is in primetime for the third straight week when it hosts the Saints in Week Nine and then heads back on the road to play the Panthers in Week 10, before hosting both the Rams and Chiefs at home.
As you can see, things are about to get a lot harder for the Bucs. After a mistake-laden performance against Chicago, it’s easy to see why many have reservations about the weeks ahead.
But this team has proven veterans all over the roster and it has a coaching staff that has had plenty of success in the NFL. The pieces are there, it’s just a matter of if the Bucs can put them all together over the next two months.