Week 6 is set to be rolling into living rooms all throughout the nation and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are no longer winless. Todd Bowles and his pewter pirates managed to pull out a sensationally shocking upset of the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. Behind the mighty galloping of Bucky Irving and the poise of UDFA Jalen Daniels, Tampa’s marauders took over AT&T Stadium.
This Sunday (for the third week in a row), it’ll be another classic blueblood NFL franchise on the schedule for the Buccaneers—
The Pittsburgh Steelers.
How can the Buccaneers win?
The Bucs need to make sure they stay on schedule and stick to their gameplan. There are NFL teams that have the benefit of being able to get into different types of games and win in a variety of ways— The Buccaneers are not that team. If a win is in the cards, they need to make sure they are playing the hand that best suits them.
Last week, in Dallas, Tampa did a phenomenal job of staying in the realm of football that they themselves are comfortable playing. The Buccaneers kept the ball on the ground, dominated time of possession— Starting with a 10-minute opening drive, and kept Dallas off-kilter. That dictation was not only an advantage for Tampa Bay, it’s the reason they won. That in turn made the Cowboys play the game the Buccaneers needed to play, not the one Dallas wanted to play.
It would be easy to say, ‘If Bucky Irving rushes for nearly 200 yards, the Buccaneers have a good chance of winning’, but it’s more than the yards on the stat sheet. Irving’s performance was eye-popping, but it was the offense’s ability to stay on the field that won Tampa Bay the game. The Buccaneers finished the game with just shy of 40 minutes time of possession, while Dallas’ heralded offense held the ball for just 20. That discrepancy is catastrophic for any team to be on the wrong side of— Personified through the consistent cutaways by Amazon’s broadcast as they kept showing defeated, disengaged, and dispirited Dallas Cowboys on the sideline.
Consecutive weeks with 40 minutes of possession may not be on the docket, however, will the Buccaneers’ offense be able to keep themselves steady, avoid turnovers, and push Pittsburgh to play the type of game Tampa wants to play?
How can the Buccaneers lose?
The Steelers have had some inconsistent offense this year, but they’ve had 24-plus points in each of the last three weeks (30, 24, 34). Of course, they can’t score if they don’t play (See the above portion of this article). The Buccaneers’ second best option for keeping Pittsburgh’s points down, besides pilfering clock, is turnovers. Tampa’s turnover differential on the season is not glamourous (-2). Maybe even more absurd, that hideous -2 sits boldly after the Bucs just had a +3 in their last contest. Aside from points themselves, nothing has ever been, or will ever be, a more clear determinant of wins and losses than turnovers. Teams that take the ball away win a lot more than teams that lose the ball. Having the ball means having more chances to score, more chances to score means more better odds you will score; ergo, turnovers are good. More importantly, for a struggling, very one-dimensional team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, turnovers level the playing field.
The scenario is two-fold. Not only does it fall on your defense to force them, but your offense must avoid turnovers like a coach on the hot seat must avoid losing. Last week, Tampa hit the trifecta— Their defense (and special teams) took the ball away from Dallas three times. Jalen Daniels and the Bucs’ offense did not turn the ball over at all and their coach on the heat seat avoided a loss.
This week, it’s not Dak Prescott it’s Aaron Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers is a historically anti-turnover prone quarterback. The former Packers’ legend, Jets’ bust, and current Steelers’ stopgap, has quite literally the greatest touchdown to interception ratio in NFL history— As in, number one. Rodgers is not the type of quarterback that you want to face if the gameplan is get the ball— however, against all odds, Tampa Bay’s ever assailed head coach Todd Bowles has actually had a healthy level of success against Rodgers during his Bucs’ tenure. The two haven’t matched up since Rodgers left Green Bay, but the duels have actually largely favored Bowles. In three games versus Todd Bowles’ Tampa Bay defense, Rodgers has a losing record and has looked extremely ordinary. The four-time NFL MVP has wracked up just five touchdowns and he’s also tossed four interceptions.
The backdrop is laid out much differently for the 2026 edition, Rodgers has a new team, a new (his old) coach, is playing at a completely different level (which may actually further favor Bowles), and Bowles does not have nearly the same defensive firepower he once did. Sunday, will likely be the last time the two battle— A final chapter in the story.
The storylines for Sunday’s Bowles-Rodgers epilogue, can Todd Bowles get him again? Rodgers has yet to play a clean game against Bowles’ Bucs. Will the Buccaneers’ offense be able to stay mistake free for a second straight week? Turnovers, like they had against Rodgers’ former team two weeks ago, will almost assuredly sink them into a self-dug 1-5 hole.
