TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcome the Baltimore Ravens to Raymond James Stadium for a Thursday Night Football showdown. Tampa Bay (3-4) enters the matchup against Baltimore (4-3) after losing two games that should’ve been easy wins for the Tampa Bay team.
The Buccaneers fell to the Carolina Panthers 21-8, after falling to the Steelers 20-18 the previous week. ‘We’re not playing well’: Bucs’ Bowles, Brady speak after 21-3 loss to Panthers The losses were significant for the Buccaneers since the team had high expectations going into the season. Following quarterback Tom Brady’s retirement, then un-retirement, fans would’ve assumed that this would be a winning season for the previous Super Bowl champs.
However, this isn’t the case heading into Thursday’s primetime game. Tom Brady not thinking about retirement, so time to speculate Thursday’s game will be the Bucs’ third primetime game this season, but this game has a little more on the line. Both Week 8 contestants are in a similar situation as the Buccaneers are tied for first place in the NFC South with Atlanta and hold a head-to-head tiebreaker.
Similarly, the Ravens are also tied for first place in the AFC North with the Bengals holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens will be heading into Thursday’s matchup confident after beating the Browns and Bengals in the past few weeks. For Brady and the Buccaneers, this game will look to catapult them forward with a home win on national television.
BRADY vs. JACKSON CBS sports reported that Baltimore is fifth in rushing this season, thanks mostly to the legs of quarterback Lamar Jackson. The Ravens are averaging 156.
3 yards on the ground, with the 2019 league MVP gaining 510 on 66 carries. Jackson, who is well on his way to the third 1,000-yard season of his career, ran for 59 yards in last Sunday’s 23-20 triumph over Cleveland to join Cam Newton as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to amass at least 500 rushing yards in each of their first five seasons. Jackson may not need to run as much on Thursday since Gus Edwards was impressive against the Browns.
Making his first appearance since 2020 due to a knee injury, the 27-year-old running back had 16 carries for 66 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Ravens kept Nick Chubb, the NFL’s leading rusher, under 100 yards last week and should have little difficulty defending the run this week since Tampa Bay is last in the league with an average of 64. 4 rushing yards per contest.
The Buccaneers have yet to suffer three consecutive losses under Tom Brady since he became the quarterback. Being a home underdog is a rarity for him, according to CBS Sports. .
Brady has only been in this situation as a starting quarterback only 12 times in his career. The three-time NFL MVP has led his team to victory in nine of those contests and covered the spread in all but one. After failing to throw a touchdown pass for just the fourth time in 40 regular-season games with the Bucs, Brady will be eager to come up with a bounce-back performance.
His top two targets who struggled to reach the end zone against the Panthers are Leonard Fourtnette, who has a team-high 34 catches out of the backfield, and wide receiver Mike Evans, who came so close to having a touchdown on the opening drive of Sunday’s game hauled in 33 passes for 454 yards. They both share the club lead with three touchdown receptions. INJURIES The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have 12 players listed on their final injury reported before the primetime game, including Tom Brady.
The players listed are: TE Cameron Brate – OutCB Carlton Davis – Out WR Mike Evans – N/AWR Russell Gage – Out G Luke Goedeke – Out DE Akiem Hicks – QuestionableTE Ko Kieft – N/AG Shaq Mason – N/ACB Sean Murphy-Bunting – OutS Antoine Winfield Jr. – Out QB Tom Brady – N/A As for the Baltimore Ravens, they have 10 players listed on their injury report. All of the following players are listed as “unspecified” for Thursday’s game: TE Mark AndrewsILB Josh BynesDE Calais Campbell G Ben Cleveland RB Gus EdwardsCB Marlon HumphreyCB Marcus PetersOT Ronnie Stanley CB Brandon StephensWR Rashod Bateman HOW TO WATCH Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.
m. ET. If you can’t make it to Raymond James Stadium, the game will be broadcast on Prime Video and FOX.
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From: wfla
URL: https://www.wfla.com/sports/tampa-bay-buccaneers-host-baltimore-ravens-for-thursday-night-football/
