Week Nine: Buccaneers (3-4) @ Raiders (3-4)

[bucsfan333]

Stupid 4pm games.

We just lost the best player we have on offense. How do we fill Nicks' spot? How much does losing him effect our offense? We've been rolling this last month. Oakland's defense is only giving up 348 yards per game (17th), 246 through the air (20th) and 102 on the ground (11th). But they do give up almost 27 points per game (only six teams are worse) and we average just over 26 points per game (9th). I feel pretty confident in our offense. I think we can still move the ball this week. It'll have to be in smaller chunks, but I think we can do it.

Defensively, we are regressing against the run, but that's to be expected. We can't hold every team to 3 yards per carry. That said, they rank 30th with 85 yards per game and McFadden hasn't adjusted to their new ZBS. I think we can make him a nonfactor on the ground. Carson is playing better this year than he did last year. He's averaging almost 280 yards through the air every week. We still suck against the pass and I doubt we've improved any, even with a longer week off. I expect Palmer to get his yards. We need to get some pressure and force some turnovers to slow him and their offense down. Our defensive line is probably the most important unit on the field for us this week. Palmer's got the weapons to complete bombs all day.

Overall, this is pretty much a strength v strength game and I think we can take it.
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[indifference]

I think Tampa wins this by 2-3 possessions. Our offense will be able to move the ball and score points but I'm just not sure how the pass defense will hold up. On the flipside, Palmer is one of the most pressured QB's in the league and our defensive line is coming off a monster game(pass rush wise) against the Vikings. We had extra days to prepare for this game and I can see us exploiting their secondary with our weapons like how we did against the Chiefs. Palmer will get yards but he will be on his back all day and force throws. Anxious to see how Leonard Johnson steps up in the starting role now.

[5nick5]

I'm definitely not as confident in us winning as I was a week ago now that Wright and Nicks are out, but I still think we can win. The offense just needs to put up enough points to be able to win a potential shootout. Win the turnover battle and TOP battle and we should be ok.
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Thanks to BGG on the sig.

[tml_gogo]

We have to outscore them, because Palmer and Denarius Moore in particular are gonna go nuts on us.
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El Ramster

[5nick5]

[deuces22wild]

It will be civil war come Sunday....

Me = Bucs fan

Dad = Raiders fan
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[tml_gogo]

[bucsfan333]

[Soul Glo]

We're gonna have to adjust to no Nicks, but this is a game we should and need to win. Going to have to rely on the passing game, hopefully the defense can build on last week. Palmer won't go Eli/Brees nuts on us, but their offense can make some plays.

[ravishingone]

Actually watched some of the Raiders-Chiefs game last weekend. Certainly I expect Palmer to have success passing the ball. However, I was suprised how many drops the Raider WRs had during the game. In particular, a lot of deflected balls that went up in the air. I don't know if this was out of the ordinary for them or not. Our secondary has given up a lot of yards, but they have also been opportunistic with interceptions. The Raider o-line protects Palmer pretty well. I would expect Sheridan to try and blitz him because Palmer isn't very mobile.

On defense, the Raiders liked to blitz the Chiefs through the A gaps. One would think with Nicks gone, they might try more of that again this Sunday. However, I wonder how much they want to put their CBs on an island against Jackson and Williams. I believe in Freeman, and expect him to continue to play at his high level.

[backinblack]

First off i hope for a well played game with no major injuries to either team.
We have moved to a hybrid blocking sceme where we mix up zone and power blocking. last week we switched to power where Mcfadden excels in the 4th quarter and he had 75 rushing yards in that quarter alone.
defensively since the bye week we have been much better then before. held Atlanta to 280yds total and jville to 200 and KC to 290( i know they both stink) but its a start. our rush d has been very good this year and the last 3 weeks combined have only gave up 196 yards and 75 of those yards have been qb scrambles running for their lives.
Freeman has been on fire this year,Martin is a stud and i really like the makeup of your team. its gonna be a very close, physical game and whoever protects the ball better wins in the end.

[5nick5]

[bucsfan333]

Stupid 4pm games. Why did I wake up so early!?
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[Yogi]

[REDandPEWTER]