Senior Writer\/Editor
In 2020, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost three of four games in November and hit their bye week in a slump but came out of it on fire, winning the next eight, including Super Bowl LV. In 2021, the Bucs had a less dramatic two-game dip in the middle of the season but then went on a seven-out-of-eight tear before the playoffs. Last season, Tampa Bay lost five times in a six-week span but then won three of four surrounding a bye week to just hold on to the lead in a depressed NFC South.
Seven games into the 2023 season, the Buccaneers would certainly like to find another “get-right” game or stretch of games. After taking control of the South again with a 3-1 start, capped by a blowout win in New Orleans, the Buccaneers hit their bye week then came out of it with a three-game losing streak. Now 3-4, they are a half-game behind both the Saints and Falcons and are in a stretch where they play away from home in six out of eight weeks. The Bucs in recent years have been able to avoid a full-on swoon, and they hope to save this season, too, starting with a Week Nine contest at Houston on Sunday.
That would seem to call for a sense of urgency, but Head Coach Todd Bowles says the Bucs are already in that mode.
“You don’t want to say urgency, because we play with urgency,” he said. “We’ve got to play smarter. Obviously, we want to start faster \u2013 we’ve been working on that, as well, doing certain things to do that. We understand that every game is valuable to us. We’ve just got to focus back on the things we do well and not have the ‘M.E.s’ (mental errors) and understand what we’ve got to do to win.”
To win the next game, the Buccaneers will have to contend with a rookie quarterback who is playing like a veteran and a DeMeco Ryans-led defense that is beginning to develop a dangerous pass rush. The Texans have also lost two of their last three, including a 15-13 decision against the previously-winless Panthers last Sunday, but their 3-4 record overall is encouraging given that they haven’t won more than four games in any of the last three seasons.
That rookie quarterback is C.J. Stroud, the second-overall pick in the draft who has thrown nine touchdown passes against just one interception and has a fine passer rating of 94.9. Stroud’s impressive decision-making has helped the Texans log impressive wins over the Jaguars, Steelers and Saints as Houston has fashioned the NFL’s 11th-best passing attack. The rookie has found a big-play weapon in breakout receiver Nico Collins, who is averaging 17.5 yards per catch, and has recently made good use of undersized but electric rookie Tank Dell.
Ryans got the head job for one of his former teams as a player thanks to a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks that established him as a defensive guru. The Panthers helped him out in this efforts to build a stifling defense like the one he had in San Francisco by trading back up to the third-overall pick in the draft to get Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson. Anderson is a bookend for Jonathan Greenard, who has 6.0 sacks already, and those two surround an effective inside duo of Maliek Collins and Sheldon Rankins. Anderson has just one sack so far and the Texans rank 24th in sacks per pass play, but Bucs QB Baker Mayfield says that is not representative of the challenge that front poses.
“They have their two edge guys that present their own issues,” said Mayfield. “I know they haven’t had as many sacks as they want, but they play really hard, so they’re always in pursuit. The secondary \u2013 I think they react to the ball well, I think they tackle well. We just have to be better on our part with the fundamental [parts] of the offense of taking what is there, breaking some tackles, and then we have our shots, take them.”
The Bucs have a shot this weekend to end their three-game slide and even potentially move back into first place in the NFC South. But it will be a challenge: The Texans appear to be a team on the rise and they will also be motivated to right the ship after a tough loss in Week Eight. Only one of these two teams can end up with a get-right game.
GAME AND BROADCAST DETAILS<\/strong>
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4) at Houston Texans (3-4)
Sunday, November 5, 1:00 p.m. ET
NRG Stadium (capacity: 71,995)
Houston, Texas
Television: CBS (Local WTSP Channel 10)
TV Broadcast Team: Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Charles Davis (analyst), Evan Washburn (reporter)
Radio: 98Rock (WXTB, 97.9 FM), Flagship Station
Radio Broadcast Team: Gene Deckerhoff (play-by-play), Dave Moore (analyst), T.J. Rives (sideline)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente
Spanish Radio Broadcast Team: Carlos Bohorquez (play-by-play), Martin Gram\u00e1tica (analyst)
ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES<\/strong>
The arrival of the Houston Texans as the NFL’s 32nd team in 2002 prompted the NFL to change its scheduling format to one that relied on rotating divisional matchups. For the Buccaneers, who play in the opposite conference from the Texans, that means their entire series history with the Texans is made up of one date every four years, like clockwork. (The 17th game added in 2021 opens the possibility of additional Bucs-Texans matchups, though none has happened yet.) The Bucs and Texans first met in Tampa in 2003 and that means, 20 years later, it’s time for hookup number six, once again at Raymond James Stadium.
Tampa Bay won that first contest in ’03 when they were the NFL’s defending champion, though it happened to be the last of seven victories for the Buccaneers that season. It was also their last win in the series, as Houston has won the last four. Most recently, the Texans came to Tampa in 2019 and won a back-and-forth contest, 23-20, on a fourth-quarter field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn. The Bucs rallied from 14 points down with a Justin Watson touchdown catch and a Ronald Jones scoring run in the second quarter, but Jameis Winston was picked off four times, including one last time with less than two minutes left in the game.
So Bucs-Texans is a brief history lesson, and before the last game, not a very competitive one. The first five games in the series were all decided by double-digit margins. The expansion Texans were still finding their feet in 2003 when the reigning champs beat them 16-3 to open the series. Running back Thomas Jones had the biggest day of his brief time as a Buccaneer, rushing for 134 yards and the game’s only touchdown and Greg Spires sacked backup quarterback Dave Ragone 2.5 times.
Alternately, in 2011, the Texans were on the way to their very first playoff berth while the Buccaneers were limping to a 4-12 finish, and that won ended in Houston’s favor, 37-9. Houston scored on the game’s first play, an 80-yard Matt Schaub-Jacoby Jones connection and running back Arian Foster did the rest with 186 yards from scrimmage and two scores.
The 2007 meeting in Houston looked as if it had the potential to be tightly-contested, with the 8-4 Buccaneers taking on the 6-7 Texans, but the home team won that one by two touchdowns. The Bucs did go on to the playoffs that year while Houston made it to .500 for the first time in franchise history.
The Buccaneers have<\/em> been to Houston more than once; their first regular-season game ever, in fact, was in the old Astrodome. But that was against the Houston Oilers, who are now the Tennessee Titans, so that game is technically part of the Bucs-Titans all-time ledger. The Buccaneers played four regular-season games in Houston before the Oilers moved to Nashville and lost them all, so Sunday’s trip is, in fact, an opportunity for the franchise’s first win in that city.
Also, the Buccaneers and Texans do have an extensive preseason<\/em> history together. When Houston first joined the league in 2002, the two teams agreed to a nine-year run of preseason games, meeting in the last warm-up game every year through 2010. The teams alternated playing host to those preseason finales, starting with Houston in 2002, so that’s five more trips the Buccaneers have made to Texas. Not that it’s particularly relevant, but the Buccaneers did<\/em>win seven of those nine games, including four of five in Houston.
The most recent game in Houston occurred in September of 2015. Kyle Brindza drilled a 58-yard field goal for the Buccaneers, who were actually winning by a 9-7 score after a Charles Sims touchdown catch. However, Houston scored the game’s final 12 points as its offense racked up 30 first downs and running back Alfred Blue ran for 139 yards and a touchdown.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS<\/strong>
SENIOR COACHING STAFFS<\/strong>
Tampa Bay:<\/strong>
Houston:<\/strong>
2023 ROSTER ADDITIONS<\/strong>
Buccaneers:<\/strong>
Texans:<\/strong>
ADDITIONAL 2023 CHANGES\/DEVELOPMENTS OF NOTE<\/strong>
Buccaneers:<\/strong>
Texans:<\/strong>
INJURY REPORT<\/strong>
Key:<\/strong>
DNP: Did not participate in practice
LP: Limited participation in practice
FP: Full participation in practice
NL: Not listed
Buccaneers:<\/strong>
Texans<\/strong>:
WEATHER FORECAST<\/strong>
Domed stadium. Outside: High of 80, low of 65, 7% chance of rain, 67% humidity, winds out of the SE at 15 mph.
GAME REFEREE<\/strong>
Head referee: Land Clark (sixth season, fourth as referee)
BETTING LINE<\/strong>
INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS<\/strong>
Buccaneers-<\/strong>
Points Scored: K Chase McLaughlin, 45
Touchdowns: WR Mike Evans, 5
Passing Yards: QB Baker Mayfield, 1,600
Passer Rating: QB Baker Mayfield, 89.5
Rushing Yards: RB Rachaad White, 305
Receptions: WR Chris Godwin, 38
Receiving Yards: WR Mike Evans, 507
Interceptions: Dee Delaney\/S Christian Izien, 2
Sacks: DL Vita Vea, 3.5
Tackles: LB Lavonte David, 67
Texans<\/strong>–
Points Scored: K Ka’imi Fairbairn, 64
Touchdowns: WR Nico Collins\/TE Dalton Schultz, 3
Passing Yards: QB C.J. Stroud, 1,800
Passer Rating: QB C.J. Stroud, 94.9
Rushing Yards: RB Dameon Pierce, 327
Receptions: WR Nico Collins, 33
Receiving Yards: WR Nico Collins, 577
Interceptions: CB Steven Nelson, 3
Sacks: DE Jonathan Greenard, 6.0
Tackles: LB Henry To’oTo’o, 48
TEAM STAT RANKINGS<\/strong>
Buccaneers<\/strong>–
Scoring Offense: 28th (17.3 ppg)
Total Offense: 23rd (298.3 ypg)
Rushing Offense: 30th (77.9 ypg)
Passing Offense: 17th (220.4 ypg)
First Downs Per Game: 28th (17.0)
Third-Down Pct.: 14th (40.6%)
Sacks Per Pass Attempt Allowed: 4th (4.45%)
Red Zone TD Pct.: 28th (41.2%)
Scoring Defense: t-6th (18.3 ppg)
Total Defense: 25th (354.6 ypg)
Rushing Defense: 10th (98.6 ypg)
Passing Defense: 28th (256.0 ypg)
First Downs Allowed Per Game: t-18th (19.9)
Third-Down Pct. Allowed: 32nd (50.5%)
Sacks Per Pass Attempt: 21st (6.98%)
Red Zone TD Pct. Allowed: 1st (27.7%)
Turnover Margin: 1st (+8)
Texans<\/strong>–
Scoring Offense: 20th (21.1 ppg)
Total Offense: 17th (330.4 ypg)
Rushing Offense: 23rd (91.9 ypg)
Passing Offense: 11th (238.6 ypg)
First Downs Per Game: t-20th (19.0)
Third-Down Pct.: 7th (44.0%)
Sacks Per Pass Attempt Allowed: 11th (6.30%)
Red Zone TD Pct.: 26th (43.5%)
Scoring Defense: t-6th (18.3 ppg)
Total Defense: 18th (335.4 ypg)
Rushing Defense: 11th (99.3 ypg)
Passing Defense: 23rd (236.1 ypg)
First Downs Allowed Per Game: 22nd (20.1)
Third-Down Pct. Allowed: 27th (44.3%)
Sacks Per Pass Attempt: 24th (6.12%)
Red Zone TD Pct. Allowed: 7th (45.8%)
Turnover Margin: t-6th (+5)
WHAT TO WATCH FOR<\/strong>
NOTABLY QUOTABLE<\/strong>
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Cornerback Jamel Dean spoke to the media following Thursday’s Week 9 practice. CB Dean discussed facing a disciplined Texans’ offense and LB Lavonte David’s greatness.
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Team Reporter Casey Phillips and Senior Writer & Editor Scott Smith talk about all the latest Bucs news in this week’s edition of Bucs Insider. The duo discussed WR Mike Evans’ rise up the NFL’s all-time receiving touchdown leaderboard, LB Lavonte David’s longevity and how successful the Bucs’ defense has been at stopping opposing teams in the red zone.
View pictures from Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice on 11\/2\/2023.
A look at Wednesday’s injury report ahead of the Week Nine matchup\u00a0
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