TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants are facing desperate times heading into the final seven games of the regular season.
The Giants (2-8) are in such bad shape after losing five games in a row that they first benched and then released high-priced quarterback Daniel Jones and made New Jersey spark plug Tommy DeVito the starter for Sunday's game against the Buccaneers (4-6) at MetLife Stadium.
The Bucs aren't making any drastic changes. They just need to start winning again because they do still have a shot at the playoffs despite losing four in a row and five of six.
Tampa Bay, which lost to Baltimore, Atlanta, Kansas City and San Francisco in its skid, is only 1 1/2 games behind the Falcons in the NFC South. Beating the Giants would get the Buccaneers within a game of Atlanta (6-5), and their final games are against Las Vegas (2-8), the Los Angeles Chargers (7-3), Dallas (3-7), New Orleans (4-7) and two with Carolina (3-7).
Bucs center Graham Barton said the team is aware of the standings and that it has to make a push.
“There’s not like, ‘Well, it’s early in the season,’ anymore.' It’s now or never, so we’re going to — obviously we want to win every game, but the playoffs for us really starts now,” he said. “We have to win and we have to win now."
DeVito, a New Jersey native with the colorful nickname “Tommy Cutlets,” was 3-3 as a rookie free agent starter out of Illinois after Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor were hurt last season. That's the reason the brash young man leapfrogged veteran backup Drew Lock and was given the start by coach Brian Daboll.
“If you don’t enjoy going out there, you don’t play with the same kind of passion that you would if you did, so really just trying to keep everybody’s high spirits up, enjoy it, and just bring energy when I’m out there,” DeVito said.
Not going to be easy
Coach Todd Bowles scoffs at the notion the Bucs have a weak schedule down the stretch and that it could benefit their bid for a fifth consecutive playoff berth.
“This is the NFL, you’re not playing anybody that’s soft on the schedule," Bowles said. "Everybody has first-round picks and athletes, and everybody is well coached, so if we come back from the break thinking the schedule is easier, we’re going to lose every game.”
Life after Daniel
The Giants went through a lot of turmoil this week, with the benching of Jones on Monday and then his release on Friday after he spoke with team co-owner John Mara.
Veterans Dexter Lawrence and Darius Slayton — who were both drafted in 2019 after Jones was taken No. 6 overall — didn't hesitate to say the team made a business decision that was not based on ability.
It should be interesting to see what type of effort the Giants have against the Buccaneers in all phases.
Explosive runs
Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen spent a lot of time over the bye week looking at his run defense, which is ranked 29th in the league.
The statistic that stood out was the number of explosive runs by opponents this season. New York has given up 33 runs of 10 yards or more, roughly a little more than three a game. He said the other 20-22 runs a game against the Giants' defense are averaging 2.5 yards.
Bowen said some players have been out of position on the explosive runs, but mostly the problem is poor tackling, which allows a 10-yard gain to turn into 20 or 30.
No excuses
While injuries have forced the Bucs to play without some key players for significant stretches of the season, Bowles says there’s no excuse for young, largely inexperienced backups to not perform well in the absence of starters. He noted the backups have skills and they are on the team for a reason.
“When you go out there and you get an opportunity, you have to make the best of it,” Bowles added. “That’s in football, that’s in life.”
Tampa Bay will be without safety Tykee Smith, while left tackle Tristian Wirfs is expected to miss out after being downgraded to doubtful on Saturday afternoon. On the brighter side of things, wide receiver Mike Evans will return for the Bucs on Sunday, giving the offense and Mayfield some much-needed help heading into the crucial stretch late in the season. Cornerback Jamel Dean was activated from injured reserve on Saturday, making him available to suit up against the Giants.
No interceptions
The Giants have not had an interception since rookie linebacker Darius Muasau picked off Minnesota's Sam Darnold in the season opener. That's nine games without a pick.
“I wish I had an explanation because then I could probably have a solution,” Bowen said. “I think we just got to make them when we have chances. There’s a couple that we haven’t made when we’ve had some chances to get them.”
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