3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Buccaneers in Week 8
The Buffalo Bills face off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8 at Highmark Stadium.
If Buffalo (4-3) is going to leave the field against the Buccaneers (3-3) with a win, they’ll have to keep their focus on these things.
Here are three keys to the Bills pulling out a victory against the Buccaneers on Thursday:
Buy Josh Allen More Time
While Allen has not been playing at the top of his game for the past two weeks, he has done some good things when he has been given time to make a decision with the football. Allen has only been sacked once in Buffalo’s past two games, but as we saw with last week’s game against the New England Patriots, he is being pressured on a lot of his dropbacks.
Tampa Bay is one of the worst teams in the league in defending the pass so the Bills offense should have a field day with the Buccaneers defense assuming that Allen has enough time to work his magic. That will give him a chance to make sure that players like wideout Gabe Davis and rookie right end Dalton Kincaid can have good games alongside Stefon Diggs.
Do Not Allow The Buccaneers To Build An Early Lead
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Bills are an 8.5-point favorite over the Buccaneers. This story isn’t new as Buffalo has been considerable favorites over most of their opponents this season, but are just one game over .500.
With that being said, the Bills should remember that they have fallen into this trip before of playing down to its competition and it has backfired on them a few time already. Also, while the Buccaneers are one of the poorer rushing teams in the NFL, the Bills are also below-average in defending the run so if Tampa Bay gets an early lead, that will make things a lot harder for Buffalo.
Limit The Impact Of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin
It’s not a secret that Buffalo’s secondary has taken a massive hit with the season-ending injury to their star cornerback, Tre’Davious White. While Buffalo’s secondary stats for the entire season are still holding up as one of the better teams in the league at defending the pass, they made the Patriots look like a top-five offense.
Tampa Bay is around average in terms of its passing offense, but with wide receivers like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin who can get hot at any moment, Buffalo has to be careful within its pass coverage. The ironic thing is, if the Bills follow the aforementioned key of not letting the Buccaneers get out to an early lead, they will be facing Tampa Bay’s passing game more often and thus, giving Evan and Godwin more chances to hurt them.
