Buccaneers @ Giants
Final Score: Buccaneers 30, Giants 7
Writer: Matthew Bevins (MattBQBList on Reddit/X)
The Thanksgiving games are almost upon us, so we’re “forced” to go through some Sunday football before the holiday. What we got from the Bucs and Giants game was ultimately one of the most disappointing versions of football, with the Bucs giving us an early show. The Giants were not doing much to put up a fight, just days after they cut Daniel Jones after an ongoing dispute without many words that left both sides without any runway left to go. The game was boring from a scoring perspective, but we did learn some things from this game that we can cover inside.
The Bucs came out on the tail end of a three-game losing streak, putting up 30 unanswered points. After an early Sean Tucker touchdown that didn’t do much other than mess up Bucky Irving and Rachaad White fans alike, we went on a rushing and running-back-receiving touchdown party, where the Bucs suddenly had the Giants on the ropes before the fourth quarter started. While Tommy DeVito and the Giants scored seven points to avoid the blowout, there wasn’t much good left for this team, and we can leave them in the fridge like Thanksgiving leftovers.
Three Up
- Bucky Irving – The Oregon alum runs like his head is on fire. The Buccaneers’ coaches and fans aren’t complaining. One of my biggest buys in the preseason, he has done nothing but have an immense rookie season.
- Mike Evans – He’s back! The lauded receiver returned to excited fans who need him for any chance of a playoff seed. With only a month plus of games remaining, Mike Evans will help this team propel up the standings, as long as his injury doesn’t return.
- Bucs D/ST – There isn’t too much left to applaud, as it was a ground-and-pound drubbing for the Bucs, and Baker Mayfield left late with a stinger. The Bucs’ defense played against a subpar quarterback and a unit that is desperately looking for something to grab onto for stability, but between the loss of the locker room in a mid-week starting quarterback cut and a head coach taking heat, the Giants don’t have much left in their tank, and the Bucs capitalized.
Three Down
- Brian Daboll – This isn’t even a fantasy take, but this guy has got to go. While not on the field, he’s directly impacting all the players he’s coaching.
- Rachaad White – White is the unexciting back in this Tampa Bay backfield, and over the past couple/few games we’re starting to see the coaching staff give more opportunity and responsibility into Irving’s hands. While snap counts aren’t officially out yet, White and Irving carried the same amount of times, but White saw far less targets in the receiving game.
- Malik Nabers – This is less an indictment on Malik Nabers and more on the fact the playcalling didn’t center around their number one player and instead tried to spread out the offense and pretend they have more than two weapons. He’s a rookie and will have plenty of time to grow in this offense, but this year may just be done for his value.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Quarterback
Baker Mayfield- 24/30, 294 Yards | 4 rushes, 29 yards, 1 TD
Mayfield is having a monster season after falling into this situation just last year. While the team would likely have been reeling from Tom Brady retiring, they picked up right where they left off, and Mayfield is again showing Pro Bowl and potential top-five quarterback numbers. While he had 30 attempts today, this was an old-fashioned pick-up-your-feet-and-run game. Four players rushed the ball in. Mayfield was able to pass out of situations where need be, but the 30 attempts seem to be a bit of a mirage. The Bucs are going to likely go on a run now, and the only minor hope would be that the stinger that Mayfield took later in the game doesn’t end up impacting his throwing going forward. Far be it for me to not include that Mayfield’s rushing touchdown was an absolute delight. He pump-faked out two defenders in the middle of the field, and then vaulted over defenders at the goal line to get into the endzone.
Running Back
Bucky Irving – 12 carries, 87 yards, 1 TD | 6 targets, 6 receptions, 64 yards
Rachaad White – 12 carries, 37 yards, 1 TD | 1 target, 1 reception, 10 yards
Sean Tucker – 4 carries, 3 yards, 1 TD | 1 target, 1 reception, 7 yards
The running game in Tampa Bay has been a discussion most of the season. Who is leading the backfield? Will White’s inefficiency segue way for Irving to get more carries? Halfway through the season, Tucker randomly became a thing, with some beat writers noting they thought he was the best back in this backfield. Well, the jury may still be out, as all three backs had a piece of the pie, but the most advantageous players know that the backfield is now looking like it’s about 50% Irving’s, and the rest is a split between White and Tucker.
Irving had one massive carry for 56 yards, but even pulling off that single carry, he had almost more yards than White. We also have the entry into the passing game for Irving, who saw six targets, converting on all of them, as well as a “one-yard touchdown” that looked like at least five to 10 yards from the way he had to break back to deke out defenders and got hit rolling into the endzone.
The offense was on point all game and was immensely efficient, but one has to wonder in games where the scoring is a tad tighter, if White will be given 12 carries to average roughly 3.5 yards per carry. The game didn’t end up this way, but Tucker took down the first rushing touchdown and wasn’t seen for the remainder of the day, essentially. Will he end up getting more run in closer matchups where White isn’t making the most of his opportunity? Irving doesn’t seem to have much left to prove, but the other two do.
https://www.twitter.com/KyleYNFL/status/1860759114105655433
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Mike Evans – 6 targets, 5 receptions, 68 yards
Sterling Shepard- 7 targets, 5 receptions, 16 yards
Cade Otton – 1 target, 1 reception, 30 yards
The offense as discussed above was not one that saw very much love in the air, as the passing game was mostly used to move the chains in shorter areas. Evans came back from his hamstring injury, and immediately made the most of opportunities, finishing as the highest yardage receiver in the game. While one pass was almost half of his yards, it was nice to see him out on the field, running routes and not looking much too worse for the wear. The loss of Chris Godwin has made their passing game a tad less dynamic, and while Sterling Shepard saw seven targets, converting on five of them, he only ended up compiling sixteen yards as essentially a running back out on the hashes. Cade Otton saw himself placed on the side of a milk carton, as his lone reception was a 30-yarder, and nothing else. This likely means that we see a get-right game from him next week.
New York Giants
Quarterback
Tommy DeVito- 21/31, 189 yards | 7 carries, 32 yards
DeVito saw the start at quarterback, as Jones was sent packing to the potential low-tier playoff seed who doesn’t have their quarterback situation nailed down. Drew Lock made some comments this week, but it seems as if DeVito may have seen the start due to financials where the Giants don’t want to pay Lock to play less than half a season (which is shady and suspect if true.) DeVito was average for the majority of the game and saw some boost in his game only when the fourth quarter started.
He found a bit of yardage on the ground late to help bolster some of his numbers, but it leads me to wonder if this is a poor DeVito showing, or a poor coaching performance putting a quarterback out to dry with a gameplan that wasn’t going to work. DeVito is going to likely ground this offense down behind center for the rest of the season as the team tanks for Sanders, which unfortunately really puts an end to Nabers in my opinion. You have to start him, but it’s going to be a white-knuckle ride.
Running Back
Tyrone Tracy – 9 carries, 42 yards, 1 fumble | 4 targets , 4 receptions, 28 yards
Devin Singletary – 2 carries, 3 yards, 1 TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 7 yards
We all know who the best running back is in this backfield, at least at this point. Unfortunately, Tyrone Tracy dropped a fumble in the second half and Brian Daboll had to make a point to call it out and bench Tracy for the remainder of the game. Without him in the backfield, we didn’t see any rushing of note, and the Devin Singletary rushing touchdown was an unceremonious rush in close to the goal to cap off a disaster of a game for the Giants. Hopefully, the Giants don’t take this out on Tracy for more than a quarter or so of a game, but it makes you wonder when they do ultimately know that he’s one of their best talents, if it’s worth the risk while they’re going nowhere but a giant circle in a colossal toilet.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Malik Nabers- 9 targets, 6 receptions, 64 yards
Wan’Dale Robinson- 5 targets, 5 receptions, 47 yards
Theo Johnson- 6 targets,3 receptions, 39 yards
The passing game for the Giants was abysmal, as the game plan seemed to be independent of getting their best players involved. Looking at it in hindsight, Nabers saw nine targets, but the majority of those were peppering at the end of the game when the game was out of reach and they may have wanted to appease him. Not able to sideline watch too much, it remains to be seen if there will be any “give me the ball” Terrell Owens-type outbursts, but Nabers was none too kind in his postgame conference, and this could be a rough dismount to end the season.
Wan’Dale Robinson did what Wan’Dale Robinson does, and caught all of his targets for under 50 yards. You have to wonder why this team isn’t more open to using him as a check-down/first-down valve when their offense seems to be predicated on three and outs. Theo Johnson is a name of note, as the Giants are trying to decide if he is their tight end of the future, and he could hold some value as the season ends.