The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick off their 2025 season on Sunday with a road game against the Atlanta Falcons. Kick off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and the game will be broadcast locally by FOX.

The Buccaneers are seeking a fifth straight division title and a sixth consecutive season with a playoff berth. That quest for a record string of NFC South crowns (New Orleans also won four in a row from 2017-20) begins against a division rival that finished second to the Buccaneers last year but won both head-to-head contests. The Buccaneers have a mostly homegrown roster and a lot of continuity from their 2024 roster but will have a new play-caller in first-year Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard, a key addition to the passing game in first-round wideout Emeka Egbuka and a proven veteran to help juice up the pass rush off the edge in Haason Reddick.

The Falcons made their big switch near the end of last season, inserting then rookie quarterback Michael Penix in the starting lineup for the last three games. Veteran passer Kirk Cousins remains on the roster in a reserve role but the Falcons are all-in with Penix, the eight-overall pick in 2024, who is surrounded with other recent top-10 picks in running back Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts. Atlanta also has one new coordinator on their coaching staff, with Jeff Ulbrich taking over for Jimmy Lake on the defensive side. Ulbrich has some new weapons to work with in Atlanta's search for a more robust pass rush, as the team spent first-round picks on both Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. this past spring.

Here are four major storylines and four head-to-head player battles to keep an eye on as the Bucs get their 2025 campaign underway this weekend.

TOP STORYLINES

Offense Ready for Week One? – The Buccaneers had one of the best and most balanced offense in the NFL in 2024, as they ranked third in total yards and fourth in scoring and were the only team in the league to finish in the top five in both rushing and passing yards. Baker Mayfield topped his great Buccaneer debut season in 2023 with a career-best campaign, throwing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. Considering all of that, the Bucs' offense should be primed for another prolific season after not only retaining virtually every regular on that unit but also adding Egbuka and fellow 2025 draftee Tez Johnson. Still, there are no guarantees in the NFL that success will carry over from one season to the next, and the Bucs do have some question marks on offense as the 2025 season dawns. That begins with the status of All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs and star pass-catcher Chris Godwin. Though neither was placed on the reserve/PUP list, it does not appear either will be available in Week One. The Buccaneers are hoping both miss minimal regular season time, but until their return Charlie Heck takes over at left tackle and Egbuka moves directly into a starting spot as a rookie. The Bucs' receiving depth is also being tested by a neck injury to Jalen McMillan that is expected to keep him out for at least half the season. Tampa Bay's depth chart is still loaded with talent at every position and Mayfield has now established himself as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks, but it remains to be seen just how smooth the start of the season is for the Bucs' offense.

Pass Rush on Penix? – The Buccaneers tied for sixth in the NFL last year with 46 sacks by their defense, but their two leading pass-rushers were interior linemen Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea and the Bucs put a priority on improving their edge rush capabilities in the 2025 offseason. There were two big moves put into that effort, first the signing of Haason Reddick in free agency and then the selection of David Walker in the fourth round of the draft. Walker was having a very impressive training camp but suffered a season-ending knee injury and thus will have to wait until 2025 to make his mark. That means the Buccaneers will be counting on Reddick, who had 50.5 sacks across the 2020-23 seasons, hitting double digits each year. Third-year man Yaya Diaby took a noticeable step forward in his application of pressure last season by most metrics but topped out at 4.5 sacks. The Buccaneers are hoping he can turn more pressures into sacks in 2025 and allow the team to more often go after the quarterback with just four pass rushers instead of a blitz. Atlanta threw for 742 yards in the teams' two meetings last year, and that was the comparatively immobile Cousins at the helm. If the Buccaneers can't put consistent pressure on Penix, they may be asking a lot of their secondary on Sunday.

Kickoff Changes, Pt. 2 – The NFL changed its kickoff procedure in 2024 in an effort to bring more returns back to the game. While the play definitely looked extremely different, the new rules didn't have much effect on Tampa Bay's approach to kicking off. In fact, the Bucs had a 63.4% touchback rate on their kickoffs in 2023 and that actually went up to 75.5% last year. When the new kickoff did not have as much of an impact on touchback trends league-wide, the NFL tweaked it again this offseason, most notably putting the ball on the receiving team's 35 on touchbacks where the ball lands or is caught on the end zone. Judging from the preseason games and some of the decisions made on cutdown day, it appears the latest change will have a significant impact on how the Bucs' approach the play in 2025. The fact that they plan to use kicker Chase McLaughlin instead of new punter Riley Dixon on kickoffs suggest they are no longer going to go the safe route with a high rate of touchbacks but will be covering returns on most kicks. That creates the opportunity for big plays on both sides, with either long returns that go well past the 35 or great coverage reps where the return is tackled well short of that mark. Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey noted earlier in the week that he is very pleased with the talent his coverage units boast this year, so hopefully Tampa Bay can swing that phase of the game in their favor in 2025.

NFC South Competitiveness Check – As noted above, the Buccaneers have won the last four NFC South titles, but Atlanta won both head-to-head matchups in 2024 and had a chance to surpass Tampa Bay for first place heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Buccaneers finished with a two-game lead and Atlanta had a sub-.500 record for seventh season in a row, but it's safe to say the Bucs are expecting stiff competition for the division title this year. Atlanta may have the best chance to unseat the reigning champs, with New Orleans going with unproven commodities at quarterback and the Panthers needing another big leap forward from their own young passer, Bryce Young. Penix looked promising in his late-season cameo and is surrounded by explosive talent plus one of the league's better offensive lines (though the career-ending injury to right tackle Kaleb McGary is a blow). The first game of the season won't determine the eventual champion and it's still quite possible that the Saints or Panthers could surprise the pundits in 2025, but the Week One contest at Mercedes-Benz stadium will be a good early gauge for how competitive the 2025 NFC South race is going to be.

KEY MATCHUPS

1. Falcons WR Drake London vs. Buccaneers CB Zyon McCollum

The Falcons did move Drake London all over the line in his third season in 2024 and he succeeded everywhere, catching exactly 1000 balls for 1,271 yards (his first 1,000-yard campaign) and nine touchdowns. However, the spot at which he took the most snaps was split out wide to the right of the offensive formation, and when he lines up their on Sunday he'll find himself competing against Zyon McCollum, the Bucs' fourth-year cornerback. McCollum and London are a good match physically – the former is 6-2, 199 and the latter is 6-4, 215 – and McCollum has the speed and length to stay with the Falcons' top pass-catcher if Penix tries to hit him deep. London did nearly double his percentage of plays run out of the slot last season and he had a very high target rate when in that position, but the Buccaneers purposely gave Zyon McCollum some training camp time as a nickel back in case they wanted to match him up against big slot receivers on game-to-game basis. London has historically performed well against Tampa Bay, averaging seven catches and almost 95 yards per game in six outings, and his 10.94 yards per target versus the Bucs is his highest against any team he's faced more than once. McCollum, meanwhile, has four passes defensed and a forced fumble in those same six games.

2. Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving vs. Falcons S Jessie Bates

Atlanta signed Jessie Bates in 2023 after he had played five seasons in Cincinnati, and that addition has been a home run as Bates has emerged as the best player on their defense. In his two seasons as a Falcon he has intercepted 10 passes, returned two of them for touchdowns, recorded 21 passes defensed and earned one Pro Bowl spot and one second-team All-Pro selection. He's also strong in run support and was second on the Falcons' defense last year in both total tackles (102) and solo tackles on run plays (26). This will become important if and when second-year Bucs' tailback Bucky Irving breaks through the first line of defense, as he did so frequently in his rookie campaign. On his way to 1,122 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns and 1,514 yards from scrimmage in 2024 – all league highs among rookies – he led all NFL players with a forced missed tackle rate of 37.1%. Bates may also find himself having to cover Irving out of the backfield on passing plays; the rookie had 47 catches last year, and while that was mostly on screens his action in training camp and one preseason game indicates that Irving might get a more robust route tree in Year Two. Against Pittsburgh, he scored a touchdown on a straight go route on which he beat the press defender at the line and made a marvelous over-the-shoulder catch.

3. Falcons T Elijah Wilkinson vs. Buccaneers OLB Haason Reddick

As noted above, the Falcons absorbed a tough loss shortly before the start of the regular season when starting right tackle Kaleb McGary was carted off the practice field with a leg injury, just 16 days after he had signed a two-year, $30 million contract extension. That gave Atlanta little time adjust, particularly because reserve tackle Storm Norton is also expected to miss up to two months after undergoing ankle surgery in late August. Fortunately for Atlanta, they had an experienced and versatile hand on deck in Elijah Wilkinson, who started nine games for the team in 2022, albeit all at left guard. Wilkinson has played eight seasons in the NFL for Denver, Chicago, Arizona and Atlanta and has made 45 starts, including significant in-season stretches at both guard and tackle. The Buccaneers are likely to use their starting edge rushers, Haason Reddick and Yaya Diaby on both ends of the line at various times, but the last time he played a full season, with Philadelphia in 2023, Reddick leaned more towards rushing off the left edge of his team's defensive front, which would put him up against the right tackle. In this case, that also happens to be the quarterback's blind side, because Michael Penix is lefthanded. While Reddick's 2024 season was mostly a wash due to a late trade to the Jets and a contract dispute, in that 2023 season in Philadelphia he was one of only three players in the NFL who recorded six or more QB pressures in eight different games. The other two were Micah Parsons and Josh Allen-Hines.

4. Buccaneers G Cody Mauch vs. Falcons DT David Onyemata

When interior lineman David Onyemata left the Saints in free agency in 20223, the Bucs would have preferred he also left the NFC South entirely, but instead he ended up in Atlanta, and with Grady Jarrett now in Chicago he is the Falcons' focal point on the inside. Onyemata's pressure rate fell fairly steep last year in his second seasons with the Falcons but in 2023 it was at 11.0%, very good for an interior lineman, and he had 36 QB pressures overall, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. In his two seasons in Atlanta, opponents have double-teamed him on 38.5% of his defensive snaps. Mauch, a second-round draft pick in 2023 who as a rookie had to transition both from Division I FCS North Dakota State to the NFL and from tackle to guard, took a very significant leap forward in 2024, helping to solidify one of the best offensive lines in the league. After focusing on adding size and strength during his first full offseason of work, Mauch played 99% of the team's offensive snaps last year and helped the Bucs rank fourth in rushing yards per game, third in yards per carry and 17th in sacks allowed per pass play. Mauch only drew one holding penalty and one false start penalty the entire season, as well. The Buccaneers want to keep their revitalized rushing attack going heading into 2025 and same Mauch-Onyemata brawling will help settle that matter.