The 7-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 8-8 Carolina Panthers will get the NFL's final regular-season weekend started on Saturday in a game that could decide the NFC South title. The Panthers would clinch their first division crown since 2015 with a win, while the Buccaneers need a victory on Saturday plus an Atlanta loss to New Orleans on Sunday to be the South champs for a fifth season in a row. To find out how to watch, listen and livestream the game, click here.
As Pro Football Talk writes, it's "now or never for the Bucs to snap out of it." One analyst considers the return of Tristan Wirfs to be a very important factor in the outcome, and CBS Sports' Pete Prisco thinks the Buccaneers' offense will get back on track. One expert considers the Panthers a somewhat easier team to trust at the moment, and another notes Carolina's alternating pattern of wins and losses over the last 10 weeks would suggest a win on Saturday. While one analyst pointed out that the Bucs' averaged just 5.6 yards per pass attempt against the Panthers in Week 16, another provides the counterargument that Carolina's Bryce Young only threw four passes more than seven yards downfield last week, completing just one.
The Buccaneers are 2.5-point favorites at home but the experts are finding it difficult to trust either team and thus there isn't much of a consensus. Here's what some of them are predicting will occur on Saturday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium:
NFL.com – Four of five analysts go with the Bucs, but none predict a margin of more than four points
ESPN.com – Eight of the 11 assembled experts have their picks in, and six go with the home team
CBSSports.com – Pete Prisco sides with the Bucs in a six-point decision
USA Today – Only one of six prognosticators likes the Buccaneers in this one
Bleacher Report – Using the spread, four of seven analysts go with Carolina
Pro Football Talk – Mike Florio and Chris Simms agree on the Buccaneers this time
Sports Illustrated – Four out of six MMQB staffers pick the Bucs to win
Sporting News – Vinnie Iyer predicts the second Carolina three-point win in three weeks
Gennaro Filice of NFL.com notes that he has picked the Buccaneers to win in each contest during their current four-game losing streak. Rather than be put off by that experience, he is doubling down and going with them again on Saturday, with this as part of his reasoning:
"Over the last couple months, the Panthers' previously potent run game has ground to a halt, while their once-stout run defense has become a sieve. The Bucs have their own issues, to be sure, but they also have the more experienced quarterback and coach in this matchup, as well as the more established roster. This isn't truly a postseason play-in game -- while Carolina would clinch the division with a win, Tampa needs a win on Saturday and an Atlanta loss to New Orleans on Sunday -- but it will feel like one in the moment. And with this game taking place in Raymond James Stadium, I'm all too willing to go down with the pirate ship."
