The Falcons and Bucs are both on two game winning streaks currently.  The Bucs lost 20-17 in Atlanta just six weeks ago so they have to be confident going into tomorrow’s football game.  The Bucs will likely lean heavy on the running game tomorrow against a Falcons’ D that is allowing 111.4 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry with Cadillac Williams getting a heavy workload.  Another player who will be busy tomorrow is TE Kellen Winslow against a Falcons’ D allowing 247.0 yards passing per game.  If Josh Freeman doesn’t turn the ball over the Bucs will have a great chance to win tomorrow.

Defensively Barrett Ruud will be busy as the Falcons will likely be running the ball a lot with Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling due to the fact that the Bucs are allowing 156.5 yards rushing per game this season and 4.8 yards per carry.  The Bucs will need to put pressure on Matt Ryan or he will be playing catch with Roddy White all day long.

PREDICTION:  FALCONS 20, BUCCANEERS 17

I hope the Buccaneers had fun winning on the road last week because they won’t have that feeling Sunday afternoon.  The first time the Bucs played the Saints in Tampa they got destroyed 38-7 and I have to reason to think this Sunday it will be any closer.  It’s really too bad that the Bucs don’t run the ball too well because the Saints are giving up 114.4 yards rushing per game and 4.4 yards per carry.  The Saints already have 24 interceptions this season so if the Bucs get behind look for Josh Freeman to start throwing the ball to them.

I have a feeling that the Saints will come out more balanced than normal this week.  That means the Bucs will have to defend the run and the pass and they just don’t have the manpower to match up with the Saints’ O.  The Bucs will have to try to slow down Drew Brees who is one of the best QBs in the NFL, but, even if they have some success doing it then the Saints will just unleash Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell and Reggie Bush on them.

PREDICTION:  SAINTS 38, BUCCANEERS 0

The Buccaneers might be inspired after seeing what the Browns did to the Steelers last night.  That is because the Jets (6-6) and the Buccaneers (1-11) have the same exact records that the Browns and Steelers had going into last night’s game which the Browns won.  For the Buccaneers to have a good shot to win the game this Sunday they will need to establish a running game with Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward against a Jets’ D that is allowing 109.4 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry.  Josh Freeman will have to be careful when throwing the ball this week as CB Darrelle Revis of the Jets is a true shutdown corner who has 5 interceptions this year already.  That means that throwing the ball to Antoino Bryant could be dangerous.  This game is set up for Kellen Winslow to have a big game in the passing game as a young QB’s best friend is often the TE.

On defense the Bucs will need to tighten up their chinstraps as the Jets are going to come out of the locker-room trying to bully them with their running game.  The Jets are averaging 168.6 yards rushing per game and 4.7 yards per carry as Thomas Jones (1,068 rushing yards, 9 TDs) is having a great year.  Still, with Kellen Clemens starting at QB the Bucs must stop the run and force him to throw the ball if they are going to have any chance of winning this game.

PREDICTION:  JETS 20, BUCCANEERS 10

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-10) will have a very good shot at getting their second win of the year as they take on the Carolina Panthers (4-7).  They will still be the underdogs, but the Panthers are starting Matt Moore at quarterback as Jake Delhomme is out with a broken finger.  Moore has not started a game since 2007 and in 9 games that season he had QB rating of only 67.0.  He apparantly has a very strong arm and the deep ball is one of his few strengths, so the Bucs can’t get beat deep.  The Bucs are giving up 160 rushing yards per game, and with an inexperienced quarterback starting for the Panthers they will most likely hand the ball off a ton.  The good news for the Bucs is that both of the Panthers’ main backs, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart, are injured and are game-time decisions.

Although the Panthers are not a very good football team, they do defend the pass pretty well.  They only give up 181 passing yards per game, so Josh Freeman is probably going to struggle.  That means Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward are going to need to have big games.  The Panthers do give up 132 rushing yards per game, so there is reason to believe that Williams and Ward can have success.  Without a passing game though, the Bucs will have a hard time getting into the endzone, so I am going with the Panthers in this one.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10, Carolina Panther 21

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-9) are heading to the Georgia Dome to take on the Atlanta Falcons (5-5) Sunday.  The Falcons are a much better team at home (4-0) than they are on the road (1-5), so the Buccaneers need to be prepared to play a solid football team.  The Bucs’ defense has been giving up way too many rushing yards all season (169 yards per game), something the Falcons are going to try and take advantage of.  Good news for the Bucs is that the Falcons’ star running back Michael Turner probably wont play in this one and is listed as questionable due to an ankle sprain.  Even if Turner does play, he wont be as effective without his ankle 100%.  Jason Snelling will likely get the bulk of the carries for the Falcons, and although he is a back-up he is a very capable back.  He has had some good games for the Falcons and is averaging 4.2 yards per carry this season.  Although I expect the Falcons to run the ball a lot, the Bucs defense cannot forget about quarterback Matt Ryan.  Ryan has been having a “sophomore slump” this season, but he is coming off one of his best games of the season.

Josh Freeman will stay the starter for the Bucs’ at quarterback, despite having 11 turnovers in his three starts.  The Falcons don’t have a very good pass-defense though, so I would expect some improvement from Freeman compared to last week where he threw three interceptions.  The Falcons also give up 126 rushing yards per game so Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward could have their first good game in weeks.  I don’t think the Bucs’ offense will be able to keep up with Matt Ryan and the Falcons’ offense, so it looks like the Bucs will get their tenth loss of the season.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13, Atlanta Falcons 27