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Preview and Analysis of NFL Wild Card Playoff Game-Buccaneers vs. Football Team
Introduction
Now that the 2020 – 2021 NFL regular season has finished it is time to start looking at the playoff match ups. This year the National Football League expanded the playoffs from 12 teams to 14 teams by adding an additional wild card team for both the NFC and AFC. The Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs both earned a bye for the wild card round of the 2020 – 2021 NFL playoffs by being the best team in their respective conferences.
Details of the Los Angeles Rams vs. the Seattle Seahawks 2021 Playoff Game
The number 4 seed in the NFC, the Washington Football Team, will host the number 5 seed in the NFC, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, from Fed Ex Field located in Landover, Maryland. This highly anticipated match up is scheduled for Saturday, January 9th, 2021 at 8:15 pm ET. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers intense battle against the Washington Football Team will be nationally broadcasted on NBC.
Breakdown and Analysis
After an offseason of serious rebuilding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers compiled a regular season record of 11 and 5. By adding Super Bowl winning former New England Patriots players such as Tom Brady at quarterback and Rob Gronkowski at the tight end position, the Bucs are making their first playoff appearance in 13 years. Upon Tampa Bay acquiring the disgruntled wide receiver in Antonio Brown they have bounced back and finished the 2020 – 2021 NFL regular season with a bang by winning their last four games. The Buccaneers’ offense is finally operating a very high level, and they prove to be hard to stop now that they are running on all cylinders.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense has definitely improved this year, but they have often been quite inconsistent over the past NFL regular season. During their wins this season the Bucs defense has given up an average of only 18.2 points per game, and over the course of their loses they have given up an average of 29.2 points per game. Due to the fact that the Washington Football Team has the worst offensive statistics out of any playoff team this year the Tampa Bay defense should be able to take care of business this Saturday.
The Washington Football Team surprising beat out the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Giants to win the weak and decimated NFC East division with an overall record of 7 and 9. Unfortunately for Washington they only beat one team with a winning record during the 2020 – 2021 NFL regular season. That team was the Pittsburgh Steelers who began falling apart toward the end of the season when the Washington Football Team managed to beat them. Washington will need to play their best game of the year against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers if they want to advance in the 2020 – 2021 NFL postseason.
The strong spot of the Washington Football Team is their disruptive and explosive defensive line. Their defensive front four consisting of players like Chase Young, Montez Sweat, and Jonathan Allen can not only stuff their opponents run game, but they can get to the quarterback consistently on their solid pass rushing attack. They have been known to cause turnovers and hit the opposing quarterback making them uncomfortable all game. The Washington Football Team will need to get to Tom Brady early and often if they want even a chance of slowing down the Buccaneers high powered offense that can put up points in a hurry.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Football Team did not play each other during this past NFL regular season, but it quite reasonable to believe that the Bucs should be able to easily defeat Washington in order to advance to the divisional round of the 2020 – 2021 NFL playoffs. The Football Team plays in the worst division in football, and that is the only reason they are in the NFL postseason this year. I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will win this game by over 10 points.
The Betting Odds
These are the current odds according to Bovada sportsbook as of Wednesday, January 6th, 2021.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -8.5 (-110) -430
Washington Football Team +8.5 (-110) +315
Over: 45.0 (-105)
Under: 45.0 (-115)
Sources:
"NFL playoffs preview 2020: Schedule, bracket, Super Bowl chances for every team”, Kevin Seifert, espn.com, January 3, 2021.
“NFL playoffs, Super Bowl schedule: AFC, NFC bracket, seeds, TV times, more”, espn.com, January 3, 2021.
“Tampa Bay Buccaneers Franchise Encyclopedia”., pro-football-reference.com, January 6, 2021.
“2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Statistics & Players”, pro-football-reference.com, January 6, 2021.
“2020 Washington Football Team Statistics & Players”, pro-football-reference.com, January 6, 2021.
“Washington Football Team Franchise Encyclopedia”, pro-football-reference.com, January 6, 2021.
“NFL – Next Events”, bovada.lv, January 7, 2021.