Tampa Bay's Ryan Fitzpatrick had the best game of his career last week against New Orleans. The second string QB was not expected to have an impressive stat line following the Week 1 NFC South division match up at the Super Dome against the Saints. However, it didn't take long for Fitzpatrick to silence his critics and garner immediate attention from every media outlet that covers the NFL.
It is highly unlikely that Fitzpatrick will repeat a similar stat line from Week 1 in which he threw for 417 yards and 4 touchdowns with a completion percentage of 75% averaging 14.9 yards per attempt. He even called his own number at the goal line and gained a rushing touchdown to beef up his stats more.
The Buccaneers practiced with Fitzy at the helm for the whole of pre-season in anticipation of Jameis Winston's three game suspension to start the season. After watching his amazing display of downfield accuracy, it appears Dirk Koetter made the right decision to allow Fitzpatrick to make some long downfield throws early and often.
After knocking off former Super Bowl champ and MVP Drew Brees, the Bucs will face a difficult challenge in Week 2 when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles and Nick Foles.
Most of the sports pundits, talking heads and analysts heavily favorite Philadelphia in this Week 2 match up. It will be up to Ryan Fitzpatrick and the rest of the Bucs to make it happen against a stout Philly defense. The odds of another win for Tampa are somewhat slim according to the 'experts' but I believe the addition of Desean Jackson, given that he passes the NFL's concussion protocol and is given the green light to play this week, could possibly even the scales somewhat. Other passing threats like Chris Godwin and an effective running game should help spread the field a bit and give Mike Evans more opportunities.
Tampa Bay's young secondary will also have to step up big if the Bucs are going to put another W on the board against the Eagles. ESPN has Philadelphia listed as the -3.5 favorite with an Over/Under of 44 points. As long as Desean Jackson is healthy and plays, I think the Bucs have a real shot at winning here. I'll take the Buccaneers barely sneaking by with the win this week - total points scored: 37 - Bucs 20 - Eagles 17.
Comments