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2023 Game Preview: Jaguars-Buccaneers, Week 16

Raymond James Stadium will be home to a clash between two Florida teams in first place in their division but scratching and clawing to maintain their spot in the playoff hunt

Dec 24, 2023 at 08:00 AM

Scott Smith

Senior Writer/Editor

On the Saturday evening before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Week 13 game against the Carolina Panthers, Head Coach Todd Bowles told his players that within eight days they could be in first place in the NFC South. Given that the Buccaneers were 4-7 at the time after losing six of their previous seven games, that seemed like a mildly bizarre fact, but it was also true.

It also came to pass.

Wins over the Panthers and Falcons put the Bucs into a three-way tie at 6-7 with Atlanta and New Orleans, and then things got even better. In Week 15, the Bucs seized a critical win in Green Bay and the Falcons dropped a last-minute decision in Carolina. Now it's a two-way tie for the South lead with the Saints, and the Bucs currently hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Saints will come to Tampa in Week 17 for a massive rematch, but it's too early for players and coaches to be focusing on that game. Next up is the Jacksonville Jaguars, and if the Bucs want to insure that they are still controlling their own playoff fate by next week they need to stay on a hot streak against another first-place team in the state of Florida.

"It's just knowing what we can possibly have ahead of us if we handle [the] game of [the] week and how much [work] we put in over this whole past offseason, training camp, and everything," said outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. "We're not ready to go home yet, so we're going to do whatever it takes to keep our season going to get to the postseason. We just take it one game at a time, and like Bowles said two weeks ago, 'The next couple of days we could be in first place,' and we handled that, so now we just have to keep going, and keep controlling our own destiny. We don't want to be in anybody else's hands."

The Jaguars have lost three straight against prime AFC contenders but are still in first in the AFC South due to a tiebreaker over the Colts. Young star quarterback Trevor Lawrence started the week in the concussion protocol and thus may not be available to play on Sunday, in which case the Jaguars would turn to C.J. Beathard, presuming an injury to his non-throwing shoulder doesn't sideline him, too. (Beathard was a full participant in practice on Wednesday.) Jacksonville is also without one of its top pass-catchers in Christian Kirk but still has plenty of firepower, from dual threat running back Travis Etienne to big-play wideout Calvin Ridley to high-volume tight end Evan Engram.

"Offensively, the way Ridley is playing right now, it's hard to argue he's not one of the top three [wide receivers] in the league right now with the way he's been playing," said Bowles. "Trevor Lawrence is a phenomenal quarterback, running and throwing the football. Etienne can run and catch the ball out of the backfield. Engram as a tight end/wide receiver – whatever you want to call him – he can block, he can run, he can catch. They present a lot of problems."

Jacksonville's defense has a pair of extremely athletic edge rushers in Josh Allen and Travon Walker, both former top-10 picks, and they've combined for 19.5 sacks this season. The Jaguars are also tied for the league lead in takeaways, led by cornerback Darious Williams' four interceptions. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield knows that defense is a minefield of players who can take the ball away.

"They do a really, really good job of it," said Mayfield. "And it's not just one guy – it's a lot of them. It starts up front. Obviously, they've got two great pass rushers in Walker and Allen off the edge. Taking care of those guys – they present issues on their own. And then, the secondary, those guys up front allow the secondary to be extremely aggressive and they're smart players. They have played a lot of ball together. They're opportunistic, but we have to take care of the ball, especially this late in the year. The playoff mentality, it's all about the ball – taking care of it and making sure we're not doing anything to hurt ourselves. That includes for me penalties, turnovers and all of those negative plays. Eliminating all of those things when you play a team like this [is critical], and just trying to move the chains consistently."

Mayfield pushed the Buccaneers into a "playoff mode mentality" three weeks ago, and the Bucs have advanced three weeks in a row. They'll try to stay alive again in Week 16, but the Jaguars are also in a tight playoff race and will surely arrive at Raymond James Stadium with just as much motivation. The game could turn the season for either team, or possibly both.

GAME AND BROADCAST DETAILS

Jacksonville Jaguars (8-6) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-7)

Sunday, December 24, 4:05 p.m. ET

Raymond James Stadium (capacity: 65,844)

Tampa, Florida

Television: CBS (Local WTSP Channel 10)

TV Broadcast Team: Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Trent Green (analyst), Melanie Collins (reporter)

Radio: 98Rock (WXTB, 97.9 FM), Flagship Station

Radio Broadcast Team: Gene Deckerhoff (play-by-play), Dave Moore (analyst), T.J. Rives (sideline)

Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente

Spanish Radio Broadcast Team: Carlos Bohorquez (play-by-play), Martin Gramática (analyst)

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Coming to the game or enjoying pregame festivities? Check out our Buccaneers Gameday Page for everything you need to know about getting ready for the game, Tailgate Packages, Bucs Beach and more!

TICKETING INFORMATION

The 2023 season is underway and there are a limited number of Single Game Tickets on sale now! Visit Buccaneers.com to purchase tickets.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES

The Buccaneers welcomed a third NFL team to the state of Florida in 1995 when a round of expansion brought in the Jacksonville Jaguars (and the Carolina Panthers). Tampa Bay's initial welcome wasn't very warm, as they defeated the first-year Jaguars in 1995, albeit barely. The Buccaneers also claimed the two most recent meetings between the two Sunshine State rivals, a 38-31 shootout win in Tampa in 2015 and a 28-11 thumping in Jacksonville in 2019. However, the Jaguars owned the rest of the series in between those Bucs wins.

Overall, the Jaguars leads the series by a 4-3 margin, but the Bucs are 2-1 in games played in Tampa. The Bucs got their first-ever win in Jacksonville in that 2019 meeting, with running back Peyton Barber scoring two touchdowns on the ground and linebacker Devin White returning a fumble 14 yards for a touchdown. White also had an interception off starter Nick Foles in that game, and when Gardner Minshew replaced Foles he was picked off by cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.

The aforementioned 38-31 Bucs win in 2015 actually required a rally from the home team, which was losing 24-23 near the end of the third quarter. The game-changing play was a nine-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Tampa Bay defensive end Jacquies Smith. Doug Martin ran for 123 yards and the Bucs' final score as part of a 183-yard outing for Tampa Bay's ground game.

The Bucs' win to kick off the series in 1995 was even closer. In fact, the expansion Jaguars scored on a Pete Mitchell touchdown catch with 37 seconds left to cut the Bucs' lead to 17-16 and then elected to go for the win with a two-point conversion. Cornerback Charles Dimry's tight coverage on wide receiver Jimmy Smith kept Jaguars quarterback Steve Beuerlein from converting on the two-point pass, but the Jaguars then successfully pulled off an onside kick to engineer another chance to win. That left it up to Martin Mayhew to seal the Bucs' victory with an interception on the next play.

Jacksonville's other three wins in the series were all by one-score margins. Most notably the two teams met right in the middle of a 2007 season in which both teams would end up in the playoffs. Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia threw 41 passes and had 267 yards, while Jacksonville's Quinn Gray threw just 16 times for 100 yards. However, Gray did connect with Matt Jones on a fourth-quarter eight-yard touchdown pass to put the Jaguars up, 24-23. Garcia was intercepted three times, including on his last pass of the day in the Buccaneers' final attempt to regain the lead. Joey Galloway's 58-yard touchdown catch and the Bucs' 385-219 edge in overall yardage weren't enough to overcome Jacksonville's 3-0 advantage in takeaways.

NOTABLE CONNECTIONS

Mike Caldwell, now in his second season as the Jaguars' defensive coordinator, spent the 2019-21 seasons as the Buccaneers' inside linebackers coach on Bruce Arians' staff. He won a Super Bowl championship ring with Tampa Bay at the end of the 2020 season.
Jacksonville Safeties Coach Cody Grimm followed Caldwell from Tampa to Jacksonville in 2022. He had previously served three years on the Buccaneers' coaching staff as a defensive/special teams assistant.
Brentson Buckner, the Jaguars' defensive line coach, spent one season on Tampa Bay's staff, though not at the same time as Caldwell and Grimm. The Bucs added him to their staff in what proved to be Dirk Koetter's final season as head coach in 2018. Buckner was also a defensive line coach for the Buccaneers.
Jacksonville Assistant Offensive Line Coach Todd Washington played eight seasons as center/guard in the NFL, beginning when he was selected by Tampa Bay in the fourth round of the 1998 draft. Washington spent his first five seasons with the Buccaneers, appearing in 51 games with three starts.
Jaguars defensive lineman Jeremiah Ledbetter was with the Buccaneers for parts of four seasons from 2018-21. He spent most of the 2018 season on Tampa Bay's practice squad before a promotion to the active roster in December. He went back to training camp with the Buccaneers the following summer but was waived/injured during the final roster cutdown. After spending some time on Baltimore's practice squad in 2019, he came back to the Bucs' practice squad in October and stayed there for the rest of that season. He was also on the practice squad in Tampa for most of 2020 before another late-season promotion, and was actually on the active roster for Super Bowl LV. He was waived again the following summer after going to another training camp in Tampa.
Jacksonville is one of the six teams kicker Chase McLaughlin played for before coming to Tampa. He was with the Jaguars for three games in 2020 and was four of five on field goal tries and three of four on extra point attempts.

SENIOR COACHING STAFFS

Tampa Bay:

Head Coach Todd Bowles
Assistant Head Coach/Run Game Coordinator Harold Goodwin
Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales
Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Kacy Rodgers
Pass Game Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach Larry Foote
Special Teams Coordinator Keith Armstrong

Jacksonville:

Head Coach Doug Pederson
Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor
Defensive Coordinator Mike Caldwell
Special Teams Coordinator Heath Farwell

2023 ROSTER ADDITIONS

Buccaneers:

LB SirVocea Dennis (fifth-round draft pick)
OLB Yaya Diaby (third-round draft pick)
TE Payne Durham (fifth-round draft pick)
RB Chase Edmonds (FA)
G Matt Feiler (FA)
DL Greg Gaines (UFA)
CB Josh Hayes (sixth-round draft pick)
CB Keenan Isaac (UDFA)
S Christian Izien (UDFA)
DL Calijah Kancey (first-round draft pick)
G Cody Mauch (second-round draft pick)
QB Baker Mayfield (UFA)
K Chase McLaughlin (UFA)
S Ryan Neal (FA)
WR Trey Palmer (sixth-round draft pick)
RB Sean Tucker (UDFA)

Jaguars:

LB Yasir Abdullah (fifth-round draft pick)
RB Tank Bigsby (third-round draft pick)
DE Angelo Blackson (FA)
T Ezra Cleveland (T-MIN)
WR Elijah Cooks (UDFA)
T Anton Harrison (first-round draft pick)
CB Antonio Johnson (fifth-round draft pick)
RB D'Ernest Johnson (UFA)
DE Tyler Lacey (fourth-round draft pick)
K Brandon McManus (FA)
LB Ventrell Miller (fourth-round draft pick…on injured reserve)
QB E.J. Perry (FA…currently on practice squad)
TE Brenton Strange (second-round draft pick)
WR Parker Washington (sixth-round draft pick)

ADDITIONAL 2023 CHANGES/DEVELOPMENTS OF NOTE

Buccaneers:

Todd Bowles enters his second season as the Bucs' head coach with a new offensive coordinator on his staff. Former Seahawks Quarterbacks Coach Dave Canales takes over for Byron Leftwich, who spent four seasons in that role, the first three under Head Coach Bruce Arians. Canales helped quarterback Geno Smith go from journeyman to the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2022 and has roots in the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay systems.
The Buccaneers made a number of other changes to Bowles' staff after the 2022 season, bringing in George Edwards (a former Vikings defensive coordinator) to coach outside linebackers, Brad Idzik to tutor wide receivers, and Skip Peete to take over the running backs room. David Raih and Jordan Somerville also joined the team as senior offensive analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach, respectively. With the arrival of Edwards, defensive Pass Game Coordinator Larry Foote switched from the outside linebacker room to the inside linebacker group. Thaddeus Lewis, who spent the previous two seasons as an assistant wide receivers coach, was promoted to quarterbacks coach.
After winning a Super Bowl and two division titles over the past three years, the Buccaneers saw an era come to an end when quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement in late January. To move on at the game's most critical position, the Buccaneers brought in former number-one overall draft pick Baker Mayfield to compete with 2021 second-round selection Kyle Trask. Former Ram John Wolford was also added for experienced depth in the quarterback room. Mayfield was named the opening-day starter by Bowles between the second and third preseason games in August.
After largely "keeping the band together" for the 2021-22 seasons after their Super Bowl LV victory, the Buccaneers parted ways with a number of prominent players in 2023. Donovan Smith, who occupied the Bucs' starting left tackle spot for eight seasons, was released in March, as were tight end Cameron Brate, running back Leonard Fournette and kicker Ryan Succop. Safety Mike Edwards, quarterback Blaine Gabbert, cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, safety Keanu Neal, defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches, wide receiver Breshad Perriman and tackle Josh Wells all found new homes in free agency while defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, wide receiver Julio Jones, outside linebacker Carl Nassib, tight end Kyle Rudolph and safety Logan Ryan were not re-signed.

Jaguars:

In addition to replacing departed right tackle Jawaan Taylor with first-round pick Anton Harrison, the Jaguars also started the season without their starting left tackle, as Cam Robinson was suspended for the first four games for violating the league's PED policy. Robinson returned to start seven games but then suffered a knee injury in a game at Houston in Week 12 and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. Walker Little has started six of the Jaguars' other seven games at left tackle, with midseason trade acquisition Ezra Cleveland getting the other start.
The Jaguars also placed one of their top receivers, Christian Kirk, on injured reserve on December 8 due to a core muscle injury. Kirk currently leads the Jaguars with 787 receiving yards and is third on the team with 57 catches. He must miss at least two more games before returning.
Jacksonville actually traded for former Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley during the 2022 season, but he made his debut with the team in 2023 after completing a year-long NFL suspension. Ridley currently ranks second on the team in both receptions (60) and receiving yards (781).
The Jaguars used their 2023 franchise tag to keep pending free agent tight end Evan Engram in the fold. Engram signed a one-year deal with Jacksonville after five years with the Giants and promptly turned in a 76-catch, 766-yard season. He's on pace to outdo those numbers in his second Jacksonville season, as he currently leads the team with 88 catches and has 729 yards and three touchdowns.

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