The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will continue their quest for a fourth straight NFC South title on Dallas in Week 16, and this time NFL nation will be watching. In the 2020s, Buccaneers-Cowboys games have been appointment viewing, as this will be the fourth straight one contested in prime time. The two teams will do battle at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas on the evening of Sunday, December 22, with kickoff scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET. It will be televised nationally by NBC.

The 8-6 Buccaneers took over first place in the NFC South in Week 14 when they moved ahead of a slumping Atlanta team by one game. The Bucs won again in Week 15, crushing the Chargers in Los Angeles, 40-17, but the Falcons righted their own ship with a win in Las Vegas and thus remained on Tampa Bay's heels. Because the Falcons beat the Bucs twice this season, Tampa Bay has to stay at least one game ahead in the division standings to grab the South crown again.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, are on the brink of playoff elimination at 6-8 and, in fact, would be officially knocked out of contention by a loss on Sunday night. But Dallas has won three of its last four, and even with star quarterback Dak Prescott on injured reserve boasts a lot of star power on both sides of the ball. Most recently, Dallas put up 410 yards in a lopsided win over the Panthers in Charlotte, as those aforementioned stars came out to play. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb caught nine passes for 116 yards and a touchdown to pace the Cowboys' offense while edge rusher Micah Parsons notched two of the defense's six sacks along with eight quarterback pressures.

Running back Rico Dowdle is also emerging as a dangerous weapon for the Cowboys, and his third-straight 100-yard rushing game in Week 15 was his best yet, as he ran for 149 yards on 25 totes. The Cowboys are also without future Hall of Fame guard Zack Martin due to injury but have stayed afloat with Cooper Rush under center. Rush threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions against Carolina.

"They do a great job running the ball, and different type of runs as well," said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles. "They have an all-star player in CeeDee Lamb, and their running back is playing great football. He can break a lot of tackles right now and Cooper is putting it in the right place. He's very smart, he can see the game well and it's going to be a tough game."

Parsons is in his fourth NFL season, and in each of the first three he finished in the top three in the voting for the Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. Since he came back from a four-game injury absence at midseason he has led all NFL players with 41 quarterback pressures. Next to him on the defensive front is emerging defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, and the Dallas secondary features such established playmakers as linebacker Eric Kendricks and slot corner Jourdan Lewis.

"Obviously, with Mike Zimmer calling plays, they present a lot of different fronts that make you communicate and make you have a plan for whatever they're going to bring," said Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield. "A lot of it, obviously, is to try and get Micah in some one-on-one situations, so you've got to be on the same page with that. Lewis at nickel, he's an experienced player – he's played a lot of good ball. They're a little banged up and have some different guys playing, but in the middle, Kendricks is a veteran linebacker that you can tell understands what he's trying to get done and gets those guys lined up as well."

As for the Buccaneers, their offense has shifted into a new level since the bye week thanks to a ground game that is consistently producing gash plays and has finished each of the last four games with over 150 yards. That includes a 223-yard outing last weekend in Los Angeles against a stout Chargers offense. The Buccaneers rushing attack has transformed into a blunt-force weapon at the perfect time of the year.

"It's huge. Everybody is beat up this time of year. If you can grind it out and get some runs in there and kind of wear people down, it helps out a lot."

Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield, the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week, has led the NFL's fourth-ranked passing attack with a career-high 33 touchdown passes and a flair for big plays in key moments with both his arm and his legs. On defense, the Bucs have impressively adjusted to the injury absences of a handful of key contributors, turning it up in Week 15 for its best performance of the season, allowing only 202 yards to the Chargers.

Can the Bucs keep it going in Dallas? Impressively, they are now 5-2 on the road this season and have yet to be trailing at the end of regulation in any game away from home as both of those losses were in overtime. Rookie wideout Jalen McMillan, another emerging contributor for the Buccaneers, says that those wins on the road stem from what the team is doing at home before heading out of town.

"Honestly, [it]s] just the way we practice. Practice gets intensified during the week, and we've been doing a really good job of that, so it's been carrying over to the game."

The Bucs will try to carry their hot streak over into Dallas on Sunday night. It's a game they believe they have to conquer in order to reach their postseason goal, and they may be right.

GAME AND BROADCAST DETAILS

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-6) at Dallas Cowboys (6-8)

Sunday, December 22, 8:20 p.m. ET

AT&T Stadium (capacity: 80,000)

Arlington, Texas

Television: NBC

TV Broadcast Team: Adam Amin (play-by-play), Mark Sanchez (analysts), Kristina Pink (reporter)

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

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

Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente

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

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES

In the regular season, the Cowboys lead the all-time series with Tampa Bay 13-6, and for the better part of 45 years it has been a one-sided affair. However, the Buccaneers have (or are having) two stretches of competitiveness in this shared history, both revolving around their Super Bowl-winning seasons.

Basically, there was no Bucs-Cowboys rivalry during the first decade-and-a-half of the former club's existence. From 1966-85, Dallas made the playoffs 18 times in 20 seasons and played in five Super Bowls. Midway through that run, the Buccaneers were born as a 1976 expansion team and they got their first crack at the Cowboys in 1977. The quarterback matchup was Roger Staubach against Gary Huff, and Dallas won easily, 23-7. The two teams would meet only seven more times over the next two-plus decades, with the Cowboys taking each contest. It didn't help that seven of those eight games were played in Texas; the Bucs are 1-10 on the road against the Cowboys all-time but are actually above .500 at home, as of 2022.

The expansion Buccaneers did make a rather impressive rise to playoff contention in just four years, even advancing to the NFC Championship Game in 1979. That John McKay-Lee Roy Selmon-Doug Williams squad also qualified for the playoffs in 1981 and 1982; the results of those games in Dallas are noted below.

The series turned around, at least for a short stretch when the Buccaneers turned things around as a franchise in the latter half of the '90s. The Bucs and Cowboys didn't meet for nearly that entire decade then finally got together again in 2000. The Bucs, coming off a season in which they advanced to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in 22 years, won that meeting handily, 27-7, sparked by Warrick Dunn's 70-yard touchdown run less than five minutes into the game.

The Bucs beat the Cowboys twice more during their first Super Bowl era, 10-6 in Dallas to kick off the 2001 season and 16-0 in Tampa in 2003. The latter of those two games came with the defending Super Bowl XXXVII champions in the middle of an up-and-down title defense season. The defense took over, allowing just nine first downs and 178 yards of offense and getting key interceptions from Jermaine Phillips and Ronde Barber.

After that run, Dallas reestablished control of the head-to-head series, winning five straight including two in Tampa during the Raheem Morris years (2009 and 2011). The Bucs broke that run with an offensively-challenged 10-6 win at Raymond James Stadium in 2015, with rookie quarterback Jameis Winston breaking up an all-field goal battle with a game-winning touchdown run in the last minute. That bootleg one-yarder came right after Winston had a goal-line fumble erased by a penalty. The next year, the Buccaneers were on the edge of playoff contention in December but Dallas dealt the Bucs' hopes a serious blow with a 26-20 win most famous for running back Ezekiel Elliott's leap into a giant Salvation Army bucket behind the end zone.

The Cowboys also prevailed by a 27-20 margin in 2018 in Dallas but Tampa Bay has taken the two most recent regular-season meetings. As defending Super Bowl champs, the Buccaneers got the Thursday night Kickoff Game spotlight in 2021 and welcomed Dallas to town for what would prove to be a wild shootout. Basically abandoning the rushing attack, the Cowboys had Dak Prescott throw 58 times and the visitors rang up 451 yards to Tampa Bay's 431. Dallas had the lead late, too, after Greg Zuerlein's 48-yard field goal made it 29-28 with 1:24 to play, but that proved to be too much time to leave Tom Brady. Completions of 20 yards to Rob Gronkowski and 24 to Chris Godwin put Ryan Succop in range to make a 36-yard game-winner. The NFL chose to match up the Bucs and Cowboys in Week One of the next season as well, this time in Dallas on Sunday Night Football. Tampa Bay mostly dominated this one, winning 19-3 and only allowing the home team to record 244 yards, 12 first downs and three third-down conversions in 15 tries. Succop kicked four field goals to stake the Bucs to a 12-3 lead and Tom Brady put it away in the second half with a five-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans, who made a dazzling one-handed catch in the end zone.

The Buccaneers and Cowboys have also met three times in the postseason, with Dallas prevailing in all three. Early in its franchise history, Tampa Bay won back-to-back playoff berths in 1981 and 1982, but both postseason runs began and ended in Dallas. The 1981 Buccaneers captured the NFC Central title but were seeded third out of the three division winners and thus had to go to Texas in the Divisional Round. There they absorbed a 38-0 beating sparked by a powerful Dallas rushing attack (four different backs scored touchdowns) and a defense that sacked quarterback Doug Williams four times and picked off four of his passes.

The following season was shortened to nine games by a players' strike and the playoffs were refashioned into a "Super Bowl Tournament" in which the Buccaneers drew the seventh of eight seeds. They were sent back to Dallas for what proved to be a more competitive game before the Cowboys pulled away for a 30-17 win. The Bucs had a 7-6 lead in the second quarter after a 60-yard touchdown return by Hugh Green of a Danny White fumble, and a 17-16 edge in the third quarter thanks to Williams' 49-yard touchdown pass to Gordon Jones. But a 19-yard pick-six by rookie defensive back Monty Hunter in the fourth quarter turned the tide for the home team.

More recently, the Cowboys came to Tampa in the opening round of the 2022 playoffs and ran away with a 31-14 decision. Dallas built a 24-0 lead by early in the third quarter as Prescott threw four touchdown passes, two to tight end Dalton Schultz. This time it was Brady who dropped back all night, throwing a whopping 66 passes while the offense otherwise ran just 12 times for 52 yards. Brady hit Julio Jones and Cam Brate on second-half touchdown passes but it was too little, too late.

NOTABLE CONNECTIONS

• Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles was the Cowboys' defensive backs coach from 2005-07.
• Cowboys Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Backs Coach Al Harris, who played cornerback for 14 years in the NFL, first entered the league as a sixth-round draft pick by the Buccaneers in 1997. He spent his rookie campaign on Tampa Bay's practice squad and was then waived by the Buccaneers the following preseason.
• Dallas punter Bryan Anger served in the same role for the Buccaneers for three seasons, from 2016-18. He holds the Buccaneers' single-season records for gross punting average (45.9), net punting average (42.7) and punts inside the 20 (37), all set in 2016.
• Buccaneers Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Kacy Rodgers first moved from the college coaching ranks into the NFL in 2003 with the Cowboys, starting out as the team's defensive tackles coach. After two seasons in that role he spent three more as the Cowboys' defensive line coach.
• Skip Peete, Tampa Bay's running backs coach, had two different stints in the same position with Dallas. He first joined the Cowboys staff in 2007 under Head Coach Wade Phillips and then stayed on under Jason Garrett through the 2012 season. After stops with the Bears and Rams, Peete returned to Dallas in 2020, joining Mike McCarthy's new staff, and held that post through 2022.
• Buccaneers Outside Linebackers Coach George Edwards also had two different runs on the Cowboys' coaching staff, the first one as the linebackers coach from 1998-2001. Almost two decades later, he returned to Dallas to spend three seasons (2020-22) under McCarthy as the senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach.
• Kevin Carberry, who is in his first season as Tampa Bay's offensive line, got his first NFL coaching job in Dallas. He was on Garrett's staff as an offensive assistant in 2014-15.
• Cornerback Dee Delaney, who is currently on the Cowboys' practice squad, played the previous three seasons in Tampa. From 2021-23, he appeared in 49 games with five starts for the Buccaneers, recording three interceptions and seven passes defensed.

SENIOR COACHING STAFFS

• Tampa Bay:

• Head Coach Todd Bowles
• Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen
• Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Kacy Rodgers
• Pass Game Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach Larry Foote
• Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey

• Dallas:

• Head Coach Mike McCarthy
• Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer
• Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer
• Special Teams Coordinator John Fassel

KEY 2024 ROSTER ADDITIONS

Buccaneers:

• C Graham Barton (1st-round draft pick)
• OLB Chris Braswell (2nd-round draft pick)
• G Ben Bredeson (UFA)
• TE Devin Culp (7th-round draft pick)
• S Mike Edwards (W-TEN)
• P Trenton Gill (FA)
• CB Bryce Hall (UFA…currently on injured reserve)
• CB Troy Hill (FA)
• RB Bucky Irving (4th-round draft pick)
• WR Kameron Johnson (UDFA…currently on injured reserve)
• LB Vi Jones (FA)
• G Elijah Klein (6th-round draft pick)
• WR Jalen McMillan (3rd-round draft pick)
• G Royce Newman (W-GB)
• S Tykee Smith (3rd-round draft pick)
• CB Tavierre Thomas (UFA)
• S Jordan Whitehead (UFA)

Cowboys:

• G Cooper Beebe (3rd-round draft pick)
• CB Caelen Carson (5th-round draft pick…currently on injured reserve)
• RB Ezekiel Elliott (FA)
• WR Ryan Flournoy (6th-round draft pick)
• T Tyler Guyton (1st-round draft pick)
• CB Kemon Hall (W-SF)
• DT Linval Joseph (FA)
• LB Eric Kendricks (FA)
• DE Marshawn Kneeland (2nd-round draft pick)
• DE Carl Lawson (FA)
• LB Marist Liufau (3rd-round draft pick)
• WR Jonathan Mingo (T-CAR)
• CB Amani Oruwariye (FA)
• TE Brevyn Spann-Ford (UDFA)
• LB Nick Vigil (FA)
• DT Carlos Watkins (FA)

ADDITIONAL 2024 CHANGES/DEVELOPMENTS OF NOTE

Buccaneers:

• As Todd Bowles navigates his third season as the Bucs' head coach he is working with his third offensive coordinator in as many seasons. Last year, Bowles picked former Seattle Quarterbacks Coach Dave Canales to replace Byron Leftwich, but Canales departed this offseason to take over as the head coach of the Panthers. Bowles then turned to Liam Coen, who comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree with the Rams and most recently was the offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky. Three members of the Bucs' 2023 staff followed Canales to Carolina – Brad Idzik, Harold Goodwin and Joe Gilbert, which led to some other new additions on Bowles staff in 2024. Those include Offensive Line Coach Kevin Carberry, Pass Game Coordinator Josh Grizzard, Wide Receivers Coach Bryan McClendon and Assistant Offensive Line Coach Brian Picucci. In addition, long-time Special Teams Coordinator Keith Armstrong retired in the offseason, so the Bucs brought in Thomas McGaughey as his replacement.
• Under Coen, the Buccaneers' offense employs quite a bit more pre-snap shifts and movement than it had in 2023, and Coen also has widened the variety of the types of runs the ground game employees. One of Coen's other key initiatives in an attempt to get a moribund rushing attack going is to give quarterback Baker Mayfield multiple plays to choose from in the huddle and at the line so that the offense runs into unfavorable looks less often.
• Despite having tight salary cap restrictions, the Buccaneers made it a priority to retain key players from the 2023 season who were scheduled to hit free agency. General Manager Jason Licht and his staff successfully checked off every item on their list of priorities, beginning with a new two-year deal for franchise icon Mike Evans. That helped bring the team's negotiations with quarterback Baker Mayfield to a conclusion. After Mayfield played the 2023 season on a one-year prove-it deal, his resurgence landed him a lucrative new multi-year contract. The Bucs were also able to re-sign linebacker Lavonte David and kicker Chase McLaughlin. With the other deals in the works, the Bucs used the franchise tag on safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and later inking him to a new contract making him the highest-paid defensive back in the NFL.
• All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs didn't need a new contract for 2024 but he was entering the final year of his rookie deal and the Buccaneers were highly motivated to lock him in to a new long-term pact. That lengthy process came to a head on August 1, when the two sides agreed on a five-year extension that runs through the 2029 campaign and makes him the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL.
• In March, the Buccaneers traded cornerback Carlton Davis, who had started 75 games over six seasons with the team, to the Detroit Lions for a third-round pick in this year's draft. The Buccaneers eventually used that pick to select Washington wide receiver Jalen McMillan.
• In a Week Seven Monday Night Football game against Baltimore, the Buccaneers' offense took several serious blows when both Chris Godwin and Mike Evans suffered significant injuries. Godwin, who at the time was leading the NFL with 50 receptions, sustained a dislocated ankle that will keep him out for at least the rest of the regular season, though he has spoken of the possibility of returning for the postseason if the Buccaneers make it into the field. Evans, who caught his 100th career touchdown pass earlier in the Ravens game, incurred a hamstring injury that caused him to miss three games before his return in Week 12.

Cowboys:

• The Cowboys had to find a new defensive coordinator in 2024 after Dan Quinn got another shot at a head coach job, signing on with the division-rival Washington Commanders. They settled on Mike Zimmer, who already had a long history with the Dallas franchise. Zimmer was on the Cowboys' staff from 1994-2006, hired first by Barry Switzer and then later working under Chan Gailey, Dave Campo and Bill Parcells. He spent his last seven seasons in Dallas as the defensive coordinator before moving on to similar assignments with the Falcons and Bengals. Zimmer was the Vikings' head coach from 2014-21 and had spent the previous two seasons as an analyst/consultant on the college level before returning to Dallas.
• After he made the move from Dallas to D.C., Quinn raided the Cowboys roster for free agent additions, luring defensive end Dorance Armstrong, center Tyler Biadasz and edge rusher Dante Fowler to his side. Long-time standout tackle Tyron Smith also left in free agency to join the New York Jets. Others who departed Dallas in free agency this past offseason included running back Tony Pollard, cornerback Stephon Gilmore and defensive tackles Johnathan Hankins and Neville Gallimore. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch announced his retirement after six seasons in Dallas and was released.
• Quarterback Dak Prescott was set to head into the final year of his contract in 2024, and a clause in that deal that prevented the Cowboys from using their franchise tag on him meant he could leave next spring if he wanted to. Instead, he and the Cowboys got a deal done on the eve the regular-season opener, locking the star quarterback in for four years at an average of $60 million per season. A few weeks before that, Dallas had also reached agreement on a new deal for their top receiver, CeeDee Lamb, who also got four years at the cost of $136 million, $100 million of it guaranteed. Next up could be Micah Parsons, who has one year left on his rookie deal in 2025.
• Prescott was unable to play a full season in his first year under his new deal, as he was felled by a significant hamstring injury in Week Nine during a loss to the Falcons. The hamstring was partially torn from the bone, which led to Prescott having surgery that would end his 2024 campaign. Eighth-year player Cooper Rush has started the Cowboys' five games since, helping the team to a 2-3 record. The Cowboys are 7-4 in the 11 games Rush has started since 2021. Dallas also has former San Francisco first-round pick Trey Lance on the roster, though he has thrown just six passes since coming over from the 49ers in a 2023 trade. Dallas also lost guard Zack Martin to an ankle injury in early December; the Hall of Fame-bound blocker had surgery, ending his season as well.
• Long-time star defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence ended up on injured reserve, too, after suffering a foot injury in Week Four against the Giants. Lawrence has missed nine games since but was designated for return from I.R. on November 24, so he could be returning to the field soon.

INJURY REPORT

Key:

DNP: Did not participate in practice

LP: Limited participation in practice

FP: Full participation in practice

NL: Not listed

Buccaneers:

• LB K.J. Britt (ankle) – WEDS: DNP
• S Mike Edwards (hamstring) – WEDS: LP
• WR Mike Evans (rest) – WEDS: DNP
• DL Will Gholston (knee) – WEDS: FP
• DL Logan Hall (shoulder/wrist) – WEDS: LP
• RB Bucky Irving (back/hip) – WEDS: LP
• S Christian Izien (groin) – WEDS: LP
• WR Kameron Johnson* (ankle) – WEDS: FP
• QB Baker Mayfield (knee) – WEDS: DNP
• TE Cade Otton (knee) – WEDS: DNP
• WR Sterling Shepard (foot) – WEDS: DNP
• S Tykee Smith (knee) – WEDS: LP
• S Antoine Winfield Jr. (knee) – WEDS: DNP
• T Tristan Wirfs (foot/knee) – WEDS: DNP

* Johnson is in his 21-day practice window for return from injured reserve.

Cowboys:

• G T.J. Bass (thigh) – WEDS: DNP
• C Cooper Beebe (concussion) – WEDS: FP
• CB Trevon Diggs (knee) – WEDS: DNP
• RB Rico Dowdloe (knee) – WEDS: FP
• T Chuma Edoga (ankle) – WEDS: DNP
• S Malik Hooker (ankle) – WEDS: LP
• LB Eric Kendricks (personal/calf) – WEDS: DNP
• WR CeeDee Lamb (shoulder) – WEDS: LP
• CB Jourdan Lewis (elbow) – WEDS: LP
• DT Mazi Smith (back) – WEDS: DNP

WEATHER FORECAST

Domed stadium. Outside weather: Partly cloudy. High of 62, low of 50, 9% chance of rain, 63% humidity, winds out of the SSE at 5-10 mph.

GAME REFEREE

Head referee: Land Clark (7th season, 5th as referee)

BETTING LINE

• Favorite: Buccaneers (-4.0)
• Over/Under: 48.5

INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS IN 2024

Buccaneers-

Points Scored: K Chase McLauglin, 117

Touchdowns: WR Mike Evans 9/RB Rachaad White, 9

Passing Yards: QB Baker Mayfield, 3,617

Passer Rating: QB Baker Mayfield, 104.1

Rushing Yards: RB Bucky Irving, 852

Receptions: TE Cade Otton, 59

Receiving Yards: WR Mike Evans, 749

Interceptions: CB Zyon McCollum/S Tykee Smith, 2

Sacks: DL Calijah Kancey/DL Vita Vea, 6.0

Tackles: LB Lavonte David, 104

Cowboys-

Points Scored: K Brandon Aubrey, 122

Touchdowns: WR CeeDee Lamb, 6

Passing Yards: QB Dak Prescott*, 1,978

Passer Rating: QB Dak Prescott*, 86.0

Rushing Yards: RB Rico Dowdle, 880

Receptions: WR CeeDee Lamb, 94

Receiving Yards: WR CeeDee Lamb, 1,089

Interceptions: CB Trevon Diggs/S Malik Hooker/LB Eric Kendricks/S Israel Mukuamu, 2

Sacks: LB Micah Parsons, 8.5

Tackles: LB Eric Kendricks, 124

* On injured reserve

TEAM STAT RANKINGS IN 2024

Buccaneers-

Scoring Offense: 4th (28.8 ppg)

Total Offense: 3rd (388.4 ypg)

Rushing Offense: t-4th (144.4 ypg)

Passing Offense: 4th (244.0 ypg)

First Downs Per Game: 3rd (22.6)

Third-Down Pct.: 3rd (48.3%)

Sacks Per Pass Attempt Allowed: 18th (7.11%)

Red Zone TD Pct.: 6th (65.5%)

Scoring Defense: 19th (23.3 ppg)

Total Defense: 27th (356.9 ypg)

Rushing Defense: 11th (109.2 ypg)

Passing Defense: 30th (247.7 ypg)

First Downs Allowed Per Game: t-27th (20.6)

Third-Down Pct. Allowed: 20th (40.5%)

Sacks Per Pass Attempt: 19th (7.24%)

Red Zone TD Pct. Allowed: 10th (51.9%)

Turnover Margin: t-18th (-2)

Cowboys-

Scoring Offense: 19th (21.3 ppg)

Total Offense: 17th (328.9 ypg)

Rushing Offense: 27th (99.8 ypg)

Passing Offense: 12th (229.1 ypg)

First Downs Per Game: 17th (19.5)

Third-Down Pct.: 23rd (36.3%)

Sacks Per Pass Attempt Allowed: 12th (6.31%)

Red Zone TD Pct.: 28th (47.5)

Scoring Defense: 29th (27.1 ppg)

Total Defense: 26th (356.0 ypg)

Rushing Defense: 29th (136.1 ypg)

Passing Defense: 21st (219.9 ypg)

First Downs Allowed Per Game: t-18th (19.9)

Third-Down Pct. Allowed: 3rd (34.1%)

Sacks Per Pass Attempt: 2nd (10.02%)

Red Zone TD Pct. Allowed: 32nd (73.3%)

Turnover Margin: t-22nd (-5)

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• LB Lavonte David recorded 1.5 sacks against the Chargers in Week 15, pushing his career total to 39.0, which ties David Logan for sixth most in Buccaneers history. One more will give him sole possession of sixth place
• WR Mike Evans scored two touchdowns in the Bucs' win over the Chargers last Sunday, giving him 104 in his career, including 103 on receptions. One more score will put him into a tie with Hall of Famers Don Hutson and Tim Brown for the 21st most touchdowns in league annals
• QB Baker Mayfield tossed four touchdown passes against L.A., giving him 32 on the season. With two more he will pass Jameis Winston (33 in 2019) for the third-highest single-season total in franchise history.
• TE Cade Otton has a team-leading 59 receptions in 2024. Four more would allow him to surpass Jackie Harris (62 in 1995) for the fourth most in a single season by a tight end in franchise history.
• RB Bucky Irving needs 148 rushing yards to become the first Buccaneer since Doug Martin in 2015 to record a 1,000-yard rushing season. That would also make him the first Tampa Bay rookie back to hit that mark since Martin in 2012.

NOTABLY QUOTABLE

• Head Coach Todd Bowles on what he thinks Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen does best: "It's really attention to detail. I think it all starts with the run game – how can we run it off of this? How can we throw it off of this? What did we do last week? What do we see? What do they see? And kind of putting it together that way so with the coaches collaborating upstairs and then giving it to the players and feeding it downstairs and Baker [Mayfield] executing it all on the field – the camaraderie and the coordination with those guys, the chemistry of seeing it the same way has been very good."
• Quarterback Baker Mayfield on the recent play of the Buccaneers' offensive line: "They're playing extremely well right now. The Chargers had are some really good edge rushers and guys have a lot of stats. But our guys are great, and we trust them. The interior guys, Ben [Bredeson], Graham [Barton], and Cody [Mauch], continue to improve as the weeks have gone on. We just continue to lean on those guys. We followed their lead in the second half there when we just kept running the ball."
• Wide receiver Jalen McMillan on being 5-2 on the road this year with only two overtime losses, and what makes the team so effective on the road: "Honestly, just the way we practice. Practice gets intensified during the week, and we've been doing a really good job of that, so it's been carrying over to the game."
• Defensive lineman Calijah Kancey on the team's chemistry translating to on-field performance: "It helps a lot. Coming from college, where guys hang around all day, and then getting into the NFL where guys have families and the locker room is pretty much empty after meetings…Here, it's not like that – it's like college. We hang around, we talk, we go out and hang with each other outside of football. I think it's a good brotherhood here, and that just brings us closer on the field."
• Mayfield on what Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen has brought to the team to allow them to have the offensive success that they've had this season: "Great offensive coordinators always dial things up to the strengths of their players, and that's what Liam has done. He's had to adjust on the fly. We were looking at this thing being in a lot of '11' personnel early in the year and then adjusting and seeing how this run game is growing…That package has just continued to grow. The great ones adjust, and Liam has done just that. But, like I said earlier, you've got to have thick skin to be around this building, so we'll bring him back down to earth [laughs]."
• Bowles on what the win over the Chargers does for the team's confidence: "It was big because we put together a good second half – not so much as just beating the Chargers – that we finished the game offensively and ran it out and we finished the game defensively and got a turnover. That shows some growth from the first half of the season so that part gives us confidence going forward, that we can play with anybody as long as we don't make the mistakes."