The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin their 2022 preseason at Raymond James Stadium but then won't play at home again for more than a month.
For the second year in a row, the Buccaneers have an all-AFC slate of preseason games lined up for August, beginning with a visit from the Miami Dolphins on the evening of Saturday the 13th. Tampa Bay will then round out the preseason with games at Tennessee and Indianapolis the following two Saturday nights. All three contests will be broadcast locally by WFLA-TV.
The NFL adjusted its schedule in 2021 to an enhanced 17-game regular season with a shortened three-game preseason. Each year, all the teams in one conference get home dates for their '17th game,' which is always an interconference matchup, giving them nine home games in the regular season. Those same teams then play just one home game during the preseason. This year, it is the NFC's turn to get the 17th game at home, which is why the Bucs only have one game at Raymond James Stadium during the preseason.
Here is Tampa Bay's 2022 preseason schedule:
| Day | Date | Opponent | Time | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat. | Aug. 13 | MIAMI | 7:30 p.m. | WFLA-TV |
| Sat. | Aug. 20 | at Tennessee | 7:00 p.m. | WFLA-TV |
| Sat. | Aug. 27 | at Indianapolis | 7:30 p.m. | WFLA-TV |
The Buccaneers also open their regular season with consecutive road games, at Dallas in Week One and at New Orleans in Week Two. Their first regular season home game is on Sunday, September 25 against the Green Bay Packers. That six-week stretch between games at Raymond James Stadium, preseason included, is the longest since the Buccaneers were away from their home stadium for seven weeks in 2019. That team played four road games and one designated home game in London and also had its bye week over a six-week span.
For obvious geographical reasons, the Dolphins are by far the Buccaneers' most common preseason opponent. The two teams have met in the season 32 previous times and have nearly split them down the middle, with Miami holding a 17-15 edge in the series. Those 32 games are twice as many as the Bucs have played against their next most common preseason opponents, Atlanta and Washington. The Bucs and Dolphins most recently met in the preseason in 2019, with Tampa Bay taking the 16-14 victory at Raymond James Stadium.
The Buccaneers and Titans have met 10 times in the preseason in the past, with Tampa Bay holding a 7-3 edge. That includes two games over the past four summers, a 34-3 Tennessee win at Raymond James Stadium last August and a 30-14 Buccaneers victory at Nissan Stadium in Nashville in 2018.
Indianapolis has not been a frequent preseason opponent for the Buccaneers, with only five meetings between the two teams and none in more than two decades. This will be just the third preseason trip to Indy for Tampa Bay, following losses there in 1987 and 1989. The Colts made it three in a row by winning at Tampa Stadium during the 1988 preseason. The first two preseason matchups between these two teams took place before the Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. The Buccaneers played host to Baltimore in the summers of 1977 and 1978 – the second and third seasons in franchise history – and won both contests. The Colts thus lead the all-time series, 3-2.
