Pewter Preview For Week 1

The four-time defending NFC South champion Bucs will get their latest defense underway Sunday afternoon when they travel to Atlanta for a massive season-opening divisional showdown with the Falcons.

Tampa Bay will be looking for more than just its fifth consecutive NFC South crown and sixth straight playoff appearance in the franchise’s 50th season. Todd Bowles and Co. are looking to push for more and get back to the NFC Championship Game and ultimately compete for a Super Bowl.

Of course, before setting their sights on a deep playoff run and a run at the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy, the Bucs will need to win their division again first. And Raheem Morris’ Falcons promise to be the biggest threat to what would be a division record fifth straight championship for Tampa Bay.

Because Atlanta poses the biggest threat to the team’s pursuit of yet another division title in 2025, Sunday’s game could set the tone early for what the NFC South picture will look like this season.

Both teams are dealing with some key injuries, but this should still be a big-time game for both sides to start off the new season.

Here’s a general preview of Sunday’s season-opening matchup between the Bucs and Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:

The Last Time…

These two teams last met in Week 8 last year, with the Falcons beating an injury-plagued Bucs team that had lost Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr. just six days earlier in a Monday Night Football loss to the Ravens. Atlanta’s 31-26 win over Tampa Bay secured the season sweep and put Raheem Morris’ squad in the driver’s seat in the division race.

Kirk Cousins threw for 276 yards and four touchdowns in that game, though one of Kyle Pitts’ two touchdown receptions very well should’ve come off the board after Antoine Winfield Jr. chased him down and knocked the ball loose at the goal line. However, with the lack of a goal line camera that day, the touchdown stood.

As much of a difference as that call made, the fact remained that the Bucs had no answer for Cousins for the second time that month. Earlier in October, the Falcons won the first matchup 36-30 in overtime on Thursday Night Football, with that being the last time these two sides met in Atlanta.

A controversial no-call impacted the late stages of that game, too, as a missed facemask penalty would ultimately cost the Bucs a late lead and the Falcons went on to take advantage. In that game, Cousins threw for 509 yards and four touchdowns.

Cousins will be on the sideline come Sunday afternoon, but he was benched late last year in favor of Tampa native Michael Penix Jr., the Falcons’ No. 8 overall pick in last year’s draft. This will be the first time in his young career that Penix will meet the Buccaneer defense.

This will be the 64th all-time meeting between the Bucs and Falcons. To this point, Atlanta has a 32-31 edge all-time, though Tampa Bay has won six of the last 10 meetings. The Bucs are currently 1-3 against the Dirty Birds in the Baker Mayfield era.

How The Bucs And Falcons Are Trending

Despite the Falcons securing the season sweep and winning three of the last four games in this divisional rivalry, it’s the Bucs who are trending in a much better direction in recent years.

Tampa Bay obviously won Super Bowl LV to cap off the 2020 season, and that started the current NFC-best five-year playoff appearance streak. The Bucs have also won four division titles in a row, and another in 2025 would give them the most (eight) in NFC South history and make them the first NFC team since the 1990s Cowboys to win five division championships in a row.

The Bucs feel good about what they have heading into 2025, as they bring back every starter from last year’s top-five offense and improved their depth on defense over the course of the offseason. Outside of what looks like another promising draft class and the bog free agency addition of Haason Reddick, the promotion of Josh Grizzard from pass game coordinator to offensive coordinator may be the biggest change for Tampa Bay in 2025.

This is year four for Todd Bowles as the man in charge in Tampa, and thus far he has led the team to one-win improvements each year, going from eight wins in 2022 to nine in 2023 to 10 in 2024. Overall, he is 27-24 as the head coach of the Bucs with three division titles but just a 1-3 record in the playoffs.

As for the Falcons, they’ve gone seven straight seasons without making the playoffs. Their last postseason appearance came in 2017, the year after they blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots to cost them what would’ve been the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl victory.

More recently, Atlanta has blown some chances at ending that playoff drought. Under Arthur Smith in 2023, the Falcons led the NFC South as late as December, but they wilted away late on their way to a third straight 7-10 finish.

Former Bucs head coach Raheem Morris then came in as the team’s new head coach last year, and they led the division as late as Week 17 before an overtime loss to the Commanders paired with a Bucs win over the Panthers cost them control of their own destiny. The next week, Tampa Bay clinched the division with a win while Atlanta lost to Carolina just for good measure, finishing 8-9 — the team’s seventh straight losing record.

There’s reason for optimism in Atlanta, though, as second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will be fully taking over the reins in 2025 after replacing Kirk Cousins down the stretch last year. The Falcons offense features a two-headed rushing attack in the form of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier, as well as a talented No. 1 receiver in Drake London. The defense has some good young talent, too, including rookie pass rushers James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker, though that side of the ball could be a work in progress early this year.

Here’s how the Bucs and Falcons stacked up last year:

Bucs Offense: 4th in scoring offense (29.5 PPG), 3rd in total offense (399.5 yards per game), 3rd in passing offense (250.4 yards per game), 4th in rushing offense (149.2 yards per game)

Falcons Offense: T-13th in scoring offense (22.9 PPG), 6th in total offense (369.8 yards per game), 5th in passing offense (239.3 yards per game), 10th in rushing offense (130.5 yards per game)

Bucs Defense: 16th in scoring defense (22.6 points allowed per game), 18th in total defense (341.8 yards allowed per game), 29th in passing defense (243.9 yards allowed per game), 4th in rushing defense (97.8 yards allowed per game)

Falcons Defense: 23rd in scoring defense (24.9 points allowed per game), 23rd in total defense (345.2 yards allowed per game), 22nd in passing defense (224.5 yards allowed per game), 15th in rushing defense (120.6 yards allowed per game)

Bucs at Falcons Game Information

When: Sunday, September 7
Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA)
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: FOX – Kenny Albert (Play by Play), Jonathan Vilma (Analyst), Megan Olivi (Reporters)
Bucs Radio: 98Rock – Gene Deckerhoff (Play by Play), Dave Moore (Color), T.J. Rives (Reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente – Carlos Bohorquez (Play by Play), Martín Gramática (Analyst), Santiago Gramática (Reporter)