A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough Bucs question. This week’s prompt: Which 2025 Bucs game should definitely be in primetime?
Scott Reynolds: Bucs Should Travel To Miami For Thursday Night Football
The 2025 NFL schedule comes out on Wednesday and this week’s PR Roundtable topic is certainly a fun one. The Pewter Report staff gets to decide what game on the schedule should definitely be in primetime. The guess here is that Bucs wind up with at least four primetime games – likely two at home and two away. So why not make Tampa Bay’s game at Miami a night game, and why not put it on Thursday Night Football? Games on Thursday Night Football are a pain in the ass anyways for players and coaches, but at least this one would only be an hour plane ride away to ease the travel for the guys in red and pewter.
Former Bucs LBs Hardy Nickerson and Derrick Brooks – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
For whatever reason, the NFL loves to put the Bucs on the road on Thursday nights. Tampa Bay has traveled for five of its last six games on Thursday Night Football. So if the league is going to continue that trend, why not make it the closest possible destination to ease the Bucs’ travel plans? The lone home game on Thursday night over the past six years was a 27-22 loss to Baltimore in 2022. Tampa Bay has actually gone 2-4 on Thursday Night Football since 2019 with Todd Bowles as either the team’s defensive coordinator or the head coach. Unfortunately, the team has lost every Thursday night game with Bowles as head coach – the loss to the Ravens in 2022, a 24-18 loss at Buffalo in 2023 and a 36-30 in overtime at Atlanta last year.
The Bucs at Dolphins game will certainly be an entertaining one and will feature two high-powered offenses in primetime. So let’s let the nation see it. Oh, and one more caveat. The Bucs get to wear creamsicle road uniforms – white jerseys and orange pants with the Bucco Bruce helmet. There’s a new NFL rule that says that alternate uniforms can be worn up to four times in a season. So why not make this a South Florida classic with Tampa Bay’s creamsicles vs. Miami’s aqua marine uniforms?
Matt Matera: Bucs At Bills Could Be A Super Bowl Matchup
There’s no rivalry between the Bucs and Bills considering they’re in different conferences, but each time these teams have linked up recently, there have been fireworks. In 2021 with Tom Brady, the Bucs won in overtime on a long catch-and-run touchdown by Breshad Perriman on the opening drive. In 2023 with Baker Mayfield, the Bucs fell just short on Thursday Night Football as a Hail Mary throw by Mayfield was almost caught by Chris Godwin. Who knows how close another game would be?
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today
Primetime games are all about star power. That’s exactly what this game would have with Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and running back Bucky Irving, and Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is the reigning league MVP. The quarterbacks don’t play against each other, but they’re always compared to each other and this would be quite the QB duel in primetime.
The Bucs won two important road games last season against the Lions and Chargers. Winning one in Buffalo – and in primetime – where Tampa Bay has struggled, losing all five of its primetime games last year, including the playoffs, would prove that this team could be Super Bowl bound. Having Mayfield and Allen duke it out will certainly get the nation’s attention.
Bailey Adams: It’s The Bucs’ Turn To Host The Falcons In Primetime
In 2024, the NFC South race came down to the wire, with the Bucs clinching a division title four-peat in Week 18. They did so despite getting swept by the Falcons in the season series, with the first game coming at Atlanta in primetime and the second being a standard Sunday afternoon matchup in Tampa.
Well, with Todd Bowles and Co. looking for a fifth consecutive NFC South crown in 2025 and the Falcons remaining as the top challengers to the top spot in the division, I think it’s only right for these two teams to match up in primetime again. Only this time, that primetime meeting should be at Raymond James Stadium. As the top dogs in the division, the Bucs should have the home-field advantage in the bigger of the two NFC South battles.
Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: USA Today
Beyond just the divisional stakes, these two teams seem to match up well, which would make for an entertaining game for a national audience. Both Falcons wins over the Bucs last season were by one possession, and the two teams look like they’ll be good matches for each other again in 2025. The quarterback matchup would feature Baker Mayfield and Michael Penix Jr., which is intriguing. Bucky Irving and Bijan Robinson are two of the best young running backs in the game. And there’s also the fact that Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jessie Bates III are two of the better safeties in the league as well.
I’m generally not a fan of the Bucs playing on Thursday Night Football, and not just because they have yet to win on Thursday night in the Bowles era. My argument is more along the lines of the argument you typically see regarding the short weeks leading into Thursday Night Football. I think it affects the quality of play, and for a big NFC South showdown that could play a big role in deciding the division champion, I want to see a good football game. Give me a Bucs-Falcons Monday Night Football matchup under the lights at Ray Jay.
Josh Queipo: Bucs In Los Angeles To Face The Rams on SNF Would Be Must See TV
So many elements can make this this matchup a premium game. Rams general manager Les Snead and Bucs G.M. Jason Licht have both built incredible rosters that have each team as potential NFC representative in the Super Bowl. The Bucs use a version of Rams head coach Sean McVay’s offense. Bucs starting quarterback Baker Mayfield saved his career with an incredible performance in primetime just three years ago when he led the Rams to a come from behind victory at the helm of the Rams after joining the team two days prior.
When @bakermayfield led the @RamsNFL on a game-winning drive just 2 days after signing with them 🤯 pic.twitter.com/GIhSK2iSiZ
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) May 12, 2025
Add in the drama surrounding Todd Bowles’ struggles with the Rams offense and if he has learned how to overcome those struggles and you have the makings of multiple subplots. Remember, it was McVay and quarterback Matt Stafford who beat Bowles’ zero-blitz in the 2021 NFC Divisional playoff game to secure the Rams victory on their way to the Super Bowl that year and ended the Bucs’ quest for back-to-back Super Bowls themselves.
On the West Coast on Sunday Night Football you get a 5:oo pm local time game that would make for a good day-to-night aesthetic as two NFC powerhouses face off to see who may be best prepared to knock of the Eagles as the class of the conference.
Adam Slivon: Another Bucs-Lions Matchup Would Not Disappoint
One of the tone-setters for the Bucs last season was heading up to Detroit to face the Lions in Week 2. Tampa Bay came out on top, 20-16, in what was an early season statement win. Considering the Lions went on to win 11 straight games made that victory even more sweet, and this matchup is quickly becoming one of the better NFC rivalries. Let’s not forget, these two teams were once division rivals in the days of the NFC Central division. While each squad has been mired in prolonged stretches of losing seasons for much of the 21st century, the tide has recently turned as both have become perennial playoff teams.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today
Facing off in primetime would be another spectacle at Ford Field this season. The Bucs and Lions will be squaring off for the fourth time in three seasons, with three of those matchups being on the road for Tampa Bay. This primetime matchup with a national audience would give them the chance to further exact revenge against the team that bounced them out of the playoffs back in 2023. Since then, each side has acquired even more star power which would make this a marquee game deserving of the spotlight.
Former No. 1 overall picks Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff getting the chance to duel once again? Running backs Bucky Irving and Jahmyr Gibbs fighting for more highlight time? Right tackle Luke Goedeke facing a healthy Aidan Hutchinson off the edge? Sign me up. Plenty of elements would make this an entertaining game, one many would stay up and watch on Sunday Night or Monday Night Football.