TNF: Patriots@Buccaneers

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.
Prime Time

Prime Time

PT
Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
20,922
Name
Peter
https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/1...-2017-time-tv-channel-thursday-night-football

Patriots vs. Buccaneers 2017: Start time, TV schedule for 'Thursday Night Football'
Expect fireworks between two teams who’ve struggled with defense in 2017.
by Christian D'Andrea

usa_today_10321831.0.jpg

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Tom Brady has thrown for more yards than anyone else in the NFL, but a Swiss cheese defense has his Patriots languishing at 2-2. New England will have the chance to get back on track — and avoid a rare two-game losing streak — when it travels to Tampa for a Thursday Night Football showdown with the Buccaneers starting at 8:30 p.m. ET and broadcast live on NFL Network/CBS in local markets (live stream).

Brady is on pace to set a new single-season passing mark after throwing for a shade under 350 yards per game in the Patriots’ otherwise unimpressive start. He’ll square off against a Buccaneer defense that got shredded by Case Keenum for 369 yards and three touchdowns in Week 3. Will the future Hall of Famer do enough to overcome New England’s sieve of a passing defense?

Time, TV channel, and streaming info
  • Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla.
  • TV: NFL Network (CBS in local markets)
  • Streaming: Amazon Prime
  • Odds: New England is favored by 5 points.
Patriots at Buccaneers news:
It’s a stunning turnaround for a team that boasts All-Pro defenders like Malcolm Butler, Dont’a Hightower, and Devin McCourty. The Patriots have made slumping passers look like a prime Peyton Manning while giving up more passing yards than anyone in the league.

New England’s inability to get late stops cost the team victories over the Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers. Without Tom Brady’s fourth-quarter magic, it would have sunk the Pats against Houston as well.

The veteran running back is finally done with his four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing drugs. He went to rehab earlier this year, was a full participant this offseason, and looked good in preseason — so the Bucs are likely to give him his starting job back.

Thing is, what’s killing this defense and setting records (and not the good kind) isn’t a lack of talent, it’s the same thing that people have clowned on the Saints about for years. To hear the team tell it, the guys either don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing, or they all think they’re supposed to be doing something other than what they’re actually supposed to be doing ... which, as you can guess, means that someone’s not doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

The NFL doesn’t think the Bucs are that much better than they were last week, though. Understandable given the fact that that game was far too close for comfort— unnecessarily so, given the amount of points left on the field with missed kicks and red zone issues.

McCourty has played nearly every single defensive snap this year, including every snap over the past three weeks, while Chung has seen his snaps decline from 97% in week 2 to 73% in week 3, and just 54% against the Panthers.

Which Jameis Winston will show up in prime time?

Winston’s third season as a pro has started on a roller coaster track. He was solid but subdued in a romp over the hapless Bears, then threw three bad interceptions in Minnesota to even the team’s record at 1-1. In Week 4, he took advantage of another bad team — this time the Giants — to throw for 332 yards and three touchdowns without committing a turnover. The young passer has been inconsistent, but has shown he’s got the tools to be one of the league’s top quarterbacks.

Of course, given the Patriots’ predilection of giving up 300-yard games through the air, recent history suggests he’ll have one of the best nights of his career on Thursday.

Patriots at Buccaneers prediction:
Every one of our NFL experts went with the Patriots in their Week 5 NFL picks except Stephen White, former defensive end for the Buccaneers. OddsShark’s computer, however, agreed that Tampa Bay will win.
 
OldSchool

OldSchool

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
38,831
Not sure if I'm going to watch this or the second baseball game.
 
Prime Time

Prime Time

PT
Moderator
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
20,922
Name
Peter
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/10/05/report-rob-gronkowski-not-expected-to-play/

Report: Rob Gronkowski not expected to play
Posted by Charean Williams on October 5, 2017

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is not expected to play tonight, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

The Patriots added Gronkowski to the injury report Wednesday and listed him as questionable with a thigh injury. Gronkowski has a thigh contusion, per Schefter.

Gronkowski’s absence will increase the playing time for Dwayne Allen and Jacob Hollister, who have only two catches between them this season.

Gronkowski played all 70 of New England’s offensive snaps in Week 4, catching four passes for 80 yards against the Panthers.
-----------
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/10/05/bucs-get-another-chance-to-find-their-balance/

Bucs get another chance to find their balance
Posted by Mike Florio on October 5, 2017

For the past two seasons, the Buccaneers have been like a kid learning to ride a bike. And every time it looks like they’re starting to find their balance, they crash.

Last year the fall came in three-letter-network primetime, on Sunday Night Football against the Cowboys. Tampa Bay had won five in a row, with signature wins over the Chiefs in Kansas City and Seattle at home. The Bucs thought they finally had their balance.

Then came a game that was flexed into the evening hours, and that Bucs blew their chance to move to 9-5 and what would have become a virtually certain playoff berth by winning in Dallas.

This year, after an ugly loss in Minnesota, the Bucs scratched and clawed their way to a win over an overmatched Giants team. And now comes another chance, under the lights before a national audience, to prove that they belong by sending the Patriots to 2-3. It would be New England’s first dip below .500 in more than five years, and it would be Tampa’s biggest win in an even longer time.

Beating the Patriots won’t fully prove that the Bucs have figured out how to ride that bike, but it would get them very close to the moment where they realize that the wobbling has turned not into an inevitable tumble but that instant where things finally even out, allowing them to pedal hard toward a postseason berth that has eluded them for a full decade.
 
Ram65

Ram65

Legend
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
9,612
Thanks for all the great info post @Prime Time!

No Kronk is big. The Bucs should give them all they can handle. Heard today the Patsies were a 5.5 point favorite. Expecting a shootout.
 
Q729

Q729

Legend
Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Messages
12,144
Pllleeeease, for the love of the Football Gods, begin a decades-long downward spiral for that well-deserving, cheating, overhyped franchise.
 
Ram65

Ram65

Legend
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
9,612
Missed the Brady INT first drive then Brandon Cooks missed a first down catch.
 
DCH

DCH

Madman with a box.
Joined
Jun 18, 2014
Messages
3,354
Name
Dewey
Y'all really wanna root for the NFC team?

As you wish.
 
nighttrain

nighttrain

Legend
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
9,216
Q729 said:
Pllleeeease, for the love of the Football Gods, begin a decades-long downward spiral for that well-deserving, cheating, overhyped franchise.
Click to expand...
This commences the day we whip their asses in the Super Bowl
train
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom