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Bucs return home to play Dolphins before short week

Leonard Fournette
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Fresh off a gritty Sunday night victory in the rain against the New England Patriots, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) return home to face the Miami Dolphins (1-3) this weekend.

Tampa Bay escaped Foxborough after a late Nick Folk field goal clanged off the uprights, securing a 19-17 win for the good guys.

Now they return to Raymond James Stadium where they will meet a Dolphins team that has lost three games in a row and is missing their starting quarterback.

Tua Tagovailoa is still nursing a rib injury, meaning Jacoby Brissett will get the start again for Miami. He's only faced the Bucs once in his career, when he was with the Colts and passed for 251 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs en route to a 38-35 loss.

Meanwhile, Tom Brady is extremely familiar with the Dolphins. He's played them 35 times in his career and has a 23-12 record. Miami is the only team that has beaten him double-digit times.

Brady will also be reuniting with Coach Brian Flores, who spent 15 seasons with the New England Patriots as an assistant in a variety of roles before going to Miami in 2019.

Miami ranks 29th in pass yards and 28th in rush yards, and a banged up Bucs defense will hope to stifle the Dolphins Sunday afternoon. Tampa Bay is still without Sean Murphy-Bunting and now Carlton Davis has been added to the injured reserve list with a quad injury. Safety Antoine Winfield has not been practicing this week due to a concussion. CB Jamel Dean and OLB Jason Pierre-Paul have both been limited participants at practice this week, and it would be a huge boost for Tampa Bay if either of them can go Sunday.

The Bucs have won five of the past six times these teams have met, and a victory this weekend would bring Tampa Bay's record to 4-1 as they head into a short week.

Kickoff for Bucs-Dolphins is at 1 p.m. in Tampa.

Tampa Bay faces the Philadelphia Eagles in Thursday Night Football next.