TAMPA, Fla. — The NFC South is wide open, and first place is on the line Sunday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-7) visit the Atlanta Falcons (6-6).
“It’s big, it’s huge,” Buccaneers safety Ryan Neal said. “We win; we keep going. We lose, it’s over.”
From here on out, the Bucs have no margin for error. Win, and they’re tied for first place; lose and fall two games back with only four to play.
“We know what the deal is. It’s going to be a battle,” Neal said. “They have a lot of athletes. They found a system they got going, a rhythm. We know what time it is. We got to come out and hit them in the mouth. It’s going to be that kind of game. Everybody knows it. The whole conference knows what time it is.”
The Falcons beat the Bucs, 16-13, in week seven. That was a game where the Bucs failed twice to score touchdowns in the red zone.
“The first game was a little hard to watch, film-wise,” Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “They’re front and linebackers make it extremely hard to run the ball, just all over the field, especially down there. For us, it’s a good challenge. And it’s something we need to take the next step on.”
The challenge now is to stay in contention, with each game resembling a playoff game.
“It’s December football. It’s a round-robin tournament until the end,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “We understand the importance of this game. We can win this one, and the next one will be more important than that one. It’s the biggest game this week; it’s a division rival.”
The Bucs and Falcons kickoff at 1 p.m. Sunday in Atlanta.
