2024 Game Preview: Buccaneers-Giants, Week 12

The 4-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2-8 New York Giants both enjoyed their 2024 byes in Week 11, and when the two teams return to action against each other on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, they will both be looking for fresh starts.

On the most basic level, both the Buccaneers and Giants will be trying to get back into the win column after riding four and five-game losing streaks, respectively, into the bye. Beyond that, though, there are reasons to expect substantive changes in each team’s season.

The Buccaneers are hoping to get the likes of Mike Evans, Jamel Dean, Tristan Wirfs, Zyon McCollum, Tykee Smith and Jalen McMillan back from injuries, with the chance that a healthier roster will fuel a seven-game playoff stretch run. The Giants, meanwhile, are making the most dramatic onfield change an NFL team can make, replacing one starting cornerback with another. Daniel Jones will be taking a seat and has been officially moved to third on the team’s depth chart; Tommy DeVito, briefly a Giants sensation last season, will be taking over the offense.

DeVito, an undrafted free agent in 2023, started six games for the Giants last season and won three of them, and the three-game win streak he helped engineer made him something of a folk hero among the team’s fans. The Buccaneers know that there is substance behind the “Tommy Cutlets” nickname and the living-at-home-with his parents’ charm.

“He’s very good in the pocket, as far as escaping blitzes and pressures,” said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles. “He can run around, he can throw the deep ball, he’s very good at seeing the short stuff, seeing blitzes come and he’s very good at getting out of harms’ way. He’s going to be something to deal with.”

New York has scored the fewest points in the league, averaging 15.6 per game, and has struggled to do much in the passing game or succeed in the red zone. However, the cupboard isn’t bare for DeVito, who will be throwing and handing off to a pair of promising rookies in wideout Malik Nabers and running back Tyrone Tracy. The Buccaneers hope to counter with a pass defense that, while currently ranked 30th in the league, would be closer to full strength with Dean and McCollum on the field.

The health of Wirfs, who suffered a knee injury against San Francisco right before the bye week and was a limited participant in practice to start Week 12, could be critical. That’s because the Giants’ clear greatest strength is its pass rush. With nose tackle Dexter Lawrence dominating in the middle and trade acquisition Brian Burns leading the charge from the edges, the Giants are leading the league with a 13.09% sacks-per-pass play rate.

“They have a great defensive line,” said Buccaneers rookie center Graham Barton. “There in the interior with Dexter and then on the edge – those guys are really talented as well. It’s a good challenge for us up front. You know, they’re all playing at a really high level right now and so we have to be ready. We just have to prepare like we do for every opponent, worry about our technique, our fundamentals, and then some more specific things for what they do.”

The Giants’ defense ranks 17th in yards and points allowed and has been particularly good against the pass, allowing just 184.2 yards per game. Tampa Bay’s offense, meanwhile, ranks fifth in the NFL in points scored and 10th in both rushing and passing yards, but has had trouble finding explosive plays without Evans and Chris Godwin. Getting back to its 30-points-a-game capacity will depend on the Bucs’ pass protection giving Baker Mayfield time to operate.

“They’ve got great players up front and they allow their whole defense to play free,” said Mayfield. “It’s a big matchup for our guys up front, and our tight ends and our backs. They present their own issues. They have individuals up there that can ruin a game all over. We’ve just got to be ready for that.”

Barring the rare tie, either the Buccaneers or Giants are going to break their unfortunate losing streaks on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A win for the Buccaneers could spark a post-bye run like the one that led to playoff glory in 2020. A win for the Giants would grow the legend of Tommy Cutlets. It will all be decided on Sunday afternoon.

GAME AND BROADCAST DETAILS

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6) at New York Giants (2-8)

Sunday, November 24, 1:00 p.m. ET

MetLife Stadium (capacity: 82,500)

East Rutherford, New Jersey

TV Broadcast Team: Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Tiki Barber and Jason McCourty (analysts), AJ Ross (reporter)

Radio: 98Rock (WXTB, 97.9 FM), Flagship Station

Radio Broadcast Team: Gene Deckerhoff (play-by-play), Dave Moore (analyst), T.J. Rives (reporter)

Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente

Spanish Radio Broadcast Team: Carlos Bohorquez (play-by-play), Martin Gramática (analyst), Santiago Gramática (reporter)

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES

The Buccaneers and Giants will meet in Week 12 for the first time since 2021, but before that three-year gap they had become very frequent game partners. In fact, the two teams met each other in five straight seasons from 2017 to 2021, which is a very unusual run between two teams in separate divisions. Tampa Bay won three of those five games to slightly close the gap on the all-time series; the Giants still hold an overall 15-9 lead, and they also won the only postseason meetings between the teams. Despite six more wins, the Giants have only outscored the Bucs by 10 points, 460-450.

The Bucs won that most recent contest in 2021 by a 30-10 margin at Raymond James Stadium on Monday Night Football in November, kicking off a four-game winning streak. The game was close in the first half, eventually tied at 10-10 midway through the second period, but the visitors pulled away with a six-yard Ronald Jones touchdown run before halftime an da five-yard Tom Brady pass to Mike Evans in the third quarter. Steve McLendon and Mike Edwards both intercepted Daniel Jones to help pull off a second-half shutout.

Prior to that, the five-season stretch produced one nail-biter after another. Each team won twice and the combined margin of victory of those four games was, incredibly, just eight points.

The matchup is historically a lot closer when the Giants have to make the trip down to Florida, as those 14 games have been played to a 7-7 tie. Strangely, even though they have never been division mates, the Bucs and Giants have thrice played a pair of games together in the same season – 1978, 1979 and 1984. The first one was a Giants sweep but the other two ended in splits. Tampa Bay’s best run in the series unsurprisingly came during its Super Bowl era, as they beat the Giants three out of four times from 1997-2003. However, four years later it was the Giants who came to Raymond James Stadium for a 2007 Wild Card game and rudely ended the Bucs’ postseason trip before it could get started.

Prior to that 2021 game, the previous Bucs-Giants matchup was also a Monday Night Football affair, this one in the Meadowlands. The Giants were heavy underdogs against the 5-2 Buccaneers, who would go on to win Super Bowl LV that season, but they rushed out to an early 14-3 lead, taking a 14-6 edge into halftime. The Buccaneers rallied in the second half on Brady touchdown passes to Evans and Rob Gronkowski and had an eight-point lead with four minutes to play. Jones led an impressive 70-yard drive that ended in his 19-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate, but Bucs rookie safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. alertly broke up a pass at the goal line on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt and the Bucs escaped with a 25-23 win.

New York won in Tampa in 2019, a 32-31 decision in 2019 that turned on a missed 34-yard field goal by Matt Gay at the end of regulation. Jones made his first career start and was impressive, with 336 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and he also ran in the game-winning score from seven yards out with 1:16 remaining in regulation. The Giants won a 38-35 shootout at the Meadowlands in 2018, in which the Bucs rallied from 17 points down but couldn’t get an onside kick after Jameis Winston’s 41-yard touchdown pass to Evans. The Buccaneers got their first taste of Saquon Barkley, who rank for 142 yards and two scores in that contest. In 2017, Tampa Bay won by a familiar 25-23 score when Winston threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns – one each to Evans, O.J. Howard and Cam Brate – and Nick Folk kicked a 34-yard field goal to make it 25-23 as time expired.

• Giants Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka, who spent six seasons as a quarterback in the NFL, split the 2014 campaign between the practice squad and active roster with the Buccaneers. He did not appear in a game during the four weeks he was on the active roster.
• Thomas McGaughey, who is in his first season as the Buccaneers’ special teams coordinator, held the same position with the Giants from 2018-23. That was his second stint on New York’s coaching staff, as he was also an assistant special teams coach from 2007-10.
• Ben Bredeson, the Buccaneers’ starting left guard, was originally a fourth-round draft pick by the Ravens in 2020 but he was traded to the Giants just before the start of the 2021 season. Bredeson played three seasons for the Giants, starting 35 of the 55 games in which he played before signing with the Buccaneers as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason.
• Tampa Bay wide receiver Sterling Shepard was a second-round pick by the Giants in the 2016 draft and he played nine seasons in New York before signing with the Buccaneers in June. Shepard played in 98 games with 76 starts for the Giants, recording 372 receptions for 4,095 yards and 23 touchdowns.
• Giants Assistant Defensive Line Coach Bryan Cox was on the Buccaneers’ staff in 2012 and 2013, serving as a pass rush specialist.
• New York defensive lineman Rakeem Nuñez-Roches played appeared in 68 games with 22 starts for the Buccaneers from 2018-22. He started 11 regular-season games in 2020 after an injury to nose tackle Vita Vea, then all four postseason contests as the Buccaneers advanced to and won Super Bowl LV.
• Guard Aaron Stinnie signed with the Giants as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason after playing three full seasons and part of a fourth with the Buccaneers from 2019-23 (he spent the 2022 season on injured reserve). Stinnie played in 27 games for Tampa Bay, drawing 12 starts.