Keys To Cannon Fire: How The Bucs Can Beat The 49ers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a clear path to victory over the San Francisco 49ers as long as they follow these keys to cannon fire.

Nov 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) hands off the ball to Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White (1) for a touchdown run against the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hoping to come away with a win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday and head into their bye week .500 before the second half of their season. To do so, the Bucs will need to be on their A-game against a team that, while standing at 4-4, has been able to put up points this season.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, they have struggled to keep opponents from doing so in the last few weeks. Even with the losses of receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans the offense has remained steadfast averaging 24 points over the last two games and over 32 points in their last five contests. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen has the offense firing on all cylinders and it will be up to head coach Todd Bowles to get the Bucs defense back to its glory shutting teams down.

If the Bucs can play complementary football and follow these keys to cannon fire, they'll come away with a win on Sunday.

Bend But Don't Break

The Bucs defense hasn't been good in recent weeks. In fact, they've been historically bad. Over the last five weeks, the Bucs have averaged 32.4 points on offense but have just one win in that span. That's a total of over 162 points through the last five weeks. In NFL history there have been only three teams to score that many points on offense and still lose due to the defense's inability to stop teams from scoring and the Bucs show up on that list twice. Once in 2019 and then again this season. Not good.

However, there is a bit of a silver lining against the 49ers team. Through the first eight games of the season, they have the seventh-best scoring offense averaging 26.3 points per game — however, they have been terrible in the red zone. The Bucs' defense doesn't need to be stellar to come away with a win on Sunday, but they do need to be efficient, especially where the Niners have struggled. If the Bucs can limit the 49ers in the red zone, where they rank 28th in the league, and hold them to field goals instead of touchdowns that could be where they find their path to victory. Of course, things may change a bit for the Niners offense with running back Christian McCaffrey in the fold, but hold them to three instead of seven and the Bucs could find themselves victorious on Sunday.

Run The Football

The 49ers rank sixth against the run this season, allowing just 105.6 yards per game to opponents, but that hasn't mattered for the Bucs this season. They outran the Ravens and Chiefs averages, who came into their respective games with the NFL's number one and two run-stopping defenses. Although the Niners have been good against the run the Bucs can turn away from it in this game. Part of it is controlling the clock and limiting the chances San Francisco's offense has to possess the ball, but the main reason is that there are deficiencies in the Niners' defense when it comes to shutting down the ground game.

It might sound crazy, but running to the side Nick Bosa is on can be a remedy for success. Bosa has been very one-track-minded this season after getting a mega deal and not quite living up to it. His sole focus has been getting to the quarterback which can cause lapses in the run game. In fact, he has 10 missed tackles on the season defending the run and has been a weak link in that area on defense. It's not just running the ball though, utilizing the screen game as an extension of the run should also lead to success against a team that has struggled to defend short passes.

Win The Turnover Battle

Playing a clean game will be paramount for the Bucs' success on Sunday against the 49ers. San Francisco's defense has 15 turnovers coming off of 10 interceptions and five forced fumbles. Inside linebacker Fred Warner has been leading the turnover charge for San Francisco with two interceptions and an outstanding five forced fumbles. The Bucs have already had two balls punched out of the running back's hands this season, so protecting the ball when toting it will be critical. Baker Mayfield leads the league with nine interceptions and after a clean game on Monday Night Football, he needs to be wary of not only Warner but the rest of the 49ers' defensive backs who have a combined six interceptions on the year.

The Bucs haven't done terribly themselves with turnovers with a combined 11 takeaways — however, most of those have come on forced fumbles, including three caused by rookie nickle corner Tykee Smith. Past the halfway point of the season, five interceptions from the defense (especially a secondary with that much talent) is borderline unacceptable. Brock Purdy has been erratic at times and doesn't possess the arm strength to get a ton of zip on his throws especially when targeting downfield passes. The Bucs will need to take advantage of any errant throws by Purdy who has seven interceptions and eight turnover-worthy plays on the season.

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