Tampa Bay Buccaneers Looking to 'Recalibrate' During Bye Week

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter their bye week in need of some answer to reclaim their playoff future.

Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving (7) scores a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers season started strong and has since become a wild ride of ups and downs that even those who predicted regression in 2024 didn't see coming.

Because of it, the Buccaneers enter their bye week in second place in the NFC South Division riding a four-game losing streak and in need of answers coming out of it.

Back-to-back road games against bottom-of-the-league teams like the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers could help cure a lot of the uncertainty around Tampa Bay, but how it goes about attacking this off week will have a big hand in how the season finishes beginning in Week 12.

Head coach Todd Bowles addressed the plan for this week with media on Monday.

READ MORE: Will Daniel Jones Start for the Giants Against the Buccaneers in Week 12?

“[We’re] trying to get everybody healthy, going to recalibrate, we need time off," said Bowles. "They’re off after Wednesday anyway, they’re going to have four days off – practicing one day is not going to help that so they’ll get the rest of the week off after Tuesday. We’ll get some guys healthy, hopefully. Some guys that are playing are banged up, hopefully they get healthy, get to recalibrate, step back and look and everything. Coaches will self-scout, we’ll come up with better plans and we’ll do some things to get ready for the stretch run.”

One of the guys the Bucs are certainly hoping will get healthy is future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans. Not only does the offense need his presence back on the field, but he also needs to get healthy to resume his pursuit of yet another consecutive 1,000-yard season as he sits right on the heels of the great Jerry Rice in that category.

Bowles couldn't share an expectation as to whether or not Evans will be able to return following the bye, but conveyed that he was hopeful the receiver would at least be back on the practice field.

Then there's the self-scouting Bowles talked about, and the need to do some soul searching as it pertains to the coach's own defensive unit. Clearly changes need to be made. The question is whether or not there will be any, and if there are whether or not they'll be effective.

“We definitely have to tackle better. We have spurts where we play well. [In] the second half, I didn’t think we tackled better at all," Bowles said of his unit. "Again, coaches and players – we have our coaches, we have our players – we have to get out of this jam. We got ourselves in it, we have to get out of it. We show good spots and then we make an error and it comes up. These guys understand that. It’s not like they’re trying, we just have to be better at it [in] the second half of the season.”

Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2024 season.

Follow BucsGameday on Twitter and Facebook

More Tampa Bay Buccaneers News

• Where do Buccaneers Sit in NFC South Standings After 49ers Loss?

• 3 Up, 3 Down In Buccaneers 23-20 Loss To the San Francisco 49ers

• Buccaneers Starting Cornerback Gets Crucial Injury Update After 49ers Loss

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2024 Midseason Awards