Top five toughest games for Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022

The Bucs are set with a tough slate of games in 2022.

Nate Greer | May 13, 2022

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the rest of the NFL, learned what their schedule is for the 2022 season Thursday with the release of the football schedule.

When you look at the schedule on paper, Tom Brady comes back to a team that is facing 5 of the other 7 teams that made the divisional playoffs in 2021. The combined winning percentage of the teams on the 2021 schedule resulted in a .535 win percentage, making the schedule one of the four hardest of the upcoming season.

Here are the five toughest games for Tampa Bay in 2022.

1. Kansas City 10/2: The reason we have this as the toughest game is that it comes at the tail end of a tough four-game stretch to open the season. The Bucs face three teams that should push for deep playoff runs this season in the first four weeks. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes have had some great battles - this should be no different. KC has one of the hardest schedules this upcoming season as they open the season facing eight teams with winning records in 2021. When Mahomes is on his game and focused, he’s tough to beat. Expect a lot of points in this one.

2. San Francisco 12/11: Why is this one 2nd? Well, for a few reasons. First, this game comes on a short week, and two it’s across the country. This game is sandwiched between an always tough New Orleans Saints team, and a game versus the reigning AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals. Short week games are always tough and this one comes later in the season versus one of the physically toughest teams in the NFC.

3. LA Rams 11/6: Tampa Bay hosts the 2021 Super Bowl champs a week before their head to Munich to play Seattle. The Rams are an early favorite to make it back and win the Super Bowl. They have a tough regular-season slate and this one won’t be easy for either team. But, the Rams are loaded as any team in the league. They have a balanced offense, and they have two of the best players in the league on defense in Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. Ramsey will be looking for payback in this one after the playoff game in 2021.

4. Green Bay 9/25: Brady vs Rodgers. Two of the best all-time going at for maybe the last time. This is the first time these two teams will face each other since Tampa Bay upset the Packers in the 2020 playoffs. Rodgers is just 1-3 vs the Bucs, but he’s still one of the best in the game. Their offense will be different with the loss of Davante Adams, but Rodgers has always made it work.

5. Cincinnati 12/18: The AFC is a murders row this year and the Bengals don’t get a break playing in Tampa, but the AFC champs will bring in one of the youngest and most exciting offenses in the game. Tampa will be coming off of a physical game vs the 49ers, and late in the season against a much younger team, this could be just a mad match-up for Tampa.

Tampa Bay will have a lot of work to do if they want to finish the season like last. They won the Super Bowl in 2020 as a wild card team, and with Tom Brady, they will be competitive in every game this season.

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Published May 13, 2022

NATE GREER