On Monday night, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers(7-4) suffered a very disappointing home loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Now, they have another formidable opponent coming to Raymond James Stadium in Patrick Mahomes and the world-champion Kansas City Chiefs(9-1) on Sunday.
Every team gets up for the world champions, and usually give their best effort. According to Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, it does not mean much to the coaches, but it does matter to the players.
“I think the players get up for it. For coaches, it’s just the next game, but the players get up for it,” Arians said on Friday. “It’s something special– you always want to beat those guys and prove something to yourselves.”
One of the reasons the Chiefs have been very competitive over the years, including a Super Bowl last season, has been their head coach Andy Reid. In eight seasons with the Chiefs, Reid is 122-86 in the regular season, and Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady thinks continuity has helped Kansas City be successful over the years.
“They’ve had some continuity on that side with that system, with those coaches [and] lot of their key veteran players,” Brady said on Friday. “That’s always important – I feel continuity is the most critical aspect to consistent performance because you have to build on year after year, not just game after game or week after week. They’ve been in that system for a while – Coach Reid’s been there for a while [and] he’s a great coach. They do a great job. They’ve got a lot of good things going [and] they’ve been tough to beat for a lot of years now, including when Alex Smith was there. They were pretty good too [and] I played them all those years, as well. They’re doing a good job, and they have some dynamic players.”
At this point, the Buccaneers have little margin for error if they want to have an opportunity to win the NFC South. The Buccaneers are currently one of the three wild card teams(6th seed) in the NFC, but if they’re going to win the division, they have to win and hope the Saints(8-2) without Drew Brees will falter. However, it all starts by beating the Chiefs on Sunday.
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