On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers confirmed the dates and times of the team’s 2023 preseason slate, which will feature matchups with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens.
Tampa Bay will kick off its 2023 preseason with a home game at Raymond James Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday, August 11, at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Buccaneers have played five prior preseason contests against the Steelers, with the most recent coming in 2019.
In preseason Week 2, the Buccaneers will travel to face the New York Jets for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, August 19. It will be the first preseason matchup between the two teams since 2006. Prior to the game, the teams will conduct joint practices with one another in Florham Park, New Jersey. More details regarding joint practices will be provided at a later date.
The Buccaneers will close out the 2023 preseason at home against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday, August 26, at 7:00 p.m. ET, marking the second ever preseason game between the two teams.
Last season, Tampa Bay(8-9) won the NFC South. The Buccaneers’ season would end in the Wild Card round at home against the Cowboys.
The New York Giants released 20 players on Tuesday to get to the league maximum of 53 players.
This roster will probably change a little more before the start of the season, which begins September 11 in Tennessee against the Titans.
Quarterback Davis Webb, wide receiver Alex Bachman, and safety Nate Meadors, who led the Giants in passing, receiving yards, and tackles, respectively, were let go by New York.
Webb was one of five veterans whose contracts were terminated, along with wide receiver C.J. Board, guard Jamil Douglas, tackle Will Holden, and defensive end Jalyn Holmes.
In addition, the Giants waived Bachman and Meadors and 13 other players:
RB Jashaun Corbin, WR Jaylon Moore, TE Austin Allen, OL Garrett McGhin and Roy Mbaeteka; DL David Moa and Ryan Anderson; LB Quincy Roche; corners Khalil Dorsey, Darren Evans, Zyon Gilbert, and Harrison Hand; and S Trenton Thompson.
“We met with a lot of players today, this morning, and yesterday,” coach Brian Daboll said. “And again, I’ve said this before, it’s always a tough time of year for players, and I’d say for the rest of the people in the organization.
“These guys put a lot of time and effort and energy into doing everything they can do to create a role for themselves, and it’s tough when you’re talking to each individual. And each individual is different. Each individual handles things different. But I think that relationship that you build when you have to tell somebody that they didn’t make it, that’s always – at least for me – that’s tough.”
Here is the Giants’ 53-man roster for now.
Offense (25)
QB (2): Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor
RB/FB (5): Saquon Barkley, Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell, Antonio Williams, Chris Myarick
WR: (7): Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, Kadarius Toney, Wan’Dale Robinson, Richie James, David Sills
TE (2): David Bellinger, Tanner Hudson
OL (9): Andrew Thomas, Mark Glowinski, Jon Feliciano, Shane Lemieux, Evan Neal, Ben Bredeson, Joshua Ezeudu, Max Garcia, Devery Hamilton
Defense (25)
DL (5): Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, Justin Ellis, D.J. Davidson, Nick Williams
OLB (6): Kayvon Thibodeaux, Oshane Ximines, Azeez Ojulari, Elerson Smith, Jihad Ward, Tomon Fox
The goal of the preseason is to get some good work for your starters and young players and, most importantly, leave the game with no injuries.
Unfortunately, for the Jets in their preseason opener at Lincoln Financial Field against the Philadelphia Eagles, that did not happen.
First, the good news, the Jets defeated the Eagles 24-21. Not ultra important, but good news.
Now, the bad news. Jets second-year quarterback Zach Wilson left in the first quarter and did not return when he injured his right knee after scrambling from the pocket. Wilson tried to cut and his knee slightly buckled. He walked to the locker room on his own power, surrounded by team officials.
At this point, the Jets wait for the MRI on Saturday.
According to Jets coach Robert Saleh, Wilson’s ACL is intact, but he’ll wait until the testing is done.
“I’m always concerned until I get the final evaluation,” Saleh said after the game. “We walked off the field with great, positive thoughts, and it’s been opposite. We’ve walked off the field with bad initial readings, and it was opposite. I’m not going to put anything out there, just let it play out, and we’ll see tomorrow.”
Wilson’s injury seemingly could have been avoided if he had run out of bounds on his scramble instead of trying to cut back inside. When asked if Wilson should have gone out of bounds, Saleh said, “One hundred percent.”
Saleh did say Wilson was in good spirits.
“He’s in good spirits,” Saleh said. “He’s fine, a little frustrated obviously, but he’s as good as you can be in this situation.”
If Wilson is lost for the year, at this point, the 37-year-old Joe Flacco, who did not play Friday night, would be the guy. Recently, Saleh said Flacco is still a viable starter in the NFL.
“You guys know how I feel about Joe, everyone does, the whole world does,” he said. “Joe’s a phenomenal football player. He’s having a great camp, and he’s got a lot of juice left in the tank.”
It’s been a rough week for New York as they lost RT Mekhi Becton, probably for the year, with a leg injury, and now Wilson, who missed four games last season with a sprained PCL in his right knee.
Hopefully, good news is on the way for the Jets.
Back to the game, quarterback Chris Streveler would connect with WR Calvin Jackson on a five-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left to give the Jets the win. Streveler finished the game 6/9 for 62 yards and two touchdowns.
Injuries and poor play on defense have hampered the New York Giants(2-5) this season. Due to injury, New York was without four of their top offensive weapons in Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, and Kadarius Toney against the Panthers on Sunday, but it was next man up for New York.
Wide receiver Dante Pettis stepped up and caught five passes for 39 yards and a touchdown. Running back Devontae Booker had 51 yards rushing and a touchdown, and the Giants’ defense kept the Panthers out of the end zone as New York snapped a two-game losing streak and defeated Carolina(3-4) 25-3 at MetLife Stadium.
Coming into this game against the Panthers, New York’s defense was ranked 26th, but on Sunday, they stepped up. Carolina finished with only 117 passing yards and 173 yards of total offense. The unit also forced a safety when they pressured Darnold in the second quarter. He threw a pass from the end zone that wasn’t near an eligible receiver, resulting in an intentional grounding penalty.
In addition, the Giants forced one turnover and sacked Darnold and P.J. Walker three times. Ultimately, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule benched Darnold in the fourth quarter.
Giants corner James Bradberry, who spent four seasons with the Panthers and had an interception on Sunday, believed the New York’s defense frustrated Carolina’s offense.
“I think their whole offense was getting frustrated,” he said. “I know that our front seven did a great job of rushing the passer and getting after the quarterback. I think that affected him today. As far as seeing another quarterback come in, I’m not sure, he’s just another quarterback to me, and I’m trying to get an interception. That’s what I was thinking when he got in. I figured we still have to make some plays to keep our offense ahead.”
Giants DE Leonard Williams, who had 1.5 sacks on Sunday, felt the defense had to step up and carry the team.
“As a unit, we kind of talked about putting the team on our back more and how our team is—what we think our team is built around the defense,” he said. “We take pride in being a defensive team, and you know, so far this year, we haven’t really been stepping up to the plate, and I think this was a really big game for us. We didn’t allow any touchdowns, and we’re putting our offense in some good field position, and we closed the game out like we wanted to.”
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones made the play of the game. The third-year quarterback, who was 23/33 for 203 yards and touchdown, made a one-handed grab for 16 yards in the third quarter after a throw by Pettis was a little high. The play helped set up New York’s first touchdown.
“Yeah, it was a pretty unathletic route getting out there, so he put it out there for me, and I just tried to pull it in,” Jones said. “Good play, good design, something we’d worked on all week. Good throw by (Wide Receiver) Dante (Pettis).”
Outstanding all-around performance by New York, and now they get ready to head to Kansas City to battle the Chiefs on Monday Night Football.
Watch below as Jones talks catch, and reacts to win over Panthers:
On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles(1-0) had a complete performance in their 32-6 road victory against the Atlanta Falcons(0-1).
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts finished the game 27/35 for 264 yards and three touchdowns to go along with 62 yards on the ground.
Hurts got a lot of players involved in the passing game, including rookie wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who had six receptions for 71 yards and one touchdown. Also, Jalen Reagor and Dallas Goedert each caught six passes, and both had a touchdown reception.
“It’s me going out there and doing what I’m coached to do,” Hurts said. “We prepare, we hit it every day. I always talk about executing. I want to execute at a high level running the ball, throwing the ball, alignment things, situation things, I just want to execute at a high level.”
Defensively, Philadelphia kept Atlanta out of the endzone. They allowed 260 yards of total offense(102 total yards in the second half) and sacked Matt Ryan three times. The Eagles also allowed only 114 yards after the Falcons’ first two offensive drives, both of which resulted in field goals.
Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni got a victory in his head coaching debut, and he was happy with how well the Eagles played in all three phases of the game.
“Offense played really well,” Sirianni said after the game. “Defense played lights out, special teams — it was a good team win. It felt like the guys played together, for each other, with each other, so I’m really pleased with the way we played as a football team.”
The Eagles dominated the Falcons in the trenches. Hurts had plenty of time to throw, and Philadelphia was able to run the ball effectively with Miles Sanders(74 yards) and Kenneth Gainwell(39 yards, TD). On defense, Philadelphia put pressure on Ryan throughout the game.
Philadelphia hopes to keep the momentum going as they host the 49ers(1-0) in their home-opener next Sunday, which won’t be easy. However, there seems to be some hope in Philadelphia after defeating the Falcons in Week 1.
Maia Chaka has been added to the NFL roster of game officials for the 2021 season, the league announced on Friday.
Chaka makes history as the first Black woman ever named to the NFL’s officiating staff.
“I am honored to be selected as an NFL official,” Chaka said via a statement from the NFL. “But this moment is bigger than a personal accomplishment. It is an accomplishment for all women, my community, and my culture.”
Chaka enters the NFL after an outstanding collegiate officiating career, including stints in the Pac-12 Conference and Conference USA.
In 2014, Chaka was selected for the NFL’s Officiating Development Program, which identifies top collegiate officiating talent to expose them to some of the same experiences as NFL officials, working to determine if they have the ability to succeed as an NFL official.
“Maia’s years of hard work, dedication and perseverance – including as part of the NFL Officiating Development Program – have earned her a position as an NFL official,” said TROY VINCENT, SR., NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations. “As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Maia is a trailblazer as the first Black female official and inspires us toward normalizing women on the football field.”
Chaka is a health and physical education teacher in the Virginia Beach public school system and a graduate of Norfolk State University.
Tom Brady was brought to Tampa Bay to lead the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl, and on Sunday, he did just that. Behind a strong defense that sacked Packers QB Aaron Rodgers five times and forced two Green Bay turnovers, the Buccaneers were able to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LV by defeating the Packers 31-26 at Lambeau Field.
With the victory, Tampa Bay will become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium. Also, the Buccaneers are the first No. 5 seed in NFL history to defeat a No. 1 seed in a conference championship game, and the 43-year-old Brady will make his 10th Super Bowl appearance.
Brady, who went 20-of-36 for 280 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions on Sunday, is proud of his team’s journey.
“This is the ultimate team sport,” Brady said after the game. “We’ve had a lot of people work really hard over the course of a period of time to get to this point. It’s a tough journey to get here, so to go on the road and win another road playoff game is just a great achievement. Now, a home Super Bowl for the first time in NFL history, I think, puts a lot of cool things in perspective. Any time you’re the first time doing something, it’s usually a pretty good thing. Now we’ve just got to go have a great two weeks, prepare for whoever it is and be ready to go.”
Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians added: “I couldn’t be happier for our players – they put in so much work – and our coaching staff has done such a great job. Ownership gave us everything that we’ve needed, and I just couldn’t be any more elated for these guys and the job they put in. We had both backup safeties in there, just playing their [butts] off. It was a great team win.”
While Brady had his moments in this game, this was about Tampa’s defense. The Buccaneers defense leads all playoff teams with seven takeaways and 41 points off takeaways, and they did a great job of shutting down Rodgers and the Packers in the fourth quarter(3 points), which Arians discussed after the game.
“I can’t say enough about them,” he said about Tampa’s defense. “They’ve been great in the fourth quarter all year, and we got some great stops. Took a couple chances on offense and tried to get more points – it didn’t work out, but they came back and got the ball right back for us.”
Buccaneers OLBs Shaquil Barrett(3.0 sacks) and Jason Pierre-Paul(2.0 sacks) combined for all of the team’s 5.0 sacks in the game. The 5.0 sacks on Sunday matched the Buccaneers’ postseason record for a single game. According to Pierre-Paul, this defense has played at a high level all year long.
“We closed the game out,” Pierre-Paul said. “Tom [Brady] closed the game out, and that was it. Don’t get me wrong, Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback – a phenomenal quarterback. It’s sad that he didn’t make it, but I’d rather them than us, you know? The defense just showed up like we showed up last year, this year, and the whole year.”
Many will talk about the Packers head coach Matt LaFleur’s decision to kick a field goal late in the game on fourth and goal with Green Bay trailing 31-23. With a little over two minutes, the Packers had three timeouts, plus the two-minute warning, so in essence, they had four timeouts if they would’ve gotten stopped. Plus, they had Rodgers, who finished the game with 346 yards passing, three touchdowns, and one interception. However, Arians thought it was the right call.
“I thought they had a lot of confidence in their defense at that point in time,” he said. “I thought it was a good move by them.”
Barrett was surprised by the decision.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Barrett said. “I know if they could take that back, they probably wouldn’t do that next time.”
Ultimately, the Packers would not get the ball back.
Brady and the Buccaneers still have one more game to win to make this season the ultimate success, but for now, getting to Super Bowl is a massive accomplishment for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After defeating the Tennessee Titans last Sunday in the wild card game, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was a happy man. Following his first playoff victory, he showed legendary Houston rapper Mike Jones some love. You remember Mike Jones, whose debut album “Who Is Mike Jones?” dropped in 2005. Jones had many hits on that album, including “Still Trippin” and “Back Then.”
Obviously, based on his reaction, Jackson is a big fan of Jones. When USA Today reporter Mike Jones was called on to ask Jackson a question, the former MVP started laughing, and eventually, he explained why.
Tom Brady got the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the playoffs for the first time since 2007, and now he is hoping to get this franchise a second Super Bowl title. The journey begins on Saturday night when Tampa Bay(11-5) travels to D.C to battle the Washington Football(7-9) in the wild-card game.
As they enter the playoffs, Brady and the Buccaneers’ offense has been rolling. Tampa Bay has averaged 40 points a game, and in those three contests, Brady has thrown for 1137 yards with 10 touchdowns and only one interception.
The 43-year-old Brady looks comfortable in this offense, and they are flourishing on that side of the ball at the right time.
“I’d say every week is getting a little bit better and a little bit more consistent [with] better communication,” Brady said about the offense on Thursday. “We’re all understanding each other a little bit better each week. Football season is tough – there’s a lot of things to coordinate, there’s a lot of moving parts, different players, and in and out, you’re running different schemes. But I think we’ve just tried to not take the foot off the gas pedal [and] tried to understand each other a little bit better each week and try to put ourselves in a decent position.”
According to Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, Tampa Bay will be tough to beat if they continue to score at this level.
“I don’t think with our defense we’re going to lose too many games if we can score 37,” he said. “I’m really satisfied with 30.”
During his 20 seasons with the Patriots, Brady has missed the playoffs only once, and according to the six-time Super Bowl winner, being in the playoffs is a privilege.
“Any time you make the playoffs, it’s a good feeling, and it’s a great opportunity to be playing this weekend. A privilege, I think, for all of us, he said. “I think we want to go make the most of it. Playoff football is pretty special to be a part of, and I’ll be excited to be out there Saturday night…
“I think it’s a different newness, but the same excitement to be ready to go out there and take a bunch of teammates. Going on the road in the playoffs is a tough thing to do. We’re a team that’s made a bunch of improvements over the course of the year, and we have to be at our best. That’s what this part of the season is all about. Regular season is what it is. You put it in the books [and] we’re here to win playoff games.”
Tampa Bay should beat Washington on Saturday; they are just the better team. However, it’s one game, and anything can happen, but with Brady at the helm, expect the Buccaneers to make it to the divisional round of the playoffs.
