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May 15, 2025 • 13 mins

Buccaneers Team Reporter Casey Phillips and Writer and Editor Scott Smith come together to breakdown Tampa Bay's 2025 schedule. From the season opener in Atlanta to the primetime matchups against the Texans, Lions, Rams & Falcons, here's all the in-depth analysis and get you ready for another season of Bucs football.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into our twenty twenty five schedule reaction show presented
by Ticketmaster. Come into You from the Bucks Studio presented
by Ticketmaster. Casey Phillips here with Senior writer and editor
Scott Smith. Another year, another exciting schedule. I love how
we all just get really excited to see it come out.
We already know who we're playing, but you never know
the win and the exactly the timing, the order, all
of that.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
In the way.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
And we love to predict, right even though every year
everyone's wrong about it. Or we love to predict what
parts of the schedule are going to be harder or
more interesting, or you know, the storylines that are going
to be there, and we always know we're going to
be wrong about a bunch of things, but it's still
fun to do exactly. We love a mock draft, We
love a schedule breakdown show, and so we decided we
were going to go through some different segments what stands

(00:42):
out to us about different parts of the schedule for
the Buccaneers. Before we get into that, though, any kind
of initial just thoughts about when you look at it
as a whole.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, this is the fiftiest schedule we've ever had.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
The home part of it, at least strikes me as
something that coaches would like because every single game, the
first six home games are all at one pm on Sunday,
and coaches love it. First of all, they love a
routine that's the same every time, but they also love
one o'clock games on Sunday waiting around.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, so they're all first six or all one pm
on Sunday until you get to Atlanta on the Thursday
night game, and then the time for the final game
in Carolina hasn't been determined yet, but that could be
a one pm game too, So yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Like looking at if there are primetime games or challenging
road trips, some of the things that are out of
the norm of what especially around it happens, And you know,
I do like that at least, you know, a Monday
night game is kind of early in the season, and
that there's not some crazy trip or something afterward that
makes it more challenging than normal. Same thing with the
you know, the Monday against Detroit, I mean, you know

(01:42):
that there's not maybe as big of a difference of
getting to still travel at New Orleans a little later
game the next week. Again, not as brutal as some
things might be after that, but then you know, to
be able to be going at Buffalo and then have
to turn around and go all the way to la
and it'd be a Sunday night game for the West Coast.
That's the game that I'm like, that's gonna be tough

(02:03):
of you are not landing until the next day into
the morning, the wee morning hours, so that's always a
challenging one. But yeah, and the same thing after a
Thursday night game that you get a little extra rest
going into what could be a very important division game
later that there isn't the normal things where you look
at maybe primetime games and or travel stuff and look
around and go, oh man, that's gonna be brutal. It
feels kind of fair in a lot of the ways

(02:25):
of where there weren't any areas where you just go
that is gonna be brutal, which is nice.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
There's a couple of tough stretches there, and then we'll
talk about it later. But what really jumps out to
me is the way this schedule ends as the Bucks
try for their record breaking fifth straight NC South title.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Get that right, we'll get that at the end. Okay,
So let's look at this segment one games one through four,
and of course on the side of the screen you'll
see it kind of cycling through some of the different
segments of the schedule, so you can be reminded of
what we're talking about. But segment one, tell me what
stands out to you about this first set of games?

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well, why the home games are road games are in
white and home games are in red in that display
there so you can see, right, the Buccaneers have to
start the season with two games on the road, and
the Bucks have won two straight they started for the
last four years two and oh, which has no small
part of how they've been able to pull out the
division each year. If they're gonna do that, they're gonna
have to go two and o on the road, and

(03:14):
which they also did in twenty twenty two, by the way,
so it can be done. And then right after that
you get your game against the defending champions, and you
also have your first primetime game in that block.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, and I also wouldn't be surprised of having a
couple of road games at the beginning. Was also to
help with the whole sharing a road and park area
with Steinbrenner Field. That that's kind of nice to know
at least those first couple of games you're not having
to worry about any of the other I think there's
a big concert that plays into it as well. Yep.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
So yeah, and looking at these four games, obviously, the
one that stands out is Philadelphia. They're fresh off a
really dominant win over Kansas City and Super Bowl fifty nine.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
I believe it was, and so they're coming in.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
This is actually the third year in a row that
Philly's going to be here in the first month of
the season, and you know, the Buccaneers have had some
nice games against them. It's been a pretty good rivalry
in recent years, and that obviously goes back to the
first Super Bowl era where it was a huge rivalry.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Right.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
But I mean, this team, this Philadelphia team that's going
to come in is loaded, and they just won the
Super Bowl obviously, But I think most answer would say
they have the most complete roster in the league, especially
after adding Saquon Barklay, and you see Jalen Hurts there
with all those weapons around him. On defense, they have
Jalen Carter maybe the most dominant or one of the
most dominant interior linemen in the league. And then of

(04:28):
course last year they really rebuilt their secondary with Quinnon
Mitchell and Cooper De john And of course they have
the touch push play, which the Buccaneers have stopped once
or twice, but it's pretty hard to stop and as
of now, we don't know if that's going to be
a legal play yet, but they'll bring it here if
they can. Also, I guess there's a couple of other
interesting games there that you might be interested in.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I'm really intrigued to see the Atlanta game Week one,
knowing that this will be Michael Pennix's first season to
be getting that Week one starting role. We saw him
do some good things towards the end of last season,
and I think that that's going to be an interesting
thing to start off. Just anytime there's a new quarterback,
even though he has gotten a little bit of reps
this last season. First year at the Helm Week one,
I always think that's interesting to watch how they respond

(05:09):
to that, how they handle that pressure, the jitters that
come with that. So I think that's going to be
a game that I'm excited.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
And then I'll sung Todd Bowles against the Jets. It's
the first time he'll play the team he used to
be a head coach for since he became the Bucks
head coach.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, very cool.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
I like that staut All right, segment two, Let's go
into this next group, which man already you just see
at at at all right.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, so we called this part road Warriors. The Buccaneers
have three of four in the ROUW and this is
kind of a tough stretch.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
The one.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
You got your another primetime game in Detroit you see
up there, and then you have the long trip to Seattle,
and I just was going to highlight that Detroit game.
You know, that's another one of these kind of recent
decent rivalries. You know, you had the Buccaneers lose to
Detroit in that really tight NFC Divisional game in Baker.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Mayfield his first year here.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, and then Detroit came down or we went back
to Detroit in Week two of last season. Got a
little bit of revenge up there. I think it's a
nice matchup. You got two for one former first overall
draft picks playing quarterback in Baker and Jared Goff. I
mean that Lion's team last year seemed like a team
of destiny.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
So many injuries.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, and we saw what Aiden Hutchinson could do in
that Week two game and shortly after that or maybe
I think maybe six games in he got hurt, but
by that point.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
He already had like eight or nine sacks.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
So he's back that really good young player, Brian Branch
that they can move all over their defense.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
He can play nickel, it can play safety.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
I think their defense, they made a couple other changes,
brought in a new quarterback and just to read, and
I think they have the opportunity to be pretty good
if they can get a lot of guys back, and
then of course on offense, you've got Jamir Gibbs. Especially
after David Montgomery went down last year, he showed he
could handle the load by all by himself. But now
you have Montgomery back and they love to run the ball.
So that's a pretty complete team all around. And it's

(06:57):
gonna be a tough game.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, that's a tough stretch to me. And now this
is always what's funny when you talk about the schedule
and you say where you think a tough stretches, and
it can mean travel or it can mean just what
you think the quality of the opponents are going to be.
That's where we have no idea how a season is
going to pan out, Who's going to be injured, who's not.
But you know, on paper, coming off of course the
Eagles game at the end of that first segment and
having to go on the road for a couple of
big games and teams that look like they could be

(07:20):
pretty talented, we have no idea what the Seahawks are
going to look like the Sam Darnold and then I
just like, now, this is my theme of one time
on all these is just the quarterback situations of all
these teams of you know, Michael Pennock's there, and then yeah,
what is Seattle going to look like under him? And
then of course the Saints, we are fresh off the
Derek Carr announcement and there is a lot of up
in the air uncertainty when it comes to that position.

(07:41):
We know that they drafted a quarterback and how do
they feel about him? And I just think that's going
to be really interesting to watch of after so many
years of Drew Brees. And then now you know the
Derek Carr time has passed and what is this next
who's he passing the torch to and what is that.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Going to look like?

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, maybe Tyler shuck. Their second round pick will be
entrenched by that point because your a games, or maybe
they'll still be trying to figure it out and you'll
be looking at Spencer Ratler or Jake Hayner. It might
be a week to week kind of thing. So even
in week eight, that could be a situation very interesting.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Okay, then there's a much earned bye week, which you
know that's always a big part of it. Look at
just smack dab in the middle of the season there,
which is nice. You always wanted to maybe be a
little later, but at least it's not in that first
bit where you're like, oh my gosh, we've just started
this thing. We don't need a buy quite yet. So
whenever the buye comes we always say very needed, very helpful.
But it looks like it being just smack dab in
the middle. There is guess that's kind of what you

(08:29):
ask for, kind of nice. So there's the bye week.
So then now next grouping of teams. What stands out
to you?

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Well, in the middle of that, I think you see
two really prime contenders in each conference and it's back
to back road trips at Buffalo and at the Los
Angeles Rams. Obviously Buffalo and since Josh Allen's second or
third season when he really turned the corner, have been
a prime Super Bowl contender every year, just can't seem
to get past the Chiefs for the most part. And
then Detroit. I mean, I'm sorry the Rams. I think they.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Surprise everybody a little bit. Last year.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
The people thought they might be in a rebuilding mode,
but they really turned around. So both of those teams
are defending division champions right there, and I think both
of them are gonna be very much in the runnings
in their respective conferences. And I just wanted to highlight
the Rams game because Matthew Stafford chose to stay.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
There was a little bit.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Of a I think he always was gonna stay, but
there was a little bit of wonder if he was
gonna move on and then they would really probably be
in a rebuilding stage. But he's back, and he got
pukin Akua. They don't no longer have Cooper Cup, but
pokin Acua had kind of become the number one there anyway,
and they added DeVante Adams, who I mean, it may
seem like DeVante Adams is maybe past his prime or

(09:34):
something that you know, last year with Aaron Rodgers and
the Jets was nothing special, but he still had great numbers.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
And this is.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
I wonder doesn't DeVante were seventeen too. I wonder what
they're gonna do with the Rams with PU seventeen there.
I just thought about that. But you know, that's still
those two together. And then last year they really rebuilt
that defensive front starting with Jared Verse and uh so,
again it's a team that's solid on both sides of
the ball. And then there's a couple other interesting matchups
in that segment.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, I think that is going to be a really
interesting setting. And of course, as we talk about going
to Buffalo, great place to play, a lot of great
fan energy, and that's a big one. And like you said,
that's a time yere where now you're getting into late,
you know, the mid to late November of when all
the playoff races are really heating up, and that's going
to be a game that I think could be really
significant for both teams. Even though it's not a you know,

(10:24):
division game, it's not a conference game, it just feels
like that time of year, knowing that these are two
teams that are going to be really trying to make
that playoff push. I think that could be a lot
of fun energy and not a team that the Bucks
get to face all that often, so we've only gone
to them, I think once a couple of times in
my time here, you know, so I think that's going
to be a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
I mean, you could follow up your young quarterback theme
there too. With the New England Patriots and Drake May.
It's really had an outstanding rookie season and they've done
a lot to put pieces around him.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
I love in every section we do, we have a
team that we're just like, hmm, that'll be interesting to
watch what they're doing with their quarterback area. All right,
let's go to our final section here. This is where
the whole NFC South, all the kitt kaboodles feel like
they're gonna kill one. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
And since the seventeenth game, this doesn't work out as
nice mathematically there's five games in this segment, not four,
but that allows us actually to include the Saints in
Week fourteen. So if you look at that schedule for there,
the last five weeks are at home against New Orleans
at a home, against Atlanta at Carolina at Miami, and
then Carolina at home. So four of your six NFC

(11:27):
South games in the last five weeks. And if you notice,
I didn't know. It took me a while to notice this.
All three of our home games against our NFC South
opponents are all in that stretch there, and that seems
like if this is close, that seems like an advantage
to me. I mean, the Raymond James daven crowd could
make a difference in how this division title race shakes out.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
At the end.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
I think this is your dream, right because sometimes teams
always are still trying to figure themselves out early in
the season, and sometimes it's kind of rough if you
end up having a front loaded division part of your
schedule when later in the season you end up being like, oh, man,
I wish we were facing them now. Yeah, And I
think that to know that by then, I mean you
are hopefully humming, you know what your team is about
that with a new offensive coordinator and that kind of thing,

(12:09):
that by then you should be hitting your stride, your
sweet spot to be able to face not only so
many of those division teams, but again, like you said
so many at home. That's got to be if you
were to build the schedule, I have to imagine that's
how you'd want it to pay.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
For that early on with a couple of stretches, tough
stretches on their own. But yeah, if you're in the
running there at the end, I think it's an advantage.
And if we're going to highlight a team in this
last segment, I think it has to be Carolina because
you played them twice and including two of the last
three weeks.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
So the Panthers could.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Be the ones standing there between the Bucks and a
fifth straight division title.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
It's very possible.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
And we saw that team really come together in the
second half last season when Bryce Young got back in
the lineup. That was their first year under Dave Canalis.
Now that program's had a little more time to develop,
and not only did Bryce Young look a lot better
in the second half of last year, but now he
has Ted McMillan as his number one target, which is
something they really needed there that can win jump balls
for him and just get open and get those you know,

(13:04):
third and seven conversions that he needs, and then you know,
you get Derek Brown on the defensive side, back from injury.
Their defense set a record for most points allowed last year,
so they had a lot of work to do there.
But they brought in a lot of veterans, and then
you got Derek Brown coming back from injury and JC
Horn finally getting to play long stretches without being injured.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
They'll probably take a big step forward.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
This Panthers team is one that a lot of analysts
think is going to take a step forward this year.
So giving them all season, you were talking about us
having all season to get sort of gel Giving them
all that time, that's what they might be at their peak, right,
then it's going to be interesting.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
All right, that's going to do it for us. On
this schedule release show, we hope you guys are all
going in there to get your tickets figuring out which
games you are going to check out. This is going
to be an incredible season with a lot of really
fun games, especially like we said, those at home. You
are going to want to be there helping that team
out as the season wraps up against all those NFC
South opponents. So go snatch up those tickets and go
bocks
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