Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Carolina Panthers
Sunday, December 21st,1:00 PM ET
A huge matchup for both teams here in Week 16, the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play each other two times over the final three games of the season, and both teams have had very interesting seasons to say the least.
The Panthers are 7-7 and have alternated wins and losses since Week 7, and with the Panthers losing in Week 15, I guess they are supposed to win now! Carolina simply isn’t good as the record indicates, but the defense is finally playing reasonably well, and Bryce Young has been solid.
Overall, this team needs to strongly consider finding an upgrade at QB, as I am not sure Young’s ceiling is high enough for this team to go anywhere, but one huge positive is that Dave Canales, their head coach, appears to be the man for the job.
The Buccaneers likely had already hoped to put the NFC South away, but they are also 7-7 and were 5-1 at one point earlier this year. They have since gone 2-5 and have collapsed. Battling injuries and overall regression, Tampa is clinging to life in the NFC South.
The good thing here though is that the winner of this division is going to host a playoff game, whether they truly deserve it or not. The Bucs are probably better than Carolina and should be able to win this one, but the back-and-forth Panthers are consistent if nothing else, as they have responded from bad losses with good wins, and vice versa.
This is honestly one of the hardest games to pick, as I see a strong argument for both teams to win this one, but I am actually going to pick the home team in a bit of an upset in Week 16.