Bucs’ Playoff Scenarios

January 9th, 2022

So who will the Bucs play in Round 1 of the NFC Playoffs?

It won’t be New Orleans.

First, Joe will assume Tampa Bay beats a sad Carolina team at The Licht House this afternoon.

Perhaps that’s a bold assumption after last week’s near miracle at The Meadowlands, but Joe is rolling with it on this fine Sunday morning.

If the Bucs lose, they could end up with the No. 4 seed and that would mean hosting either the Rams or the Cardinals next weekend. If the Rams lose to the 49ers and the Cardinals win, then Arizona will win the NFC West and Los Angeles would be the No. 5 seed.

So if the Bucs win and the Rams beat the 49ers, then the Bucs will have the No. 3 seed and face the Eagles.

If the Bucs win and the Rams lose, then the Bucs would jump to the No. 2 seed and host the Eagles, which would fall to the No. 7 seed as the 49ers would have a better record.

If the Saints beat Atlanta today and the Rams beat the 49ers, combined with a Bucs win, then New Orleans would be the No. 7 seed because they would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Eagles. The Saints cannot qualify with a loss.

27 Responses to “Bucs’ Playoff Scenarios”

  1. NaplesBucsFan Says:

    Sooo, barring a loss to the Kitties, we play the Eagles in the first round

  2. Mikebuc40 Says:

    Don’t want to see the Saints in the playoffs at all.

  3. JGhotier Says:

    I still can’t understand why/how IF the Bucs did finish 12-5 and had the same record as the Cowboys (both at 12-5), ALSO the Bucs beat Dallas in head-to-head game this year, yet somehow Dallas would still get a higher seed than us…..
    That’s only if there’s a three-way tie for the spot, which would trigger conference record as the top tiebreaker. –Joe

    Does that not make sense to anyone else for that scenario to be popular. In no way should two teams who finish w/ the exact same record, where Team A beats Team B in their lone head-to-game and yet somehow be seeded lower than Team B in that scenario. Zero sense to me why that is.

  4. Bird Says:

    Glad we dont play saints. I think atlanta may best them today anyway

    Cowboyz just put up 55 on eagles. I think i would rather play eagles then 49ers as 49ers coach is good play caller / schemer and could put up points on our defense . Like similar to mcvay who has our number too. I think from same nfl teaching tree. I know they are buds

  5. DavidBigBucFan99 Says:

    Saints will win and 49rs will lose. Unfortunately they will be in the playoffs. Great defense and coaching can overcome not so great offense. 2002 proved that. At least they lost to the Eagles whom we beat

  6. Listnfrmafar Says:

    The Eagles rested their players, Cowboys played their scrubs. Eagles gave them a run fir their money 1st half but the DB’s looked like Bucs last week.

  7. Listnfrmafar Says:

    GB plays the Lions today, Roger’s is playing, his excuse is to get reps and prevent being rusty though the world knows it’s because he wants the MVP. The kicker is GB is only 3.5 point favorites which doesn’t sound right. What would be better than Roger’s shatting the bed today? You know Dan Campbell will have his team motivated.

  8. firethecannons Says:

    we must win today–we are not wanting the Rams or Cards as our first

  9. Tackleblockwin Says:

    I wouldn’t mind seeing Saints in playoffs. The opportunity to knock them out of playoffs again is too enticing to pass up. Despite losing to them twice again this year, I do not fear them one bit.

  10. David Says:

    So as long as they win the Buccaneers are playing the Eagles no matter what.

    As long as Shaq, LVD, & JPP are back, that should not be a problem. The Eagles run the ball if the front seven are there with a healthy Whitehead, no problem.

  11. USAF EOD BUC Says:

    If Saints lose and Bucs/Rams win, we play 49ers.

  12. USAF EODBUC Says:

    If The Saints lose and Bucs/Rams win, Bucs play the 49ers.

  13. Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:

    Of all the possible playoff scenarios for us, playing the Eagles is the most appealing IMHO.
    No playoff game is going to be easy, but I feel we match up best with the Eagles.

  14. Defense Rules Says:

    Still not following this scenario Joe. If the Bucs win today, we’re the #2 seed. I thought the #2 seed plays the #7 seed in Rnd 1.

    But then I saw this in the article’s last paragraph: ‘If the Saints beat Atlanta today and the Rams beat the 49ers, combined with a Bucs win, then New Orleans would be the No. 7 seed’.

    So under that scenario, the Saints would be the #7 seed. So why in the 2nd paragraph does it say … ‘It won’t be New Orleans’?

    Looks like there is some chance we could play the Saints. I thought at first I’d be in favor of that, but then I remembered our last game against them where we lost half our team to injury. Coincidence? Sure, we’ll go with that.

  15. adam from ny Says:

    we’ll get the eagles and we are a fairly bad match up for them…

    we should beat them…

    but heck i’ll take the saints at home for a round 3 this year…

    we would wallop them this time…

    running and hiding is bs man…run right through these teams to a title should be the game plan…

    the ideal scenario to toot our horns would be to run through the saints, then the rams, then the azz packers to the superbowl…then swallow up joe burrow whole…

    then of course chuck the trophy right into the river…

    and…

    then hopefully tom would yell out “AB go fetch it”

    dream scenarios sometimes come true when tommy b is at the helm

  16. Bird Says:

    Defense rules

    Saints come down to rams / 49ers game
    If 49ers win , saints automatically out. Doesnt matter if saints win or anyone else

    If rans win , they are 2 no matter what with them beating us. So if saints win. Saints 7 seed plays rams 2 seed.

  17. Alanbucsfan Says:

    The Eagles are in.
    If Saints win and 49ers lose, the Saints become the 7th seed , 49ers are out and
    Bucs become 2nd seed if they win under this scenario, therefore they’d play Saints.
    If 49ers win and Bucs win – Bucs play Eagles.
    If Bucs lose today, they suck…lol

  18. Alanbucsfan Says:

    My bad, if Bucs would be 3rd seed and play 6th seed (Eagles) if Rams win and Saints win – credit to USAF EOD Buc

  19. Alanbucsfan Says:

    ThereforeJoe is correct, it won’t be the Saints …

  20. Jerry Says:

    The Saints need the 49ers to lose in order to get in. That would mean the Rams will win and get the 2nd seed.
    In order for the Bucs to get the 2nd seed, they need the Rams to lose, that would mean the Saints are out. That is why the Bucs CANNOT play the Saints in round 1. There is no scenario for it to happen. If the Bucs end up with the 2nd seed, that means the Saints didn’t make it in.

    Simply…
    If the Rams and Falcons win…Bucs play the 49ers no matter what.
    If the Rams and Saints win….Bucs play the Eagles no matter what.
    End of story.

    If the 49ers win, and the Bucs win…Bucs play the Eagles.
    If the 49ers win, Cardinals win, and the Bucs lose…Bucs play the 49ers.
    If the 49ers win, Cardinals lose, and Bucs lose…Bucs play the Cardinals.

  21. Thisisouryear!! Says:

    Does anything change if the packers lose and we end up in a 3 way tie with the packers and rams? Would we still be the third seed?

  22. Stone crab sam Says:

    I was hoping the Bucs play the knee destroying saints.
    Rah rah ree
    Hit ‘em in the knee
    Rah rah rass
    Hit em the other knee😁
    Pay back is a biatch.

  23. captivajim Says:

    we should do well against Eagles . and NO WAY Brady will loose to 9ers & Garappolo.

    hopefully someone else takes out aints if they get in……

  24. Defense Rules Says:

    Thanks Bird, I get it now.

  25. Rod Munch Says:

    Want the 49ers to win.
    Want the Cardinals to win.
    Want the Bucs to win.

    Then, round 1, you got Eagles vs Bucs, 49ers vs Cards, Rams vs Cowboys.

    If all the home teams win, or the Rams win, in round two we’d have the Cards at Bucs, Rams/Cowboys at Packers.

    I’ll take that! Let the Cowboys/Packers deal with the Rams, that’s one team we should not want to face, no matter if it’s at home or on the road.

    The Cardinals meanwhile, I think that’s by far the best 2nd round matchup. Not saying the Cards are a pushover, I just think the Bucs match up well. Then, if the Bucs did win, we got Bucs @ Packers again… UNLESS, lets say the Rams beat the Cowboys, then beat the Packers… then we’d have the Rams vs Bucs for the NFC Championship for the 3rd time in history, and the Bucs are 0-2 in the other 2.

  26. Rod Munch Says:

    captivajim Says:
    January 9th, 2022 at 1:34 pm
    we should do well against Eagles

    ———–

    Playing a running team while we’re missing 3 starting LBs after giving up 150-yards rushing to the awful Jets.

    Not sure why people think the Eagles are going to be an easy W other than they don’t understand match-ups or haven’t been paying attention.

  27. cmurda Says:

    If Steelers beat Ravens right now and Colts hang on which they will. If the Chargers and Raiders game would end in a tie, both of them would be in and not Pitt. I mean, if you are the Raiders/Chargers do you just lay down in the game and end it in a tie? This would be a first that I’ve seen where 2 teams could intentionally tie and it be in both of their best interest.