Only one member of the New Orleans Saints leads the NFC in Pro Bowl votes, and it’s defensive end Cameron Jordan. An NFL release on Thursday listed him with 80,675 votes from fans so far, leapfrogging last week’s leader (Carolina Panthers edge rusher Brian Burns, who had 62,814 votes at the time).
Jordan was recently recognized as the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for November after netting 5 sacks in as many games, to go along with a dozen tackles (half of them stopping the offense for a loss of yards). He’s benefited from the return of Marcus Davenport to the lineup, who demands attention from offensive lines that was previously shifted Jordan’s way. Improved pass coverage in the secondary has also created more opportunities for Jordan to make an impact.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis remains the leader at his position group after surpassing his Saints counterpart Marshon Lattimore. That’s despite Davis allowing multiple touchdown catches and more than 200 receiving yards in his last game before Tampa Bay’s bye week. Bah, humbug.
Of course there are many other Saints players worthy of Pro Bowl consideration; cast your ballot at this link before fan voting closes on Thursday, Dec. 17.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers CB Carlton Davis earned more Pro Bowl votes than Saints CB Marshon Lattimore after allowing 211 yards to Tyreek Hill.
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Marshon Lattimore was the only New Orleans Saints player to lead his position group in Pro Bowl votes a week ago, but he’s taken a backseat to Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis in a Dec. 3 update from the NFL.
That isn’t very surprising, in a vacuum. Davis has had a great year for Tampa Bay and blanketed Michael Thomas in their Week 1 meeting, so he probably deserves a Pro Bowl nod. But it’s tough to accept these results after he was brined, smoked, and seared by Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill last Sunday.
Pro Football Focus charting found that Hill was targeted 9 times with Davis in coverage, catching all 9 passes for a staggering 211 receiving yards and 3 touchdown receptions. It was one of the worst games for a cornerback in recent memory and clashes horribly with this news of Davis leading all NFC corners in Pro Bowl votes.
For context, Lattimore has allowed just 2 touchdown catches in his last 5 games — a total of 15 receptions on 27 targets for 157 receiving yards. And that’s while dealing with a hamstring injury that’s limited him in practice and held him out of New Orleans’ Week 11 visit to Tampa Bay.
Maybe Davis rebounds when the Buccaneers come out of their Week 13 bye. But if you’re interested in flipping this result back the other way with Lattimore on top, cast your Pro Bowl vote at this link.
Just when you think you have Patrick Mahomes where you want him, you don’t.
It’s always just a matter of time. You have the Chiefs’ offense down, you think things are going well, and then… things are not going well at all. Because all it takes is one slip, one busted coverage, one defender in the wrong place, and you are looking around at your defensive teammates, wondering what in the blue heck just happened.
Welcome to the jungle, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs were down 3-0 halfway through the first quarter, but they’d held Patrick Mahomes to five completions in seven attempts for 68 yards. And then, what always happens… well, happened. Mahomes dropped back, unloaded a pass a good 60 yards in the air, cornerback Carlton Davis tried to cover Tyreek Hill one-on-one on the vertical route, Antoine Winfield Jr. came over with late safety help after running the middle of the deep third, and the 2020 NFL Most Valuable Player discussion just became that much more redundant with this 75-yard scoring bomb.
Mahomes now has 28 touchdowns and just two interceptions on the season, and odds are, he’s not done yet.
(Addendum: I couldn’t even finish this post before Mahomes beat Davis and Winfield with another touchdown throw to Hill — this time, a 44-yarder. Yikes). So, that’s 29 touchdowns and two picks this season for Mahomes. The first quarter isn’t done yet, and Hill has seven catches on seven targets for 203 yards and two touchdowns.
Here are four keys to follow to give them better odds.
The Carolina Panthers are once again significant underdogs for today’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. BetMGM currently has Tampa favored to win by about a touchdown.
Here are four keys to follow to give them better odds.
Offense: Protect Teddy Bridgewater, find the weak link
We are betting that last week’s collapse against New Orleans was more of a fluke than a sign something is deeply broken in this Tampa defense. The Bucs are still ranked No. 1 in defensive DVOA just ahead of the Steelers and we know they can bring pressure. Last time these teams met, Teddy Bridgewater took five sacks. Not a whole lot else will matter offensively if their pass protection doesn’t improve dramatically. Doing so will require a team effort, but the left side of the offensive line in particular has been shaky of late. Matt Paradis, Chris Reed and whoever winds up at left tackle have to buck up.
Before Todd Bowles came along, you used to be able to pick on Tampa Bay’s defensive backs all day. Now it’s much more difficult finding the weak links and exploiting them. Carolina may have caught a break this week, though. Starting left cornerback Carlton Davis has a knee injury and is listed as questionable. If he plays, he likely won’t be 100%. If he doesn’t, it will be worth testing his backup with some shots down the field.
Defense: Contain Mike Evans, pressure Tom Brady
The Buccaneers are also loaded on offense, of course. This year they’ve added several high-profile veteran weapons, including Rob Gronkowski, LeSean McCoy, Leonard Fournette and Antonio Brown. It was a familiar foe who did most of the damage in Week 2, though. Wide receiver Mike Evans caught seven of 10 targets, totaling 104 yards and one touchdown. Rasul Douglas is the most likely candidate to cover him. He’ll need to perform far better than he did last week against the Chiefs when he made a few glaring coverage errors that resulted in explosive gains for KC.
One reason Evans was able to post such big numbers was Carolina’s complete inability to pressure his quarterback. Tom Brady was not sacked and took only one hit last time. The Panthers pass rush has improved a great deal since early in the season, though. Superstar defensive end Brian Burns can’t do it all, though – he needs the other defensive linemen to step up and pull their weight.
While Cam Newton and the Patriots continue to struggle the Tampa Bay Bucs have emerged as a serious title contender.
While Cam Newton and the Patriots continue to struggle, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have emerged as a serious title contender.
The Bucs’ offense is certainly part of the reason why, but the defense led by Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean is one of the top units in the NFL and deserves some recognition.
Here is how every former Tiger played in Week 8 of the NFL season.
The former Auburn defensive back is now tied for the NFL lead.
Carlton Davis is having a good year at finding the football.
On Monday night with his Tampa Bay Buccaneers facing the New York Giants, the former Auburn defensive back recorded his fourth interception on the season, trying him for the NFL lead with three other players.
.@Carlton_Lowkey records his fourth interception of the season, tying for the NFL lead 🙌
Carlton Davis has three interceptions already this season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Carlton Davis is having no trouble finding the ball this season.
The former Auburn star and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback intercepted the Chicago Bears’ Nick Foles in the first quarter for his third interception of the year.
Carlton Davis has his third interception of the season! #GoBucs
The Los Angeles Chargers offense will have a tough task facing a dominant Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense.
As the Buccaneers are gearing up to take on the Chargers, a lot of their focus will be put on wide receiver Keenan Allen.
Allen has been on a tear the past two weeks, totaling 20 catches for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Tampa Bay is aware of how well he is playing, and the team is looking to take him out of the equation this weekend.
Bucs CB Carlton Davis, who will get some matchups against Allen, was asked about the targets that the wideout is receiving, he said, “I love the action. I love the smoke.”
“He’s a really great player. I like his game a lot. He’s a dog out there, too. He’s a little bit smaller than me, but he’d be out there blocking and he plays real tough. So hopefully we can shut him down and get a W,” WR Mike Evans said.
The other player for Los Angeles who has been playing well is the guy who is distributing the wealth to Allen, rookie QB Justin Herbert.
HC Bruce Arians had praise for Herbert, saying that he is poised, and the biggest thing is that he’s athletic. “You got to maintain the pocket or else he’ll burn you for a run,” Arians said.
The 22-year-old Herbert is set to face off against 43-year-old Tom Brady, marking the first time since at least 1950 that there was an age gap of 20+ years between opposing starting quarterbacks.
The former Auburn cornerback recorded his first interception of the season.
With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers up 21-14 in the fourth quarter, the Carolina Panthers were trying to threaten and tie up the game. Carlton Davis made sure that didn’t happen.
The former Auburn cornerback made a great interception of Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
The former 2017 first-round pick has thrown 11 interceptions on the year, tied with Dak Prescott, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Daniel Jones for the 10th-most in the NFL. Watson threw two the week prior in Tennessee. To win the game, Watson will have to cut back on his giveaways and give the Texans every possible chance to convert drives into points.
9: carlos hyde’s rank for rushing yards among running backs
The 29-year-old has produced 1,030 rushing yards on the season, good for ninth-best among running backs in 2019. If Hyde can find a way to get going against the Buccaneers, it will melt clock and churn yards for the offense and put added pressure on Jameis Winston’s arm to win the game for Tampa Bay. Getting the run game going will also give Houston a diverse attack so that Deshaun Watson can’t be keyed on.
8: houston’s interceptions
The Texans are tied for the fifth-lowest interceptions in the NFL with eight. If they play to that number against the Buccaneers, when Jameis Winston is leading the NFL with 24 picks, it could be a shootout. The Texans defense has to find ways to generate free possessions for the offense, build an insurmountable lead, and force Winston and the Bucs to spend all game clawing their way back.
7: deandre hopkins’ receptions per game
The two-time All-Pro catches 7.1 passes per game, good for second-most in the NFL. Defenses know it’s going to Hopkins, but they still can’t stop him. Houston will have to find a way to get him involved as he will be going against one of the season’s best corners in Carlton Davis.
6: houston’s rank for yards per carry surrendered
The Texans defense is tied with Seattle, San Francisco, Green Bay, and Miami for the sixth-highest yards per carry surrendered in the league at 4.6. If the Buccaneers want to provide an effective complement opposite of Jameis Winston’s arm, they can do so in the run game.
5: deshaun watson’s rank for touchdown passes
The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback has thrown 26 touchdown passes on the season, good for fifth-most in the NFL. Watson will have to be on the top of his game against the Buccaneers as Jameis Winston does have the arm to beat teams. They aren’t 7-7 for no reason. If Watson has a bad game, it could be a long day for Houston and maybe an even longer week as they would need Week 17 to clinch the division.
4: jameis winston’s interception percentage
The Pro Bowl quarterback has an interception percentage of 4.3%, the highest in the NFL. Basically, over 4% of his throws are interceptions. The Texans defense will have to be on the lookout and have their hands ready to grab any errant passes. They can’t afford to have opportunities slip.
3: the bucs’ defense’s yards per carry surrendered
The Tampa Bay defense gives up 3.4 yards per carry, good for second-lowest in the NFL. It is a good thing Carlos Hyde broke the 1,000-yard mark the week prior in Tennessee as it will be tough sledding against the Buccaneers Saturday.
2: jameis winston’s rank for touchdown passes
Winston can burn you, too. The former 2015 first-round pick from Florida State has thrown 30 touchdown passes on the season, good for second-most in the NFL. Only Lamar Jackson has thrown more with 33. With inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney out, Winston could have more of the middle of the field available.
1: wins to clinch afc south
All the Texans have to do is take down the Bucs and the division is theirs. No need to beat the Tennessee Titans in Week 17, although it would be an added boost going into the wild-card round to go 5-1 in the division. However, they can get it all done with a win in Tampa.
