Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After a period of glory, the team must return to the poor times with an expensive and bad team. QB Baker Mayfield shouldn’t make the team that competitive, but he can’t complain about the support of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Cade Otton, who are good players. The running game is led by RB Rachaad White, who was a backup last year and now assumes full ownership of the team’s backfield.
The defense has great names, but in my opinion there are problems in the secondary where they will have a lot of difficulties in this game. The front seven is very good with a mix of young and experienced players. The secondary has good CBs, but the safeties are the weak point of the unit.
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthes were very aggressive in the draft to move up to the 1st pick and select QB Bryce Young. He’s been having a pretty bad season so far and needs to improve a lot to pay what the Panthers traded to acquire him in the draft. The support team and receivers have some interesting names, but none that catch your eye. As well as the running game and the offensive line that will be tested a lot.
The 3-4 defense has good players and could be a good unit again in 2023. DE Brian Burns needs to stay healthy, while CJ Henderson and Donte Jackson form an excellent CB duo on the outside.
Conclusion
I really like the Buccaneers in this game. I believe QB Baker Mayfield will have success against a Panthers defense that has been unable to force turnovers and has also having trouble giving up yards.
I believe that the home team has an advantage in the offensive part and in defense they should be able to hold off QB Bryce Young who has been playing very poorly away from home. I like the Bucs and will go here as the best bet on the game.