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Because of past experience, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense can’t call the Arizona Cardinals quarterback situation an early Christmas gift.
The Bucs will face Cardinals third-string quarterback Trace McSorley, who will make his first career start on Christmas Day. Cardinals starter Kyler Murray suffered a season-ending ACL injury in Week 14, and backup Colt McCoy sustained a concussion in Week 15. Last time the Bucs played a team with a first time, third-string starter when P.J. Walker and the Carolina Panthers stunned the Bucs 21-3 in Week 7.
Bucs defensive assistant Kacy Rodgers didn’t glow with optimism that McSorley will make stopping the Cardinals (4-10) easier. The Bucs have very little game film of McSorley to watch since has only played 55 snaps this season. McSorley also hardly played in his first two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Well, he came from Baltimore, so that’s a quarterback run scheme we’ve seen,” Rodgers told reporters about McSorley. “He’s very familiar with what they do, so there’s no changes. Then, you throw in the four wide receivers they’ve got out there. So, we look at it as the concept as they spread you out to run the ball, so when they put all those wideouts, we’ve got to match them up.”
Arizona has a talented receiver corps led by Deandre Hopkins and Marquise Brown — much more talented than the Panthers’ receiver group. Hopkins has 63 receptions for 713 yards and three touchdowns in just eight games this season, and Brown has 57 catches for 584 yards and three touchdowns in nine games. Those threats hinge on if McSorley decides to throw.
“Now, you light in the box with a mobile quarterback, so the thing is, they’re really going to do what they do,” Rodgers said. “It isn’t like we’re going to have to face a schematic change — they’re going to do what they do. You know, [McSorley] might not be as fast as [Kyler] Murray, but they can run the same play.”
Bucs Defense Still Struggling Against the Run
McSorley averaged 6.8 yards per carry in his first five attempts with the Cardinals. His 3-yard rushing average in six carries with the Ravens didn’t impress, but he improved as a running threat throughout his college career at Penn State.
The last time the Bucs faced a mobile quarterback, it didn’t go well. Tampa Bay gave up 27 rushing yards on two attempts by Jacoby Brissett in a 23-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 12. Brissett also chipped in with a big block on one of a Browns touchdown run.
McSorley won’t be mistaken for Brissett, but the former Nittany Lions star could produce a similar result to Walker in October if the Bucs aren’t careful. Walker went 16-22 with 177 yards and two touchdowns against the Bucs, and he didn’t run the ball.
Panthers backs got the job done instead, and Arizona has a comparable running attack to Carolina with 111.8 yards per game versus the Panthers’ 117.5-yard average.
The Bucs only gave up 53 yards rushing last week to the Cincinnati Bengals, but a 17-3 hole and momentum from Bucs turnovers set up the Bengals to pass more instead in Week 15. The San Francisco 49ers previously gashed the Bucs for 209 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in Week 14.
McSorely, Cardinals Confident vs. Bucs
If the Bucs can stop the run and McSorely resorts to throwing, he doesn’t have any prior precedent for leading an NFL team to victory. However, the former Heisman Trophy candidate who won 31 games in his final three seasons, doesn’t doubt himself. Neither does Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
“I hate to use the term gamer, but he’s got a lot of moxie,” Kingsbury said via the Cardinals website. “Teammates respond to that well.”
The Bucs have already seen what third-string moxie can do with Walker and the Panthers.
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