Bucs Record Watch 2023: Week 17 vs. Saints

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There isn’t a single one among you Bucs fans and Pewter People who doesn’t know what’s at stake for Tampa Bay when it hosts New Orleans at Raymond James Stadium on New Year’s Eve. It’s simple: The Bucs need to win the game and they’ll clinch a winning season, wrap up the NFC South title — their third straight — and set up a home game on Super Wild Card Weekend for the third straight year. It would be a fourth consecutive playoff appearance overall for Tampa Bay, too. It’s been a wild ride for the Bucs to get to the point where they have a chance to clinch the division on the final day of the 2023 calendar year. All the way back in February, Tom Brady retired after 23 seasons — with the last three in Tampa Bay — leaving Jason Licht, Todd Bowles and the rest of the Bucs’ brass with significant shoes to fill. There was also the matter of dealing with salary cap constraints, something cap guru Mike Greenberg did masterfully (as usual). The Bucs signed Baker Mayfield to compete with Kyle Trask, shored up the majority of their other needs, drafted an impressive 2023 class and set their sights on a season that many nationally believed would be a massive failure. Mayfield ultimately won the quarterback job and helped Tampa Bay start 3-1. How’s that for the doubters, eh? Only from there, the team lost six of seven and sunk to 4-7. It looked like a top-10 pick was in its future. Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR But then, December happened. The Bucs are on a four-game winning streak dating back to Dec. 3, and they’re now 8-7 with two chances at clinching the division. It’s been quite the run for Tampa Bay, which has an opportunity to finish the month 5-0 and make the Week 18 game at Carolina a tune-up for the playoffs and nothing more. Of course, there are also plenty of career and single-season milestones to keep an eye on for the Bucs. Last week, Mike Evans tied himself for the second-most receiving touchdowns in a single season in franchise history while Lavonte David surpassed Brad Culpepper and Jason Pierre-Paul for eighth-most sacks in team history. Antoine Winfield Jr. made some history too, becoming the first defensive back since 1999 to record a 5.0 sacks and five forced fumbles in a single season. He also became just the fourth player since 2000 to tally 5.0 sacks, five takeaways and five forced fumbles in a single season. Now, let’s see where things stand heading into Week 17. Baker Mayfield Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today Mayfield needs one more passing touchdown to tie Josh Freeman (27 in 2012) for the fifth-most single-season passing touchdowns in franchise history. Two more will tie him with Jameis Winston (28 in 2016) for the fourth-most by a Bucs quarterback in a single season. With four more passing touchdowns, Mayfield will join Tom Brady as the only players to throw for 30-plus touchdowns in their first season with the Bucs. Plus, if Mayfield has one more game with a 90-plus passer rating, he’ll join Brady (2020, 2021) as the only Bucs quarterbacks ever with 10-plus such games in a single season. Rachaad White White needs 127 more rushing yards to become the first Bucs running back with 1,000 yards in a single season since Doug Martin in 2015. It would be the 13th 1,000-yard rushing season in franchise history. If he does tally 127 more rushing yards, he’ll also join James Wilder (1984) as the only players in Bucs history with 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in a single season. White would be the first player to accomplish that feat within the first two seasons of a career since Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey in 2018. With 120 more scrimmage yards, White will become the first Bucs running back since Doug Martin (2015) and first Buc overall since Mike Evans (2018) with 1,500-plus scrimmage yards in a single season. It would be just the eighth such season in franchise history. White needs one more touchdown to tie five players (10) for fifth-most total touchdowns by a Bucs running back in a single season. With two total touchdowns, he’d tie Mike Alstott (11 in 2001) and Errict Rhett (11 in 1995) for third-most single-season touchdowns by a Tampa Bay running back. And finally, three more touchdowns will tie White with Doug Martin (12 in 2012) for the second-most total touchdowns by a Bucs running back in a single season. Mike Evans Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today Evans needs one more receiving touchdown to tie his own single-season franchise record of 14, which he set back in 2021. One touchdown of any kind would tie him with Eric Dickerson (96) for the 26th-most total touchdowns in NFL history. And of course, with two receiving touchdowns, Evans will set a new single-season franchise record of 15. Remarkably, Evans is only 15 points away from breaking the franchise record for career points scored, which is currently held by Martin Gramatica (592). With four more receiving touchdowns this season, Evans will tie Chris Carter (1995), Rob Gronkowski (2011), Randy Moss (1998, 2003), Carl Pickens (1995) and Jerry Rice (1989) for the sixth-most single-season receiving touchdowns in league history. Evans is five receiving touchdowns away from tying Don Hutson (99) for 11th-most in NFL history, while five more touchdowns of any kind will tie him with Frank Gore, Franco Harris and Curtis Martin (100) for the 23rd-most total touchdowns in NFL history. Six more receiving touchdowns will make Evans just the 11th player in league history with 100-plus receiving touchdowns in a career. With 32 more receiving yards, Evans will pass Calvin Johnson (11,348) for 33rd-most in league history. He’d also pass Johnson for the sixth-most by a player through the first 10 seasons of his career. Finally, Sunday will be Evans’ 153rd game with the Bucs. That’ll leave him five away from tying Mike Alstott (158) for ninth-most in franchise history. Chris Godwin Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: USA Today With one more receiving touchdown, Godwin will tie Jimmie Giles (34) for the second-most in franchise history, passing Cameron Brate (33) in the process. Godwin needs only 108 yards to break 1,000 for the fourth time in his career. That would break a tie with Joey Galloway and Vincent Jackson for the second-most 1,000-yard receiving seasons in Bucs history. Godwin is also just six catches away from hitting 80 for the fourth time in his career, which would extend his own franchise record for 80-catch seasons. Sunday will be Godwin’s 103rd game with Tampa Bay, leaving him one behind Hardy Nickerson (104) for 37th-most in team history. Lavonte David Bucs ILB Lavonte David and Saints QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR David notched another sack last week, meaning he only needs another half-sack to become the second player since tackles for loss became regularly tracked in 2008 to record multiple seasons with 100-plus tackles, 15-plus tackles for loss and 5.0-plus sacks. He would join Daryl Washington (2011, 2012). With three more tackles for loss, David will reach 20 for the season. That would tie him with Aaron Donald and DeMarcus Ware (3) for second-most 20-TFL seasons since 2008. Only J.J. Watt (4) has more. Sunday will be David’s 180th game as a Buc, meaning he is just four away from passing Paul Gruber (183) for fourth-most in team history. It’ll also be his 180th start, which also means he’s four away from passing Gruber (183) for third-most of any Buc ever. David is one pass defensed away from moving ahead of Donnie Abraham (64) for fifth-most in franchise history. Jamel Dean Dean needs 11 passes defensed to move ahead of Aqib Talib (54) for seventh-most in team history. Antoine Winfield Jr. Winfield only needs one more forced fumble to tie Broderick Thomas (11) for eighth-most in franchise history, moving ahead of Jermaine Phillips and Stylez G. White (10) in the process. The post Bucs Record Watch 2023: Week 17 vs. Saints appeared first on Pewter Report.

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