To get you ready for Week 16, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is your Tampa Bay Buccaneers/San Francisco 49ers preview.2007 Records:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 9-5 (NFC South Champions)
San Francisco 49ers: 4-10 (3rd in NFC West)
Last Week:
Bucs 37, Falcons 3
49ers 20, Bengals 13
Why We Care: Years after he was jettisoned from San Francisco, The Jeff Garcia Reclamation Project returns to where it all began. There's probably not much in the way of interesting football here, but it will be interesting to see how inspired Garcia plays in attempting to show the 49ers what they're missing out on. On the other side of the field, there's another interesting quarterback to keep an eye on. Shaun Hill is the 49ers' starter for the rest of the season and will further his attempts to get a big payday this offseason.
When the Bucs have the ball: You might be calling this the Jeff Garcia Show. Or maybe not. The Bucs' offense isn't spectacular, but they've done well enough despite losing their top two rushers. Joey Galloway is always the man, and Garcia will never die. They're like Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach in skill, longevity and age.
But there's really nothing the Bucs can do to better their playoff positioning except flip-flopping with the Seahawks. They've won their division and will come up short of a bye, so going all out against the lowly 49ers probably isn't necessary. Michael Pittman is probable, so I'd expect he, Earnest Graham, and Michael Bennett to get the majority of the work while Garcia hits a big play or two and scrambles for the occasional first down.
When the 49ers have the ball: Hill has a 107.4 quarterback rating and is completing 78.2% of his passes in two games as the 49ers starter, automatically making him the best quarterback the 49ers have had since Garcia. But that came against the Vikings and Bengals, two pass defenses not necessarily known for stiff challenges. This will be a rough test for Hill -- an aggressive front seven, an experienced and dangerous secondary -- and, oh, the Bucs are allowing the fewest points per game in the league.
So, needless to say, if Hill can present even a fraction of what he's done so far, the 49ers have to take a long look at him. Not sure he'll get much help from Frank Gore. He is coming off of a 138-yard game, but it's only his second 100-yard game of the season. If the Bucs can contain Gore with just seven in the box, the Bucs can focus on throwing the inexperienced Hill, unaccustomed to such a complex scheme, out of whack.
The Edge: Tampa is a good team. San Francisco isn't. That's pretty much the edge. I don't think the Bucs will be going full throttle, they'll probably pare the playbook down to the bare minimum. Yet that'll be enough. The final score probably won't reflect the disparity between the two teams, but at this point the Bucs just want to get to the playoffs healthy.
