San Francisco 49ers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preview & Prediction | PFF

San Francisco 49ers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preview & Prediction | PFF

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We’ve talked about already. Could have been could have been anybody. When you say your guy, there’s there’s 18 other teams that he could have been their guy. Absolutely. There’s 18 other ones and they, you know, they said, “You know what? Hey, we’ll we’ll let him drop to the team that apparently didn’t need receivers, but I I I don’t Wait, what’s that?” You were just like, “Hey, you know, we’ll just let him drop hypo hypothetically. Anytime you’re passing up a guy in the draft, you be you get to be really just, you know, really kind of mafia. Yeah, we don’t we don’t need him. We’ll be all right without him. Let him let him go to Tampa. He’ll be fine in Tampa.” Yeah. It’s it’s that sort of that sort of Yeah, exactly. So, um I think the most surprising part of Ibuka’s emergence on top of just being one of the best receivers in football is just the fact that he’s out of nowhere become a deep threat. Like we thought in the scouting report, he’s an excellent route runner, separator, all of that underneath. Great in tight spaces. Look at these numbers deep down the field. 20 plus air yards here. Third best deep receiving grade in football. Most catches, most yards, most touchdowns. All of a sudden, the Bucks have gone, “Wait a minute, you’re faster than we thought you were. Let’s let’s sling it downfield.” And of course, Baker Mayfield’s in favor of that all the time. Trevor, that that eight receptions, eight deep catches, okay, in five games. Let me tell you something. The the last two years, two years at Ohio State combined, he had eight deep catches. He’s got as many in five games with the Buccaneers as he did his last two years at Ohio State. And they’re playing, I mean, they’re in the playoff and everything. They’re playing what, 30 games or whatever that is the last two years at Ohio State. I mean, all of a sudden, Ibuka is a deep threat. He’s on the outside. Godwin’s back, so he’s in the slot a little bit more. But, but Ibuka being this vertical threat is just not something I had on the board. And the fact that he’s been able to do it when the usual vertical threat, Mike Evans, is out now with an injury. Again, I I don’t know that we can understate. We have no idea where the Bucks would be without a Mecha Ibuka. And it’s the fact that he’s been this deep home run threat in multiple different games. Now, you saw it again last week against Seattle that’s allowed Baker Mayfield to continue to make big plays despite the poor pass protection, despite all the injuries at receiver and not having Bucky Irving last week and all the adversity the Bucks have gone through. Ibuka’s just far and exceeded any expectation we possibly had for him. And that part right there, I think, is the most unexpected part. Yeah. Look, he we we’ve said this already so many times over the last five weeks. Where would this team be without a mega Ibuka, right? With with Evans happen to happening to get hurt. Chris Godwin very clearly needs a ramp up period. Where would this team be? Yeah. I you know, you talk about wins above average, wins above replacement. If Ibuka is not on this team, let’s say they would have gone with a pass rusher or something, whatever in the first round, the Bucks probably have two whole less wins because of just not having this player on their team. He has been unbelievable. He is the offensive rookie of the year, I think. And it it’s that’s an easy decision for me even without the Tampa Bay bias in there. I know there’s a lot of good rookies that are playing well, but what I has meant to this team five games in has been his performance has been unbelievable. He has taken his game to another level. And a lot like we talked about with Jaden Daniels where you go, “Holy cow, this guy was good when he was in college and he’s somehow even better now his first year in the NFL.” That is exactly what you describe with Ibuka. He is everything that we saw with him at Ohio State over the last two years and then some and elevating his game beyond that. So, I think it’s a really great thing that you call out there for the 49ers. You ready for this one, Dalton? Get your pen and paper out. I’m going to give you some Christian McAffrey stats. Oh, he’s got a He’s got a lot of them. He always has a lot of them. When it comes to Christian McCaffrey in the receiving game, which means a lot because the Buccaneers are 31st in the NFL so far, five weeks through the season at covering running backs out of the backfield. They have a 42.7 overall coverage grade when covering running backs out of the back field as receivers, although it was better last week. They had a 72.6 grade versus Seattle. Christian McCaffrey amongst running backs when it comes to production as a receiver. Okay, so this is just against running backs. 85.9 receiving grades, first targets, 49, first 39 receptions, first 387 receiving yards, first 18 recept uh receptions for a first down, first 13 missed tackles forced on receptions. First, this guy is the most dynamic receiving back in the NFL. And quite frankly, it’s not even close. When you look at the 18 first down receptions that Christian McCaffrey has, the next closest to him has nine. You know who that is? Bucky Irving right behind Bucky Irving’s not playing in this Bucks game. So, if you take Bucky Irving out of the equation at all, he is blowing every other running back out of the water when it comes to receiving production. Now, the reason why that’s an issue for the Bucks is, like I said, the coverage there. And I think something that needs to be pointed out is, yes, Seasier Dennis has struggled in this area, the linebacker for the Buccaneers. He has a 28.2 coverage grade so far this season. A lot of the damage there has been done from running backs out of the back field and him not being able to contain them. But Levante David as well is struggling. David has a 39.7 coverage grade. Now, that’s just overall. That’s not just against running backs, but that’s overall. Levonte David’s 35 years old at this point. Last year, his 56.9 coverage grade overall was the lowest coverage single season coverage grade of his career. So, this year it is even lower. So, the age it feels like is really catching up to him when it comes to being that great coverage defender. I mean, he had years where he had an 87.4 coverage grade, 85.6 coverage grade, 91.9, 83.1, 87.9. He had plenty of years where he was in the 70s as well. Levante David has long been one of the better cover linebackers and just straight up linebackers in the NFL for the better part of the last decade and a half, but this year he’s really struggling. And M. Jones, we talked about, you know, how good he was last week. Actually, is he still starting? I don’t even know. Is is Brock pretty starting? I’m not sure if that’s been determined yet. That might be a dayto-day type thing. It’s Wednesday, so I didn’t I wasn’t sure if it was like a Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brock starting this week 100%. But either way, we know kind of what Brock Perie is and it’s sort of the same thing that M. Jones is. These guys are just going to operate very confidently and they’re not afraid to take the open receivers. And a lot of time this season, Christian McCaffrey has been that open receiver. Tape’s really struggled in that area. To me, amongst all the other injuries that the 49ers have had so far this season, that is the factor that has been the most constant that they could pick on the Buccaneers with. So, if they can remain consistent in that regard and continue to march the football down the field, sustain those longer drives, it’s less time for Baker Mayfield to be explosive. I do have the Bucks still winning this game. I think they have the better momentum. I think they have I they’re certainly more healthy even amongst their injuries that they are dealing with. I do think this is a very close game though. Would not be surprised if the 49ers won this one, but I will say Tampa wins this one 24-20. Yeah. No, I’m I’m with you. I think I like the Bucks at home in this game. I think whether it is Pertie or M. Jones. Kyle Shanahan just finds a way to stay in these games and and win more than he doesn’t. I I’ve got the Bucks 27 to 24. Some other fun numbers there on McAffrey. This is among all players, Trev. I’m I’m going to add receivers and tight ends and everything into this. The only two guys with more targets than Christian McAffrey in the whole league are Puka Nakua and Chris Olive. The only two guys with more catches are Puka Nakua and apparently Jake Ferguson who’s just catching everything for Dallas right now. I I mean it is just I still wonder with McAffrey. He’s 29 right now if he’s got maybe another say two years in him after this at running back and if he wanted to keep playing into his 30s if he would just switch to receiver full-time. If he would just be somebody’s slot receiver for another five years into his 30s and still be that good. cuz he’s one I mean straight up at any position he’s one of the best route runners in football, right? I I mean I I really wonder if he wanted to play deep into his 30s. I think I wonder if there’s a team or I wonder if somebody would just sign him and go, you know what, you you want to play receiver if he’s if he would be willing to do that because I he’s every bit capable of it. Absolutely. That would be really something I think really fun to watch down the line at some point. But you’re right, that’s the biggest mismatch that could go in the Niners favor here. But I I think this time between two teams that have gotten through a ton of adversity with injuries and all of that, I think Baker Mayfield once again has another solid game. And I think with Tristan Worfs back, the offensive line is starting to round into form again.

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The San Francisco 49ers and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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