At 6-2 earlier this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked again like a top contender in the NFC. But entering Week 17’s meeting with the Miami Dolphins (6-9), the Bucs (7-8) are fighting for their playoff lives and trailing the 8-7 Carolina Panthers in the NFC South.

A win Sunday over the Dolphins ensures the Buccaneers will play for the division title in the final game of the regular season. A loss could end their playoff hopes, if the Panthers defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Charlotte on Sunday.

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The Buccaneers will face rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers. The Dolphins’ seventh-round draft pick out of Texas will make his second start since replacing Tua Tagovailoa in Week 16.

The last time the Buccaneers faced a rookie QB, they lost at home to Tyler Shough and the New Orleans Saints. That loss began a three-game losing streak that the Bucs take into Miami.

Ewers threw two interceptions in a 45-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in his first start. If the Buccaneers can get pressure on the rookie, they can get Ewers into trouble and force turnovers.

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As important as getting to Ewers is, it may be even more important for the Buccaneers to slow down Dolphins running back Devon Achane, who enters the week as the NFL’s No. 3-ranked rusher, with 1,267 yards.

Achane is one of the fastest players in the NFL with great breakaway speed. Achane leads the league with 66 rushes that reached at least 15 miles per hour, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Only two players — Colts RB Jonathan Taylor and Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs — have more rushes that reached at least 20 miles per hour than Achane.

Offensively, the Buccaneers have taken a turn for the worse, starting with QB Baker Mayfield, who early this season was viewed as an MVP candidate. According to Next Gen Stats, Mayfield has a 72.6 passer rating since Week 11, ranking him 29th out of 31 qualified passers. In Weeks 1-10, he had a 99.2 rating.

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Only Browns QB Shedeur Sanders (67.5) and Jets QB Brady Cook (51.7) — both forced up from deep on their respective teams’ depth charts — have been worse.

Mayfield has thrown for under 200 yards in five of his last six games and six of his last eight. Injuries at the receiver position have accounted for part of that, but the Bucs now have almost all their weapons healthy.

However, they still are not moving the football as effectively as they had been earlier in the season. The good news is they are facing a Dolphins defense that is allowing 0.02 expected points added per play, 9th-highest in the NFL. They also rank 8th-highest with 0.06 expected points added per pass.

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This is also a week in which the Buccaneers’ backfield should get going again. Miami’s defense ranks 26th with 130.3 rushing yards allowed per game.

Miami is also closer to the middle of the pack in expected points added allowed per rush, ranking 19th. This could be a game in which the Bucs want to keep the football on the ground; but they also can take advantage of a depleted Dolphins secondary, one that just lost another player in cornerback Isaiah Johnson to a torn ACL during practice Friday.

This is essentially a playoff game for the Buccaneers against a Dolphins team that has already been eliminated from playoff contention. It’s hard to trust Tampa now, and the Dolphins can be very tricky. The Buccaneers certainly won’t be able to just walk into Hard Rock Stadium and expect to win.

However, they know they have to win to boost their playoff chances. Otherwise, they’ll become the biggest Seahawks fans for a few hours.