Despite being inconsistent in their play, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been very consistent with their results during the 2023 season.

Tampa usually beats the bad teams by a healthy margin and gets beaten by a similar margin by the good teams. This isn't a bad place to be for a team that is using this season as a way to eat up some dead cap space and reset without tanking, but it doesn't have to be this way.

The Buccaneers have all the pieces to be great. In fact, a win is on the table tonight, but that will require the Bucs to fight some tendencies that could prove too difficult to overcome.

For what it is worth, Thursday Night Football is almost always a mess. Trying to use any prior games as a definitive measuring stick for tonight is a risk.

TNF is often the purest depiction of "the team that wants it more on the field wins" in practice.

So, what can the Buccaneers do to pull off the upset tonight against one of the better teams in the league?

The Buccaneers have to fight everything Todd Bowles wants on offense

Everyone knows the Buccaneers are going to play quality defense tonight. Last week was a little messy against an inferior Falcons team, but the Bucs continued on with their bend but don't break approach.

It was probably a bit too much of a gamble to let the Falcons get the ball into the red zone so many times and come away with no points, but this unit is able to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league, including a struggling Josh Allen.

Thursday Night Football usually isn't the time that struggling quarterbacks turn it around.

That all means this game will come down to offense, and that is probably a scary thought for Todd Bowles and company.

This is not a run-first team. Everyone on the planet knows this, including Bowles and Dave Canales.

If the Buccaneers want to be competitive, they will need their offense to work tonight, and that means having a plan that makes the most of what the Bucs can do.

In short, the recipe is simple: extend the run through the pass. 

This isn't revolutionary. Teams with forward-facing offensive strategies have been doing this for years.

Rather than just using running backs between the tackles as a way of keeping the chains moving with a high rate of consistency, quick passes to space make the most of wide receivers having to beat one or two guys rather than a running back against a front-seven.

The WR with the ball after a quick-hitter is much safer for a team like the Bucs than the rush, even if Tampa only averages three yards per attempt. That is how bad the Buccaneer rushing attack is.

The screen game, play-action, pre-snap motion, and short, high-percentage passes is the only way this offense is going to work against a talented Buffalo defense.

The recipe will probably make Todd Bowles' skin crawl, but it is the only one that will work.

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