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The Tampa Bay
Buccaneers’ 2011 regular season schedule includes two primetime
home games, the first time since the 2003 season.
The schedule will also feature seven games against 2010 playoff
teams and a total of eight games against teams that finished
last season with a .500 record or better.
The Buccaneers open the 2011 campaign at home against Detroit on
September 11, marking the third straight year Tampa Bay will
have opened at Raymond James Stadium. Tampa Bay will be looking
to settle a score with the Lions, following a hotly contested
23-20 overtime loss in Week 15 of the 2010 season. The
Buccaneers hold a 3-2 series advantage since division
realignment in 2002. The game also features two of the top three
quarterbacks selected in the 2009 Draft, Matthew Stafford and
Josh Freeman. |
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In
Week 2, Tampa Bay travels to Minnesota for the first time since
a 24-13 victory in 2005. The Buccaneers are 3-0 against their
former NFC Central rival since realignment. It will also serve
as a homecoming for Buccaneers Defensive Line Coach Keith
Millard, who was named as one of the top 50 Vikings of all time
last year.
NFC South rival Atlanta visits Tampa Bay on September 25 to open
division play. The rivalry pits two of the League’s top tight
ends in Tony Gonzalez and Kellen Winslow. Additionally, four of
the last five games between the teams have been decided by a
score or less. The series is tied at 9-9 since the division’s
inception in 2002.
Week 4 marks the return of the Buccaneers to Monday Night
Football, when the two-time defending AFC South Champion
Indianapolis Colts visit Tampa Bay on October 3. While the two
teams have faced one another 11 times, this marks only the
second time the Colts have played in Raymond James Stadium. The
last contest was a 38-35 Colts overtime victory in 2003, also on
Monday Night Football.
On October 9, the Buccaneers head west to San Francisco for the
second year in a row, following a 21-0 shutout win against the
49ers last season. The Buccaneers victory marked the first time
that the 49ers had been shut out at home since 1977.
Tampa Bay plays host to New Orleans in Week 6, with the
Buccaneers having prevailed in nine of the last 15 meetings
against the division-rival Saints. The two teams have split the
season series the past three years.
In Week 7, Tampa Bay will travel to London for the second time
in three years, as they will take on the former NFC Central
rival Chicago Bears as part of the NFL’s International Series.
It will mark the fifth meeting between the teams since 2004 and
the fifth straight year that the League has staged one of its
regular season games in the United Kingdom. In 2008, Tampa Bay
rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter en route to a
27-24 win in overtime at Soldier Field.
Following their bye in Week 8, the Buccaneers travel to New
Orleans on November 6, where they have won the last two meetings
and six of the last eight road contests against the Saints.
A common preseason opponent since entering the NFL in 2002,
Houston will make just its second regular-season trip to Tampa
Bay in Week 10. It marks only the third matchup overall between
the two teams, with the Buccaneers winning the first contest in
2003 and the Texans claiming victory in 2007.
Tampa Bay hits the road for three of its next four games,
beginning on November 20 with just its second trip to Lambeau
Field since NFL realignment to face the Super Bowl XLV Champion
Green Bay Packers. Tampa Bay is 1-0 against Green Bay under Head
Coach Raheem Morris, following a 38-28 comeback victory in 2009,
and has won the last three meetings between the two teams.
Week 12 has the Buccaneers traveling to Tennessee to face the
Titans. It will mark the fourth regular-season contest between
the two teams since the Oilers became the Titans in 1999. The
Buccaneers won the last meeting, 13-10, in 2007 at Raymond James
Stadium.
The Buccaneers welcome Carolina in Week 13, renewing one of the
NFC South’s most heated rivalries and matching up two of the
youngest teams in the League. Tampa Bay swept the season series
against the Panthers in 2010, and will look to put together its
first three-game winning streak against Carolina since 2002.
On December 11, Tampa Bay will visit its intrastate rival
Jacksonville for the first time in the regular season since
2003. The Jaguars lead the all-time regular-season series 3-1,
with the Buccaneers’ only victory coming in 1995, the Jaguars’
first season.
The Buccaneers return home the following week to host the Dallas
Cowboys on Saturday night for a primetime matchup on NFL
Network. It will mark the third time in four years the teams
have faced-off.
Following the regular-season home finale against the Cowboys,
the Buccaneers will hit the road for their final two contests of
2011. Tampa Bay will square off against the Panthers in
Charlotte on Saturday, December 24 (Christmas Eve), before
ending the regular season at Atlanta in Week 17.
All games will be broadcast on Tampa Bay flagship stations 103.5
FM WFUS and 620 AM WDAE, as well as stations throughout Florida
on the Buccaneers Radio Network. |
