Game Preview - Week 16: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco: Trent Dilfer has been ruled out for this week, meaning Shaun Hill will make his second straight start after throwing for 197 yards and scoring two touchdowns (1 pass, 1 rush) against the Bengals. However, San Francisco will face a much better defense this week so look for the 49ers offense to return to mediocrity or even below, despite playing at home. Frank Gore has struggled against the top run defenses like Minnesota (68 yds), Baltimore (52 yds), and Pittsburgh (39 yds) so don't look for a repeat performance of Week 15 when Gore rushed 29 times for 138 yards.

Start: TE Vernon Davis
Consider: RB Frank Gore
Sit: WR Darrell Jackson, QB Alex Smith, WR Arnaz Battle, 49ers D/ST

Tampa Bay: Jeff Garcia threw for 101 yards last week, Joey Galloway had one catch for 7 yards and the Bucs scored 37 points. Tampa blew out the Falcons thanks to defense and a running game featuring Earnest Graham, Michael Bennett, and Michael Pittman… all rushed for at least 50 yards, totaling 192 between them. You would expect Tampa to take it easy the next two weeks but they still have some playoff positioning to battle for and don't hold the tie-breaker over Seattle meaning Graham is still a good play and potentially Garcia/Galloway - especially against the 49ers defense that's given up big days to Bulger, Hasselbeck (twice), Brees, and Warner.

Start: RB Earnest Graham
Consider: WR Joey Galloway, QB Jeff Garcia
Sit: TE Alex Smith, WR Ike Hilliard, TE Jerramy Stevens

Krueger's Rankings/Projections

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Rank	Player	Projections
QB 21	Jeff Garcia	Pass: 185, 1 Rush: 5, 0
RB 4	Earnest Graham	Rush: 100, 1 Rec: 5-35, 0
WR 27	Joey Galloway	Rec: 4-65, 1
WR 58	Michael Clayton	Rec: 3-40, 0
WR 84	Ike Hilliard	Rec: 2-20, 0
TE 28	Alex Smith	Rec: 2-20, 0

San Francisco 49ers
Rank	Player	Projections
QB 30	Shaun Hill	Pass: 180, 1 Rush: 10, 0
RB 17	Frank Gore	Rush: 95, 0 Rec: 4-30, 0
WR 36	Darrell Jackson	Rec: 4-55, 0
WR 67	Bryan Gilmore	Rec: 3-35, 0
WR 86	Arnaz Battle	Rec: 1-15, 0
TE 5	Vernon Davis	Rec: 5-55, 1

View all Week 16 Rankings or Projections

Past Results and Remaining Schedule

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week	Date	Opp	H/A	Score	Dif
1	2007-09-09	SEA	A	L 6-20	-14
2	2007-09-16	NO	H	W 31-14	+17
3	2007-09-23	STL	H	W 24-3	+21
4	2007-09-30	CAR	A	W 20-7	+13
5	2007-10-07	IND	A	L 14-33	-19
6	2007-10-14	TEN	H	W 13-10	+3
7	2007-10-21	DET	A	L 16-23	-7
8	2007-10-28	JAC	H	L 23-24	-1
9	2007-11-04	ARI	H	W 17-10	+7
10		Bye
11	2007-11-18	ATL	A	W 31-7	+24
12	2007-11-25	WAS	H	W 19-13	+6
13	2007-12-02	NO	A	W 27-23	+4
14	2007-12-09	HOU	A	L 14-28	-14
15	2007-12-16	ATL	H	W 37-3	+34
16	2007-12-23	SF	A	L 19-21	-2
17	2007-12-30	CAR	H

San Francisco 49ers
Week	Date	Opp	H/A	Score	Dif
1	2007-09-10	ARI	H	W 20-17	+3
2	2007-09-16	STL	A	W 17-16	+1
3	2007-09-23	PIT	A	L 16-37	-21
4	2007-09-30	SEA	H	L 3-23	-20
5	2007-10-07	BAL	H	L 7-9	-2
6		Bye
7	2007-10-21	NYG	A	L 15-33	-18
8	2007-10-28	NO	H	L 10-31	-21
9	2007-11-04	ATL	A	L 16-20	-4
10	2007-11-12	SEA	A	L 0-24	-24
11	2007-11-18	STL	H	L 9-13	-4
12	2007-11-25	ARI	A	W 37-31	+6
13	2007-12-02	CAR	A	L 14-31	-17
14	2007-12-09	MIN	H	L 7-27	-20
15	2007-12-15	CIN	H	W 20-13	+7
16	2007-12-23	TB	H	W 21-19	+2
17	2007-12-30	CLE	A

Offense Stats Comparison

	TB Offense	SF Offense	NFL Average
Points for	25.7	12.5	21.6
Rushing yards	140.0	87.0	107.0
Rushing yards per attempt	4.63	4.09	3.97
Completion %	63.2%	56.8%	60.7%
Passing yards	161.7	185.0	214.3
Passing yards per completion	9.58	8.85	10.38
Passing yards per attempt	6.06	5.03	6.30
Interceptions	0.3	1.0	1.1
Fumbles lost	0.7	1.0	0.8
Sacked	2.7	2.8	2.2

Note: Team statistics are shown as the average per game through Weeks 10 to 15 of the 2007 season after deducting the best and worst value from the data set. The exception is yards per rush attempt, completion %, yards per pass completion, yards per pass attempt and the NFL averages, which are each calculated based on totals through Weeks 10 to 15 with no adjustment.

Defense Stats Comparison

	TB Defense	SF Defense	NFL Average
Points against	14.3	23.8	21.6
Rushing yards	87.0	105.3	107.0
Rushing yards per attempt	3.64	3.54	3.97
Completion %	63.7%	66.5%	60.7%
Passing yards	191.3	211.3	214.3
Passing yards per completion	8.19	10.41	10.38
Passing yards per attempt	5.22	6.93	6.30
INT return	1.3	0.8	1.1
Fumble recoveries	2.0	0.5	0.8
Sacks	2.7	1.8	2.2

Weather

Check the current weather forecast for San Francisco from Weather.com.

Team vs. Team History

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. San Francisco 49ers
Season	Week	Date	Vis	Home	Score	Winner
2003	7	2003-10-19	TB	SF	7-24	SF
2004	11	2004-11-21	SF	TB	3-35	TB
2005	8	2005-10-30	TB	SF	10-15	SF

Note: Only playoff games from the 2004 to 2006 seasons are included in the team vs. team history. Playoff games from seasons prior to 2004 are not currently included in the database.

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