The NFC South has been the weakest division in the NFL this season. At 6-6, the Atlanta Falcons currently sit atop the division. No team in the NFC South has a winning record, giving divisional foes like the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers an opportunity to sneak into the playoff picture despite being 5-7.
With a Week 14 matchup against the Falcons, Buccaneers guard Cody Mauch knows the stakes of this game and how big of an opportunity it is to close the gap in the divisional standings.
“We’re treating it like a playoff game, because really, for us, it is,” Mauch stated, per ESPN’s Jenna Laine. Mauch went on to highlight the importance of beating divisional foes and finding ways to string together wins. “You’ve got to keep winning, especially these division games. That’s just kind of the mentality for us,” Mauch added.
The Buccaneers and Falcons would be tied for first place if the former wins this coming Sunday. However, since the two split their two meetings in the event of a Buccaneers win, they’d have the same head-to-head record and identical divisional records as well. Meaning, that the next tiebreaker would be their record against common opponents.
With little separating these two teams, every game has a heightened significance. The race for the NFC South divisional crown will be one to watch over the coming weeks with six games remaining in the 2023 season.
