Mother Nature is About to Wash Out the Falcons-Bucs Game at RayJ

If you were hoping for a clean, high-flying shootout between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers today, you might want to check the radar. Meteorologist Kevin Roth just confirmed that a massive batch of rain is building directly over Raymond James Stadium. We are officially on downpour watch for a divisional matchup that was already hanging by a thread.

Playing in a monsoon is the kind of thing that looks incredibly cinematic in slow-motion NFL Films highlights but is absolute torture for anyone actually trying to execute a game plan. When the field turns into a slip-and-slide, the playbook shrinks to about four pages. You can throw out the deep shots and the timing routes, because nobody is planting their back foot securely in a puddle.

"Kevin Roth: 'Yeah, this batch of rain is definitely building into RayJ. I don’t know if it lasts all game, but it’s a solid time played in a downpour.'"

This weather update is just the latest brutal break for a Tampa Bay squad that is already fielding a roster held together by athletic tape and sheer willpower. The 2-5 Buccaneers are sitting in third place in the NFC South and are missing half their offensive core. Chris Godwin Jr., Tristan Wirfs, and Emeka Egbuka have all been ruled out. Asking a depleted offense to keep pace is hard enough, but asking them to do it while holding a waterlogged football is just cruel.

For anyone holding tickets on passing props or the game total, this is the exact moment you start sweating. Wind gusts are expected to hit 17 miles per hour, which is right around the threshold where deep balls start looking like wounded ducks. When you combine missing star receivers with a slick ball and unpredictable gusts, the under suddenly becomes the most popular guy at the party.

Expect this one to get ugly, run-heavy, and weird in a hurry. The Falcons and Bucs are going to have to grind this out in the mud, and the team that turns the ball over less will probably stumble away with the win. Keep an eye on the pregame warmups to see just how bad the field conditions get before kickoff.