Buffalo Rumblings
I was prepped to do some of my usual analysis on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of the Buffalo Bills’ Week 11 game against them this weekend. There’s some good stuff there too.
For instance, Tampa Bay’s points per drive ranks 16th in the league. Pretty mid for a 6-3 team. Even with their recent struggles, the Bills are fifth in the league. On defense, the Buccaneers’ 10th-place spot in points-per-drive-allowed edges out Buffalo’s 16th-place ranking. That’s pretty cool to know, but with a shortened time to write and a little post-loss malaise, I was hoping to find something quirky.
You’re in luck!
I promise this won’t be the shortest article of all time, but the premise behind the headline is pretty simple. Both teams score a lot coming out of halftime. Let’s be a bit more specific, though. For the Buccaneers the third quarter isn’t their highest scoring, but it’s pretty close. So far this season the Bucs have dropped 73 points in the second quarter and 68 in the third. The difference between these and the other quarters is glaring.
In the crunch time of the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay so far hasn’t been dominant. They’ve only had 49 points in 2025 during the last quarter. It’s even worse to start the game, with only 30 points put up in the first quarter.
A lot of the disparity among the quarters is easily capture in their touchdown logs. The Buccaneers have scored 24 touchdowns this season. Eight of them have been in the second quarter. Another nine occurred in the third.
With the tight race between quarter two and quarter three for Tampa Bay, why am I focusing on the third quarter for potential fireworks? As you might have suspected the Bills have been very good there too. The line chart for their points by quarter would make a good ramp. In the first quarter, Buffalo has had 55 points. That’s followed by 56 in the second quarter, 65 in the third, and 72 in the fourth.
Just like Tampa Bay, the third quarter is the second best for the Bills. The combination of the two teams’ scoring in the third could mean we’re in for a wild ride after the intermission.
On the other hand, fans of defensive football might be in for a treat. By quarter, the Bucs have allowed 51, 53, 41, and 61 points. There’s a clear dip in the third. For Buffalo it’s even more glaring. Their points allowed per quarter are 42, 65, 27, and 64.
So we could be in for an explosion of points in the third quarter. Or if things hold up based on both offensive and defensive metrics, it could be an ugly second quarter for Bills fans and a horrific fourth for Bucs faithful. Buffalo’s biggest struggles have been in the second quarter, which happens to be Tampa’s best quarter. Similarly, the Bills’ best offensive output is in the...
