The Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to the Edward Jones Dome to face the St. Louis Rams on Thursday Night Football. The Rams are coming off a win over the Detroit Lions, and head coach Jeff Fisher will look for his team to continue to turn its season around, as the Rams are just 5-8 on the year. The Buccaneers have been much improved under second-year head coach Lovie Smith, and quarterback Jameis Winston will try to help his team bounce back after a loss to the New Orleans Saints this past weekend.
Winston has thrown for 3,059 yards with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his rookie season. The Buccaneers franchise quarterback was selected as the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and has been a huge reason Tampa Bay has turned it around this season. Smith will look to put his quarterback in strong positions Thursday night by establishing a strong ground game with running back Doug Martin.
Martin is second in the NFL with 1,214 rushing yards this year and has scored five touchdowns. The Buccaneers star running back averaged 7.4 yards per carry last week and rushed for more than 80 yards with a touchdown. Martin is expected to get plenty of touches Thursday, as he can open up the offensive game plan by making his presence an immediate impact.
The Buccaneers will be without wide receiver Vincent Jackson with a knee injury, and wide receiver Mike Evans will look to be Winston's top target in St. Louis. The second-year wideout leads the team with 889 receiving yards but has only managed to find the end zone three times this year. Smith will look keep the Rams' defense guessing Thursday, as he knows how talented St. Louis' defense can be.
Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has been an impact player this season and has 59 total tackles with 11 sacks. Donald and linebacker James Laurinaitis can create havoc for opposing offenses, and both of them will look to make Winston's night difficult.
On offense the Rams will start quarterback Case Keenum Thursday, but Fisher will look to protect his quarterback with a strong rushing attack, as Keenum has clearly struggled this season. Keenum threw for 124 yards with an interception in a win over the Lions last week, and Fisher has likely explained the importance of ball security to Keenum in preparation for Thursday's game.
Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley has been nothing short of spectacular his first season in the NFL. Gurley is the fourth leading rusher in the NFL with 975 yards and has scored eight touchdowns this season. Gurley missed the first two games of the year but made an instant impact in the Rams backfield, as he has rushed for more than 100 yards in five games this year. Gurley is coming off arguably the best game of his NFL career against Detroit last week when he rushed for 140 yards and scored two touchdowns. The Rams snapped their five game losing streak this past Sunday and are looking to start a winning streak against Tampa Bay Thursday.
It's a matchup of two teams struggling to turn their franchises around and features two of the best rookies in the NFL in Winston and Gurley. The game starts at 8:25 p.m. Eastern time, and you can watch the live broadcast here. To listen to the Buccaneers' radio broadcast, click here, and for the Rams' radio broadcast, go here.
