With two weeks left in the regular season, the desire to watch the 49ers game live has taken on new meaning. For several weeks the Niners looked lost, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick was a shadow of his Super Bowl starring self. In recent weeks, though, San Francisco has turned the corner and begun to play like the playoff favorite they were thought to be. Last week they beat the seemingly bulletproof Seattle Seahawks in Candlestick Park, a momentum-building game for today’s 1pm EST / 10am PST game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs have little hope for the playoffs, while San Francisco has a lot on the line in a competitive division. You can watch Buccaneers vs 49ers game live online free using one of several different tools.
To be fair to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who play at home today in Raymond James Stadium, they’re definitely playing inspired ball. For the past five weeks the Bucs have put together some solid games, but their playoff hopes were sunk when they started the season with losses in their first eight games. The fact that the Buccaneers have gone 4-1 since then is astounding, but the hill is too steep for them to hope for a post-season berth. In a sense, today’s live 49ers game is their postseason, which could make the Bucs a dangerous team.
The real danger today, though, will come in the form of the 49ers defense. Currently ranked fourth in the NFL, the Niners’ D will face off against the NFL’s second-to-worst ranked offense, giving Colin Kaepernick and the Niners offense total domination in terms of time of possession. The 49ers game is predicated upon rushing — they’re currently ranked sixth in the NFL on the ground — so San Francisco was bound to eat the clock anyway. With the 49ers defense destined to force the Buccaneers’ offense into a ton of three-and-outs, that time-of-possession war will be decidedly in the 49ers favor.
Still, when you watch Buccaneers vs 49ers game live online today you’ll likely see a Tampa Bay team that puts up a serious fight. For all the talk above about the 49ers defense, the Tampa Bay defense has playing well enough of late to keep today’s 49ers game close. The Buccaneers are also playing the game at Raymond James Stadium, where they’ve won three in a row and are playing their last home game of the season. Home-field advantage often swings the point spread a good three points, maybe more depending on who’s playing. Considering those circumstances, the game may be closer than many experts think. That’s not to say that the Bucs will win. ESPN’s analysts unanimously pick the 49ers to beat the Buccaneers today.
The silver lining to having a rookie quarterback, as the Bucs do in Mike Glennon, is that rookies often don’t know any better when it comes to big games. Today against the 49ers’ aggressive defense, that could be a blessing in disguise. Glennon had been playing efficiently until the past two weeks, when he struggled against both Carolina and Buffalo. To relieve pressure on their rookie QB, the Buccaneers will need to establish their run game today, which will be difficult to do with Doug Martin and Bobby Rainey as your two-headed running back dragon. Neither of them has more than 457 total yards on the season. But Glennon may ignore or overlook the pressure completely, delivering at a time when his team really needs him to.
If you’re looking to watch the 49ers game live today, you can watch Buccaneers vs 49ers live online free on DirecTV’s website if you have the NFL Sunday Ticket with MAX Package. The package requires a subscription, but anyone who has one can watch the live streaming version free of any game, including today’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm EST / 10:00 am PST.
