NFL: Buccaneers to stop Giants streak

There's plenty of string to be played out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants, and they'll use up another week of it Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Tampa Bay is 3-6, losers of six of the past seven. New York is 2-7, and it needed a fourth-quarter comeback to earn its second win Monday night at San Francisco. Both teams are a lot closer to being on the clock for next spring's NFL draft than they are of being in any kind of playoff race.

However, even bad teams still have things for which to play. In the Buccaneers' case, it's another week of trying to save the job of embattled coach Dirk Koetter. For the Giants, it's a chance to win consecutive games for the first time this year.

"The thing is, we got to keep getting better, and I think we have gotten better," New York left tackle Nate Solder said. "This has got to be another (positive) week. We can't stay stagnant, we can't get worse. We got to keep continuing to improve."

The Sunday contest has the potential of being a high-scoring game. Coming off a three-TD game Monday night, Giants quarterback Eli Manning gets an opportunity to pick on a Tampa Bay pass defence that has been a blinking green light all year. What's more, the Buccaneers won't have their best linebacker, Lavonte David.

A knee injury kept David off the practice field all week. Also ruled out are defensive end Vinny Curry, defensive backs Justin Evans and M.J. Stewart and running back Ronald Jones.

Tampa Bay has an explosive offence with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing to the likes of Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson and emerging tight end O.J. Howard. However, the Buccaneers have been plagued by a failure to convert in the red zone and a league-worst minus-19 turnover ratio.

In a 16-3 home loss to the Washington Redskins last week, Tampa Bay accomplished the wondrous feat of gaining 501 yards yet managing just a field goal. Fitzpatrick completed 29 of 41 passes for 406 yards but mixed in two interceptions and a lost fumble.

"Turnovers are killing us right now," Koetter said. "We're last in the league with 13 in the last four games. Thirteen turnovers and no takeaways. That's by far the No. 1 thing that's hurting our team. We've talked about it many times."

The game marks the return of Buccaneers defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul to the Meadowlands. Pierre-Paul notched 58 1/2 sacks in eight years for New York before being traded to Tampa Bay in March.

He sent a message Thursday to Manning: "I'm coming, Eli. ... The new rules, you've got to lay him down, so I'll lay him down if I get there. ... I know one thing, if (Manning) is hot, he's on, he's going to continue to be hot. We've got to get after them early."

(With inputs from agencies.)