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          Tampa Bay Buccaneers' schedule 2020: Adding Tom Brady pays with five prime-time games

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          Predicting the Bucs' record for the 2020 season (5:17)

          Ryan Clark predicts Tom Brady's Buccaneers to go 11-5 as their 2020 schedule is released. (5:17)

          • Jenna Laine, ESPN Staff WriterMay 8, 2020, 12:56 AM
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              Jenna Laine covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for ESPN. She started covering the Bucs for ESPN in 2016, but she has covered the team since 2009. Follow Jenna on Twitter: @JennaLaineESPN.
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          The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' schedule for 2020 was released Thursday.

          The regular season kicks off with the Houston Texans visiting the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Sept. 10 (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). The opening doubleheader for Monday Night Football will feature the Pittsburgh Steelers at the New York Giants (7:10 p.m. ET, ESPN) and the Tennessee Titans at the Denver Broncos (10:20 p.m. ET) on Monday, Sept. 14.

          Check out the full week-by-week schedule here. Here’s what is in store for the Buccaneers:

          Game-by-game prediction

          Bucs reporter Jenna Laine is predicting an 11-5 finish:

          Sept. 13: at New Orleans, Loss

          Sept. 20: vs. Carolina, Win

          Sept. 27: at Denver, Win

          Oct. 4: vs. Los Angeles Chargers, Win

          Oct. 8: at Chicago (TNF), Win

          Oct. 18: vs. Green Bay, Loss

          Oct. 25: at Las Vegas Raiders (SNF), Win

          Nov. 2 : at New York Giants (MNF), Win

          Nov. 8: vs. New Orleans (SNF), Win

          Nov. 15: at Carolina, Loss

          Nov. 23: vs. Los Angeles Rams (MNF), Win

          Nov. 29: vs. Kansas City, Loss

          Dec. 6: BYE

          Dec. 13: vs. Minnesota, Win

          Dec. 20: at Atlanta, Loss

          Dec. 26/27: at Detroit, Win

          Jan 3: vs. Atlanta, Win

          Strength of schedule: T-16th, .502

          Breakdown

          Bucs coach Bruce Arians said at the end of last season, “I think the difference between us and the New Orleans Saints -- in September, they knew they were going to win the division. We thought we might." What better way to kick off the Tom Brady era of Buccaneer football than to meet the very team that won the NFC South the past three seasons in the Saints? The Bucs will face all teams in the NFC North and AFC West in 2020. Brady is a career-best 17-3 (.850) against NFC North opponents, but some of his biggest challenges have come against the AFC West, going 29-16 (.644). The Bucs' schedule includes three teams Brady has never lost to the Falcons (6-0), Vikings (5-0) and Bears (5-0). After the Bucs trekked 27,670 miles round trip last year, they'll travel just 15,676 miles in 2020, thanks to no London, Los Angeles and Seattle trips.

          A season full of rematches

          The 2020 season is full of rematches of games Brady has been victorious in. He will see Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Week 8 after last defeating them 31-17 in 2018 in a game that was tied in the fourth quarter and did not feature Rob Gronkowski, who was injured. Brady is a career 1-1 against Rodgers, whom he called “one of my favorite guys to watch.” In Week 7, Jon Gruden gets his “Tuck Rule” game rematch 18 years after Brady, as Gruden put it, “ran him out” of Oakland. In Week 11, Sean McVay gets his Super Bowl LIII rematch after losing 13-3 to Brady in that title game. In Week 12, Brady gets to face Patrick Mahomes and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, whom he defeated 37-31 in the 2018 AFC Championship game. Brady is 25-19 for his career against Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks. And it's fitting that Brady will face the Falcons twice after defeating them in Super Bowl LI, when he overcame a 28-3 deficit to score 25 unanswered points and win.

          Brady Time is prime time

          The Bucs have never had more than four prime-time games in a season, which they had in 2002 -- the year they won the Super Bowl -- and in 2003. The only time the Bucs have had three prime-time games in the past 10 years was in 2016, when they went 9-7, and one of those games (against the Dallas Cowboys) was flexed late in the season, in Week 15. While the Bucs are 12-18 all-time in prime-time games, Brady is a career 50-21, including a 17-7 record on Monday night, 12-1 on Thursday night on and 21-13 in Sunday night games. The last time the Bucs hosted a Sunday night game was 2008.