Broncos at Buccaneers
The first quarterback selected in the 2015 draft will square off against the last on Sunday as Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host seventh-round pick Trevor Siemian and the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. Winston, who was the top overall pick following his Heisman Trophy-winning season at Florida State, passed for a career-high 405 yards with three touchdowns in a 37-32 setback to Los Angeles last Sunday.
The 6-foot-5, 231-pound Mike Evans, who will be guarded by Aqib Talib in the former Buccaneer's return to Raymond James Stadium, reeled in a career-high 10 passes for 132 yards against the Rams. The third-year wideout has an NFC-best 21 receptions, with a league-high 17 going for first downs. Siemian acquitted himself well in his first road start, earning AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after throwing for 312 yards and four touchdowns in Sunday's 29-17 victory at Cincinnati. The Florida native is beginning to develop chemistry with Emmanuel Sanders, who collected nine catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns versus the Bengals.
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: Broncos -3. O/U: 44.5
ABOUT THE BRONCOS (3-0): Von Miller leads the league with five sacks this season and had a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown in the teams' last meeting -- Denver's 31-23 win on Dec. 2, 2012. With the Super Bowl MVP facing double- and sometimes triple-teams, fellow linebacker Shane Ray has taken advantage of 1-on-1 matchups and got to know Andy Dalton really well on Sunday following his three-sack performance. "Eventually, we got them in a position where we could start rushing and we were able to capitalize on it," Ray said of the Broncos recording six of their league second-best 12 sacks this season in the fourth quarter.
ABOUT THE BUCCANEERS (1-2): Charles Sims had 124 yards from scrimmage and a rushing touchdown versus Los Angeles and should receive another sizable workload with Doug Martin (hamstring) expected to miss his second straight game on Sunday. Cameron Brate also made the most of additional playing time on Sunday by reeling in a pair of touchdown passes after fellow tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins sat out following an arrest for DUI before being claimed off waivers by the New York Jets on Monday. Slot receiver Adam Humphries had a career-high nine receptions and 100 yards last week and will look to separate from Denver cornerback Chris Harris Jr. on Sunday.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Tampa Bay LB Kwon Alexander has a team-leading 31 tackles in three contests after recording 93 during his rookie season.
2. Denver RB C.J. Anderson has seven touchdowns (six rushing, one receiving) in his last eight games, including playoffs.
3. The Buccaneers own a minus-6 turnover ratio, which is better than only the Jets (minus-8).