Mike Glennon has said that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to be patient when they play the San Francisco 49ers later today.

The NFC West side must secure a win if they are to keep alive their chances of winning their division for a third year in a row.

The Buccaneers' quarterback told reporters: "We know that it's going to be going against a tough defense. We're just going to have to keep grinding away and be patient. If we don't score right away, just keep staying the course and not really worry about all that.

"Obviously points are important, but we know, going against such a good defense, that we're just going to have to maintain patience throughout the course of the game and just get the game into the fourth quarter and go from there.

"We've played a lot of good defenses back-to-back-to-back and [the 49ers] are just as good as all of them. They're as good of a defense as there is in the NFL and all around, every position you look at, they've got first-rounders across the board and they're a really talented group."

After losing their first eight games of the season, the Buccaneers have recovered to register four wins in their last five outings.