Buccaneers at Dolphins Spread

Written by Black Widow

In a battle down in Florida, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to Miami to face the Dolphins in an in-state clash. The Bucs finally picked up their first win of the season, a come-from-behind 38-28 home victory over the Packers last week. The Dolphins fought tough in New England, but Tom Brady and company were too much in a 17-27 road loss for Miami. NFL spreads on this game show Miami -10 over Tampa Bay with a Total Set of 43.5 points.

This contest has a very intriguing angle to it, as Ronnie Brown faces his former teammate at Auburn in Cadillac Williams for the first time since they were selected 3 picks apart in 2005. Williams won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award that year, but has battled through injuries since. Brown has had the better career to this point, recording at least 1,100 yards from scrimmage in three of his first four seasons. He’s well on pace to reach that mark again this year, with 566 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns alone already. The combo of he and Ricky Williams is perhaps the best in the league, as Williams has 456 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns as well. Defensively, the Dolphins will be playing without Joey Porter, who recorded 17.5 sacks a year ago. But he’s been held to 2.5 sacks this year, clearly being slowed by a hamstring injury.

Rookie QB Josh Freeman, the Bucs’ 17th overall pick this year, made his first career start last week and led Tampa Bay to a 38-28 home win over the Green Bay Packers. The Bucs had lost 7 in a row to start the season, and 11 straight dating back to last year, before finally ending their dreaded losing streak. Tampa trailed 28-17 in the fourth quarter, but Freeman threw two of his three touchdown passes in the final period to cap off a great comeback win. For the game, he only completed 14-of-31 passes for 205 yards, but the 3 TD passes were a very nice way to start his NFL career. Freeman will need some help from Cadillac Williams, who hasn’t recorded a 100-yard rushing performance since the 2006 season. He has rushed for 366 yards and 2 TD’s this season. In eight meetings between these in-state foes, they have split with 4 wins for both the Dolphins and Buccaneers. Tampa Bay has won the last 3, but will have their hands full as big road dogs here.

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