Buccaneers Falcons Odds

Written by Jack Jones

The Atlanta Falcons take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 17 Sunday in the season finale for both teams. This game only really means some to Atlanta, which will be going to the playoffs and can improve their seeding. The Buccaneers played themselves out of playoff contention a long time ago, and they will only be playing for pride Sunday. This is a rematch from a 16-13 home victory by Tampa Bay on September 25th. That win by the Bucs put to end a five-game losing streak in this series to the Falcons.

Taking a look at the NFL odds for Week 17, I find a line of Atlanta -11 over Tampa Bay and a total set of 46 points.

Atlanta

The Falcons will be going to the playoffs for a second straight year for the first time in franchise history. However, they will be in line for another quick exit if they don’t make some improvements on both sides of the ball.

Atlanta (9-6, 5-2 home) would be the No. 6 seed if the season were to end today. That means they would be in line to play No. 3 New Orleans, who they have lost to twice already this season. They would need a Detroit loss and a win Sunday to earn the No. 5 seed, which means they’d play the winner of the Dallas/New York game in the first round.

The Falcons are coming off a disheartening 45-16 loss to the Saints on Monday Night Football. They could not score a touchdown in three red zone opportunities, they went 0 for 3 on fourth downs, and they went three-and-out following their two interceptions of Drew Brees.

Matt Ryan is completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 4,071 yards with 27 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He will be targeting Roddy White Sunday, who leads the Falcons with 96 receptions for 1,227 yards and eight touchdowns. Also look for a heavy dose of Michael Turner, who has rushed for 1,168 yards and nine scores this year.

Tampa Bay

The Buccaneers have known they won’t be going to the playoffs for weeks, and this team has clearly packed it in. Tampa Bay (4-11, 1-6 away) had high expectations coming into the year after going 10-6 last season and missing out on the playoffs. This is a young team that was only supposed to get better.

After opening 4-2 through their first six games, they looked like they would contend for the NFC South title. However, they have gone on to lose nine straight games, their longest such streak since starting 0-9 in 1985. The Bucs haven’t lost 10 straight since 1977.

Head coach Raheem Morris is on the hot seat. He went from being a coach of the year candidate last season to a guy that might be coaching his last game in Tampa Bay. A big reason for their struggles this season have been turnovers. The Bucs have given the ball away a league high-tying 36 times this season, which is 17 more turnovers than they had last year.

Tampa still has a chance to sweet the season series with Atlanta for the first time since 2007. To do so, they will need better play from quarterback Josh Freeman. He is completing a solid 62.3 percent of his passes this season for 3,318 yards and 14 touchdowns, but he has also thrown a league high-tying 19 interceptions. To compare, he threw 25 scores and six picks a year ago.

Betting Trends

The Buccaneers are 12-2 ATS in their last 14 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, but just 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games overall.

The Falcons are 19-7 ATS in their last 26 games following a S.U. loss, and 21-8-1 ATS in their last 30 vs. a team with a losing record.

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