Buccaneers Panthers Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Christmas Eve the Carolina Panthers will look to continue their late season surge when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Panthers went on the road and upset the Houston Texans 28-13 for their third win in four games. One of those three wins came against the Buccaneers back in week 13. Carolina crushed Tampa Bay 38-19 on the road, thanks in large part to rookie quarterback Cam Newton. The Buccaneers continued their losing ways with a 15-31 loss at home to the Cowboys last Saturday, and have now lost eight straight since opening the season 4-2 with impressive wins over Atlanta and New Orleans.

Taking a look at the week 16 NFL lines, oddsmakers currently have the Panthers favored by 7.5-points over the Buccaneers with the total set at 47.5 points.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

It’s hard to believe the Buccaneers finished 10-6 and nearly made the playoffs with the way they have competed over the last couple months of the season. I don’t know that there is a team play worse than Tampa Bay right now. They are doing next to nothing offensive, and defensively they have been downright awful.

The last time they played the Panthers, they were without starting quarterback Josh Freeman. Backup Josh Johnson threw for 229 yards and a touchdown and was also the teams leading rusher with 45 yards on the ground. The way Freeman has played of alte, I don’t know that Johnson isn’t the better option. Freeman went 16 of 30 for 181 yards and two interceptions in a 14-41 loss to Jacksonville and followed that up with a 17 of 27 effort for just 148 yards and a touchdown in a blowout loss to the Cowboys.

Freeman isn’t the only one to blame, as the Buccaneers rushing attack has been non-existent of late. Tampa Bay had just 58 yards on the ground against the Cowboys, and are averaging just 82 ypg over their last three. A big reason for that has been the lack of production out of LaGarrette Blount, who has a 114 yards over his last three games combined.

The Panthers have been playing better defensively, and are still playing with a sense of purpose on both sides of the ball. I have a hard time believing the Buccaneers are going to just decide to turn on the switch and show up to play with just two games left.

Carolina Panthers:

The Panthers aren’t going to make the playoffs this season, but they are sending a message to the rest of the league that they are going to be a team to reckon with next season. While Carolina is just 5-9 overall, they are miles ahead of the team they sent out last season. One thing to keep in mind, Carolina has sis losses by eight points or less.

All eyes will be on Newton this week, as he needs just 17 passing yards to break Peyton Manning’s rookie record of 3,738 passing yards. Pretty impressive considering he already broke Steve Grogan’s record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. Newton’s 13 rushing scores are second to only LeSean McCoy. It doesn’t take long to see why there is so much excitement around this team even with a losing record.

In the first game against the Buccaneers, Newton rushed for 54 yards and three touchdowns, while completing 12 of 21 attempts for 204 yards and a score. Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams added another 109 yards on the ground.

If Tampa’s defense wasn’t playing bad enough as it was, they are going to be without starting corner back Aquib Talib in this game, which should makes things even easier for Carolina.

Betting Trends:

Tampa Bay is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog.

Carolina is 16-6 ATS in their last 22 games in December.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in the NFL.

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