Patriots vs Buccaneers Line

Written by Black Widow

The New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will travel across the Atlantic Ocean for the NFL’s third-annual London game. The Patriots are coming off one of the most lopsided wins in NFL history, a 59-0 beat down of the Tennessee Titans in the snow. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers cannot seem to get anything going, as they are 0-6 and currently riding a 10-game losing streak into this one. The books are predicting a blowout as NFL lines have installed the Patriots as a 15-point favorite with a Total Set of 44.5 points.

Tom Brady got back to his MVP form, throwing for 380 yards and 6 touchdowns in their 59-0 win over the Titans last Sunday. He threw 3 to Randy Moss and 2 to Wes Welker. New England led 45-0 at the half, which was the biggest margin in NFL history. Their 59-point blowout was the most lopsided win in the NFL in the last 39 years. New England now sits as the leader in the AFC East after a slip-up by the Jets last week. The Patriots have battled injuries in the backfield to Sammy Morris and Fred Taylor, but they got 123 yards rushing and a touchdown from Laurence Maroney last week and that’s a good sign heading into this one. The Buccaneers rank 31st against the run, so the Patriots will be trying to exploit that weakness. Defensively, the Pats held the Titans to just 186 total yards and -7 passing yards.

Tampa Bay is now 0-6 this season and 0-10 in their last 10 games dating back to last year after their 21-28 home loss to the Carolina Panthers last Sunday. Carolina put together a 16-play drive which included 15 runs and ate up nearly 9 minutes of clock, to win the game in the fourth quarter. For the game, the Panthers rushed for 267 yards against the league’s 31st-rank run defense. For the season, the Buccaneers give up an average of 28.0 points/game and they will have a tough time slowing down one of the best offenses in football off of their best performance of the season. Josh Johnson isn’t much of an upgrade at QB over Byron Leftwich as he’s completing just 54.5% of his passes with 3 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. But his ability to run the football adds another dimension to this offense, as he averages 6.7 yards/carry. Carnell Williams leads the way on the ground with 276 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 4.3 yards/rush, while Kellen Winslow is their top pass-catcher with 29 receptions for 286 yards and 4 touchdowns this year.

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