NFL Betting – New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The New Orleans Saints (6-5 SU, 7-4 ATS), after a stunning Monday night performance, will try to inch closer to the lead in the NFC South when they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3 SU, 7-4 ATS) in a key division matchup in NFL pro football sports betting action that is set to kick off at 1 PM ET at Raymond James Stadium (natural turf) in Tampa.
BetUS NFL betting odds: TAMPA BAY -3.5, Total 48
NOTABLE STAT: Drew Brees has 3574 yards passing
KEY NFL FOOTBALL BETTING TREND: Saints have played 12 of last 16 games over the total
In the BetUS NFL football betting odds, the Bucs are listed as a 3.5-point favorite, with a posted total of 48 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* NO has won and covered four of its last six games
* NO has played 12 of its last 16 games OVER the total
* NO has covered two of its last six road games
* NO has lost five of its last six road games SU
* NO has played five of its last seven road games OVER the total
* TB has covered seven of its last ten games
* TB has won five of its last six games SU
* TB has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total
* TB has covered four of its last five home games
* TB has won its last five home games SU
* TB has played five of its last six home games UNDER the total
* TB has played 10 of its last 15 home games UNDER the total
Also…
* TB has covered five of the last seven meetings
* The last six meetings have gone OVER the total
* NO has won and covered four of the last six meetings as the road team
* Five of the last seven meetings in Tampa have gone OVER the total
After playing their first home game in 42 days and scoring 51 points against Green Bay, New Orleans takes to the road again, clearly with the intention of winning a shootout with the Bucs, who are still two games ahead of them in the NFC South. Of course, New Orleans is going for the sweep here, as in the season’s opening week they scored a 24-20 win behind 337 passing yards from Drew Brees. That’s important to mention, since Brees is one of a handful of quarterbacks in this league with both the savvy and the quick delivery to neutralize the schemes of Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.
And the Bucs had better be on their game defensively, as Brees, who has 3574 passing yards already, may not be headed for the league’s MVP award (certainly not if his team doesn’t make the post-season), but has a shot to break Dan Marino’s single-season yardage record.
If Tampa Bay had been playing any other opponent last week, they may not have recovered. But the team that got out to a 17-0 lead against them was the hapless Detroit Lions, who were outscored by a 38-3 margin the rest of the way. Daunte Culpepper completed just 8 of 20 passes against them, but Brees is obviously a whole different animal, as we know. What we might want to mention here is that Tampa Bay did pretty well on the ground in that season opener (7.3 ypc), and the Bucs might find themselves somewhat revitalized in the rushing game if Cadillac Williams (27 yards on 16 carries in his return to action last week) can shake of the rust and team with Warrick Dunn (90 yards vs. Detroit) once again.
That would surely make things a lot easier for Jeff Garcia, who has a 70% completion rate and only three interceptions in 248 attempts. No, he’s not as productive as Brees, who has managed to develop additional targets such as Lance Moore, and Joey Galloway seems to be irrelevant right now, but Tampa Bay has won five of six games since Garcia took over again at quarterback. And despite New Orleans’ very impressive showing on national television, the Saints have lost five of their last six as the visitor, and Jon Gruden has the more complete team.
We’ll go ahead and lay the points with Tampa Bay, the 3.5-point favorite in the BetUS NFL pro football sports betting odds.
