Another week of NFL action begins as ever on Thursday night and this week the opening game is a divisional battle between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons as the race for the NFC South title intensifies.
The Falcons snapped a losing streak to take a two game lead in the division last week and a win here would make it their title to lose but the Bucs have already beaten Atlanta once and a win here would give them the head to head and move them to within a game of the summit in the South.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay ended a run of two wins in a row with a remarkable overtime loss last week against the Oakland Raiders. In that game they surrendered over 500 yards through the air and their secondary is going to really need to stand up and be counted against this powerful Atlanta offense.
It isn’t just in defence that the Buccaneers need to raise their game. Young quarterback Jameis Winston is likely to have to go toe to toe with Atlanta in a shootout in this match and without Jacquizz Rodgers and Doug Martin it will be all on him to deliver. He will need to find other targets than just Mike Evans to get this one done.
Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta have been a great side to watch this season and have scored points and leaked them for fun. They ended a mini-slump with a win over Green Bay Packers on Sunday but they made hard work of beating a battered side who had pretty much their second offense out such is the injuries that they have.
Defensively the Falcons have been very poor this season especially against the pass and if they don’t improve that they could be vulnerable here but in the likes of Julio Jones, despite him being restricted, Mohamed Sanu and Justin Hardy they have lots of receiving options. Tevin Coleman and Jacob Tamme are out which are big losses.
Betting
This should be a good match to watch because I’m expecting plenty of power offense and not a lot of defence. The ball should be in the air a lot and big plays should be made too. All of that should lead to a high scoring game and I have to admit over 50.5pts does tempt me massively but we might be relying on Tampa Bay to do something and I’m not sure I want to be in that position with the young side they have out which looked gassed completely after Sunday’s loss.
I would imagine Atlanta would win the game but the handicap doesn’t interest me given that they’re on the road, have already lost to the Bucs this season and made Green Bay’s second string offense look like world beaters last week so I’ll head to the player markets for a bet.
Mohamed Sanu has a low receiving line of just 44.5 yards which looks very low when you think in week one he caught five passes for 80 yards against this side. It looks even lower when you factor in he caught nine passes in last week’s win for 84 yards and he faces a weaker defence here than he did against Green Bay. Julio Jones isn’t fully fit so I’m expecting Sanu to see plenty of work and 45 yards looks far too low.
Tips
WON – Back M.Sanu Over 44.5 receiving yards for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
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