The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will travel to Caesars Superdome late Sunday afternoon to take on the New Orleans Saints in an NFC South matchup. The Bucs are leading the NFC South with a 6-1 record and are coming off a 38-3 home win over the Chicago Bears.
Tom Brady had an outstanding game as he went 20-of-36 for 211 yards and four touchdowns. The Saints are second in the NFC South with a 4-2 record and are coming off a 13-10 road win over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday. Jameis Winston had a decent game as he went 19-of-35 for 222 yards with a touchdown.
Building Momentum
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be dealing with some skill position injuries, but wide receiver Mike Evans has been doing well. So far this season, he has recorded 37 catches for 496 yards (13.4 yards per reception) with seven touchdowns.
In his last game against the Chicago Bears, Evans finished with six catches on ten targets for 76 yards (12.7 yards per reception) with three touchdowns. If he can continue to be the big red-zone target, it will be a great sign for Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been a pretty good defensive team this season as they are giving up 21 points per game. In their previous game against the Chicago Bears, they allowed three points on 311 total yards of offense (168 passing, 143 rushing).
The Bears struggled as they went 2-of-11 on third down and failed to convert on their only fourth-down attempt. The Bucs need to stop the run a little better as they allowed 4.9 rushing yards per attempt. If they can figure out how to get stops and force more turnovers, they will be in a great position.
More Than a Running Back
The New Orleans Saints have been one of the better offensive teams with running back Alvin Kamara on the field. On the season, he has 114 rushing attempts for 419 yards (3.7 yards per carry) with a rushing touchdown on the ground and 25 receptions for 241 yards (9.6 yards per catch) with four receiving touchdowns. In his last game against the Seattle Seahawks, he finished with 20 rushes for 51 yards (2.6 yards per run) as well as ten receptions for 128 yards (12.8 yards per catch) with a touchdown.
The New Orleans Saints have been an incredible defense as they are allowing 16.8 points per game this season. In their previous game against the Seattle Seahawks, they gave up 10 points on 219 total yards of offense (129 passing, 90 rushing).
The Seahawks struggled to move the ball as they went 3-of-12 on third down and failed to convert their only fourth-down attempt. The defense did an incredible job limiting Seattle to just four yards per play. If the Saints can figure out how to continue this dominance, it will be a great sign of things to come.
Who to Bet
The New Orleans Saints have been playing extremely well, as we already had touched on. Jameis Winston isn’t making mistakes as he has eight touchdowns with one interception in his previous four games.
With Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski most likely missing this game too, New Orleans is in a great spot here. The Saints are 5-1 against the spread in their last six games against the Bucs so go with New Orleans to cover the spread as a home underdog.