Thursday Night NFL and we will see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Georgia to take on the Atlanta Falcons. The game has a start time of 8:25 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS and the NFL Network. Current Vegas odds have the Falcons listed as 6.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 45.
Analysis: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are off a miserable 4-12 season last year, which prompted the firing of Greg Schiano. In steps Lovie Smith and by the looks of things he has already changed the atmosphere to the good around the Tampa locker room. Still it hasn't translated into wins as the Bucs have started out 0-2 on the year. They say defense wins titles, but you have to have some offense as well and the Bucs have none. they have scored just 31 points this year and dating back to last year and even including preseason, they have now score more than 7 points in just 1 of their last 9 games. That just won't get it done in today's NFL.They have played well on defense so far, allowing just 336.5 ypg and 19.5 ppg through 2 games.
The Atlanta Falcons have been pegged by some as a division winner and by some as a cellar dweller. This is a tough team to figure out. The Falcons come in at 1-1 with a home victory over the Saints and a road loss to the Bengals on their ledger so far. In the Bengals game they lost by a score of 24-10 and they allowed 472 yards in that game. Lets also take note that the Bengals top WR, AJ Green, was out for this one and still the Falcons allowed 302 yards passing in the game. They also allowed 170 yards on the ground in the game and that's not good as the Bucs should be getting RB Doug Martin back for this one. The defense has really struggled for the Falcons this year, as they rank 32nd in yards allowed (472 ypg) and 26th in scoring defense (29 ppg). No such problems on offense as they 1st in passing (328.5 ypg) and 11th in scoring (23.5 ppg).
Pick: I like the Under in this one. The Bucs offense has been very bad for a while now and I don't see it getting much better in this one, even though they are facing a bad Falcons defense. Josh McCown is not a very good QB and after the Falcons allowed 170 yards on the ground to Cincinnati last week you can bet that Tampa Bay will look to just pound Doug Martin right at Atlanta here. That will shorten the game, plus keep the Atlanta offense on the sidelines. That Atlanta offense is explosive, and that's all the more reason to shorten the game, plus this Tampa Bay defense is not bad at all and they can get pressure on Matt Ryan, which is a way to rattle him. Hard to see many if any Tampa Bay being played above 45 points and I certainly don't see this as one of them.
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NFL Free Picks: Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons Betting
What pro football bettors need to know about betting Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons on Thursday (9/18/14) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Steve Fezzik with added insight from Scott Spreitzer.