NFL Week 11 Best Bet: Talking Points in Tampa
The Game:
New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Play: Over/Under: OVER 50.0
I’m still trying to figure out what the Atlanta Falcons did last week in totally stopping Drew Brees and the Saints offense. New Orleans will get it together against Tampa Bay as the Bucs have one of the worst defenses in the league. Brees will do so by getting wide receiver Michael Thomas involved early and often against the Tampa Bay secondary.
The Buccaneers are an offensive dynamo averaging 32 points per game over their last seven games: Ronald Jones is turning into a major weapon—both running and receiving—over the last three games, tight end OJ Howard got back into the flow of things catching a touchdown pass last week, and pro bowl receiver Mike Evans has 450 yards receiving over his last three encounters. Tampa is no joke on offense and are fifth in total yards in the league. Quarterback Jameis Winston has tendencies to throw interceptions but he can still create something out of nothing and find mismatches on the field for Evans and other receivers.
The Saints need to get running back Alvin Kamara more involved with different running plays and try to set up screens so they can use his speed against the Tampa linebackers. Last year when these two rivals met in Tampa Bay, 88 points were scored and Michael Thomas had 180 yards receiving. Plus, in their first matchup earlier this year, the two teams combined to score 55 points. More generally, in the last seven Bucs’ games, the over has hit with an astounding average of 65 points per game in those contests.
Prediction:
33 Tampa Bay
31 New Orleans
Harry Gagnon spent 14 years as a Vegas Sportsbook Supervisor and holds a Communications degree from SUNY-Oswego. You might know him better as part of the Degenerate Trifecta on the award nominated betting podcast “Against All odds with Cousin Sal” on the Ringer Podcast Network. Feel free to find him on Twitter (@AAOHarry) and tweet him a message if you want to talk casinos, sports, or just shoot the breeze about betting in general cause, hey, that’s what Twitter is for, right?
