Thursday, Sept. 18th 2014 is the start of 2014 NFL regular season Seek 3 games, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0-2 (3rd NFC South) play the Atlanta Falcons 1-1 (2nd NFC South). The Falcons are favored at -6 ½ with the Ov/Un set at 44 ½ and the ML at -275. The game will be played at the Georgia Dome with kickoff time at 8:25PM ET on CBS TV.
The visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers are coming of two heartbreaking games that started their season, and the team just is not getting sufficient offensive force to move over the losing hump to date. Last week, the Buc’s lost a close game with the Saint Louis Rams 1-1 (2nd NFC West). The Bucs QB Josh McCowan has a completion rate of 67.9% but he has had 3 interception and the Tampa offense ranks 31st of the 32 teams in the NFL for completed passing yardage. Another problem for the Bucs is their key RB Martin missed the last game with an injury and is now day-to-day. Tampa Bay has only scored at total of 31 points in the two openers. That type of offensive struggling puts a lot of extra pressure on their defense. They are allowing 336 yards per game which ranks in the middle of the league.
In the Buccaneers last game, which they lost 19-17 at home as the favorites, they did not cover the spread of 4.5 points and the game went under the total, thus the under bettors got a payout.
On the other side of the field the Atlanta Falcons were beaten last week by the Cincinnati Bengals 2-0 (1st in AFC North) as Tampa dropped to 1-1. Amazingly, Falcons QB Matt Ryan gives the team the 2nd best NFL offense and his present completion rate is 63.2 percent, but they primarily lack a real running game and appear to be a one-sided offense at present. They have only scored 1 TD rushing in the first two games and RB Jackson has only 98 yards rushing thus far.
Presently the defense is a major concern of the Falcons who allowed 154 yards per game rushing which is problematic. The gossip is when opposing QBs drop back to pass they need not worry about getting sacked, because Atlanta is the only team in the NFL that in the 1st two weeks has not made a sack, and have only hit the opposing QB once. Defensively Atlanta is paying dearly for the failure by General Manager to pick a players or players who can provide the needed pressure around the edge, as he has not picked a defensive end higher than the 4th round and they need to chance that policy be it the draft or free agency. Presently their concern is they have not been able to get pressure on the QBs nor stop the run.
The Falcons is their last outing lost to the Bengals on the road 24-10 with the total score being 34 and that was good news for those that took the under. So sports fans, if you bet on NFL matchups at a sportbook, whether it is online or at a betting shop, take a serious look at the Falcons in this game and happy wagering!