The New England Patriots have a lot of work to do, if they want to avoid another NFL gambling upset, this time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the defensive aspect of the game, because they managed, on Sunday, to screw up so bad that not even Saint Thomas Brady could save them. Like wife Gisele Bundchen, as quoted by The Guardian’s Les Carpenter, said: “My husband can’t [expletive deleted] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time!” and, after all, it’s not, you know, as if he’s throwing his receivers a honeycomb.
- Date: Thursday, 5th October
- Time: 8:30 PM
- Venue: Raymond James Stadium
- Sportsbook Odds for Fans who bet on NFL games Online:
Patriots -4½ (-115) 54 (-110)
Buccaneers +4½ (-105) 54 (-110)
An extended preseason
The Pats “are definitely a better second-half team,” former NFL general manager and current NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly told Carpenter, referring to how head coach Bill Belichick uses September and early October to tinker with the formula, making it seem as if he’s just making Scheise up as he goes along, only to turn the tables and end up winning division titles and becoming the team to beat during the playoffs. And, if all else fails, there’s always Tom Brady, who has thrown for 1,399 yards and 10 touchdowns with no picks. But the defense is not just failing; to put it scientifically, they are a semipermeable membrane and opposing offenses are solvent molecules. That is to say, opponents pass through the Pats’ defense almost as if by osmosis. New England has allowed more than 30 points in each of their last three games, and that’s no way to cover the NFL gambling spread (the Patriots are 1-3 ATS this season), let alone win games. One thing the Pans can be, though, counted on is to go over the total. The last time they went under was on Christmas Eve, 2016.
No time to party
The Bucs are not looking past the Patriots, regardless of whether or not they, the Pats, are struggling – which they are. “We were happy that we got a win [25-23 against the Giants on Sunday], but this is a week-to-week league,” quarterback Jameis Winston, who passed for three TDs and no picks, said per ESPN.com.
#VictoryMonday pic.twitter.com/cI8coDoruJ
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 2, 2017
“Unfortunately, [we] have to put this one behind us quickly because we have the defending [Super Bowl] champions coming in the house on Thursday.” Head coach Dirk Koetter agreed, saying, “As soon as we get done with this, I’m heading to the office.” Mr. Woodman’s office? Tampa Bay is 2-1 this season and on a 5-0 straight-up home NFL gambling winning streak dating back to last season. The Bucs have, however, lost five of their last seven against the Pats, as well as 1-5 in Thursday night games, which is the second-worst Thursday night record in the league, including minus-90 point margin. But for Winston, “Every night is an opportunity for America to get to know us as a football team.” They’re just a team, standing in front of a country, asking it to love it.