Take Tampa To Wallop Saints

Saints vs. Buccaneers, 8:20 ET

Does anyone want to win this division? Right now the NFC South is separated by just one game and all of the teams are below .500 for the year. In a year everyone expected for the Buccaneers to easily coast to the division win, they find themselves fighting for the top spot still. The Saints are in disarray and it doesn't seem to be getting much better.

Tom Brady has played slightly better lately, but the Buccaneers have lost three of their past five games. Their most recent game was six-point loss to the Browns in overtime. Before that, they were able to win a couple of the games at home. Now they need to get back to the winning ways before it gets too late. What are they doing well? Well, not much. Offensively they don't seem to have someone that is consistently performing despite having big names. Defensively, they are only allowing 18.5 points per game, but with the lack of offense so much pressure is put on them to perform well and get every stop. Tampa was able to beat New Orleans on the road earlier this season and they did it in rather convincing fashion.

New Orleans has been a very inconsistent team this year. They've had injury issues, but what team hasn't? Michael Thomas was supposed to come back this year and make a difference and he didn't do enough even before his season ended. This game may come down to who can actually play in it. If the Saints are missing both Marshon Lattimore and Bradley Roby then Brady's job becomes easier. This is a bad situational spot for the Saints as well. Last week they were in San Fransico and now they travel across the country to play in Tampa.

I like Tampa to win this game and cover the -3.5 spread. I think the Buccaneers are the better team, but that's kind of a shot in the dark. They also played the Saints once before and handled them on the road. Now they have the upper hand here at home and this is a game they need to win.

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