-
Edgar Chaput
Dolphins vs. Buccaneers Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Week 3 Odds, Prediction
With the NFL preseason winding down, what better way to add some spice to a part of the calendar most quickly forget than a good old cross-state fight? On Friday night the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will try to prevent the Miami Dolphins from achieving a perfect 3-0 August record. Miami won last week at home against the Washington Commanders, 13-6. The Bucs remained in Florida to play the Jacksonville Jaguars, who mauled them 20-7.
Our NFL preseason odds believe the Buccaneers will have the Dolphins walk the plank, pegging them as -3 favourites.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
One might think Tampa Bay and Miami butt heads more often since they are based in the same state. The reality is that they contend in opposing conferences and therefore meet on average only once every four years in the regular season. The Bucs have taken three of the past four meetings. That said, the last one was in 2021 when they were defending Super Bowl champions and had some old guy named Tom Brady as their gunslinger. Tampa has also covered the spread in all four of those contests.
As previously stated, the Dolphins have done well so far this summer. Mike McDaniel is probably not dialling up his most sophisticated offensive plays, but his group has done well enough to carry momentum into this curtain closer. Furthermore, the Dolphins have already covered the spread twice. Can they make betters happy one more time?
Todd Bowles’ Bucs started the preseason brightly with a victory at Cincinnati over the Bengals but lost last week to the Jags. Those results put their ATS tally to 1-1. Fun fact: the Buccaneers will have been underdogs all preseason.
Miami Dolphins
Traditionally, coaches opt to give their regular season starters some reps in the middle of the preseason. Knowing that, it wasn’t too surprising to see guys like Tua Tagovailoa, Raheem Moster, and De’Von Achane active for a few plays in Week 2 versus the Commanders.
Tua barely worked up a sweat, finishing with a perfect 5-for-5 night, 51, and a lovely lollipop toss in the end zone for River Cracraft to make it 7-0. McDaniel might have been more concentrated on discerning who the better backup QB is. Mike White was okay (11-for-20,116 yards) but was statuesque (three sacks) and lost a fumble. Skylar Thompson also took a sack in more limited work. RB Chris Brooks had a wonderful 59-yard run in the second quarter but finished with only 63 in total on five carries. Miami’s defence got to Washington QBs four times, including once by newly signed and former Cowboy DT Neville Gallimore.
It was a typical preseason affair with a modicum of offence, some mistakes, and solid defence. Make the final 13-6 for the Dolphins.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Unlike the Dolphins, the Buccaneers didn’t allow their starting QB Baker Mayfield to get near the field against the Jaguars in Week 2. This match was a role call for Kyle Trask and John Wolford.
Trask looked decent, finishing with a 12-for-19, 108 yards and a touchdown to Cody Thompson. The latter had a nice night too, corralling five passes for a team-high 66 yards. RB Sean Tucker only had four carries but put a few moves on defensive linemen, shifting his way to 332 yards for an 8.0 average. But those were the few offensive bright spots for Tampa Bay.
Most of the highlights were earned by the defence, especially LB Jose Ramirez, who sent Jacksonville passers to the ground three times. Perhaps the only blemish on the night was that the Bucs made former Patriot Mac Jones look all right. That was a bit mean-spirited, but Jones did burn the Tampa secondary a few times.
An okay effort that ends in defeat, 20-7.