Buccaneers vs. Bills Point Spread: NFL Week 8 Odds, Prediction
The Buffalo Bills are priced as a 7.5-point favourite on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Tampa Bay was a primetime darling when Tom Brady was under centre, but this is the Bucs’ last night game of the regular season barring being flexed into one (not that likely). This starts a very tricky schedule for current QB Baker Mayfield & Co. as the Bucs will only play two games at home in a span of eight weeks – Nov. 12 vs. Tennessee and Dec. 3 vs. Carolina. It’s only the third time in franchise history that the team will play six road games in a span of eight weeks (also 1978 and 2017).
This is a possible trap game for the Bills as they are off a big division game and loss Sunday at New England and then travel to Cincinnati in a potential playoff payback game in Week 9. Tampa Bay is 8-4 all-time vs. Buffalo and won the most recent matchup 33-27 in OT in December 2021 behind 363 yards and two TDs from Brady, including his historic 700th career TD throw (incl. playoffs).
Older Bills fans may remember one tie to the Tampa franchise in particular even though it didn’t involve the Bucs, just their former stadium: A 20-19 upset loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV at the old Tampa Stadium. Two incredibly memorable moments from that Jan. 27, 1991: Whitney Houston’s national anthem before kickoff and Buffalo’s Scott Norwood missing the potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds wide right.
The Bills still haven’t won it all. They might this season. It will be unseasonably warm in Buffalo this week, but it might be a bit breezy on Thursday night.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The seat of Bucs coach Todd Bowles has gotten much hotter the past two weeks with the Bucs looking atrocious offensively in back-to-back home losses to Detroit and Atlanta and totalling only 19 points. There’s no way the team will make a QB change on a short week, but this might be the last chance for ex-No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield to keep his job over inexperienced Kyle Trask. Mayfield and Co. had first-and-8 at the Falcons 8 down 13-10 late in Sunday’s game but could only manage a field goal, and then the Tampa defence allowed Atlanta to get in position for a winning field goal try, which was good. Mike Evans had a TD catch in the loss, his 85th career, which ties him with Lance Alworth, Hines Ward and Paul Warfield for 18th most in league history. The Buccaneers have the NFL’s best red-zone defence so far this season, allowing touchdowns on just 22.1% of the possessions that enter their 20-yard line.
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo has simply not played well since a hugely impressive 48-20 win over Miami on Oct. 1 and lost for the second time in three games Sunday, 29-25 at what had been a massively struggling Patriots side. The Bills managed to rally from down 22-10 with about six minutes left to take a 25-22 lead but allowed the Patriots to march right down the field and win it with 12 seconds to go. Josh Allen was 27 of 41 for 265 yards with two TDs and ran for a score. He also threw an interception that set up New England’s first TD. The Bills struggled on third down and scored touchdowns on only two of their four red-zone opportunities. Over the past three games, the team has averaged 5.7 points in the first three quarters of each game, second lowest in the league. Excellent defensive tackle Ed Oliver missed his first game of the season Sunday with a toe injury.
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