Buccaneers vs. Saints Point Spread: NFL Week 8 Odds, Prediction
Tampa Bay’s coming off an ugly 24-9 defeat on Monday at Detroit, a game in which the injuries kept stacking up for the Bucs — veteran receiver Mike Evans is the latest victim, suffering a broken collarbone. The Saints meanwhile are one of the more competitive “bad” teams in recent memory. A 1-6 record has New Orleans at the bottom of the NFC, but four of those losses have come by single digits and they are 1-3 on home field with a combined -6 point differential. And with Tampa Bay still wounded, especially on offence, a home divisional underdog in New Orleans looks enticing.
Kickoff at the Caesars Superdome gets going at 4:05 p.m. EDT with Tampa Bay coming in as a four-point road favourite and the over-under at 47 on the Week 8 NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Divisional battles with lots of offence is in the Bucs and Saints DNAs as of late. Six of both Tampa Bay’s and New Orleans’ last seven games versus and NFC South opponent have finished over the total. Both clubs rank in the bottom 10 in points allowed this season, with New Orleans 28th (26.6 points against per game) and Tampa Bay 22nd (25 points against per game). The Bucs swept the season series a year ago, scoring a combined 78 points in the two victories.
Tampa Bay is 3-1 straight up on the road this season but are coming off their first road defeat, and are on a short week after losing at Detroit on Monday. The Bucs are 4-1 ATS in their last five visits to play New Orleans, and are 5-1 outright in their last six matchups with the Saints.
The Bucs also remain a massive -325 favourite to claim in the NFC South for the fifth consecutive season, while New Orleans has the longest odds to be NFC South champions at +10000.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It’s been a remarkable start to the season for the Bucs offence given all the injuries on this unit. That said, this seemed to finally catch up to Tampa Bay last week at Detroit. Baker Mayfield’s offence put up a season-low nine points, and the 24-9 final score didn’t reflect just how one-sided this contest was. By halftime, the Bucs were being outgained by more than 200 yards but a trio of forced turnovers kept this game closer than it should have been. Losing Mike Evans in the first half made the mountain even taller for Tampa Bay to overcome, and it’s bad news with Evans as he’ll be out most of the season with a broken collarbone.
Running back Bucky Irving, as well as receivers Chris Godwin Jr. and Emeka Egbuka all did not participate in Tampa Bay’s walkthrough on Wednesday meaning the status of all three isn’t looking great for Sunday. Safety Antonie Winfield Jr., and linebackers Lavonte David and Haason Reddick also did not touch the field Wednesday. Again, seemingly everyone is injured.
But if someone’s making the most of an opportunity in this offence, it’s Tez Johnson. The rookie receiver has at least 45 yards in three straight games and has scored touchdowns in two straight.
New Orleans Saints
Spencer Rattler is playing some high-event football, which at least entertaining if you’re watching this 1-6 Saints team on Sundays for monetary reasons. Rattler didn’t have his best outing last week, but the gunslinging mentality is doing enough to keep this New Orleans squad competitive. Three interceptions from Rattler in Sunday’s 26-14 loss sunk the Saints ship, but the continued chemistry between Rattler and Chris Olave made this game a little closer. Olave finished with five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns and ranks second in the NFL with 71 targets on the season. Olave (ankle) missed practice Wednesday, but should be good to go.
Defensively, the Saints are doing enough to hang on. Over the past three weeks the Saints have allowed 21.6 points per game and are only letting up 21.3 points per game at home this season. If there’s anything to work on though, it’s run defence. New Orleans is seeing the second-most runs per game out of any NFL defence and that was the case in Chicago last week when the Bears rushed 40 times for 222 yards en route to victory.
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