NFL Betting Preview: St. Louis Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Added on Oct 24, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

A pair of rebuilding teams face off in Sunday NFL betting action as the Tampa Bay Bucs host the St. Louis Rams. St. Louis is 3-3 on the year, meaning they’ve already won more games in 2010 than in 2008 and 2009 combined. Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford looks to be the real deal, and as the team adds talent around him could become one of the league’s best. Tampa Bay is 3-2 and that’s significant since they only won 3 games all of last season.

St. Louis Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
October 24, 2010 10:00 AM Pacific

Both teams have improved, but due to a general lack of talent and/or injuries both have big holes in a number of areas. Bradford is a potentially great QB, but he may have the worst wide receiver corps in the NFL now that Mark Clayton has been lost for the year. All three of their wins this season have been at home. Then again, Tampa Bay has struggled to put points on the board this season. They’ve also got a very vulnerable run defense (ranked #31 in the NFL in rushing yards per game against) which could give the Rams’ Steven Jackson an opportunity to put up big numbers. Tampa has also been a horrible pointspread team in recent years and particularly at home–they’ve only covered 2 of their last 14 games at Raymond James Stadium.

If we had to take a side we’d probably take the points with the Rams, but we think the total on this game is a more attractive position. Tampa Bay hasn’t scored more than 17 points at home all year while St. Louis has only scored 20+ points once all season and is averaging 10 PPG on the road. 10 of Tampa Bay’s last 12 games have gone Under the total including 3 of 5 this year. Rams Under in 4 of 6 this year and 5 of the last 8 head to head at Tampa have gone Under. Just can’t see a shootout materializing here.

Bet St. Louis Rams/Tampa Bay Bucs Under 38′