The NFL’s second-leading rusher, Doug Martin (1,133 yards, 4 TDs), will be on display when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-6) play the New Orleans Saints (4-8). The game will begin Sunday, Dec 13 at 1:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on FOX.
Tampa Bay beat New Orleans 26-19 in a Week 2 meeting between these two teams. Jacquies Smith led the way for the Buccaneers defense in that game, registering three tackles and three sacks. Kenny Vaccaro led the way for the New Orleans defense, totaling six tackles.
Tampa Bay is a small two-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is set at 50 points.
Heading into Week 14 of league action, the Buccaneers are 6-6 Straight Up (SU) and 7-5 Against The Spread (ATS). In the past five games, Tampa Bay is 3-2 for both SU and ATS. The Tampa Bay run game is productive, currently ranking second in the NFL with 143.1 rushing yards per game. Transitioning to the Tampa Bay defense, there are some factors that could impact the outcome. Tampa Bay’s defense will look to improve its stats against the run when the Saints come to town. New Orleans’s 94.2 rushing yards per game ranks 26th in the NFL. The Buccaneers should be able to profit from New Orleans’s struggles during the third quarter, when it gives up a league-high 8.6 points per game.
As for their opponent, the Saints have 4-8 SU and 5-6-1 ATS records this season. The Saints went 1-4 SU and 1-3-1 ATS over the last five games. New Orleans has found a lot of success through the air. Its 301.8 passing yards per game ranks second in the NFL. Shifting to the other side of the ball, the New Orleans defense can dominate if it takes advantage of some favorable matchups. The Buccaneers need to secure the ball against the fumble-seeking Saints. They’re second in the league in fumbles recovered with 0.9 per game. It looks like there are no pre-game jitters for the Saints, who average a league-best 7.5 points in the first quarter.
Predictions: SU Winner – TB, ATS Winner – NO, O/U – Under
Notes
Tampa Bay is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 15 of Tampa Bay’s last 22 games.
Tampa Bay is 7-17 SU in its last 24 games.
Tampa Bay is 3-12 SU in its last 15 games at home.
Tampa Bay is 5-10 ATS in its last 15 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Tampa Bay’s last 6 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Tampa Bay’s last 14 games when playing New Orleans.
Tampa Bay is 1-7 SU in its last 8 games when playing New Orleans.
Tampa Bay is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against New Orleans.
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Tampa Bay’s last 7 games when playing at home against New Orleans.
New Orleans is 3-2 SU this season, when leading at the half. Tampa Bay is 4-3 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
New Orleans is only 1-5) SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet 2-1 SU when losing the turnover battle.
Since the beginning of last season, Tampa Bay is only 3-7 SU against NFC South opponents, while New Orleans is 4-6 SU against divisional foes.
Tampa Bay is rated higher in the ground game on both sides of the ball. Its second-ranked rushing attack will face the bottom-ranked run defense of New Orleans, while its seventh-ranked run defense will look to contain the 26th-ranked rushing game of the Saints.
