Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings Odds

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings will be looking for their first wins of the season when they meet Sunday at the Metrodome.

The Buccaneers have hopes of making the playoffs following a 10-win campaign last year, but they were defeated 27-20 at home by Detroit last week. The Tampa Bay defense was torched for 431 yards in the game.

The Vikings are hoping to bounce back from a 6-10 season to capture their third division title in four years. They were outgained by 220 yards in last week’s 24-17 loss at San Diego.

Odds makers are expecting a close game Sunday and have given the edge to the home team. The Vikings are currently listed as a three-point favorite with the total set at 41.

Minnesota is going to have trouble winning games if the offense doesn’t come around. Star running back Adrian Peterson had a solid performance last week with 98 yards on 6.1 yards per carry, but the Vikes only managed 187 yards for the game as Donovan McNabb completed only seven of 15 passes for 39 yards.

McNabb should have an opportunity to redeem himself this week against a Tampa Bay stop unit that was assaulted through the air last Sunday. The Bucs allowed Detroit’s Matthew Stafford to complete 72.7 percent of his throws for 305 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. His day added up to a stellar passer rating of 118.9.

The Vikings were also susceptible to the pass last week. They allowed Philip Rivers to complete 68.8 percent of his throws for 335 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Bucs are hoping quarterback Josh Freeman will be able to exploit the Minnesota secondary as well.

Freeman completed 65.1 percent of his throws for 259 yards with one touchdown strike and one interception against the Lions. He did most of his damage while running the two-minute drill at the end of each half.

He looked comfortable running the no-huddle, hurry-up offense, which could lead coach Raheem Morris to go with that look early against the Vikings.

This series has been all Tampa Bay in recent years. The Bucs are 4-0 straight up and against the spread in the last four meetings.

These two last met on Nov. 16, 2008  with the Bucs winning 19-13 in Tampa Bay.

One thing you don’t want to do is dismiss the Buccaneers in the road underdog role. Under Morris, they are an impressive 12-3 against the spread as a road dog, including 7-0 against the number in their last seven games in the role.

While that’s almost enough proof right there to jump all over the Bucs Sunday, it should also be noted that the home team is a sizzling 13-3-1 against the spread in the last 17 meetings in this matchup.

As far as the over-under is concerned, the under has been the trend between these teams in Minnesota. They have played to the under in four of the last five at the Metrodome.

Jimmy Boyd’s premium NFL plays were a perfect 3-0 against the spread last Sunday. Join him again this week for another strong Sunday NFL cards.