Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Spread

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-9) will try to avoid an eighth straight loss when they host the Dallas Cowboys (7-6) in their home finale Saturday night.

The Cowboys are currently a seven-point favorite with the total set at 46.

The Buccaneers, who won 10 games last season, got off to a 4-2 start but it’s been all down hill since. They jumped out to a 14-0 lead at Jacksonville last Sunday but didn’t score again in a 41-14 defeat.

Josh Freeman completed 16 of 30 passes for 181 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Kellen Winslow led the team with 38 receiving yards on two catches.

LeGarrette Blount led the way on the ground with 74 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.

The Cowboys have lost back-to-back games since winning all four of their November contests. They blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead in Sunday night’s 37-34 home loss to the New York Giants.

Tony Romo connected on 21 of 31 pass attempts for 321 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Four completions, including one of the touchdown tosses, went to Laurent Robinson, who led the team with 137 receiving yards.

Felix Jones led the rushing attack with 106 yards on 16 totes.

Offense has rarely been an issue for the Cowboys, who are currently sixth in the NFL with 390.1 yards per game. Defense, however, has been an issue at times, and it was certainly one Sunday night when the Giants had 510 yards of offense. 400 of those yards came through the air.

Dallas has been susceptible to the pass, currently 24th in the league with 243.2 yards allowed per game through the air. However, it may be able to tighten the screws Saturday versus the Bucs, who have only averaged 187.7 passing yards over their last three games.

Tampa Bay’s biggest issue right now is ball security. The Buccaneers committed seven turnovers last week and have given the ball away a jaw-dropping 23 times during their losing streak.

They could have better luck hanging onto the football against the Cowboys though. Dallas has only come up with two takeaways in its last three games.

These two have split the last six meetings but the Cowboys have won the last three with the most recent being a 34-21 road win on Sept. 13, 2009. They covered the spread in each of those three contests.

Neither of these teams have been good investments this season. They have both failed to cover the number in six of their last seven games.

As far as the total is concerned, the over likely deserves some consideration. That’s because Dallas has played to the over in its last six games when matched up against a poor defensive team that allowed 5.65 yards or more per play.

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