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Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers Odds

Written by Steve Janus

This week’s Monday Night Football features on of the best match ups in the NFL this week as the Carolina Panthers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Both teams sit at 9-3 on the season with the Bucs getting the best of the Panthers in week 6, 27-3.  The Panthers look for redemption tonight at home and Carolina is a 3 point favorite over Tampa Bay with the total for the game set at 38 points.

The Tampa Bay Bucs play smart football on offense.  They run as much as they can and when they do decide to throw the ball, they mostly throw short, high-percentage routes.  This makes them one of the best teams in the NFL in time of possession, an often-overlooked stat that can mean a lot in determining who comes out on top of a game.  Right now the Bucs hold on to the ball over 3 minutes longer than their opponents, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but is very significant in the NFL.  On the season the Bucs’ offense is scoring 23 points per game on 335 yards of total offense.  Those numbers aren’t that impressive, but, because the Tampa defense has been so good, they don’t need to score a lot of points, they just need to avoid making big mistakes.

On defense the Buccaneers are one of the elite teams in the NFL.  They allow just 16 points per game and only 279 yards of total offense per game.  They are keeping teams at only 95 rushing yards per game on 3.8 yards per carry and also holding opposing QBs under 200 yards per game with only 184 passing yards surrendered per game in 2008.  The Panthers will have to keep the Bucs on their toes and mix things up on offense as there are few, if any, holes in this defensive unit.  The Bucs are 3 point underdogs on Monday Night Football.

The Panthers have been flying a bit under the radar this year, but, at 9-3, they are starting to turn some heads.  Their offensive unit hasn’t been overwhelming, but it has been solid for the most part, playing a similar style to Tampa Bay.  Carolina racks up 326 yards of offense per game and scores just under 24 points per game.  They run the ball as much as anyone in the NFL, 30 times per game for 133 yards per game (4.4 yards per carry).  Their passing game hasn’t been great at just 192 passing yards per game, but they are averaging 7 yards per pass attempt (8.2 yards per pass attempt at home), so the Panthers certainly are a threat to beat teams deep when they do let the ball fly.  Yards won’t be easy to come by this week, but if the Panthers can break a big one on the Tampa Bay defense, it may be all they need to walk away with a victory.

The defensive unit for the Panthers has also been rock-solid.  They are surrendering just 19 points per game and only allowing 313 yards of total offense per game.  They are giving up over 100 yards on the ground, and just at 200 passing yards per game, but they’ve done a good enough job keeping teams out of the end zone so that those numbers are not at all concerning.  Just like the Bucs, this is a team that doesn’t have much for weakness on the defensive side of the ball.  Tonight they’ll face a Tampa Bay team that loves to run the ball and keep things short through the air, the key here will be stopping the Bucs in the right situations.  At home tonight the Panthers are 3 point favorites.

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Written by Steve Janus on December 8, 2008 · Filed Under NFL Betting Articles, News & Previews 

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