Playoff hopes are on the line in Lambeau as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3.5)
Wager $10 on TB
To Beat GB:
$25.00
Lose by less than 3.5:
$18.70
To Lose:
$15.56
take on the Green Bay Packers (-3.5)
Wager $10 on GB
To Beat TB:
$15.56
Win by 3.5:
$19.52
To Lose:
$25.00
. The Bucs have won two in a row while the Packers are coming off a Monday Night loss to the New York Giants (+6)
Wager $10 on NYG
To Beat NO:
$31.50
Lose by less than 6:
$18.93
To Lose:
$13.77
. With the Bucs in control of their own destiny and the Packers sitting at the 7-seed in a five-way tie, both teams need this win desperately to help their case for a postseason berth.
One of the biggest reasons the Bucs have won their last two is Rachaad White, who has gone for over 100 rushing yards in two of the last three games while scoring a touchdown in each of the last two games. Now, after going for over 100-yards against a stout Atlanta rush defense, he gets to take on the second worst rush defense in the league that is allowing over 140 yards a game on the ground. Against the Giants last week, they allowed over 200 total rushing yards.
The big problem the Bucs are facing are all the key players that may not be available for the game. So far Chris Godwin, Vita Vea, Carlton Davis, William Gholston, and Ryan Neal have all missed practice all week. Now, while it’s a good sign that Jamel Dean and Devin White have returned to practice, the return of those two players doesn’t offset the potential loss of all the others. Tampa Bay was able to overcome the loss of Vea last week, but it’s a tall task to overcome the loss of Gholston on top of it with the potential return of Aaron Jones.
Both teams are allowing just over 20 points per game while the Bucs are averaging 20.2 points on offense and the Packers are averaging 21.5 – so they’re about as even as it gets there. However, Jordan Love has been on a hot streak as of late throwing nine touchdowns and just one interception over the last four weeks that helped catapult his team to wins over the Detroit Lions (-4.5)
Wager $10 on DET
To Beat DEN:
$14.44
Win by 4.5:
$18.93
To Lose:
$28.50
and Kansas City Chiefs (-8)
Wager $10 on KC
To Beat NE:
$12.44
Win by 8:
$19.09
To Lose:
$42.00
.
As opportunistic as the Buccaneers have been, Jordan Love isn’t giving defenses a lot of opportunity to create big plays against him as of late. What it boils down to for Tampa is run, run, and run some more.
Rachaad White and this Bucs’ offensive line – if they can recreate their magic from last week – can control the tempo and keep Love on the sideline for most of the game while attacking Green Bay’s biggest glaring deficiency. It’s a matchup of each team’s weakness but a weakness that has been drastically improving for Tampa Bay over the last month. In fact, over the last three games the Bucs have increased their single game high for rushing yards this season – 125 vs Indianapolis, 128 vs. Carolina, and 148 vs. Atlanta. This is a golden opportunity for the run game to really set the tone and dominate the afternoon.
According to our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook, the Buccaneers are 3.5-point road underdogs with an over/under of 42.5. Four of the last five Packers games have hit the over while they’ve won 16 of their last 17 games in the month of December. The Buccaneers have covered the spread in six of their last seven road games.
The Buccaneers and Packers kickoff inside Lambeau Field at 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS. Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, and Matt Ryan will be on the call.
