{"id":10348,"date":"2010-11-06T20:00:40","date_gmt":"2010-11-07T01:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=10348"},"modified":"2010-11-06T13:30:57","modified_gmt":"2010-11-06T18:30:57","slug":"tampa-bay-buccaneers-vs-atlanta-falcons-nfc-south-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/tampa-bay-buccaneers-vs-atlanta-falcons-nfc-south-predictions-10348\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons NFC South Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
\nSunday, 11\/7\/2010, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Atlanta -9.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Atlanta -9
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 46.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 45.5
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 Atlanta -430 \/ Tampa Bay +360<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will find out if their the best team in the NFC on Sunday afternoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tampa Bay is likely going to receive a rude awakening this week when it travels to Atlanta because of head coach Raheem Morris making erroneous comments.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re the best team in the NFC,\u201d he said before the bye week.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, I said it.\u00a0 We\u2019re the best team in the NFC.\u201d\u00a0 The Buccaneers backed that statement up mildly with an unimpressive 38-35 win last week over the Arizona Cardinals.\u00a0 The team has a chance of pulling off the upset due to quarterback Josh Freeman being 8-8 in his first 16 starts in the NFL and six of those victories being fourth-quarter comebacks.\u00a0 He went 18 of 25 passing for 278 yards and a touchdown in last Sunday\u2019s win.\u00a0 Tampa Bay is 5-1 ATS in dome games the last three years and currently a large underdog on the NFL lines page .<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers know that the division lead is on the line and will need to have a top game from its secondary in stopping Atlanta wide receiver Roddy White.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the Falcons, man.\u00a0 It\u2019s a division rival,\u201d said Morris.\u00a0 \u201cThey came in here at the end of the season to go 9-7 and we went home sad.\u201d\u00a0 This will be the 34th regular-season meeting between the rivals, with Tampa Bay holding a 18-15 advantage.\u00a0 Since the NFC South was created in 2002, the Bucs are 9-7 versus today\u2019s opponent, including sweeps in 2002, 2005 and 2007.\u00a0 One problem that the team is trying to fix is its defensive pressure on the quarterback and was unable to claim former Chargers linebacker Shawn Merriman on waivers.\u00a0 The team has just five sacks from their linemen in seven games.<\/p>\n

Atlanta is coming off a 31-17 road loss to the Eagles that snapped a four-game winning streak, but are likely to start a new one at home today.\u00a0 The Falcons have won quarterback Matt Ryan\u2019s last 12 starts at the Georgia Dome and the team will be looking to start 4-0 at home for the third-straight season.\u00a0 Ryan has posted a 3-1 record versus the Buccaneers in his career, but has averaged a 61.1 passer rating and thrown six interceptions against two touchdowns.\u00a0 \u201cSpecifically, we need to be sound in what we do,\u201d he commented.\u00a0 \u201cGo out there and make good decisions and be accurate with the football.\u201d\u00a0 Atlanta would be best served to hand the ball off to running back Michael Turner, who has the second-most touchdowns in the NFL since 2008 (30).\u00a0 The squad is 7-3 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 points.<\/p>\n

The Falcons are 16-3 at the Georgia Dome with head coach Mike Smith on the sidelines and will be looking to move their record to 2-1 coming out of a bye week under his direction.\u00a0 \u201cI think it\u2019s all about the NFC South,\u201d he stated.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a competitive division.\u00a0 Maybe the most competitive in the NFL.\u201d\u00a0 Atlanta spent the bye week trying to sure up a pass defense that has allowed 260.3 yards per game, ranking 27th in the NFL.\u00a0 Tampa Bay is averaging 216.9 yards passing.<\/p>\n

Bettors will find that the Buccaneers are 7-0 ATS on field turf, while the Falcons are 7-2 ATS as a home favorite.<\/p>\n

Get plays on many of Sunday\u2019s exciting games from the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons Sunday, 11\/7\/2010, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Atlanta -9.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Atlanta -9 Opening Total:\u00a0 46.5 Current Total:\u00a0 45.5 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 Atlanta -430 \/ Tampa Bay +360 Tampa Bay is likely going to receive a rude awakening this week when it travels to Atlanta because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":5427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[123,2806,422,878,3717,1129,3707,458],"class_list":["post-10348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-georgia-dome","tag-matt-ryan","tag-mike-smith","tag-nfc-south","tag-raheem-morris","tag-roddy-white","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10350,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10348\/revisions\/10350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}