Tampa Bay Buccaneers
vs.
Dallas Cowboys
Week 15
NFL Pick
By Jason Green
12/17/16
The Bucs are red hot winners of 5 straight Games and they are tied for 1st place in the NFC South with the Atlanta Falcons. Their offense did not do much in their last Game, but they won with their D, which held Drew Brees and the dynamic offense of the Saints in check in winning 16-11. Their defense came up with 3 INT in the Game and in their 5-Game streak they are allowing an average of 12.8 points per Game.
Maybe the Cowboys bandwagon started a little bit early. They laid an egg on offense in their last Game only totaling 260 yards with Dak Prescott having his worst Game of the season in the 10-7 loss to the New York Giants. Still, Dallas is the only team in the NFL that has secured a playoff berth and they can wrap up the NFC East with a win in this Sunday night prime time Game.
In the last 7 Games between these teams the favorite has covered the spread 5 times.
In the win over the Saints in their last Game Tampa Bay covered the spread as a 2-point home favorite.
In the loss to the Giants, which snapped the Cowboys 11-Game win streak, Dallas failed to cover the spread as a 3.5-road favorite.
The Bucs only mustered 270 total yards in the win over New Orleans with QB Jameis Winston passing for 184 yards with no TD and no INT and RB Doug Martin rushing for 66 yards on a paltry 2.9 yards per carry. Winston may have to step up in this Game, as the Dallas defense only ranks 28th in the league against the pass, but 2nd against the run. Even in the loss to the Giants in their last Game the Cowboys still only GAve up 260 total yards.
Prescott will remain the starting QB in this Game with Tony Romo ready to go even though the rookie was picked off 2 times and was sacked 3 times passing for only 165 yards. The league’s leading rusher in Ezekiel Elliot was legit again with over 100 yards, but Prescott could not move the chains. In the Giants Game the Cowboys were 1/15 on 3rd downs and in their last 2 are only 2/23 on 3rd downs.
Tampa Bay’s defense has been the reason they are winning even though they still do not rank in the top 15 in the league against the pass or the run.
Tampa Bay is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road Games, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road Games vs. a team with a winning home record, and in their last 5 Games on the road they have an Under record of 3-1-1.
Dallas is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home Games, 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 Games following a straight up loss, and in their last 10 Games the posted total has gone Under 7 times.
Bettorsworld Pick – Bucs +7