New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday Night Football Betting Preview

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints were supposed to go toe-to-toe for the top spot in the NFC South this season.

But injuries for the Saints have allowed the Bucs to run away with things, with the two set to square off on Sunday Night Football in Week 15.

Tampa Bay comes into this game as an 11-point favorite, as the Bucs hope to help their cause in securing the first-round bye in the NFC.

New Orleans Saints

New Orleans snapped a five-game losing streak last week, beating the New York Jets by a margin of 30-9. The Saints took advantage of the return of Alvin Kamara, who rushed for over 100 yards and looked healthy once again. At 6-7 on the season, the Saints are still technically in the Wild Card race in the NFC and will hope to pull off an upset here to help their chances by moving to .500.

If the Saints want to beat the Buccaneers, they will need to bring their best effort on the defensive side of the ball. New Orleans is limited offensively with Taysom Hill as their quarterback, which will ramp up the pressure on their defense to hold Tom Brady and the Buccaneers' offense in check. That will start with their pass rush, as taking away Tom Brady's time to throw has been proven as one of the few ways to slow him down.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay has won four straight games, beating the Buffalo Bills in overtime last week to move to 10-3 on the season. The Buccaneers had the lead for most of that game but let the Bills get back into things in the second half to force overtime. This week, the Bucs are expected to have an easier path to victory, but they will need to avoid overlooking the struggling Saints to get the job done.

Fortunately for the Buccaneers, they should be able to throw all of their energy behind their performance in this game. Tampa Bay's remaining schedule after this week consists of two games against the struggling Panthers and a date with the New York Jets. If the Bucs can come away with a win in this rivalry game, they could very well finish the season with 14 wins and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

Keys To The Game

New Orleans' number one key to this game will be mixing things up offensively to keep the Buccaneers off-guard. Taysom Hill is limited as a passer, to say the least, which means that the Bucs will need to find offense in different ways outside of Kamara's involvement. Hill is a gifted runner, though, which the Saints will need to use to their advantage.

Tampa Bay's biggest key to this game will be their defense. Points are an inevitability when Tom Brady is the quarterback, but the Buccaneers will need to avoid a sloppy defensive performance to avoid making this game closer than it needs to be. Last week, they let the Bills back into a game that should have been decided early on and must avoid a repeat of that.