Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New England Patriots Betting Preview

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New England Patriots Betting Preview

Tyler Vaysman
2 years ago
2 min read
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New England Patriots Betting Preview

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have a long history with one another, with Brady delivering the franchise several Super Bowls.

But Brady will be an opponent of the Patriots for the first time when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers square off with New England in one of the marquee matchups of Week 4.

In this Sunday Night Football contest, both teams will look to avoid a second straight loss, with Tampa Bay entering as a touchdown favorite.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost their first game in the season of their Super Bowl title defense last week to the Los Angeles Rams. As has been the case all season, the defense was the weak link for the Bucs, as they allowed 34 points in the losing effort. If there was a silver lining to be found here, it was that Tom Brady threw for 432 yards and looked sharp heading into this massive matchup with his former team.

So far this season, the Buccaneers have played poorly on defense but have also played three offenses capable of putting up big numbers. The Cowboys, Falcons, and Rams all excel in the passing game, something the Patriots are not as proficient with. Facing an inexperienced quarterback for the first time this season, the Bucs have the potential to play their best game of the year on Sunday night.

New England Patriots

Tom Brady has been a rival of Ohio State since his time playing college football for Michigan. But this game will be the first time that Brady has ever been an adversary to the Patriots. And that storyline could yield some interesting on-field action, as Bill Belichick has been tasked with game planning against Brady for the first time.

Belichick might be the best coach in the history of the NFL in terms of his ability to game plan for an opponent. He will need to use that ability to develop a game plan to take away the passing attack of Tampa Bay, using his familiarity with Brady to his team’s advantage. But the talent gap at the quarterback position could be too much for the Patriots to overcome, even with a solid game plan.

Keys to the Game

For the Buccaneers, the biggest key to this game outside of their defense could be the loss of Rob Gronkowski for this game. Gronkowski is listed as doubtful on the injury report for this game, which is against his former team as well.

The Buccaneers’ tight end has four touchdown receptions through three games, and losing him would mean losing a valuable red-zone target for Brady in this matchup.

New England’s top key to this game will be their quarterback, rookie Mac Jones. Jones struggled for the first time as a pro in Week 3 when he was responsible for multiple turnovers that made things difficult on the Patriots against the Saints.

Jones will need to be at or near his best if the Patriots are going to keep pace with a Tampa Bay offense that has been among the most explosive in the league over the first few weeks in 2021.

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