Week 11 Monday Night Football Giants vs. Buccaneers Betting Preview

Tampa Bay enters this game as a 12-point favorite, but the Giants will look to bottle up Tom Brady the way that the Washington Football Team did last week. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, will look to get back on track offensively on their home field.

New York Giants

Last week, the New York Giants had a bye week, a week after they picked up a win at home over the Las Vegas Raiders. Las Vegas was held to 16 points in that game, with the Giants defense stepping up and forcing turnovers to stay ahead in that contest. Here, the Giants hope that having some key weapons back will help them to pull off an upset over the defending Super Bowl champions.

Specifically, the return of Saquon Barkley could be significant to the offensive success of the Giants. Barkley’s return will make defenses respect the running game more, which could open up deep and intermediate routes in the passing game while defenders are forced to come down to play the run on a more regular basis. The Giants only lost by a field goal in a Monday game against the Chiefs earlier this season, and the Giants could pull an upset here with the return of their top weapon.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Last week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost as a heavy favorite to the Washington Football Team. The Buccaneers’ offense struggled throughout that game, while the Buccaneers’ defense had trouble against Taylor Heinicke in a way they did not in their previous meeting during last year’s Wild Card round. This week, the Bucs will look to rebound at home, where the Bucs have been nothing short of dominant.

Tampa Bay is 4-0 at home this season, with only one of those wins coming by under three possessions. For those looking at this game from a betting perspective, the home form of the Buccaneers suggests that they would cover the 10.5-point spread, as they have beaten that number in three of their four home games so far. But there is no such thing as a sure thing in the NFL, and the Bucs could always let down at home against the Giants.

Keys to the Game

The main key to this game for the Giants is going to be slowing down Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay passing attack. New York has had a history of slowing down Tom Brady in the postseason, but that was a long time ago, and the Giants have turned into one of the least successful franchises in the NFL since then. If they can’t generate pressure on Brady, the Bucs could cruise here.

On the Tampa Bay side, stopping the run is going to be the key to this game. Doing so will force the Giants into passing situations, which will let the pass rush of the Buccaneers get after Daniel Jones freely. That could yield turnovers and a runaway win for a Buccaneers team that is still just one game up on the Saints in the NFC South standings.