Tampa Bay comes off a bye week following a 24-18 loss to Chicago two weeks ago as +1½ underdog in a game played in London. Tampa Bay was already without starting running back LeGarrette Blount, and then lost backup Earnest Graham in the first quarter. Kregg Lumpkin relieved Graham, but only had 15 yards on eight carries. Josh Freeman threw for 264 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Buccaneers, but was intercepted four times, the last of which came with under a minute remaining, which all but sealed the loss. The Bucs had a 395-280 deficit in total offense and simply could not overcome the four picks by Freeman.
New Orleans was stunned last week in a 31-21 loss at woeful St. Louis as -13½ point road favs. The NFC South-leading Saints came into the game with an NFL-best 35 points per game, but never got untracked against the Rams’ defense which ranked near the bottom of the league. The Saints were held scoreless in the first half for the first time since 2007, managing just 94 yards total offense and going 1-of-6 on third down. They finished with 283 total yards and Drew Brees was 30-for-44 passing for 269 yards and threw two interceptions for New Orleans, including one in the fourth quarter that was returned 27 yards for a touchdown.
New Orleans is playing with double-revenge this week after losing 23-13 at home to Tampa Bay last January in the regular-season finale and 26-20 on the road earlier this season. The underdog is an incredible 18-6 ATS the last 24 meetings between these two squads and Tampa has flourished on the road as an underdog, going 15-5-1 ATS. With that being noted, this one has bounce-back written all over it for Brees & Co, who have typically fared well off a SU loss (19-6 ATS).