I am still shaking my head
at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ division title
last season. The fact that they did it with unproven
Chris Simms throwing the ball was even more amazing.
Make no mistake about it; this is one tough football
team. They like to play hard and they never give
up, just the way Coach Gruden likes his teams
to be. However, as Tampa teams are apt to be,
this team lacks the offensive punch necessary
to win games and their defense, while good, can’t
win games alone for them like in the old days.
Last year, the Bucs won eleven
games on their way to a home playoff loss against
the Redskins. Nine of those eleven wins came against
teams that did not make the postseason and, when
playing teams that did make the postseason; the
Bucs were only 2-4. This season, I see them as
having nine games against what should be playoff
contenders. That does not bode well for the Bucs
to repeat as division champs although it does
leave some room for them to reach the posted total
of eight regular season victories.
If they go 3-6 against the
playoff teams, they’ll have to be 5-2 versus
the rest of the schedule in order to push on a
season total wager. Considering thet fact that
I am not including Dallas, Atlanta and Baltimore
as playoff teams when they could certainly prove
me wrong, I think the Bucs have a tall order here.
Getting to .500 will be a good season; winning
more than half their games would surprise me…like
last year! Take the under at -120.
The scheduling Gods did the
Saints no favors this season, the first after
their 3-13 post-Katrina year, giving them a string
of tough matches down the stretch. It seems as
though the Louisiana Superdome will be ready for
the start of the 2006 season but even that won’t
help the Saints. They play five games against
playoff teams from last season and many of their
other games are against teams on the rise, just
like New Orleans.
It won’t be hard to
swallow the acquisition of Drew Brees taking over
as quarterback from the floundering Aaron Brooks.
Indeed, assuming he can come back from the shoulder
injury that helped convince the Chargers to drop
their two-time Pro-Bowl quarterback, Brees should
bring some stability and good decision making
to the team.
The addition of second-overall
draft pick Reggie Bush has ignited Saints fans
like nothing before. One can only hope that bringing
in Bush and Brees is the first of the steps this
team has to take in making themselves respectable
once again. I just have a hard time believing
that they will be more than 100% better this year
than last. That is what the bookies are asking
you to buy into if you take the over on the posted
total of 6.5 regular season victories. It is not
a lot, but I think it would be set even less if
there wasn’t so much fanfare over Bush.
The public loves a potential huge star and that
love has swayed the line. I’ll buy the under
on the Saints’ 2006 season. At +100, the
price is right!
For
NFL NFC South Gambling Odds click here.
More NFL Prediction Articles
August 12th - 2006
- Saints
& Bucs Predictions
August 12th - 2006
- Falcons
& Panthers Predictions
August 3rd - 2006
- Eagles
& Redskins Predictions
August 1st - 2006
- Bengals
& Steelers Predictions
July 27th - 2006
- Browns
& Ravens Predictions
July 24th - 2006 -
Broncos & Chiefs Predictions
July 24th - 2006 -
Raiders & Chargers Predictions
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Posted on Friday, August
11, 2006 @ 5:13:19 PM
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