New York Giants vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL Sports Betting Guide
The New York Giants will begin a new era when they visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday as rookie first-round pick Daniel Jones will make his first career NFL regular season start. After falling to 0-2, the Giants decided the time was right to bench Eli Manning and hand the keys to the franchise over to Jones. Can the sixth-overall pick from this year’s draft spark the Giants against what has looked like a much-improved Tampa Bay defense?
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Details
- Opening Line: Tampa Bay -4
- Current Line: Tampa Bay -6.5
- Over/Under: 48.5
- Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
- Start Time: 4:05 PM ET
- Last Meeting: Buccaneers 25, Giants 23 (10/1/17)
View consensus picks from 100+ experts for the Giants at Buccaneers >>
Overview
It’s hard not to think that Jones should be throwing to Odell Beckham Jr. when he makes his NFL debut this Sunday. With OBJ in Cleveland now, we can expect Jones to hand the ball off to running back Saquon Barkley early and often in this one. Barkley went for 135 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills and has at least 135 scrimmage yards in three straight games. The challenge is that Jones may not be an upgrade over Manning. Film footage review from last week showed that Manning had no help from his receivers as he made good throws, but his wideouts made several poor drops and plays in general.
Meanwhile, the Giants’ defense can help Jones by tightening up on that side of the football. New York has allowed an average of 31.5 points per game in back-to-back losses to the Bills and Cowboys to start the season. They don’t have much talent there as first-round pick DeAndre Baker has been burned non-stop, so it’s unclear how they improve.
As for the Bucs, quarterback Jameis Winston has to feel good after snapping his road losing streak in last week’s win over Carolina. Winston owns a 101.1 rating in three career games against New York, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Winston spreads the football around again this week with wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and beats up a suspect Giants’ defense.
Tampa Bay can also turn to running back Peyton Barber, who rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown against the Panthers. With an extra couple of days to prepare following their Thursday Night Football win, look for a confident group to spoil Jones’ debut with a win at home in Week 3.
Trends
- Tampa Bay is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games played
- Under is 7-1 in Buccaneers last 8 games overall
- Tampa Bay is 0-6 ATS in last 6 Week 3 games
- Giants are 2-9 SU and ATS over last 11 games played
- New York has covered 10 of last 14 as road underdog
- Giants are 1-4 ATS in last 5 games overall
Bottom Line
Jones-to-Manning might not be the talent upgrade everyone thinks, but maybe it inspires the team. They looked lifeless with Manning under center.
The Buccaneers proved that they are on the right track under new head coach Bruce Arians in last week’s victory. Now they get the opportunity to build on that win at home against a Giants’ side with Jones, Barkley and not much else. I like the Bucs at anything under a touchdown.
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Dave Golokhov is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Dave, check out his archive and follow him @davegolokhov.