The New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves in radically different positions despite both teams not playing particularly well thus far in the season.
NFL picks and predictions, Week 3: Buccaneers vs. Patriots 2013
New England will try to start playing well against a Tampa Bay team that has lost twice on last-second field goals.
Jared Wickerham
New England sits at 2-0, but are a play or two away from a winless record. With the losses of Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd and Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots passing game has been a complete non-factor -- even with the great Tom Brady throwing the ball.
Tampa Bay has also played poorly. Lavonte David took one of the dumbest penalties of all-time when he hit Geno Smith late, giving the New York Jets 15 yards and ultimately a Week 1 win. The team is also coming apart at the seams with Greg Schiano having complaints launched at him by his defense while having a supposed rift with quarterback Josh Freeman.
Despite the shaky starts for both teams, NFL experts have overwhelmingly sided with the Patriots this week. Every single person on ESPN's 14-man panel is taking New England, as are Frank Schwab, Les Carpenter and fans at Yahoo! Sports. The Pats narrowly avoid the clean sweep among experts at CBS. John Breech is the lone dissenting voice taking the Bucs to win, 23-20.
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