The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St. Louis Rams are both 0-1, but one of them will have a win after Sunday ... barring a tie, of course. The Rams were dominated by the Minnesota Vikings and have some significant issues at the quarterback position, while the Buccaneers managed to keep things close against the Carolina Panthers, but said Panthers were without quarterback Cam Newton.
Buccaneers vs. Rams odds 2014: Tampa Bay favored to pick up 1st win
The Buccaneers and Rams both have significant issues at quarterback, but the Buccaneers might be better off and are favored to win in Week 2.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
In other words, Derek Anderson led the Panthers to victory over the Buccaneers. St. Louis doesn't have a defense quite on the level of Carolina's, but guys like Shaun Hill and Austin Davis aren't too far from guys like Anderson. On top of that, Tampa Bay's offense isn't exactly confidence-inspiring and Josh McCown isn't much higher than the rest of the quarterbacks named in this article. The Buccaneers threw for just 162 net passing yards in Week 1, and the Rams only allowed 170 to the Vikings.
At this point, the prevailing theory is that the Rams aren’t as bad as they looked against the Vikings, and that the Buccaneers wouldn’t have kept things close against the Panthers if they had Newton. That said, the Buccaneers are in better shape at quarterback and running back and should be favored to win this one.
And they are. The Buccaneers opened up as 4.5-point favorites and that line only increased in their favor. They could be had as high as six-point favorites throughout the week, according to OddsShark. The over/under opened at 37.5 points and is still there on most books.
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