The Sunday Night Football matchup for Week 9 will feature the New Orleans Saints going up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kickoff is set for 8:20 P.M. Eastern in Tampa Bay and will be televised on NBC.
This game will go a long way in deciding who will win the NFC South. The Saints are 5-2 while the Buccaneers are 6-2. The winner of this game will be in first place in the division.
With the other two teams being the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons, this division is a two-team race. The second-place team is likely going to end up with a wild card spot.
The Buccaneers and Saints have already faced off once this season, which was in Week 1. The Saints came away with the 34-23 win, but the Bucs have improved quite a bit since then.
Adding Brown to Lethal Receiver Options
Tom Brady already has plenty of options to get the ball to, but the Buccaneers will be adding Antonio Brown this week. Brown hasn’t played a game in 14 months, so it will be interesting to see if he can make an immediate impact.
Brady has missed Chris Godwin since his injury against the Las Vegas Raiders. However, it seems he will be active for this Sunday night game.
“We’ll see how sore it is tomorrow. He caught the ball fine, but we’ll see how sore it is,” Tampa Bay Head Coach Bruce Arians said on Saturday. “But I would anticipate him probably playing, just knowing how tough he is and knowing what it all means to him.”
Brady will have Brown, Godwin, Mike Evans, and Rob Gronkowski as his options when he drops back. That is an impressive core on offense.
Thomas is Back
Drew Brees has been missing his favorite target the last few weeks, but Michael Thomas will be returning for this crucial matchup. Thomas will give the Saints a big lift on Sunday.
While he has been away, the load has gone to Alvin Kamara, who has been doing everything on the offensive side of the ball. He leads the team in rushing and receiving so far this season.
The Saints have been winning, but not by much. Their last three wins have all come by a field goal margin, with their latest win being a 26-23 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears.
Prediction
The Buccaneers are 3.5-point favorites, and the over/under is set at 50.5.
It seems most of the consensus is that this game will be much different than the first. However, I don’t see it that way.
The Bucs will be trying to get Brown going while he hasn’t played in an NFL game in over a year. Thomas coming back for the Saints will be a much smoother transition. This will be a close one.
However, I do expect both teams to put up significant points to hit the over. The pick is the Saints +3.5, and the game over.