Metrodome – Minneapolis, Minnesota<\/strong> Moneyline: \u00a0Minnesota -147, Tampa Bay +127<\/strong> Tampa Bay<\/p>\n The Bucs lost their opener at home against Detroit setting off a slew of pundits who believed they wouldn\u2019t be able to match last year\u2019s success. \u00a0That may turn out to be true but I wouldn\u2019t leap to that conclusion after what I saw on Sunday. \u00a0Detroit is a good team. \u00a0Sure losing the home opener is not a great way to start the season but it is not time to run for the fire exits just yet.<\/p>\n Last year Tampa had great balance pounding the rock with LeGarrette Blount and Josh Freeman tossing it to an emerging set of wideouts. \u00a0Last week the Lions stuffed the Bucs on the ground and then once the team fell behind they couldn\u2019t stick with it. \u00a0Freeman was forced to throw the ball more than they like and couldn\u2019t make any big plays (long of 22 yards). \u00a0They should find it easier sledding against Minnesota on the ground and in the air.<\/p>\n These teams used to meet twice a year but with realignment haven\u2019t played each other since 2008. \u00a0Tampa has won the last 4 meetings covering each time, spanning all the way back to 2001. \u00a0The Bucs have also proven to be a great road bet of late on a 13-3-1 ATS tear. \u00a0As an underdog they are a great play this weekend. \u00a0Given preseason expectations and last week\u2019s performance I would have installed them as the favourite on Sunday. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n Minnesota<\/p>\n Many were predicting an embarrassing catastrophe last week when Minnesota visited San Diego. \u00a0Sure they lost the game but San Diego had to shutout the Vikings in the second half and score 17 points of their own to beat them. \u00a0The really bad news is not the loss but how bad new QB Donovan McNabb looked. \u00a0The Christian Ponder era might be starting a little ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n If McNabb can\u2019t get his act together it is going to be very difficult for this team to win. \u00a0In Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson they have a couple of players who can take it to the house on every touch but they need balance for them both to be potent weapons. \u00a0Blaming McNabb is easy but when you look closer you see a line that is not all that good and a receiving corps that relies too much on big plays – no reliable chain movers..<\/p>\n Despite the fact that Minnesota is the favourite I really don\u2019t think they will challenge in this one. \u00a0Even though they lost last week I am still bullish on Tampa and Minnesota didn\u2019t show much after the first 20 minutes against San Diego. \u00a0The only hope for Minnesota is if Peterson has a tremendous day but I don\u2019t see him torching the Bucs.<\/p>\n ATS Pick: \u00a0Tampa +3<\/strong> Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings Metrodome – Minneapolis, Minnesota Sunday September 18 – 1:00PM Moneyline: \u00a0Minnesota -147, Tampa Bay +127 Spread (ATS): \u00a0Minnesota -2.5 Over\/Under: 41.5 Odds courtesy of 5Dimes Tampa Bay The Bucs lost their opener at home against Detroit setting off a slew of pundits who believed they wouldn\u2019t be able to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":26356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43364"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43505,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43364\/revisions\/43505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSunday September 18 – 1:00PM<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n Spread (ATS): \u00a0Minnesota -2.5<\/strong>
\n Over\/Under: 41.5<\/strong>
\n Odds courtesy of 5Dimes<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n Over\/Under Pick: \u00a0Over<\/strong>
\n Score Prediction: \u00a0Tampa \u00a030 – Minnesota 17<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"